The ZIO is a fully analog preamp / amplifier pedal that includes a choice of four different preamp circuits, each with up to +20 dB of additional output amplification. ZIO is the first fully analog effects pedal from Source Audio and designed in collaboration with Christopher Venter, owner and sole engineer at SHOE Pedals.

ZIO is a flexible unit that can serve many different purposes at different points in your signal path. Use it at the front of the effects chain to shape the rest of your outgoing tone, after the drive pedals to completely tune the tone or increase the volume, or at the end of the pedal board to trigger a long cable effect, or as a device to restore the sound of your guitar. directly to the input of your amplifier. You can also use ZIO in the effect loop of your amplifier to increase the amplifier's performance or to compensate for level mismatch between the two channels.

The pedal is designed to pick up the guitar's high impedance signal, affect the tone of any of the four preamp circuits, and output a strong low impedance signal that will not be altered by the buffered effect effects pedals further down the signal chain. The high-precision, noise-free Burr-Brown amplifiers help ZIO provide extreme clarity and sensitive dynamics while maintaining an ideal body and warmth. The ZIO has four different preamp circuits. JFET offers fully transparent signal amplification with zero color or distortion. LOW-CUT reduces coarse low-end for louder sound with added pitch. STUDIO finds inspiration in the proven "Pultec Trick", a studio technique that adds clarity by reducing "dirty and unclear frequencies" and adding mid-range articulation. E-PLEX captures the concentrated and fine-grained preamplifiers found in the historic Echoplex Tape Delay units. The TONE ZIO switch offers three different capacity levels (or simulated cable length) to lighten or darken the tone.