Zoom B3 multi-effects

[sledgehamer73]

It's not a lie, if you believe it.

[CharlieC]

Originally Posted by Shane Carter

I'm sure people have tried this before, but I'm going to try using the B3 into the Crown XLS 1500 into a GB NeoX-212T. I'm taking the Ampeg SVP pro out of the chain, XLS 1500 into a small rack case. I have to try to lighten up after dragging the 810 to last week's gig.

I have never really paid any attention to the "Amp" effects, so looking forward to finding something usable. Still like this B3.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f36/zoom-b3-preamp-936505

Cheers!

[OzzyGreg]

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so you lied to them...

Hmm...

I'm fine with it.
It's all for a good cause!

[gastric]

Happened to grab a pic of my board as it currently sits. Starts at the Pork Loin, ends at the B3. I use the FS-5U to toggle the master bypass / tuner on the B3. Awesome thing is the B3 powers off the 250ma 9V drop off a Pedal Power.

[CharlieC]

Originally Posted by gastric

Happened to grab a pic of my board as it currently sits. Starts at the Pork Loin, ends at the B3. I use the FS-5U to toggle the master bypass / tuner on the B3. Awesome thing is the B3 powers off the 250ma 9V drop off a Pedal Power.

Nice board!

Not to jinx you, but I would like to point out that the B3 is marked as requiring 500mA. Even if the B3 powers with 250mA, this starvation condition may reduce the B3's performance (i.e. output/headroom) or worse, perhaps it may be robbing the Pedal Power or other pedals of their drops.

Cheers!

[willsellout]

Originally Posted by CharlieC

Nice board!

Not to jinx you, but I would like to point out that the B3 is marked as requiring 500mA. Even if the B3 powers with 250mA, this starvation condition may reduce the B3's performance (i.e. output/headroom) or worse, perhaps it may be robbing the Pedal Power or other pedals of their drops.

Cheers!

I run mine off of a PP2+ and it works fine, no drop in performance.

[gastric]

No issues reported thus far. In contrast the Octavius Squeezer is at the edge running off a 250ma drop.

Unrelated, both the B3 and TC Helicon can run off USB power which is 5V though USB2.0 ports are supposed to support 500ma total draw.

I used to run my Korg G5 from the 250ma drop as well, and it's power adapter was 500ma.

[wshines1892]

I'm on the edge of selling off my pedals and just using the B3, holding out hope that they release the 6 effect update for it. Either that or moving to the zoom b9.1u or possible the Boss GT series. What are your all's thoughts?

[gastric]

Originally Posted by wshines1892

I'm on the edge of selling off my pedals and just using the B3, holding out hope that they release the 6 effect update for it. Either that or moving to the zoom b9.1u or possible the Boss GT series. What are your all's thoughts?

You'll get the same general answers that most get - multi's don't sound as "good" as individual pedals. But you get a LOT of effects for the dollar and footprint, and of course programmable presets. So a high overall value.

[wshines1892]

Yeah, I'm just coming to the slow realization that soloed and through your amp there is a clear difference, but once you get it in a mix and the sound guy has his say on what you should sound like, and you account for the fact that no one really cares that much about what pedal you're using besides you, it all just starts to seems silly to spend $200 or more on individual pedals.

[OzzyGreg]

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For those who need it, here's a link to a copy of Zoom's Edit & Share I have saved to the Google Docs folder full of B3 patches.

(Some have apparently had issues downloading it through Zoom's website.)

[pm2lp]

Originally Posted by wshines1892

Yeah, I'm just coming to the slow realization that soloed and through your amp there is a clear difference, but once you get it in a mix and the sound guy has his say on what you should sound like, and you account for the fact that no one really cares that much about what pedal you're using besides you, it all just starts to seems silly to spend $200 or more on individual pedals.

Well, I think it depends on which individual pedals are you talking about. The B3 is great as a preamp and amp simulator. Dynamics, eq's and time based fxs are also pretty close, and some overdrives are usuable as well. For me the main problems are the modulation and synth fxs. You can't get close to the sound of a POG, wammy or synth wah. Everytime I try to use an octave up effect it doesnt sound acceptable to me, at least for live or studio use. For everything else the B3 is enough, I've been using it live for quite a while now and I've never heard a complain on my sound.

[wshines1892]

I've managed to squeeze out some pretty interesting and usable synth bass sounds from it. I've been meaning to post up some recordings of it.

Dirt box wise I feel like they missed the mark on the compression on them. It's one of those little things I hear clear as day when abing, but doesn't bother me all that much live and in a mix.

There are some things on there I can't seem to figure out how to use like the organ pedal though. Same with the ring mod. I generally stay away from super synths effects though.

I will join the gripe wagon on wishing it did the 6 effects at once. If I were playing direct, that'd take up two of my three slots with a compressor and amp modeling. Not that I often play direct mind you, that would be worst case scenario, but it would still be nice as a security blanket. That and only sending speaker sim to the clue out. That'd be sweet.

[OzzyGreg]

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I will join the gripe wagon on wishing it did the 6 effects at once.

Make sure you email Zoom and tell them!
The more emails they receive the more chance of a firmware update.

Here's the email address of Zoom.

[OzzyGreg]

.

...... The B3 is great as a preamp and amp simulator. Dynamics, eq's and time based fxs are also pretty close, and some overdrives are usuable as well. For me the main problems are the modulation and synth fxs. You can't get close to the sound of a POG, wammy or synth wah. Everytime I try to use an octave up effect it doesnt sound acceptable to me, at least for live or studio use. For everything else the B3 is enough, I've been using it live for quite a while now and I've never heard a complain on my sound.

Thankfully, in view of the low quality of the modulation or synth effects (totally subjective of course!) I've never used the ones in the B3. I've never been a modulation/synth sort of bassplayer anyway. Not my cup of tea.

As far as octave effects, try the pitch shifter, it works far better than the octaver. (Thanks Pilbarabass for the tip!)

[Swift713]

I find the tone of the pitch shifter, especially going up, to be really plastic and artificial sounding. The "mono" is slightly better than the "poly" but it has a big volume drop and its still not what I'd call good. The EHX micro POG is 100x better, IMO, and the BMS is 1000x better tone wise.

[pm2lp]

Originally Posted by Swift713

I find the tone of the pitch shifter, especially going up, to be really plastic and artificial sounding. The "mono" is slightly better than the "poly" but it has a big volume drop and its still not what I'd call good. The EHX micro POG is 100x better, IMO, and the BMS is 1000x better tone wise.

I agree. The best sounding pitch shifter is the mono, still, is far from the real thing. For one octave down it's not that bad, it's actually better than the octaver, like everyone as been saying, but for everything else it's not that good.

[SpectorDetector]

I did my part! Thanks for the link....

Originally Posted by OzzyGreg

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Make sure you email Zoom and tell them!
The more emails they receive the more chance of a firmware update.

Here's the email address of Zoom.

[bass_lord_mutha]

I'm really diggin' the B3. It helped me downsize my pedalboard from this:



To this:



...and does everything the old board did and more.

(And yes, I went a little nuts with a hacksaw and cut my beat up old PT-Pro in half, since that's exactly what I needed!)

[pm2lp]

I'm a little intrigued by the DL4. What does it do that the B3 doesnt?