Zoom A3 Acoustic Guitar Preamp and Effects Processor Reviews

3.8/5.0 based on 4 customer reviews

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Customer Reviews

TJ Doerfel
from Key West, FL
March 20, 2013Music Background:
Pro Musician

Really awesome and great price

I'm mainly an acoustic player. I've used the fishman aura, lr baggs venue DI and para acoustic along with zooms older acoustic models like the a2. The A3 wins in my opinion by far. Having the option to blend a mic and pickup really make a huge difference and the boost switch is awesome and the tuner works great. I've actually been playing 5string banjo through this peddle and even without the mic the tone I can get out of it is really good. And then I added a clip on mic and wow. Sounds just like my banjo acoustically...through the PA! Wether your and acoustic guitar player or if your like me and play lots banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and I bet the stand up bass would sound good too, you gotta try it. It's just what I've been looking for for years, thank u zoom!

John R. Gardner
from United States
May 7, 2013Music Background:
Hobbyist

1 Body model, 2 effects.

Not sure how much the Body Model which effect slot 1 must contain really affects the sound. However the other two effect slots have a wide variety of Effects that can yield some very pleasing combinations. I haven't gotten around to trying it with a mic as yet, but the ability to place the mic in the effects chain holds a lot of promise.

Pete
from NY
May 9, 2013Music Background:
church worship leader, hobbyist

Nice sound, cumbersome controls for live use

I bought this as a replacement for the Zoom A2, which I had for a couple years and regularly used in our church worship team. So far I have found that the pedal does not color the sound or add noise to the PA system. I found a reverb setting that I like, and a chorus setting that I like. I experimented with the anti feedback button, and it does a nice job finding and killing those unwanted frequencies. I definitely like the boost feature for live performance. I am still getting used to the controls. I have not tried scrolling through presets yet for live use. For me it has more of a learning curve than the A2. Very rugged construction.

Badfinger Blues
from Los Angeles
April 30, 2013Music Background:
Hard working Musician

Good Box, but...

ZOOM's A3 product promo is a bit misleading...I discovered (after purchase), that you are only allowed to have Bank 2 & 3 running EFX patches at the same time! BANK #1 can ONLY be used for the embedded Guitar Models. This is quite disappointing and most inconvenient, especially given the price point. Yes, admittedly the A3 does sound quite good, low noise floor and has several useful key features. But, with only 2 EFX banks, this unit gets down rated. The pre-programmed Guitar & Body modeling has limited value IMO. Also annoying...(a) the ultra smooth, no texture surface on the small rotary KNOBS are way too slick and makes it a hassle to dial in Bank settings, (b) the anti-feedback circuit can not be quickly nulled without 1st stomping thru 4 time consuming button pushes, (c) there is a setting for ni-mh aa batteries, so why not include a built-in recharger as well? OK, so I'm an early first gen user and ZOOM does include a USB Port for future (?) FIRMWARE updates....but my best guess is the current A3 architecture and chip sets will not allow additional EFX Banks...hope I'm wrong, could be a 5 STAR Box.