I love my Zoom AC3. I also tried out most of the others shown and even a few more and the AC3 is amazing when using OTHER acoustic instruments as well. It is able to "model" so many acoustics and honestly takes out the sharpness of the Piezo pickups that would be on a ukulele, mandolin and on and on and can be set do a Martin D-45 or whatever and this unit really brings an inferior pickup to life. So many great things about the AC3 to discover.
I have the Acoustic FlyRig, really just watched to see how to use it, but then watched the entire video. I think it's number 2 in the video to the acoustic creator AC-3. The reverb is springy, and I'd prefer a plate or room reverb, but it's everything else you need so I can't complain. That notch is absolutely necessary with my dreadnought. Thanks for the video!
Very thorough review video, watched all the way through. I was interested in one of these, but after watching and listening, will stick with what I have. I play an lr baggs magnetic active sound hole pickup, into a compressor pedal, then a distortion pedal turned way down on distortion, you can control your level and tone tho, for boost on leads, then comes the reverb, which is tunable, next a delay pedal, used very sparingly on some songs, then a boss looper that leads into the Yamaha mixer for final tweak! 5 dedicated pedals and if one breaks I replace it, instead of throwing one of those away and starting over. Thanx for your time invested, it was very enlightening.
Great video. I’ve used the ToneDeq as an instrumental performer for years because the tone is transparent and doesn’t sound processed. As I understand, it maintains the analog signal throughout. I agree Fishman could have made the pedal much better by moving the boost and input adjustments. Additionally, separating the reverb and delay along with adding a tuner would make it much better along with a Tap tempo which would take it over the top. So Fishman, a ToneDeq Plus, with better control placement, separate Reverb and Delay, onboard tuner, and tap tempo. Yes, I’d pay extra….BTW the AC3 sounded really good. It and the ToneDeq had a more accurate acoustic tone to my ears, but the AC3 was best overall.
Transit A is bright well because you put high frequencies at maximum. It can get way much less bright then this. For the rest about the preamp i agree.
Very valuable review that stopped from buying the tinny-sounding Trace Elliot. I wish Zoom would just make an A4 enhanced to enable the user to have 4 effects on (currently only 2 plus the guitar modeling I never needed), as in compressor (always on), chorus (somtimes on), delay (sometimes on) and reverb (always in, in various flavors). The processor in the A3 I own sounds great!!! The AC-3 is overkill for me in terms of features and size and complexity, plus it still forces me to fiddle with modeling combinations I don't want or need, and keeps me from having chorus + delay on at the same time. For me, the holy grail ended up being a combination of boutique pedals chained together on a pedalboard. No going back to all-in-one compromises. (Anyone wanna know what kind of pedals work for me and my Martin D-35 with AER dual pic-up, as well as for my brand-new and much loved Fender Acoustasonic Telecaster and my mandolin with piezo and my other acoustic guitars? Here goes: Dual-channel reamp: Fire-Eye Red-eye Twin (pristine!!!). Compressor: Cali76. EQ: MXR 10-band. Chorus: Mad Professor Electric Blue + Digitech Nautilus. Distortion (yes, works great on acoustic, too!): Mojo Hand Sacred Cow Overdrive. Delay: elctro-harmonix Canyon. Reverb: mxr. Everything powered by the Zuma Strymon.) OK, this rig cost me a fortune, but the sound is stellar, and every instrument sounds true to its real sound.
Awesome job! Thanks for the shootout videos! The AD-10 video was also helpful. I plan to "upgrade," but I will not get rid of my old Zoom A2. It still does an amazing job cleaning up the sound of my 1990s Adamas 1881 SSB.
Great review. I was digging the Zoom unit. Have your tried the LR Baggs Align Session ? That one is also on my research-list vs. the Zoom AC3. I agree Tap-Tempo on the Zoom is a Dealbreaker for me, performing live rhythmic stuff.
Fishman Tone Deq should send you a commission, I finally broke down on bought this unit, your comparison and break down made the choice fairly easy, it was much easier someone explaining what each offered, didn't offer and excelled at
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I purchased the T-Rex Soulmate a few months back...and sent it straight back after trying it out for an hour. I really didn't care for the sound of it at all. My Zoom AC-3 sounds vastly better, as in more natural. I found the T-Rex colored the sound a lot, and I couldn't dial in a sound I liked. It seemed to flatten the natural sound of each of my guitars, making them far less distinguishable from one another. I had bought it based on the beautiful online demo by Peter Honoré, but he's great no matter what he's playing.
I remember Trace Elliot. They were terrible first time around. Acoustic Guitar plugged straight into a power amp chip, switches did little, EQ was rubbish, speakers were tiny designed for ceilings in hotels, cabs made of cheapest chipboard. They sounded like a wasp in a jam jar
Please excuse my ignorance but are the Zoom A3 and AC-3 completely different animals altogether? I can clearly see that the the A3 is more of a multi fx pedal and is menu based as opposed to the AC-3, but it does have the body type modelling feature, has 3 band EQ, serves as a pre-amp and DI box, so struggling to decide which would suit me best. I have a Taylor 113CE and sounds nothing short of awful when plugged in to a PA or amp so trying to salvage my purchase of the guitar. I also have a passive Ibanez guitar that needs a preamp to get any decent volume out of it. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
I use a L6 Helix most of the time..but it’s more than i want to lug around to small coffee houses, it must have been in the late 80’s that zoom came out with a little Walkman sized effects rig that i demo’ed for awhile, i could clip it to my guitar strap. Is there something like that for acoustic? I’m running a GUild D55 with an anthem pickup. Great review, appreciate your sincere and humble insights.
Hi Thomas. Just discovered your great channel today, thanks for all your hard work! Was just wondering why your acoustic pedal shootout didn't include the Boss AD10. Is there any reason for this? Also missing was the Zoom A1X Four. Is it that the ones in this video are already the best, in your opinion? Love your playing style, by the way, you are a great guitarist! Cheers.
@@ThomasSchuber Ah, OK, understood! Has anything else come to your attention since you made the video that you would recommend? I only play for myself - guitar > effect pedal > Boss RC1 loop station > Bose S1 Pro amp. I was hoping I might get away with using the effects on my Zoom H4n Pro but they are tailored more to electric guitars! Any advice would be most welcome! Danke so much for your reply!
Hello! thank you for the video! can you list the pedals and maybe an amazon link in your video description? I had to keep rewinding to figure out the names which you did list later in the video . Without some way to make the pickup sound better from the source ( I hate the way piezo pickups sound!) the Zoom sounds the best. Thanks again!
no! I am sorry, I didn't recognize the link for www.thomann.de/de/wishlist_4u... so I didn't click it. That does allow me to find them on amazon or other usa music store. ;) thank you again!
Ah! Keep it simple. A good approach. Do you use the same set up for larger audiences? Bigger clubs, festivals etc, or would you add anything? What would you recommend as a reliable, professional stomp box for large pa’s? I’ve been thinking about the ac3 or ad10. What’s your experience? Thanks.
And if you tried to speak his native language you wouldn't make any mistakes? Try doing a review video in a different language like he did... NOT easy. You owe Thomas an apology. AND, he pronounces piezo correctly, not PIE-zo like ignorant Americans do (I'm American btw)
