'thin' sounding effects

[Brett Pearson]

Hi Folks, I recently acquired an old zoom 9002 guitar effects processor, the small one that could fit on your belt. It works quite well with headphones but when I plug it into my amps, it sounds thin. I downloaded the manual off the web and it says that it has a built in amp simulator or something that is supposed to eliminate that 'thin' sound. I have tried different amps, different cords and different guitars to no avail. Would pre-amping the effects processor help? Any help would be greatly appreciated and any info on this processor would be great as I had never seen this one before. (I picked it up at an auction, it was at the bottom of a box of junk I bought)

Best Regards

Brett

[Ray Ivers]

Brett,

I've had one of these for over 10 years, and if it's combined with the right pickup IMO it can sound incredible (I always use it with headphones, though). I tried it with an amp once, and IIRC the 1/4" output sounded pretty weak to me so I used an adaptor from the headphone output, which had plenty of level and sounded a lot better IMO. I had hear that output level from the 'Out' jack was increased in later models, but I don't know firsthand.

One more thing: DON'T overcharge your battery, if you still have one. I now have a 9002 I use, a spare one, and a parts junker, all because these things love to smoke their charge pump power supplies during battery (over)charging.

Ray

[Brett Pearson]

Hi Ray, thank you for your response. I don't have a battery for this unit so I just use a transformer. I had heard that there were some battery issues. I love the sound I get through the headphones, I use mostly gibson with the humbuckers and p-90's. In the headphones the sound is HUGE and I just wish I could get that same sound through the amp. If nothing works its no loss as it really didn't cost me anything. Maybe some day I will look for a battery for it, although I would have to find a charger as well. I thank you for your kind response and hope to talk to you again.

Best Regards

Brett

[Ray Ivers]

Brett,

Here's a link to a 9002-related site:

http://e-lectronics.net/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=9002

Ray