Zoom Review: PS-02

History:

Purchase: Purchased from Internet source - Zzounds.com after research into affordable digital home recorders. I paid $299.00.

What I Like About This Zoom PS-02: The PS-02 has some very nice features. It records to very slick SmartMedia cards. The unit has many built in effects, amp simulations, chromatic tuner, drum and bass tracks and a built in condensor mic. It is certainly compact in size. The controls are fairly simple - there isn't room for many. There are inputs for a musical source such as a guitar (1/4") and a stand alone mic. There is a headphone out. It comes with an A/C adaptor and a small SmartMedia card. The manual is OK. It offers fairly clear descriptions of functions and processes needed to lay down a track.

What I Do NOT Like About The Zoom PS-02: I bought the PS-02 primarily to record acoustic guitar and vocal tracks. The built in effects, amp models, etc. were not very well suited to acoustic guitars. It appeared the unit was designed much more with electric guitars in mind. The adjustments on the effects didn't seem to make much difference. I was never really able to get a satisfactory acoustic sound with either my Taylor 612C or Taylor 310-MCE. The small size of the unit is both a blessing and a curse. Though it is quite portable, the controls are very small. The LCD display is very small. Seeing the display well required me to be pretty close to the unit. Plugging in a 1/4" guitar cord into such a small and lightweight unit meant the cord pretty much determined the position of the PS-02, making seeing the small display often difficult to see. I found I had to prop the unit up and wedge it between something stable like some books to keep it from moving around. Since the actual unit is small, the manual is also rather small. I downloaded and printed a copy of the manual from the Zoom website si it was more readable. The small 8mb SmartMedia card that is supplied is useless for anything but storing the system files needed to fire the unit up. I recommend getting at least a 64mb card. It will handle up to 128mb.

Zoom PS-02 Quality Rating: The controls felt like they were of good quality and I felt they would hold up well over time. I felt the PS-02 was pretty well built and pretty well laid out given its very small size.

Review Summary: Basically, the PS-02 is just too small and not well suited for acoustic guitars. I returned it to Zzounds for a full refund and I am thinking of getting a Boss BR-532.

Rating of this Zoom product: 3

This Zoom PS-02 Recording Gear Review Submitted By: Ed "TaylorGuy" Mehollin

Review Date: 2001-11-23