Yea, Zoom may think those arrow buttons are foot-able, but they aren't really. Plus you can't see the display as you use them. If they'd given it a little extra thought & design consideration, they could have made it more workable.
100% AGREE!!! Have a system setting to adjust display hold time, or button-press to exit!! Ugh!!
There is a master volume control, but there's no specific patch volume-- other than what is available in all the blocks. AND you have to exit effect mode to even access the Master Volume (knob 4).
I was suggesting always comparing volume to the bypassed bass, that way your point of reference is always only one foot click away-- also, you have a fairly safe level reference as you wouldn't expect your dry bass to be either too hot or not hot enough. On my bass there is a level difference depending on the pickup selection so it's not fool-proof.
As for the Master Level, I set mine at 100 (arbitrarily). I did not compare this level to my dry bass into the same destination. But I suppose that doesn't matter much. I wanted a reasonably hot level but with room to boost (to 120) if needed.
Yup. It is the moment to moment reminder that it is a budget Zoom pedal. What's worse is that Zoom COULD have made WAY better use of the display for readability. On one hand, I get why. New users can have more fun with the graphics. OTOH, if I could switch to a more readable display mode in the system settings, that would help a bunch.
Using it on an informal gig for some simple FX mostly, it's fine. I tend to hang in MEMORY mode and change presets rather than turning individual FX on/off. It's fine for my needs. I have nicer devices for when I need 'em. Just wanted something relatively cheap that I could mess with-- and a shallow learning curve.
Oh man, that "master volume" tip is a good one! I had no idea!! Thanks for that!
Now, I've spent a few nights messing around with it. I got my setlist for a gig next week and I decided to do deeper dives on all the tones in the songs we're playing. Instead of using my general band sound patch, I wanted them to be song specific. So for example, we will start our set with Redbone's "Come And Get Your Love," which has a really thuddy bass tone to it:
I went through the preset effects and tried to find one close to that tone. I copied the patch, renamed it for my purposes, and pasted it at the end of the patch bank. So, unfortunately, I don't know the name, but it uses the Dark Preamp > B-Man 100 > Bass Parametric EQ. I think a P-bass with flats would sound best for this tone, but mine needs some setup work, so I'm using my L-1000 instead. A live video of Redbone shows the bassist playing with fingers (which is how I do it) but I thought he was palm muting with a pick based on the YT video above.
Among others, we also cover "My Life" by Billy Joel. That bass sounds very thin, bridge pickup, nasally. I try to do the same with my L-1000, putting the pickup switch to the front, which thins the tone a bit. Of course, I don't have a bridge pickup on that bass, but with the preset effects on the B24, I used one that uses the Multiband Compressor > Monotone amp, it comes pretty close (to my ears).
Anyway, all this to say, I repurposed about 25 or so patches and copied/pasted them all to the bottom of the list. Using the iOS app, I can multi-select all the songs and put them in the "patch pool," where they are in a master list of patches that I'd use on a gig. The trouble is, they just sit there. Looks like I can share patches to other people via email, etc. I can also copy them to my device.
So, before my show, I will have to put the patches in order of the song so there's minimal fuss with my feet. Though, theoretically, I'll have my iPad with me at the show (I use it to adjust my IEM mix), so I could plug in to the pedal, but I think that may make it even more convoluted for yours truly.
I'll keep the thread posted with updates. I have rehearsal on Sunday, then a private party on a Thursday afternoon, of all times.
