THE TECHNOLOGY

Person inspecting saxophone

Popular effects such as Distortion, Chorus and Wah are typically designed to work with the electric guitar. The A1/A1X FOUR provide all-new effects that are engineered to process the unique signals generated by acoustic instruments.

A1X Four Product

WAH Guitar and Sax/Trumpet charts showing frequency and dynamic band pass filter

For example, with the sax and trumpet, original acoustic sounds are controlled by the musician blowing the horn with more or less intensity. As an example, the Wah effects are uniquely re-voiced in the A1/A1X FOUR by adding a Low Pass Filter (LPF) to best control the processed frequency response of the instrument. This allows musicians to hit the peak frequency points while still blowing naturally into the instrument, without losing any expected sonic response of attack and release.

Pre-Dist Filter Frequency Response Chart comparison Violin and Guitar

Another example is the violin. The bowing attack is key to the expression of the violinist.
 To recreate the electrified sensation of distortion without losing the bowing attack, the DIST effect for Violin shifts the clipping 1 octave higher, boosts the high frequency and reduces the lows. This creates a more balanced saturation that suits the sonic characteristics of the violin.

FEATURES

A1 FOUR offers over 80 built-in effects / A1X FOUR offers over 90 built-in effects

Dedicated effects for acoustic guitar, saxophone, trumpet, violin, and harmonica

Up to 5 effects can be used simultaneously, chained together in any order

50 memory locations for storing user-created patches

Looper for recording up to 30 seconds / 64 beats of CD-quality audio with seamless start and end times

ZOOM Guitar Lab software for creating, editing and managing effects and patches

68 built-in rhythm patterns tailored for unplugged styles of music can be used in combination with the Looper

Onboard chromatic tuner supports all standard guitar tunings, including open and drop tunings

Output jack for connection to amp or headphones

A1 FOUR and A1X FOUR runs on 4 AA batteries, with alkaline battery life of 18 hours; MAA-1 Requires 2 AA batteries

USB port for firmware updates, power and connection to ZOOM Guitar Lab

*Manufacturer names and product names mentioned in this presentation are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners and do not indicate any affiliation with ZOOM CORPORATION.  All product and artist names are intended only to illustrate sonic characteristics that were used as reference in the development of this product.

SPECS

A1 FOUR/A1X FOUR

MAXIMUM NUMBER OF SIMULTANEOUS EFFECTS            5

USER PATCHES  50

SAMPLING FREQUENCY 44.1 kHz

A/D CONVERSION            24-bit, 128× oversampling

D/A CONVERSION            24-bit, 128× oversampling

SIGNAL PROCESSING      32-bit

DISPLAY               128x32 dot matrix LCD

INPUT

INPUT   Standard mono phone jack Rated input level: -20 dBuInput impedance (line): 470 kΩ

AUX IN  Stereo mini jack Rated input level: -10 dBuInput impedance (line): 1kΩ

OUTPUT

OUTPUT               Standard stereo phone jack (combined line/headphone) Maximum output level: Line +2 dBu (10 kΩ or more output impedance)Headphones 17 mW + 17 mW (32Ω load)

INPUT S/N           120dB

NOISE FLOOR (RESIDUAL NOISE) -97 dBu

POWER AC adapter: 9V DC 500mA center negative (ZOOM AD-16) 4 AA batteries (about 18 hours continuous operation time when using alkaline batteries with the LCD backlight off)

USB        USB MIDI, USB Micro-B Power can also be supplied through the USB port.When using a cable designed only for power, other USB functions cannot be used.

EXTERNAL DIMENSIONS A1 FOUR Height: 156 mm (D) × 130 mm (W) × 42 mm (H)Weight:  340 g (excluding batteries)A1X FOUR   Height:  156 mm (D) × 216 mm (W) × 52 mm (H)Weight:  610 g (excluding batteries)

MAA-1

INPUT   INPUT XLR balanced input (2: hot) Input gain: +3 – +30 dBInput impedance: 10 kΩMaximum input level: +4 dBu+48V phantom power

OUTPUT               Standard mono phone jack Nominal output level: −20 dBuMaximum output level: +7 dBuOutput impedance: 1 kΩ

POWER 2 AA batteries Continuous operation time (when phantom current is 3 mA) About 15 hours (using alkaline batteries)
About 15 hours (using nickel metal hydride batteries)

EXTERNAL DIMENSIONS Height:  177 mm (D) × 23 mm (W) × 25 mm (H) Weight : 70 g (excluding batteries)                 0 dBu = 0.775 V