Zoom AC-3 Acoustic Creator - Enhanced Direct Box

This unit has a lot of bang for the buck. It's most useful for me as a DI box and for the effects. It would probably make a cheaper guitar sound a lot better but I can't say that the sound is a lot different than just going direct to the board with my Martin Road Series D11E. But all the other things it does makes it worth having. Where it shines for me is the DI output and the reverb and chorus effects. Both sound very natural and useable. The delay is good also, but you can't use delay and chorus at the same time. so I stick with the chorus and add delay from the board. I have used the tremelo also, and like it too. The EQ section is responsive and works well. The feedback killer is somewhat effective but not always. If your guitar is really howling, it may not take it all away. The adjustable boost function is great, just gives you that extra when you're playing a lead. I'm very happy with the pedal, no regrets.Update: I just used the AC-3 with my new Teton 12 string acoustic electric and it does make this guitar sound quite a bit better when plugged in. I'm using the 12 String setting for the Source guitar and the Dove setting for the Target guitar. There's better bottom, more sparkling highs and less of the low mid range that doesn't sound so good. I'm changing my rating to 5 stars, this thing really does what they advertise!

I had one specific purpose in shopping for an acoustic DI/effects box. I have a shallow-body acoustic (only 2.5" deep) that I love the feel and playability of. But, predictably, it sounds like crap when amplified using it's piezo pickup. I tried and returned several units including the Tech21 Acoustic FlyRig (nice box but couldn't do much with this guitar) and the LR Baggs Align EQ (also nice, but no change). The Zoom AC-3 did the trick. By setting the target guitar to "Resonator" (which my guitar isn't, but who cares?) and setting the pickup switch to "Piezo" it magically removed the quacking squeaks from my low strings. I also like that it has a separate, dedicated reverb (not lumped in with FX) and two nice choruses among its FX with easy editability thanks to an intuitive layout. Sure, there's no looper -- but I have no need for one. And there's no memory storage of presets, but that just makes it easier to use. I barely had to consult the manual, as everything is pretty obviously laid out. The tuner doesn't seem super-precise, but I didn't buy it for that. Overall, this met my needs and I'm happy with it. Good job, Zoom.

At first was not impressed, but I spent some time and got some nice tones out of this unit. I was going to send it back and I still have it in my return cart - but the more I fiddled with it the better I liked it. Tuner is awesome - Pan setting is incredible if you get it dialed in right. Delays - just okay - reverbs - just okay. I use the tape delay and the pan only and the main reverb on the unit. The delay setting are touchy and hard to get that just right sound. Unit is not noisy nor does it feel cheap. I almost got the Fishman version, but glad I got this. The acoustic guitar imitator part is kind of of gimmicky, and I don't use it. Unit is not perfect, but I like it. I'm running it through a Turbosound ip300 with a Yamaha acoustic guitar. Hope this helps someone out.

Versatile easy to use…good sound

Really terrific unit, I much prefer this to the SoulMate. Far better unit, effects simple and useful. Modeling very nice sounding...even the compression is effective!

This unit is full of features and really sound it great when I got it. I was playing my Taylor 414 through the unit and into a Bose L1 PA system and finish a gig on like Wed. That Friday we had another gig and when I plugged in the sound guy said my line was making bad noise. So, we put a filter DI on the output and it helped get through the session. But, 2 days later we tried the same setup and it was too much. Something failed in the unit and it seemed that it died a slow death..... So, I was like 5 days over my 30 day return period but Amazon came through and granted an exception and allowed me to return the unit under warranty. I really liked this unit and would buy again but was worried there may be more bad parts so I went with a Fishman unit and it is working good but not as many features. The tuner on the Zoom worked about the best that I have seen on these EQ units.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of sound/effects this Zoom unit provides. Very easy/intuitive to use. Definitely makes a difference running several of my acoustic guitars through it resulting in a more realistic acoustic sound. Generous variety of modeled guitar selections on the unit mostly aligned with Martin and Gibson models, but experimenting with the selections will likely find a good fit with whatever acoustic guitar you are using . The unit appears to be solid with metal casing and metal foot switches. but the dials/controls are plastic and there is some concern about their ability to withstand some abuse when playing out. Lastly - I would have liked it if Zoom included a “blend” dial to create a mix between the actual guitar pickup sound and the AC-3’s model selection enabling one to ”dial in” just the right amount of acoustic model sound the player desires.

It has allowed me to really be able to dial in new tones on my dreadnaught. It makes me sound better than I am. It was very intuitive to operate and set up for what I want to hear. But mostly it has reawakened my enthusiasm for acoustic playing. It sounds great with my Roland Jazz amp. I have not used it for recording yet but it has the right outputs for that.

Es un buen modelador de guitarra, te permite obtener varios colores de guitarras acústicas legendarias, sus efectos un poco limitados pero te ayudan bastante, el Eq paramétrico es muy bueno y te permite cambiar el tono de tu guitarra de manera drástica, su compresor es sutil pero efectivo, y el Reverb que incluye en el pre se siente natural y lo puedes nivelar a tu gusto en volumen y tono. Lo único malo es que para cambiar de efecto necesitas si o si agacharte a mover la perilla; eso puede resultar un poco incomodo si quieres cambiar varias veces de efecto en una tocada. Un plus son las salidas en estéreo por plug o por XLR, eso para estudio es fenomenal.

Great sounding unit. Easy to adjust settings.

Very useful for live performance

Después de estudiar este pedal y ahora que lo tengo cumplió ampliamente mis expectativas, estoy muy contento ahora mi guitarra acustica tiene carácter y un buen sonido

This is exactly what I was looking for. Very easy to find the perfect sound. Compressor works like a charm. Love this thing.