Flashback: Zoom 510

The pedal you see here is Zoom's 510 Dual Driver which is a decade old. Back in 1998, the manufacturer released its 5XX series of pedals & these easily became the most affordable multi-FX unit in the market. I first bought the 505 but deemed it unnecessary 6mths later as I do not employ the modulation & time-based effects modules in it & I still don't today- I'm basically a guitar+amp person (because nothing should get in the way of good tone). The 505 was promptly sold away & the 510 made it into my set up as it is truly the unit which complemented my playing style; I'm particular about drive/ distortion more than anything else when it comes to guitar.

The 510 enabled me to activate a pair of drive modules simutaneously, it was the device which triggered my understanding of a cascading drive concept which liberated my playing tremendously because more drive means:

• less effort needed for picking: less lethargy = less mistakes
• harmonics can be triggered easily

However the trade off here is the increase in background noise & single coil pickup hum; which Zoom duly addressed by incorporating a noise reduction feature. So the 510 triggered my interest in noise reduction as well.

However, the 5XX series evolved to become Zoom's G-series today simply because of its waning popularity- players still deem the rotary control ('knob' to the rest of us) a critical pedal feature as this enables immediate authority when it comes to tweaking.