IS THE DIGITECH BNX3 RIGHT FOR ME?

[sneaky]

Hello, this is my first post here, and I am in need of some advice before i make some important gear choices.....

I am wondering whether the digitech bnx3 alongside the additional footswitch will do everything that a digitech jam man loop pedal can do + the obvious barrage of effects n stuff?

originally i was thinking that in order to successfully loop myself, trigger off samples/backing loops as wavs, and have the necessary sound library and effects to mess around with - i would need several different pedals - the jam man+ the extra footswitch, and some kind of multi effects pedal. But now i have stumbled across the bnx3, can anyone tell me if this will do everything in one? i have just made my eyes water by trying to digest the manual online but can´t figure out whether the looper feature is comprehensive enough. Has anyone got any hands on experience with this feature and it´s limitations. i´d like to be able to undo last takes and also record and switch between sections in order to make whole arrangements live and on the fly. for a long time i have been using a bass pod with foot controller plus a line 6 delay/loop modeller(the green one) but have reached it´s limitations.

to give you an idea of what the setup is for i am building a live show featuring my self playing an upright clifton bass (plucked and bowed) and a homemade frettless short scale bass guitar. alongside a drummer.

Any help or advice would be super appreciated!!!

cheers,
Sneaky

[jointus]

The BNX-3 does not have as much recording time available as the Jam-Man. The Jam-Man can have as much as 6.5 hours of recording time, with a compact flash card. The BNX is limited to 96 minutes of recording time and also uses the older SmartMedia cards. (Maximum usable card size is 128 MB.)

You can record and overdub on the fly with the BNX but you can't switch between sections of songs seamlessly. You can create multiple "songs" and switch between them but you have to stop one "song" to switch to the next.

You can also load tracks onto the SmartMedia disk and play over them. I mainly use the BNX as a practice device but I have done live looping with it too.

A dedicated looping device may be more of what you are looking for.
Check out Looper's Delight for more info on looping devices.

Hope the helps.

[sneaky]

thanks jointus you´ve made it clear that i am probably better getting a separate jam man for looping. ok, so......in that case are there any multi effects pedals like the bnx3 with as many effects/sounds etc but minus the recorder and loop function?? i am trying to find one unit that will do what my bass pod + big foot controller does. preferably with even more sounds!

[~ignited~wings~]

I own it and the looper is actually pretty damn good. Do you really need 96 minutes of looping time? If you want a recording console, it won't be enough, but as a live looper it's perfectly fine. It's very easy to use.

[sneaky]

for me it´s not so much about the amount of looping time (96mins should be sufficient)but the ability to switch between sections and also trigger off small samples(wavs) over the top is important. the recording console i am not so fussed about as a live tool.

[Swimming Bird]

Welcome to TB.

So will the Jamman have enough control for you even with the extra footswitch?

You may want to wait for the Line6 M-13 to come out. It has all of their --4 series, a compressor and the verbzilla, plus a looper. Really neat control setup too. It lets you use four effects (up to four of the same if you like) and can save 12 patches (I think).

It seems most modern multi-fx are going to have built-in loopers, so I wouldn't worry about it as a feature -- I don't see how having fewer loopers would be a bad thing.

[sneaky]

i think with the extra footswitch the jam man will do the job, not 100% certain as i haven´t tried it yet. my only concern is about triggering off wavs independantly over the top whilst i´m looping. but as far as i can ascertain from the manual, with the FS i can skip through wavs loaded on the memory card and trigger??

the L6 M-13 looks very interesting but i think the looper on it may be a bit basic for my needs (similar to the one on the delay stomp box i already have)

[BrentSimons]

Originally Posted by ~ignited~wings~

I own it and the looper is actually pretty damn good. Do you really need 96 minutes of looping time? If you want a recording console, it won't be enough, but as a live looper it's perfectly fine. It's very easy to use.

Hi there,
I had really high expectations for the BNX3 but had a huge issue with noise. It sounded like a ground hum or something. This was even with the unit bypassed. I tried several different BNX3's but they all had the same problem. Bummer. The software, effects everything was pretty top notch.
B

[~ignited~wings~]

Originally Posted by BrentSimons

Hi there,
I had really high expectations for the BNX3 but had a huge issue with noise. It sounded like a ground hum or something. This was even with the unit bypassed. I tried several different BNX3's but they all had the same problem. Bummer. The software, effects everything was pretty top notch.
B

Strange, mine makes no noise at all. Did you have the output knob turned full on when you powered it up? Because you're supposed to turn it on, set your amp and bass volume, and then only roll it up as necessary.

[BrentSimons]

Originally Posted by ~ignited~wings~

Strange, mine makes no noise at all. Did you have the output knob turned full on when you powered it up? Because you're supposed to turn it on, set your amp and bass volume, and then only roll it up as necessary.

I don't recall. It's been quite some time since I had one. I'm pretty sure I went into my amp's effect return, bypassing the amp's preamp. I remember reading complaints about the noise on the Digitech sound community website and Bass Player's review of the BNX3 talked about the noise quite extensively. I bought it regardless and sure enough there was the noise/hiss. I just read recently that Stu Hamm was using one though.
B

[sneaky]

thanks for the tips i wasn´t aware of any noise issues with the bnx3 but good to know. i tried the korg toneworks ax3000b in a shop the other day and that seemed very noisy! couldn´t get into it at all.

can anyone who knows the jam man inside out confirm or not whether samples loaded on the memory card can be triggered over the top of looping?? also when creating loops/arrangements on the fly how user friendly is it regarding switching between sections etc???? how does it compare to the Boss RC-50?????????????

[sneaky]

Originally Posted by sneaky

thanks for the tips i wasn´t aware of any noise issues with the bnx3 but good to know. i tried the korg toneworks ax3000b in a shop the other day and that seemed very noisy! couldn´t get into it at all.

can anyone who knows the jam man inside out confirm or not whether samples loaded on the memory card can be triggered over the top of looping?? also when creating loops/arrangements on the fly how user friendly is it regarding switching between sections etc???? how does it compare to the Boss RC-50?????????????

Can anyone pls help me with this?? i really NEED to get the right gear sooon and am waiting on some pivotal advice!