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!

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.

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.

Ok this thing is wonderful. Set up for the pickiest of guitar players. There are a lot of bass tones that can interfere with the sound-this is a waste of time. Some of these settings work but you just have to take the time with it. Probably seriously 20 mins to dial in. IT IS EASY. I feel like they could have done less. It's definitely worth the buy. Find your settings then take a photo. Buy the case

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 just got this two days ago and used it at home and at band rehearsal. I have nothing but good things to say about the AC3. Does what it’s supposed to do. Tuner seems great, effects sound like they should, EQ is effective, guitar modeling seems ok, boost is awesome,THE ANTI-FEEDBACK button is a lifesaver and most importantly allows me to leave the amp at home. I gig regularly with this! Get one!One improvement would be to have a foot switch to change the effect you are using. Just wanted to give a quick update. Still using every gig last three years! I would buy again!

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.