New toy. Zoom B9.1ut

darkstorm · #1 06-24-2010, 05:25 PM

Ok, got Zooms B9.1ut to replace my broken Zoom Player 3000B. Took awhile to find basic overdrive equivalent for the one I used on the Player 3000. But once that was done and eq reset to taste, dialing in the ring modulator and little bit of reverb for room ambience was pretty easy. Ive just barely putzed around with the other effects, but they seem more useable then the ones that was on the Player3000 for me. The 4 way pedal is a trip, and will take some getting used to etc for useing to best effect when wanting pedal control. But should be wonderfully trippy once I get the hang of it. Lol. The B9.1ut only shortcoming compared to my old unit is less eq onboard. Is 6 instead of 8 band. But variable selection of eq type helps make up for the loss of the 50Hz slider it had. Fewer master tones for diff modules as well. But is able to get equivalent tonal sound after much messing around with it. Lol.I do have to ride the ultra low bass higher to compensate. And decrease the mids a little since the eq is all in one module instead of split between two with seperate out levels. The socalled presence control on B9.1ut is little lower then the high eq on the Player3000 which is nice. Closer to that magick 6k range.

Overall I rate this new unit from Zoom best Ive used. Since the overdrive allows for a little more and the other effects I didnt much use on the old unit are more appealling to me on the new one. It'll take awhile to get real familair with the other effects in use for dialing them in just right.

Like their other units Ive owned and own, best sound comes with cranking the output level a good deal higher then the presets are at. No surprise there. Seems common thing with multi effect units feeding mixers direct for ready for recording sound.

The units pretty large, very solidly built. The addition of a tube onboard which is blendable with solid state is nice. Not a big diff, but makes for useful little tweak to tone. I do expect the tube to provide a little more tonal char of its own after its been running in use for awhile and gotten broken in. Had the unit going for about 3 hrs after getting it home.

Anyone else useing Zooms as their processor of choice?

The one surprise so far has been liking adding a little bit (20%) blend of the swr4x10 cab effect. On their other units Ive turned cab effect completely off for my ready for recording and mixer input voice.

darkstorm · #2 06-24-2010, 05:37 PM

Heres pic.

Crystalman85 · #3 06-24-2010, 06:15 PM

Nice...congrads on your purchase. I have a zoom b2.1u. it sounds awesome.

KPJ · #4 06-24-2010, 07:23 PM

I love my B9. It is the command center for me. Most times I'm only using light compression, but I have a few modules set up to toggle through quickly to get different drive effects. I like the pedal synth. You have to play with it a bit, but you can dial in some nice sounds. It is tricky getting used to playing parts on it.

I've used the tube preamp to good effect to get some nice overdrive and crunch sounds, especially combined with the boost control on my GK combo.

ga_edwards · #5 06-25-2010, 02:56 PM

Congrats, it is a great unit. Although admittedly mine lives in a case under my bed as it is surplus to requirements lately in my current band and my current dual output setup. Never-the-less, a great multi. And I think millions of others will agree, much better than the old Zoom Player series. Actually, anything is better than the old Zoom player series.

NB - a friend of mine contributes, writes reviews for Guitarist magazine in the UK and was for a while the music editor. He gave an honest review of the old Player 3000S guitar multi years ago and zoom formally requested he no longer review their products as he said it was awful and actually a massive step backward from the previous generation 9000 series that started it all! BTW - he also now says that their later stuff with the 3rd gen processor in is much better.

darkstorm · #6 06-25-2010, 03:47 PM

Humm, found a way to adjust the freq centers for the 6 band eq, that helps get voice like I want it better. Overall I like the zoom player 3000 a little better for the eq and overdrive. The B9.1ut lets me get close enough, but thbe player3000's overdrive was little nicer sounding. The B9.iut however has more useable flanger and delays/echoes. I found most of the units after the player series rather lacking for overdrive voices enjoyment. perhaps editor for magazine wasnt into overdrive or distortion for bass. I had the previous 9000 series and while better then most other brands out there at the time I found the Player3000 a nice step up from those for me. Of course I'm not into run of the mill bass voicing though. The units below the B9.iut are ok but not suitable bass wise to me, not enough difinition in the voices and the ring mod in the other units is rather sad sounding to me compared to the player3000 and B9.iut. The lower price untis however are probably just fine for typical bass voices.

darkstorm · #7 06-26-2010, 05:44 PM

ga_edwards...> Finally got it to equal and better the overdrive voice my ole player3000 had. Weird, but useing rthe passive pup setting in its pup selector, works better with my active basses. Even though its also a lower volume setting. Seems like backwards to me for settings. Lol. But between flipping that switch, and backing off the comp level out a bit solved the problem there. Anyway, on your side now for this new one beats the old player series in all catagories. Lol.

Grateful · #8 06-28-2010, 07:40 PM

Having owned a B2 and a B2.1u, I picked up a B9.1ut a few months back and it has become my main effect. I go from the bass through a Morley Wah/Volume pedal into the amp, then have the Zoom in the effects loop. Yes. There are better envelope filters and other individual effects, but it does exactly what I need it to do. The Zoom is just too easy and sounds too good for what I do.

I have my main effect set up so that I can punch in a Chorus, a Wah, some crunch and some reverb, plus one of those 5 second loops. I use the 'Air' effect to help out with my EUB, and it adds an awesome kinda depth to it.

But the main thing for me is using the MIDI connector to setup my effects. No diving through menus and twiddling knobs. Set it, save it, send it.