Zoom Review: 707II

History:

Purchase: Bought secondhand from Music-Go-Round, a local used gear store I paid about $80.00 total

What I Like About This Zoom 707II: It has a variety of effects - most are quite good. Phase and Flange are both strong, several of the amp simulations are very accurate. This may be a matter of taste but there are several effects that I would be extremely unlikely to ever use. It allows personal input to shape the effects to suit your own needs. It allows use with batteries in addition to plugging into electric mains via an adapter.

What I Do NOT Like About The Zoom 707II: It is complex to use not aided by the fact that the manual was most likely written in Japanese and translated badly. Though the company has a website, it is also not thorough or clearly communicative in English. It may be brilliant in Japanese- but I wouldn't know. It has what seems to me to be a completely extraneous drum machine built into it. I suppose that might be a plus to another - but It just increased the learning curve on the machine for me. Although it allows saving bits of music recorded onto flashcards, despite reading the manual I have yet to successfully get it to transfer its stored data to the computer. It does not allow (or I have not figured out) playing and listening -post effects while sending a pre-effect signal to my recorder. - These are manual issues mostly.

Zoom 707II Quality Rating: It is ruggedly constructed, has over the past 6 months already survived being dropped, having cords and other gear dropped on it, being taken over as a cat-bed by a kitten and other usual daily -real-world use. It seems to have remarkably strong battery set-up. 2 sets of batteries in 6 months compares very favorably with my digital camera - which uses a minimum of 1 set per month.

Review Summary: Sturdy, versatile, fairly priced, but with a long learning curve and poor materials to help one to learn. This has some very nice effects which are combineable

Rating of this Zoom product: 4

This Zoom 707II Guitar Effects Review Submitted By: Avery T. Deacon-Harrie

Review Date: 2004-05-17