List Price: $330.00
Sale Price: $119.90
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- A compact processor for guitar and bass
- USB Interface capability
- Famous Korg 'REMS' modeling technology. 180 variations of classic and cutting-edge guitar amps, bass amps, cabinets, classic and new effects.
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I've had the Pandora for two weeks now and I've used it extensively. So far, I am pleased that I bit the bullet and shelled out the money for this thing. It's loaded with all sorts of features, and most importantly, it prevents me from being turned off my instrument because of crappy sound (I am on vacation, about 7000 miles away from my beloved amps and mixers and doodads and geegaws).But take note, if you are listening to this thing through mediocre headphones or earbuds, you will hear a very sub-par and overall tremendously frustrating sound. For example, my Sony earbuds that I would rate 8/10 for iPod listening makes the Pandora sound totally tinnyscoops out all the mids, boosts the uselessly high treble and muddies up the bass. You will sit there trying to dial in a usable tone cursing the paint off your walls.
On the other hand, I have a pair of Audio-Technica M50 studio monitor headphones (no product endorsement, just saying what works for me) that sounds fantastic with the Pandora. So I guess the moral of my story is to pair this headphone amp with headphones that have a flat EQ response.
Because the Pandora is marketed as a headphone amp doesn't mean you are confined to headphones. I plugged the Pandora into a cheap bass amp and my guitar actually sounded pretty good! I can't wait to plug it into a good sound system and let it scream. From what I've heard, people have had a lot of success with going direct into PA or going through guitar or bass amps.
As far as the effects go, they gave me pretty much all I need and much much more. I am overall impressed with the built in reverb and delay effects, and the distortion sounds very good also. Some of the effects work in stereo so you can get that left to right rotary speaker effect. On top of the effects that I use all the time (reverb, distortion, compression, etc.) there are some WACKY stuff in here that I really haven't been able to use except for a few laughs. The intelligent harmonizer holds some potential although the tracking has a tiny, barely noticeable but noticeable hesitation. But since I'm greedy and I like having the option of oodles of stuff even though I might not use them, I would rate the effects on the Pandora 9/10 (where 10 is reserved for OMG EVERYTHING IS SO GOOD)
Korg put a lot of amp/cab/effect combo presets onto the Pandora, and when I started out, I used "Linkin" for my distortion, "Pop" for clean chorusy stuff and "Fab4" for clean tones. I ended up being 10% dissatisfied with them, so I just made my own presets and now I am 99% satisfied. The tweaks weren't big, like dialing down the distortion and adding a touch of reverb to "Linkin" preset and killing the teeny OD on "Fab4" etc. Much like the effects, some of the presets are wacked out. There is a preset on there called "Ill" and I can't for the life of me figure out how to use it in a musical way. Another preset called "Fire" has a really cool fuzzed out sound for single note melodies but goes haywire when you start playing harmonies. It might work really nicely for Muse basslines and such.
One thing I like about this is the AUX input and how it can transcribe recordings to your desire. It has made learning new songs for vocals and guitar much more convenient. The bass canceler function seems to work pretty well, and I imagine it would come in really handy, although I am separated from my bass right now. Korg included a lot of drum loops and an option to add basslines to those drum loops for jamming and practice purposes, but I wouldn't build my career on those drum/bass loops... they can sound kinda cheesy.
The construction of the Pandora looks very solid. I was worried at first that the Pandora would be built like the Korg tuners, which are light plastic without much heft, but I was happy to find that the Pandora feels really rugged. The instruction manual is comprehensive and is multilingual (if you ever get the urge to learn how to talk about flangers in German or something...)! I've been using batteries to power mine since I didn't get a wall adapter, and I burned through a pair of AAs in a week and a half of thorough use.
Other than that, the thing comes with a mini version of Ableton Live, the adapter cable for the footswitches (not included, planning on getting one myself) and the USB cable. Korg even included little rubber pads so the little rectangle doesn't get pulled off the table.
Overall, very happy with the product. Cheers, Korg!
For people who don't want to read all of my drivel,
Pros:
Great sound with good listening devices
Lots of useful effects
Lots of useful amp and cabinet models
Good presets
Very utilitarian (backlight option for the screen, etc.)
Solid construction
Neutral:
Some effects and presets I would never use
Doesn't come with wall adapter
Small learning curve in navigating through the menu
Cons:
Adjusting volume balance between aux and input is finicky.
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I give this unit great marks for the sound quality and features. I also find that the engineers/designers did a good job thinking about how people would use this device and they provided the flexibility to do just about anything. BUT, there are 2 major weaknesses in this product as a whole. Three categories go into making a great product: The Device, The Manual, The Customer Service.1. In my opinion, Korg is not known for having great manuals. It's so sad to me that a product developer utilizes a really great sound engineering department and then weakens the customer satisfaction equation by utilizing weak technical writers or translators. Here's an example: In the TROUBLESHOOTING section regarding the USB connection to your computer: "Refer to the owners manual of the connected device to insure that it responds to the messages you are transmitting." THIS STATEMENT IS REDICULOUS AND MEANINGLESS AND TOTALLY UNHELPFUL. Why put it into the manual. I am a system developer and I can assure you that 99.9% of consumers have no idea how to "verify that it responds to messages you are transmitting." Other troubleshooting help just says "contact the dealer". Are they kidding? Are you really going to call Amazon for tech help on a USB problem? KORG should have reliable customer services in place for every product.
But, here's the best example of what I call inexcusable. This problem has caused people to return the item for refund or exchanges with Amazon. I know this for a fact. The problem is induced by the KORG manual in the section about performing the KEYLOCK function. It's a great feature to disable the keys during your gig to preclude inadvertently changing modes etc. Again, technically, this is a great feature yet it was essentially rendered inoperative by the Owner's Manual. The Manual states, " Hold
the down the EXIT button and press the TAP/BYPASS button. The LCD will indicate KEYLOCK for approximately one second."
NOT !!!
Like I said, units have been returned and exchanged only to be discovered that the exchanged unit does the same thing. All my attempts to get answers from KORG via the web have gone unanswered. I started trying to figure out what's going on with these units. I checked the German Translation for this function and it reads the same thing. But, in JAPANEESE, the manual says something totally different. I don't read Japaneese but of the few terms of English (button markings and functions), I was able to determine that instead of the TAP/BYPASS button being used, the Japaneese instructions say to use the CURSOR (up) button. BINGO ! HOPSING! That was the solution.
With a unit that has been on the market (well over s/n 15,000 sold), this error should have been highly published. I see forums where people are still fighting this issue and having this problem. I'm sure that KORG is aware but what are they doing about it?(I just got automated messages.) Anyone who buys this unit is going to spend a lot of time pulling their hair out unless they read Japanese.
So, in the final analysis, the product hardware quality is 5 stars but don't expect much help if you need it. Software instruction and functionality is 1 Star (the USB works great on a MAC but we tried 2 different P/Cs with XP Home, SP3 with no success.) And, customer service is a 1 Star.
Product : 5 Stars
USB P/C : 1 Star
Customer Svc: 1 Star
Manual : 0 Stars ( Crucial Errors and Non-sense.)
I hope this helps. Now I can finally get down to enjoying the product itself. I can get by without USB functions but I hate to pay for the feature and never get it to work for me on either of 2 different high-quality P/Cs. Again, it works fine on a MAC.
Best regards.
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Actually this device is much more than a toy. I record weekly with a keyboard player and I no longer need to take my guitar amplifier to this session. I just carry the PX5D along with the necessary cords and attach it directly to his mixer which is hooked directly to his PC. I can change guitar sounds as the music requires. I can also plug the PX5D into my PC via a USB port and quickly edit the user settings for sounds and also program rhythm chains easily. The device seems to be very well made and has performed flawlessly so far .Want Korg PX5D Pandora Guitar and Bass Multi Effects Processor Discount?
Rarely do I take the time to rate a product, but I've been very happy with the PX5 since I got it for Christmas. It's been REALLY fun! It's easy to use, sounds really good, and makes playing a blast. If you're seriously thinking of getting a processor, I highly suggest this product. The ONLY complaint I have is that the power cord is not included. It doesn't seem to be sucking down batteries, but I'd rather run in with an AC adapter. I'll have to purchase that soon..... Overall, 5 stars!
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