Korg Review: Pandora PX4

History:

Purchase: I picked up the Korg Pandora PX4 at a Guitar Center in Plymouth Meeting, PA the first week of December. It was "on sale" for $199. That's weird because its advertised for $199 on every website and magazine out there. No way I was paying more than that. I heard about the Korg PX4 through a friend who recently bought a Fender Jazzman Bass guitar. I asked him what type of amp he bought and he said he got the Korg Pandora for Bass. He though it was super cool. After he told me about it I became very intersted and checked out the Korg website. There you will find a streaming video of a live demo. Slick advertising. But I still tested it in the store for about an hour before I bought it. I really didn't look at any other models or do any comparison shopping, I was sure this would do the job.

What I Like About This Korg Pandora PX4: The PX4 rocks because of the small size. Its about the size of a deck of cards and probably weighs less. You can take it anywhere. I used it last week to jam with a friend. I ran it through his Marshall 100 watt head to 2X12 cabinet. Sounded sweet. A week before that I played a mini concert at a small private party through a set of PC speakers. It worked out fine. It really saved me from lugging aroung the old amp. The other cool thing is the selection of amp models, cabinets and effects that come with this thing. There are so many possibilities that sometimes when I am teaking a specific tone I get so deep into playing with the various combinations and settings that I forget what I was originally going for and end up with something completely different but still awsome. No problem I just save the setting and start again. You can save 50 personal settings. I though that was plenty for me but I'm begining to have doubts as everyday I find new tones that I want to save. Not only that, but walking around the house with the headphones on and jammin on my Tele is a liberating experience. I used to have to sit in front of my amp to do that. Now I can go anywhere in the house. Oh and the first set of batteries lasted about three weeks - unbelievable!

What I Do NOT Like About The Korg Pandora PX4: I have been playing the heck out of this little box for about a month now and I have been very happy with it. The only thing that has been negative is that when I connected an AC adaptor all of a sudden there was a lot of noise coming through my guitar pups. I blame it on the single coil pups and not the PX4 but its still a negative thing for me. And it would be nice if they threw in the AC adapter. Plus who really uses the "Ring" effect? This is a useless tone (for me anyway). Kork should get rid of it and add some other sick effect like "crybaby surf pedal".

Korg Pandora PX4 Quality Rating: Overall the construction seems decent. But I wouldn't get rough with it and I would avoid dropping it on the floor. The on/off switch is teeny and a little difficult to control. I almost always push it a little too hard and start in backlight, which is the second click when I mean to start it at the first click. This is just a slight nuisance.

Review Summary: I love it. It's a great practice tool and lives up to everything Korg advertises it to be. The price is right too. It will provide endless hours-o-fun in the woodshed. It's a great buy. Go get one.

Rating of this Korg product: 4

This Korg Pandora PX4 Guitar Effects Review Submitted By: c00lt0m

Review Date: 2003-12-29