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NEW: ZOOM B2 FOUR...
- Thread starter munnkyboy
- Start date
Yep. Those are just the buttons & foot switches. I assure you, if you could press and hold all of them all down at once, that rattling sound would go away. Mine makes the exact same sound. Thanks for posting that.
Please add my comment to your YT description, that this noise is perfectly normal.
Please add my comment to your YT description, that this noise is perfectly normal.
Agreed. Which is why I don't shake it on stage.
Agreed. Which is why I don't shake it on stage.
Well you never know when you might need some maracas or shaker….
I don't think any of the cabs in those amps have tweeters. Are you sure you need a bass amp sim? I'm not sure if it is "wrong" not to have one. You might be able to get a sound you like with one of the preamps and one of the tube DI options.
If you like those resonant lows from the amps, you might have some luck boosting highs with EQ before the amp. and using the amp's BLEND knob to bring in some of that input sound (with boosted highs). See if that's less noisy.
I'll have to do some more experiments. I play with bass volume all the way up. I'm not sure I've been consistent with the tone control. I also want to test the DI vs headphone vs instrument output to see if they all have the same noise.
Good idea. The only time I noticed objectionable noise was when some preamp or drive module was in the path. Hopefully you don't have a funky (in a bad way) unit.
Yea, and dime that tone knob, for sure!
Well, I found the culprit. And this group will be pleased (and probably unsurprised) to learn it wasn't the B2 Four after all.
It seems to be my inexpensive (ok cheap) wireless unit. It's interesting. It must be producing a little hiss that's right in the same fq band as many of the B2 Four amp sims' bright channels or presence controls.
With a cable I can crank those and get very little noise. With my wireless unit, there's no noticeable noise unless the bright option is selected or the presence knob is above 60%. And then it becomes very audible.
It seems to be my inexpensive (ok cheap) wireless unit. It's interesting. It must be producing a little hiss that's right in the same fq band as many of the B2 Four amp sims' bright channels or presence controls.
With a cable I can crank those and get very little noise. With my wireless unit, there's no noticeable noise unless the bright option is selected or the presence knob is above 60%. And then it becomes very audible.
Could be its own thread I suppose, but just a little data point about amp/cab sims.
This weekend I played a African music festival, where there was no bass amp, no nothing. I just plugged into a DI and bass was fed to mons, mains, & sub. The sound on stage was awesome. The only tone control I had was pickup selection (that's how my customized bass is setup). I was really happy with how it went.
This weekend I played a African music festival, where there was no bass amp, no nothing. I just plugged into a DI and bass was fed to mons, mains, & sub. The sound on stage was awesome. The only tone control I had was pickup selection (that's how my customized bass is setup). I was really happy with how it went.
Yeah, I do think that probably merits its own discussion. And I'd guess there are multiple threads about it already.
In terms of the amp sims in the B2 Four, now that I tracked down the real culprit behind the hiss I was getting, I've pretty happy with the amp sims. I've been digging the Monotone sim the most lately.
One quibble I have is that the pedal has some basic tone shaping including eq and volume via the knobs that's available separate from the amp sims. It's only accessible if you're in the patch browsing mode and it applies to all your patches, much like a stage amp eq would.
My quibble is that it doesn't affect the DI. It only works for the instrument output.
If I'm running through the instrument out, chances are I'm going to a stage amp and won't need these extra tone controls. If I'm using the DI, I'm less likely to be running an amp and I'm much more likely to want easy access to quick tone shaping that's applied across all the effects. Really, this feature should be able to be set to apply to either or both outputs.
The best way to think of Global EQ & Master Volume is that it is for your stage sound (1/4" outs). And any EQ/Level-Adjust you want to apply to the DI has to be part of your module chain.
To me, this makes sense as the DI/XLR feed to the board, the sound person will have the ability to EQ & adjust level. However, if the sound person says, "Can you send me less low end?" You'll have to say, "not easily". But all the more reason to make sure when you are creating your sounds to check the DI out into a FRFR speaker (like a studio monitor setup) to make sure your sound is well-balanced.
My only gripe is that with only 5 slots, and with the way the EQ modules are configured, you often have to use up two or three slots to get a proper 3-band parametric-- or you have to go between preamp, EQ, and amp controls to dial tone. Get's complex fast.
For general shaping, it's fine to use some combo of pre-amp or amp controls. However, if you don't use either, and want to have other modules in your chain, having to use multiple modules just for EQ seems dumb.
IF Zoom had included a 3-band or 4-band parametric with sweepable HPF, one or two fully sweepable peak/notch with Q, and a sweepable LPF, all on one module/slot, that would make it easy to get the right tone, and solve common problems.
To me, this makes sense as the DI/XLR feed to the board, the sound person will have the ability to EQ & adjust level. However, if the sound person says, "Can you send me less low end?" You'll have to say, "not easily". But all the more reason to make sure when you are creating your sounds to check the DI out into a FRFR speaker (like a studio monitor setup) to make sure your sound is well-balanced.
My only gripe is that with only 5 slots, and with the way the EQ modules are configured, you often have to use up two or three slots to get a proper 3-band parametric-- or you have to go between preamp, EQ, and amp controls to dial tone. Get's complex fast.
For general shaping, it's fine to use some combo of pre-amp or amp controls. However, if you don't use either, and want to have other modules in your chain, having to use multiple modules just for EQ seems dumb.
IF Zoom had included a 3-band or 4-band parametric with sweepable HPF, one or two fully sweepable peak/notch with Q, and a sweepable LPF, all on one module/slot, that would make it easy to get the right tone, and solve common problems.
I agree that a 3-4 band eq would be a nice addition. You *can* in theory use the amp sims that way.
I still think there should be a setting that lets you set the global eq to instrument/DI/both outputs.
I still think there should be a setting that lets you set the global eq to instrument/DI/both outputs.
It would make sense that if the Global EQ & Master Level are pre-DAC, then it theoretically could be possible, but perhaps they way the DSP & hardware are organized, it might not be possible.
FWIW, I just submitted a request to Zoom to ask for A. a better tremolo, and B. a 3-band EQ with Low/High modes.
I should have asked for better sensitivity range on the env filters, but we choose our battles, don't we?
FWIW, I just submitted a request to Zoom to ask for A. a better tremolo, and B. a 3-band EQ with Low/High modes.
I should have asked for better sensitivity range on the env filters, but we choose our battles, don't we?
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There's another demo up on YouTube from Poland. I was unable to turn on any translation. The bass player has skills, the audio quality is decent for YouTube. Gives an idea what the presets sound like, but again, doesn't demo the individual modules, which I think would be more useful.
I'd also like to see them release an Anroid version of the app. They have both iOS and Android apps for the guitar, but it's iOS only for the bass.
I've heard that Android is somewhat trickier to develop for, as there are so many more device/hardware variants. Also, since they are charging a buck for the app, they probably haven't fronted lots of financial or human resources toward development or support. They should create an Android version, but I suppose they are waiting to see how popular the device is.
I'll reiterate that an acoustic bass sim with arco button press (a la sustain pedal) would be super useful if it was decent enough and tweakable enough.
I'll reiterate that an acoustic bass sim with arco button press (a la sustain pedal) would be super useful if it was decent enough and tweakable enough.
I'd appreciate if a Zoom B2 Four owner could tell me:
Do you experience any latency when you use the B2 Four's Pitch Shift to transpose up or down a semitone? (Latency is a perceptible delay between when you pluck/pick a note, and when you hear the note.)
I currently use a Zoom B1 Four for tone colouring purposes, occasionally relying on the Pitch Shift function when my vocalist requires me to play a song a semi-tone higher or lower, in a 'difficult' key (eg. C#M or Abm). But I'm noticing an off-putting lag of around a (guessing) a fifth of a second.
I'm hoping that, with advances in processor speed, the B2 Four might have reduced latency/lag to an imperceptible level...? If so I'll invest in a B2 Four.
Thanks in advance for sharing your experience with me.
Note: There's another thread in which someone gets heckled for 4 pages for asking whether pitch shift pedals exist. He was variously advised to "get good", "learn to play with shapes shapes" and/or "stop playing bass". It seemed uncharacteristically harsh. I do agree with the general recommendation that learning to transpose on the fly (especially using shapes) is of course the best way for a competent bassist to pitch shift. However, for those few complicated 'unpatterny' songs, or songs I first learned on the piano in a particular key, and/or then learned on the bass using open strings, I would find a pitch shifter more convenient - if one exists without appreciable lag.
Anyway, thanks again in advance for sharing your experience of the B2 Four with this.
Do you experience any latency when you use the B2 Four's Pitch Shift to transpose up or down a semitone? (Latency is a perceptible delay between when you pluck/pick a note, and when you hear the note.)
I currently use a Zoom B1 Four for tone colouring purposes, occasionally relying on the Pitch Shift function when my vocalist requires me to play a song a semi-tone higher or lower, in a 'difficult' key (eg. C#M or Abm). But I'm noticing an off-putting lag of around a (guessing) a fifth of a second.
I'm hoping that, with advances in processor speed, the B2 Four might have reduced latency/lag to an imperceptible level...? If so I'll invest in a B2 Four.
Thanks in advance for sharing your experience with me.
Note: There's another thread in which someone gets heckled for 4 pages for asking whether pitch shift pedals exist. He was variously advised to "get good", "learn to play with shapes shapes" and/or "stop playing bass". It seemed uncharacteristically harsh. I do agree with the general recommendation that learning to transpose on the fly (especially using shapes) is of course the best way for a competent bassist to pitch shift. However, for those few complicated 'unpatterny' songs, or songs I first learned on the piano in a particular key, and/or then learned on the bass using open strings, I would find a pitch shifter more convenient - if one exists without appreciable lag.
Anyway, thanks again in advance for sharing your experience of the B2 Four with this.
I'll try and test this for you tonight. I haven't used that feature on my B2 Four. But I did use it on my B3. I didn't experience latency, but I experienced other issues that kept me from using it for performance. The biggest was that it really seemed to not handle polyphonic sounds well. So I had to be super careful and clean in my playing. Slides and other embellishments didn't sound good. I also found that more than 1 whole step in either direction just sounded really weird. It didn't sound like a natural bass tone.
So for small shifts like that, it was easier for me to just move my hand position up or down a fret or two.
I did find the pitch shifter on the B3 could create a nice octave effect. I would blend it in with the clean sound and found it worked well for both octave up and octave down sounds.
But I'll check out the pitch shifter on the B2 Four and let you know if it's any different.
So for small shifts like that, it was easier for me to just move my hand position up or down a fret or two.
I did find the pitch shifter on the B3 could create a nice octave effect. I would blend it in with the clean sound and found it worked well for both octave up and octave down sounds.
But I'll check out the pitch shifter on the B2 Four and let you know if it's any different.
