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New Zoom B3 has arrived!!!!

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#402
Does anyone who uses a B3 know what someone means when they say that Zoom products make everything played through them sound like Zoom? A fellow bassist said this to me over the weekend when I mentioned I was looking at maybe picking up the B3 saying he avoided Zoom effects for this reason.

Thanks.
 
#403
LeonD said:
Speaking of expression pedals, are the Zoom FP01 and FP02 the only pedals that work with the B3?

I've tried using an Ernie Ball expression pedal and a DigiTech pedal with both mono are stereo cables. None of these combinations worked.
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I just found out the Zoom FP01 and FP02 are stereo expression pedals. So the two that I tried will never work.


Does anyone know of any other reasonably priced stereo expression pedals?
 
#404
greggster59 said:
Does anyone who uses a B3 know what someone means when they say that Zoom products make everything played through them sound like Zoom? A fellow bassist said this to me over the weekend when I mentioned I was looking at maybe picking up the B3 saying he avoided Zoom effects for this reason.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I don't know what he means, but there are some effects (like the random step filter) that were hallmarks of early Zoom units and kind of gave away the manufacturer. In the older days of multi-effects, some pedal series would have eq curves that were easy to spot, but this is centuries ago in the development of digital effects.

Some people think that certain manufacturers' pedals have a certain "color" or shade to the sound that's distinctive, but in this day and age I'd bet them any sum of money this is just expectation bias creeping in. If you think a pedal looks plasticky or cheap, it's easy to be primed to think it sounds the same way. Same for pedals with boutique labels and heavy metal casings.

I've read multi-page essays going on and on about how different issues of the tube screamer sound dramatically different from one another, despite the fact that many different variations over the years have housed identical circuitry. I'm not ruling out that a plastic TS-5 Soundtank can sound different than a TS-808 with the exact same components, but I'd really be curious to see a blind test on that one.
 
#405
greggster59 said:
Does anyone who uses a B3 know what someone means when they say that Zoom products make everything played through them sound like Zoom? A fellow bassist said this to me over the weekend when I mentioned I was looking at maybe picking up the B3 saying he avoided Zoom effects for this reason.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Thats like saying that playing a Fender Precision makes everything played on it sound like a Fender Precision. :D
 
#406
samjones_de said:
Thats like saying that playing a Fender Precision makes everything played on it sound like a Fender Precision. :D
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What he was saying it that the Zoom boxes he has used in the past, not the B3, have affected his tone to the point where it is more than just an effect.

So for example, with each of my basses, would the B3 make them all sound the same or would they each retain their characteristic tone plus the added effect?
 
#407
greggster59 said:
So for example, with each of my basses, would the B3 make them all sound the same or would they each retain their characteristic tone plus the added effect?
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I use 2 active Jazzes, an active fretless, a passive semi-hollow mahogany w/flats and an EUB through my B3 and each still retains it's own nuances and unique characteristics that feed into the effect. So much so that each bass has it's own dedicated bank, as each requires differentt settings.
 
#408
Grateful said:
I use 2 active Jazzes, an active fretless, a passive semi-hollow mahogany w/flats and an EUB through my B3 and each still retains it's own nuances and unique characteristics that feed into the effect. So much so that each bass has it's own dedicated bank, as each requires differentt settings.
Click to expand...


Thanks. That's the answer I was looking for. I don't use effects very often but they do come in handy. The B3 goes for a decent price and it sounds like it does a great job.
 
#409
you can mix in how much of an effect you want with your original signal ... so it can be subtle ... or very different ...


i think he might have meant that Zoom products had their own sound .. ?? i think that may be more true with previous products ... as i had noticed with older guitar fx ...

i've never used many effects on my bass ... but the preamps and amp sims , along with Comp/Limiters/EQs are worth the price of admission .. ! i really don't consider those as fx , but more as Tools to shape the sound ... but you can ad a slight touch of Chorus or Reverb to Your bass , without subtracting from the original sound ...

i have 3 different basses ... they all retain their sound ..
and as previously stated , they will all need their own banks of Patches .. !! that's a good thing ... and pretty easy with the Edit/Share software .. ! it is very easy to use ..
i can build basic patches just from looking at them , without the bass even plugged in .. ! then tweak to taste later ...

the factory patches really didn't do much for me ... i was rather dissappointed until i programmed a couple patches .!!

Dave C.
 
#410
I picked up a B3 last night at Sam Ash for $180 with an in store coupon and spent the day familiarizing myself with the unit and all the effects. I'm impressed with how versatile it is. Sound shapes and modifiers of all kinds and lots of ways to tailor them to your liking.

Nice.
 
#411
greggster59 said:
I picked up a B3 last night at Sam Ash for $180 with an in store coupon and spent the day familiarizing myself with the unit and all the effects. I'm impressed with how versatile it is. Sound shapes and modifiers of all kinds and lots of ways to tailor them to your liking.

Nice.
Click to expand...

Once you get the chance, could you put up some sound samples of the Bitcrusher? If you don't have the time, could you tell me how close you can get it to atari/nintendo kind of sounds?

Thanks
 
#414
Woodsbass said:
Once you get the chance, could you put up some sound samples of the Bitcrusher? If you don't have the time, could you tell me how close you can get it to atari/nintendo kind of sounds?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I've found the best way to go in that direction is to set up a bass-synth or filter in front of the bit-crusher. The synth (the Moog copy is IMO the most useful for these kinds of sounds) sets up the tone and the bit crusher adds a little bit of quantization hiss that reminds me of the older pre-NES game consoles.
 
#415
I picked up a B3 at the beginning of the week and I'm very impressed. I'm a bit of a multi-effects junkie though I have rarely if ever used one on a gig.

I currently have Zoom B2, Zoom B2.1u, Boss ME-50B, Boss GT6B, Digitech BNX3, Yamaha Magicstomp and probably a couple others I've forgetten about!

I love playing around with these but find the tones that sound cool in the music room or at rehearsal rarely translate well when working with the band so I'm pretty much always bass > cord > amp.

That being said I've been really happy with what I'm hearing from the B3, being able to blend in as much or as little of an effect or the total of the 3 stomps really enables you to dial in some subtle changes that don't overwhelm your normal bass tone.

I can see me using this regularly which is a first and I can see Zoom selling a ton of these at the price. They really did a good job with this.
 
#416
I'm loving Horror Fuzz - Got it hooked up to a seperate octaver and its a pretty cool emulation of MUSE's Hysteria / Plug in Baby sound.

Still not sure of the best way to set everything up and not had time to test it in various positions in my FX chain, but I think I'll keep it up front in the chain for Comp / Distortion / Synth
 
#419
Soooo much in this multi-effects pedal that you shouldn't even think twice if there is an interest. If not satisfied, you can always return if purchased from a reseller that offers returns (ie Sweetwater, zZounds, etc)
 
#420
fivestringgecko said:
How does the B3 compare to some of these?

5sg.
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Well I think all multi-effects I've come across are about compromise, for me the B3 is the best so far in terms of sounds and interface and physical size and durability.

I find it very intuitive to use which I didn't find with the GT6B or the Magicstomp, and most sounds are good to excellent.
The compressors seem usable and I haven't found that in a multi-fx before. The B3 octave does seem to be a weak spot but I like the amp models which I didn't like so much in previous Zooms. I don't have a need for synth sounds so can't comment on them. Mod effects seem strong compared to the ME50B and I like some of the more unusual effects such as the exciter. It's not the quietest multi I've used but, if it's set up carefully, it's perfectly ok for live use.

The knockout things on the B3 for me are the ease and flexibility of setting up the various pedals and the ability to mix in as much or as little of each effect as you want. And at this price you can't go wrong.

I think Zoom are on a roll at the moment, I got one of their H2N recorders a couple of months ago and can't fault it. I'll be very interested in the B5 if it becomes available.
 
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