Zoom G5

The Zoom G5 is a floor multi-effects unit that Zoom describes as "a complete guitar pedalboard in one amazing device"¹. It provides 123 effects and 22 amp and cabinet models, and lets you chain up to 9 of them together¹. What sets it apart from most multi-effects units is a Tube Booster section driven by a real 12AX7 tube, and the Z-Pedal, an expression pedal that moves up and down like a wah pedal and also rotates side to side².

Premier Guitar reviewed it alongside the Fender Mustang Floor and Boss GT-100, counting "22 amps and a whopping 102 stompboxes" and summing it up as "Tons of emulations and effects. Great Marshall and Vox models."³

Four effect sections and the Tube Booster

The G5 is laid out as four effect sections, each with three parameter knobs, effect selector keys and a large display². Zoom describes these as four separate backlit displays, each with its own dedicated footswitch and control knobs, making it easy to edit effects¹. The unit has four multifunction footswitches plus a dedicated Tube Booster footswitch².

The Tube Booster is the analog heart of the unit. Guitar World's review explains²:

That gives you a solo boost with its own tone control, independent of everything happening in the digital chain. The later Zoom G5n takes a different approach, using a digital output booster "to get the bump you need" for solos⁴.

The effect list covers most ground a player would want, including compressors, noise reducers and gates, EQs, wahs, exciters, filters, envelope followers, auto-wahs, step and sequencer effects, overdrives, distortions, fuzzes, amp emulators, acoustic simulators, tremolos, slicers, phasers, choruses, flangers, vibratos, octave and pitch shifters, ring modulators, bit crushers, synths, panners, delays, reverbs and combination effects². All of the amp models and some of the more sophisticated effects, like the M-Filter, Duo Phase and Stereo Delay, offer eight parameters for tweaking sounds².

Zoom's product page lists 123 effects and 22 amp and cabinet models for the G5, with up to nine of them chainable at once¹. Guitar World's review counted 125 effects, also noting the nine-effect chain limit².

The Z-Pedal: up, down and side to side

The Z-Pedal is the G5's most unusual control. Zoom calls it a "revolutionary three-dimensional Z-Pedal"¹. Guitar World describes how it works:

Premier Guitar's reviewer made the same point, noting that the 3D Z expression pedal "not only senses up and down movement, but side-to-side as well, making it possible to control effects parameters in wildly different ways"³. In practice, the side-to-side axis gives you a second expression dimension a normal wah or volume pedal does not have.

Power and connections

The rear panel carries the full set of connections²:

• Mono 1/4-inch input jack with a level switch for passive or active pickups
• Stereo 1/4-inch outputs
• Balanced line-level output¹
• 1/4-inch input for controlling parameters with an optional footswitch or expression pedal
• A USB interface

The input level switch means the G5 works with active pickups without overloading the front end, and the USB connection lets it serve as an audio interface with a computer². The onboard chromatic tuner, integrated rhythm machine and looper round out the utility features¹.

Zoom G5 vs G5n

The Zoom G5n is the successor, a multi-effects processor from Zoom Corporation⁵. Where the G5 gives each of its four effect sections its own display and knobs, the G5n has a large overview display that lets you quickly add, delete or change the order of effects, plus four independent editing displays⁵. It packs in 100 effects and 26 amp models⁶, against the G5's 123 effects and 22 amp and cabinet models¹. The G5n's boost is a digital output booster⁴ rather than the G5's 12AX7 tube section², and the G5n drops the Z-Pedal's side-to-side axis in favor of conventional control.

What reviewers said

Guitar World's reviewer was positive on value, noting the G5 "carries a street price that's less than what I paid for the Mogami cable and Switchcraft plugs to wire up the board" and comparable to a single boutique stompbox². Premier Guitar's verdict highlighted the range: "Tons of emulations and effects. Great Marshall and Vox models."³ MusicRadar's review of the Fender Mustang Floor named the G5 as its rival⁷.

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