Review: Zoom 607 Bass Multi-Effects Pedal
(Zoom | Posted 2002-01-22)
Zoom products have been around quite a while now and have become especially well know for their entry level multi-effects products that fight for market share in a very crowded and competitive market. It seems every time a manufacturer comes out with a new feature laden product, another company packs more into the same price range and effectively raises the ante in the budget multi-effects “wars”. The Zoom brand continues the tradition with the release of the new 607 Bass Multi-Effects unit.
With high expectations, I de-boxed our 607 review unit and began the exploration process. The 607 has 35 effects; 9 can be used simultaneously. You may think that’s a lot for this price range ($149 MSRP), and you’re absolutely right. As with any product with this many effects - some are much more useful than others, and you’ll quickly develop a list of favorites. The 607 also includes an expression pedal, which is a great step up from the 506.
At first, after having removed the unit from it’s clear plastic wrap I must admit I felt a bit disappointed. The 607 is an all plastic pedal. Zoom has a history of producing all plastic pedals that many folks question the durability of, however my experience was that the 607 can take quite a stomping! I threw everything I had at this unit in several multi-hour sessions and it held up just fine. For a plastic unit in an entry level price range, it’s certainly well built and solid.
Next came the sound check. I plugged in my Peavey T-40, cranked up my amp and started jamming. I played everything I knew. It sounded beautiful! I was very impressed! Editing one of the 35 patches is a bit difficult and tricky at first, though. I feel that the manual could have gone into more depth in its’ explanation of patch editing. However, once I edited a few patches I became very comfortable with the unit and was able to throw all my creative talents at the 607 and get excellent results every time. The range of tonal bliss even included a fuzz wah effect and death metal distortion. Some other cool surprises within the patch banks are various slap and pop tones. As an added touch, the pedal also includes an easy to use chromatic tuner.
I like to play everything from blues to hip-hop to thrash. I tried playing songs from groups like Metallica, Fuel and Incubus. I was even successful creating the flanger bass sound so popular with the bass player from Incubus. The pedal was on the mark for those sounds. Moving on, I played selections from Staind but I couldn’t seem to duplicate their signature rumbling bass sound. In the attempt to achieve the rumble sound, I set the pedal to bypass, turned down all the mid’s and shift’s, then cranked the bass and treble up to ten. The sound was not achieved with the 607 because it does not include a three-channel equalizer such as its higher-class cousin, the 708. If you’re going to take this pedal to your next band practice, then you’ll want to make use of its band enhancement feature. This feature enhances the patch you’re playing to make it more distinct. I got more echo, more flanger, more of everything! Things were really sounding good. Although while I was playing, some buttons got in the way like the gain and drive selector. For instance, when I would be using a distorted tone, I would end up accidentally hitting the gain knobs and turn off my distortion. It could be that I’m clumsy, but I kept knocking into the gain and drive buttons while selecting patches within songs. I also noticed that I was getting a lot of static out of my amp. I then remembered I had read in the manual about another feature called Zoom Noise Reduction (ZNR). I tried it, and it worked great! It sounded like my amp wasn’t even on – no hum, no buzz, nothing! Just the beautiful tone of my T-40 coming through strong.
With so much to choose from, some of the effects can seem useless, however they can be a lot of fun. Take the “Plane” effect for example. It adds the sound of an aircraft passing by to your bass. It’s a really nice add-on in some songs. The 607 also has a “Taurus” effect for you funk players out there. Try experimenting with that effect for a while and then add an octave up effect to play solos from “Voodoo Child” – I was getting very close to the same tone. On the flip side, If you find any effects that you think you’ll never use, you can easily cut individual patches out and bring them back as you wish. The 607 allows you to copy over 7 of the original patches with creations of your own.
What can be improved? One thing I disliked about the pedal is the fact that the batteries run out so quickly (a common problem with a lot of other effects processors). I highly recommend you purchase an AC adapter if you plan on playing for extended periods of time. My batteries ran out right in the middle of practice once! Second, there is no actual “clean” patch, however engaging both pedals at once, you’ll bypass the unit and have the sound of your bass as if the effects pedal wasn’t even there. This saves having to mess with cables to disconnect the pedal. Finally, I would expand on the manual included with these units. With so much functionality it can take a little while to get over that “overwhelmed” feeling – a more detailed, yet easy to understand manual would help greatly with this situation.
Bottom Line:
The 607 excels at heavy metal, soft rock, blues, funk and more. I feel it lacks pre-programmed jazz-bass sounds, however there are web-sites with a plethora of user-created patches that would fill this void. Other than that, I like it. It’s durable, high quality, and superb for its price. Feature for price, the ZOOM 607 Bass Multi-Effects Pedal is a top pick.
