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Home » Bass Effects Reviews

 
Zoom 506-II Bass
Reviews
6
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Recommended By Average Price Average Rating
83% of reviewers $75.80 7.0
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Description:
New bass distortion effects including Rich, Tube, Band Pass Enhancer and High Pass Enhancer
New bass modulation effects including Cry, Step, Defret, Pitch and Echo and a range of bass amp modeling effects.
Includes a total of 33 bass effects in seven modules.
Up to nine effects can be used at the same time.
A large rotary selector, easy-to-read red LED display and foot switches make the 506 MKII truly user friendly.
Sounds can be easily stored in up to 36 patch locations.
ZNR (Zoom Noise Reduction)
28 hours of continuous operation with four size AA alkaline batteries along with AC operation
A rear panel input for an available expression pedal
An integrated auto chromatic tuner


Author
groov'ster

Registered User

Registered: March 2005
Location: Lake Charles, LA
Posts: 737
Review Date: Sun April 3, 2005 Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $100.00 | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: small, light weight, simple interface
Cons: no external power switch, manual could have been physically bigger

Was looking for a multi-effects pedal with chorus, compression, wah, and delay. This had those without all of the \"amp/cab simulations\" found on other pedals. I will never use those and do not need to pay for them. I wanted effects only. There are optional power adapters and expression pedals. I did not try either one. I used 4 AA batteries for power.

The setup was easy. Playing with the effects was really easy and most of them actually sounded better than other pedals I had tried out( older bass pod, digitech). Tayloring the effetcs to my liking were easy and did not take away from the tone of my bass. I really like the fact that you can mix up to 8 effects at once. I dont know if I will ever but I have that option.
There is a \"defret\" effect that sounded pleasant to my ears and was musically enjoyable. Although I can hear the distinct differences between the simulated and real fretless I don\'t think most people listening would find it un-attractive. Overall I am satisfied and will purchase the unit. Truth be known, I am trading the aforementioned POD for this unit.

The \"power\" is activated when you insert the instrument cable into the input, and it powers off when the cable is removed. Smart feature but would still be nice to have an actual on/off switch.
The users manual is 32 pages and is small enough to fit in your back pocket. I would have preferred for it to be somewhat larger for a better layout when looking up settings. I can live with this though.

Any questions send me a message.
Peace.

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#1719 MTD535
#290 MBCM
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craig_man_10
Registered User

Registered: August 2005
Location: Peterborough, Ontario
Posts: 55
Review Date: Sat August 27, 2005 Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $99.00 | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: Lightweight, small, good tuner built in
Cons: takes away from the tone

Good product. Found that it took away fromt he tone a little too much. First got it mainly for distorion, but now have an amp with distortion. Only use it for a tuner now.

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"1-9 -7...damn, too early again!"
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rotero

Registered User

Registered: February 2006
Location: Orlando, FL
Posts: 57
Review Date: Wed July 19, 2006 Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $60.00 | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: Cheap, versatile, small, light
Cons: Presets are "over the top", not all FX are good

This is a very good little unit for the price. Read the manual. Program your own presets and you should be able to have at least five or six pretty useful sounds out of it. How many different tones do you use on one gig anyway? It has room for six banks of six presets. One bank should carry you for most situations. The presets are easy to move around and edit, but you will need to spend a few hours experimenting and "taking notes" because they are not arranged in any logical order. I wanted to keep some of the good ones and bunch them together in sensible banks and lose the crappy ones. This took quite awhile, but now it is very easy to use.

I have played it through my big rig and it has held up well. I now primarily use it as a headphone practice tool or when I just want to throw ONE thing in my gigbag and go. The tuner is decent, and if you take time to program it you can get some quality sounds out of it.

The bypass definitely thins you out a bit. It is a piece where you need to set up a good, thick, clean patch as your basic sound and then set up other patches to taste. I'm always disappointed when I bypass it. Bottom line, if you plug into it you should be using it, not bypassing it.

It is what it is. A good, cheap, digital multifx. Tremendous value for under $100. (But my good analog pedals sound sooo much better!)
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darth-bass
Registered User

Registered: June 2006
Posts: 156
Review Date: Mon July 2, 2007 Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $60.00 | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: Multible effect for under 70 bucks.
Cons: None that stand out-although it is made of plastic

This is a great starter pedal to purchase as your first foray into the world of effects ,- you get to know which effects you like and which ones you don't without spending a ton of cash, and then you can go out and get a better multi effects unit or the requisite stomp boxes. Most of the effects really do sound quite good and it is fairly easy to tweak an effect to your liking. The interface leaves something to be desired as it is not very intuitive (An ongoing problem with zoom pedals IMO). Having an onboard tuner is really a nice feature. It is a solid starter pedal.

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The Rickenbacker Club member #92
Rickenbacker 4003, Fender pro 400, Ampeg Hln 4X10
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slipkyes
Registered User

Registered: July 2008
Location: A Coruña, Spain
Posts: 66
Review Date: Sun July 13, 2008 Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $60.00 | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: Tons of effects for a very cheap price
Cons: Some effects sound a bit too fake

This is for now the only pedal I use on my rig, and it has proven very helpful in live situations (I have a studio session coming next week and I`ll see how good it will be on recording) specially with the "live" or "preset" mode which lets you search within all the patches and banks without actually changing the effect until you press both pedals at once to select the effect. Some presets are good and some are crap. I highly recommend taking your time to make your own effects from scratch (with the manual on the other hand because some numbers on the small screen make no sense at all if you dont have the manual) as there are many options that can help you find a pretty decent sound that matches what youre looking for.

of course buying seperate analog pedals or a more expensive digital one (boss anyone?) will be a much more effective solution to all your bass effects needs, but for the price it can very good. There is also an optional footswitch for switching quiclky between banks but i dont recommend (dont have it) because it can be done manually, I am trying to get the optional expression pedal to do some wah and distorsion stuff live (I can get very childish with effects and expression pedals) but it is hard to get here in my country. Additional plus, with the manual beside you it is very easy to use, all modules and effects are explained clearly and to the point, you can`t get lost in it.

P.S. the problem with the manual said by another poster, I never had that problem because i bough this pedal from a friend who had lost the manual, so i simply downloaded it from zoom`s homepage and printed out in very readable size, try that out, its free to download the manuals
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shubball
Registered User

Registered: September 2008
Posts: 20
Review Date: Sun September 14, 2008 Would you recommend the product? No | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 7 

 
Pros: easy to use and change sounds
Cons: you will have to spend a long time making it sound good, especially if you have an active bass

I have had this foot pedal for nearly 2 years I think. I have problems with foot pedals. I have always liked using the natural sound of the bass thru a good amp, but everyone else uses the things, so I bought one. I have actually had the previous model to this one too.

The mark 2 is alot easier to programme and change the sounds, BUT what I always find is that I will be 100% happy with my modified sound and then the next day it will sound awful to me.

I would recommend this pedal to someone who doesnt want to spend much money, but I would not recommend this to anyone who wants a more professional sound, with an active footpedal switch to change the delay, wah and volume live.

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Bass is the most underrated instrument ever, yet it's the only one that makes girls in the audience vibrate.
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