Zoom B3 multi-effects

[bass_lord_mutha]

Originally Posted by pm2lp

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

With the DL4 I can switch between three different preset delay types at a time while it keeps a space open on the B3 so that I can use three effects at once plus the delay presets, and in conjunction with the Morley Mini Volume I can come up with some pretty awesome sounds. Soon I will have the Loop Switch mod and Double Preset mod done to the DL4 to do even more damage!

[Nightsun]

right, I've uploaded a couple of patches to the drive shared area after auditioning them last night. As you can see from the names I'm primarily a blues player, so I'm using my B3 to tighten the sound and a little thump to precedings. My B3 goes into a TC RH450 with flat eq, no spectracomp or tubetone, then onto a 2x10 and 1x12 with both tweeter controls on full.

Nightsuns Blues:
This is my main go to sound now, sitting on A0. Using the SVT Amp model with a 8x10 cab simulation, add a little bit of oiverdrive and some compression and voila. A nice tight punchy sound, with plenty of low end and a touch of dirt.

Nightsuns Blues Chorus.
As above but replacing the dirt with a hint of chorus using the DeTune pedal. very nice for slow blues, or anything with more sustained notes.

Next I'll be looking at putting together a nice Stevie Wonder-ish bass synth sound, for when someone calls out 'I wish' at a Jam.

Incidentally, anyone got a patch for a half decent hammondy sound, if that's even possible with this pedal.

Anyway download and have a play, change them to suite and if you use them as the basis for a better sound, please upload them so I can have a listen.

[OzzyGreg]

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right, I've uploaded a couple of patches to the drive shared area after auditioning them last night.

Good stuff Nightsun!

BTW, Crystalman85's Zoom B3 patch ideas thread is a good place for this sort of thing too.)

[gard0300]

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.

I'm currently using this setup. B3 straight into the 1/4" input of the XLS 1500, into a pair of 212s. Running 4 Ohms bridged. I have most patches set at 90-100. Global and Total settings at 100 as well. Plenty of power. I very rarely can even get my 5 light clip meter to come off the first clip light. Great headroom as well. I compete with dual guitarist running 150 watt tubed Mesas. I think you will be very pleased.

[OzzyGreg]

.
After months of wondering, I think I've worked out the "use" of the Splitter effect in the B3.

Ok, so it's essentially a bass and treble boost effect.
The only advantage of it that I can see is that rather than have the crossover point set by the factory (which is usually the case), this allows the user to select his/her own crossover point.

Is that it?
Have I missed something?

[c2c4c]

Would you B3 gurus recommend this for a guy like me, with no bass effects experience, for starting out?

[gjbassist]

Originally Posted by c2c4c

Would you B3 gurus recommend this for a guy like me, with no bass effects experience, for starting out?

Yes. IMO it is a great all around effects unit. It will allow you to play around with so many different effects types. It can be a bit overwhelming at first to learn your way around it. However, the Edit and Share software makes it a lot easier. If you are comfortable using a computer then it's no problem.

[OzzyGreg]

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Would you B3 gurus recommend this for a guy like me, with no bass effects experience, for starting out?

Absolutely.

You'll be switching between factory preset patches (patches are groups of 3 different effects working at once) in no time, trying out all the different sounds.
You can have a ball just doing that!

The other stuff comes with time/experimentation.

[PilbaraBass]

Originally Posted by OzzyGreg

.
After months of wondering, I think I've worked out the "use" of the Splitter effect in the B3.

Ok, so it's essentially a bass and treble boost effect.
The only advantage of it that I can see is that rather than have the crossover point set by the factory (which is usually the case), this allows the user to select his/her own crossover point.

Is that it?
Have I missed something?

Yeah that's pretty much it... Can be used as a fixed LPF or HPF filter... Two together and you can band pass or band reject.

[TheBass]

Originally Posted by c2c4c

Would you B3 gurus recommend this for a guy like me, with no bass effects experience, for starting out?

Even if you just use the compressor most of the time it's worth the money. I mostly use a clean sound with some moderate compression. But from time to time I just like to experiment with some funky envelope wah, add crunch and just play around with some new effects. For me the B3 is a cheap way to avoid expensive effects pedal GAS loose lots of cash in selling unused stuff after a few months. At home I use it as a headphone amp and to practise timing with the internal drum tracks.

[pm2lp]

Originally Posted by c2c4c

Would you B3 gurus recommend this for a guy like me, with no bass effects experience, for starting out?

Yes. Even if you don't use the effects, the B3 is like a swissknife, it does everything you need, live, in the studio or practising at home. You get a preamp, DI and a USB audio interface with the best amp and cab sims in the market. Tuner, drum machine and a looper... and of course, tons of effects.

For me, the only thing that makes this unit not perfet is the limited number of simultaneos effects to 3, unlike the guitar version. If you use noise reduction, compressor and amp, you run out of slots.

[PilbaraBass]

^you need two... Problem solved

[OzzyGreg]

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^you need two... Problem solved

Buy a Zoom G3 and you'll have 9 total!

[Emibass]

I´ll be order one from thomann. I´m not that interested in the amp simulations, though I´m sure sometimes I´ll use them, but I´d like to know about the delays, chorus, synths and specially the reverbs quality. Any one of you tried them out in comparison with other high quality effects units?? I know it might be in different leagues but I´d love to hear comparisons with some studio units.

Also about the looper, how many layers can you record?

Thanks!

[oerk]

Originally Posted by Emibass

I´ll be order one from thomann. I´m not that interested in the amp simulations, though I´m sure sometimes I´ll use them, but I´d like to know about the delays, chorus, synths and specially the reverbs quality. Any one of you tried them out in comparison with other high quality effects units?? I know it might be in different leagues but I´d love to hear comparisons with some studio units.

Also about the looper, how many layers can you record?

Thanks!

It has way more reverb effects than is needed for a bass effect pedal. I've not compared them to studio units, but to my ears they sound pretty good.

You can record as many layers as you want, but you can't re-record layers or fix mistakes - it's all in one recording.

[PilbaraBass]

On the looper... You can activate undo... With undo, you can undo (and redo) the last layer ... The trade-off is that your loop time goes from 40 seconds to 20...

I like the undo function.

[OzzyGreg]

.

I´m not that interested in the amp simulations, though I´m sure sometimes I´ll use them, but I´d like to know about the delays, chorus, synths and specially the reverbs quality. Any one of you tried them out in comparison with other high quality effects units??

I don't know of anyone that has done this and recorded it. No Youtube video comparisons that I've seen.
Maybe go into a guitar shop and do your own "shootout".

IMHO the delays are pretty good with plenty of adjustability.
The chorus effects are great, I use them a lot.
The synths aren't real good. Thankfully I don't use synth effects anyway!
Reverbs are great.

[Emibass]

Originally Posted by OzzyGreg

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I don't know of anyone that has done this and recorded it. No Youtube video comparisons that I've seen.
Maybe go into a guitar shop and do your own "shootout".

IMHO the delays are pretty good with plenty of adjustability.
The chorus effects are great, I use them a lot.
The synths aren't real good. Thankfully I don't use synth effects anyway!
Reverbs are great.

Thanks for the input, I may have to chek it out in a shop. Anyway I`m more into delays, choruses and reverbs, so what you say sounds good.

[c2c4c]

Originally Posted by TheBass

Even if you just use the compressor most of the time it's worth the money. I mostly use a clean sound with some moderate compression. But from time to time I just like to experiment with some funky envelope wah, add crunch and just play around with some new effects. For me the B3 is a cheap way to avoid expensive effects pedal GAS loose lots of cash in selling unused stuff after a few months. At home I use it as a headphone amp and to practise timing with the internal drum tracks.

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm going to purchase one soon.

[Emibass]

From the specs, it says that the sampling frequency is 44.1khz. Do you know if internaly it´s upsampled?

Thanks!