Is the zoom b3 really worth buying?

[lowsmatter]

Thanks for all your responses. I might give it a try although I have size 15 shoes!

 

[lowsmatter]

Relating to my size 15 shoes.... could someone measure the total width of the b3 as well as the distance between the foot switch buttons? Thanks!

 

[jimfist]

approx 2.625" center to center on the footswitches. Overall unit is about 9" wide.

 

[gjbassist]

Thanks for all your responses. I might give it a try although I have size 15 shoes!

I'm a size 13 wide width and I have had no issues with accidentally stepping on wrong foot switch.
I have had my B3 for about a year now and I can't imagine being without it. It's a great, versatile unit for not a lot of money!

 

[Sav'nBass]

Seems like the whole might not be greater than the sum of its parts. I'm looking for high quality octave, chorus, compression and a bit of grit to enhance my carvin bx500, fEARful 15/6 & 15 sub rig.

I don't own any pedals.

When you consider that an EBS octabass runs $160. A Boss OC-3 runs $130. MXR M288 is $150. How can zoom furnish all that the b3 has and still end up with comparable sound quality?
Adding decent chorus pedal like the mxr chorus deluxe would be $170.

The choruses and flangers are good.. the compressors are good enough for me ... a few of the synth sounds are decent as well.. the amp/preamp models are very nice but the bottom line is .. with the B3 you can tweak it beyond the stock patches.. I don't use much in the way of effects but for what I do use the B3 is nice.. the DI is clean.. the tuner is great and all of the effects IMO are good enough to give you decent effects... some are better than others.. and obviously there will be single pedals that will do some of the effects better.. but for bang for the buck the B3 has no equal as far as bass effects go.

 

[OzzyGreg]

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A general question to B3 users: Do you turn off the cabinet simulator when playing through an amp?

I did for a while, but recently I've been using about 25% cab sim sometimes. Adds a little flavour, but not enough to muddy the sound to my ears.
When recording I turn the cab sim right up.

 

[jimfist]

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I did for a while, but recently I've been using about 25% cab sim sometimes. Adds a little flavour, but not enough to muddy the sound to my ears.
When recording I turn the cab sim right up.

to me, this is an either/or dilemma...

use cab sims full on when routing to a full range (PA type) amplification system. Turn cab sims off (mix value =0) if using a traditional bass cab. Otherwise, you wind up compromising one at the expense of the other when sending your signal to both a traditional bass rig as well as a direct feed to PA system.

If FOH sound support is strong, I would use cab sims on (to taste, mix value up to 100) to benefit the FOH, and adjust your traditional bass rig on stage, trying to make it sound as reasonable as you can, if that is possible. Use supplemental stage monitor wedge bleed to strike a balance.

There are more complex ways to solve this problem, but that's another story altogether.

 

[Jools4001]

I've only ever used an occasional touch of chorus or maybe an octave divider on some songs. I've never liked or used distortion, so the FX section of the B3 is nice to have but far more than I need or care about.

I run my B3 directly between the bass and an ART ProChannel preamp. I use the ART for level matching but mainly because it has a really, really flexible parametric EQ that I use as global EQ to tune my tone for the room...that way I know that, regardless of venue, all my patches will sound as I want them to. The ART also has the benefit of having a really nice compressor, so I use that for all compression duties.

What I find the B3 fantastic for is the amp modelling and the ability to store patches. In this way I can set up a different patch for every song in our set list, tweak them easily with the laptop connected to USB, and drag and drop the patches into order when I get the set list a couple of days before each gig. This means I can go from bright and aggressive to old school thump to a patch for my fretless etc. etc. all at the prod of a footswitch.

I use a touch of cab sim because my Barefaced 15/6 (although not completely uncoloured) is more like a big PA cab than most and it adds an extra sprinkle of seasoning.

Add in a decent tuner and it's well worth the £150 I paid for my brand new boxed B3

 

[PilbaraBass]

to me, this is an either/or dilemma...

use cab sims full on when routing to a full range (PA type) amplification system. Turn cab sims off (mix value =0) if using a traditional bass cab. Otherwise, you wind up compromising one at the expense of the other when sending your signal to both a traditional bass rig as well as a direct feed to PA system.

If FOH sound support is strong, I would use cab sims on (to taste, mix value up to 100) to benefit the FOH, and adjust your traditional bass rig on stage, trying to make it sound as reasonable as you can, if that is possible. Use supplemental stage monitor wedge bleed to strike a balance.

There are more complex ways to solve this problem, but that's another story altogether.

If going FOH, I use the cab sim on my B2.1u (B3 first in the chain). In this mode my cab is only a fold back, so the slightly muddied tone is tolerated. When going straight from my amp, I just use the B3,and usually a pre like the Ac Bs Pre. Or the D5 models, Both are excellent for getting a reallybsweet tone to my amp