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New Zoom B1X Four $99

I need to play Let’s Goove Tonight by Earth Wind & Fire...great synth bass line... in our band. Could this be good for that. Of course I don’t expect it to have the spoken words in it just some good sounds for synth bass for the $$$
Of the many "synthesizer" effects in the B1 Four, Z-Syn is the one I think is strongest. I spent an hour yesterday on my MS-60B dialing in a setting that I like, which worked just as well as I hoped when I rehearsed "Burn Rubber on Me" last night with the band.
 
How do I check the battery level?
Can I rightly assume there IS no way to check the battery level?

I couldn't find any in the user's manual. Though I searched kinda quickly. Had a wedding yesterday and another today, and haven't had a whole lot of time.

I'll give this one more go here.

Anyone know how to check the battery level? I can't have this crap out of me in the middle of a set.
 
Since it's capable of being powered from an external USB battery (I've just verified this to be sure) I'd say the way to be 100% sure is to use one of those. They tend to have their own built-in capacity meters, so you'd have the reserve of the external battery plus the AAs. Zoom says a new set of AAs will run for 18 hours. Four alkaline AAs provide 4600 MaH. If you buy a 6000MaH USB battery (like this one, with a built-in cable), that's enough for a 41 hour gig.

Or, you know, plug it in. :)
 
On battery level - as it's getting low there is a warning display saying "low battery" which is a very helpful feature. I didn't time it but I reckon there's probably another 30 mins playing time once that warning comes on. But 18 hours playing time with new batteries will obviously cover any gig and, just as I do with my Smoothhound wireless, I will be putting in a freshly recharged set of batteries before future gigs. Speaking of gigs...
 
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A first gig outing last night with the B1X-4.

With my 50s and 60s band, so pretty simple use: tuner then most of the set on a 'clean' patch = HPF (low EQ) + (Glam) Comp + ZNR with a couple of tracks using a drive patch I've created based on the MXR DI effect which is a lot less mid-scooped in core tone compared with the DG B7k sim (and similarly less scooped than the DG dirt options on my DG M900) and therefore cuts through in the mix really well. Managed to combine it with using a Smoothhound wireless pretty easily, without needing to set up a separate mini board.

Performed just fine and slips very easily into the bass gig bag. Going to be a staple of my live sound going forward methinks.

Anyway evidence of the B1X-4 set up (that's a band mate in the picture, not me!) ready for use...

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
Yeah, most likely going to get me a B1X Four.

Super cheap for what you get.

I believe all the effects from the B3Xn is there, as far as I can tell from the effects list, just only two foot switches to operate it with, and max 5 effects at a time, which I can live with.
 
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Regarding the power source :
The Zoom B3 has noticeably wider headroom when powered by a regular 9V supply rather than through USB. It is easy to check with headphones and the recording interface. This may have been adjusted on newer series like be B1four though.
Fully digital units like this one give a hard time to batteries. I wouldn't rely on them. The USB brick is a good suggestion on all accounts.
 
I've recently purchased the zoom b1 four and it sounds totally awesome. I've taken some time to get to know what effects, amp, and cab models it provides and they sound pretty cool. it's a shame that it doesn't have some of my favorite effects from the past zoom processors like the metal zone model, the bit crusher, and the monosynth. and doesn't have some of my favorite amp models as well like the gk800rb and the hartke amp models. but that's okay, I actually enjoy some of the newer amp models and drive models. I'm also intrigued by the idea of the cab models being separated. it would come in handy for some of the drive models. speaking of which, I am impressed with the darkglass models. I've been curious about zoom's take on of the darkglass b3k and b7k. and they sounded pretty cool. I'm very pleased with my purchase. and as usual, I have been posting nifty patch ideas for the zoom b1 four. here's the link if anyone is interested in trying out new patch ideas.

Zoom b1 four patch ideas
 
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A first gig outing last night with the B1X-4.

With my 50s and 60s band, so pretty simple use: tuner then most of the set on a 'clean' patch = HPF (low EQ) + (Glam) Comp + ZNR with a couple of tracks using a drive patch I've created based on the MXR DI effect which is a lot less mid-scooped in core tone compared with the DG B7k sim (and similarly less scooped than the DG dirt options on my DG M900) and therefore cuts through in the mix really well. Managed to combine it with using a Smoothhound wireless pretty easily, without needing to set up a separate mini board.

Performed just fine and slips very easily into the bass gig bag. Going to be a staple of my live sound going forward methinks.

Anyway evidence of the B1X-4 set up (that's a band mate in the picture, not me!) ready for use...

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

That's a nice bass you got there. I have a yamaha bb bass myself and it sounds killer. especially with the patches I've created on my zoom b1 four.