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New Zoom B3 has arrived!!!!

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#781
No, I got it used through musicgoround. Pretty cool site if you don't mind buying used gear site unseen. I called up the shop and asked about it first. The guy said it looked brand new and still had the original box...crossing my fingers. I also bought a SWR bigfoot through them a while back. It's in great condition (though I found out the original bag end speakers had been swapped out for baselites...might not sound as good, but my back isn't complaining haha).
 
#782
Ordered and received my B3 from Sweetwater this past week :D
My original thread about helping me decide if it was a good idea as my first pedal is HERE

I've had about 2 days to mess with it.

- Above all, it's FUN! Exploring the patches, jamming with the drum beats (haven't even messed with the looping yet!). I just sit there and explore :)

- Real intuitive. Workflow speed will come with repeated use but it seems to be designed quite well.

- Sound quality seems pretty good but I've never had pedals before so I can't say anything other than 'sounds good to me'

- I'm learning a ton about what effects actually do and I'm learning about the 'amp modeling' to get different sounds. I go straight to the P.A. playing out and have never had an amp of my own. This is opening my eyes to what tone is and how you can control it.

- Some effects (like the octaver) seem to stutter because of processing power? Maybe it's me expecting something different...? *shrug*

- Playing with different effects and backing beats makes you 'play different' and I love that. It's like a mind expander.

- Doesn't seem to be an easy way to switch or cut patches if you are playing live. That doesn't mean you can't do it but from what I see so far it's limited (or at least lacks finesse).

- What's with the volume of certain patches? OMG some of these BLAST. I didn't know my little Peavey 15Amp would go that loud...

Very glad I got it and looking forward to using it more and more :)
 
#784
In my experience you have to set up your own patches to get the volumes more or less consistent and to get readily available options that make sense for given songs. You kind of have to decide how you want to use the thing, do you want to have one patch for a song where you can switch individual effects in and off or do you want to switch patches mid song for potentially more drastic changes. You have to plan things out and arrange them for your convenience.
 
#785
Swift713 said:
In my experience you have to set up your own patches to get the volumes more or less consistent and to get readily available options that make sense for given songs. You kind of have to decide how you want to use the thing, do you want to have one patch for a song where you can switch individual effects in and off or do you want to switch patches mid song for potentially more drastic changes. You have to plan things out and arrange them for your convenience.
Click to expand...

^^^This^^^

I have patches for each bass as I mix active and passive basses, with each having an inherent sounds. Then I try and program what effects are commonly used with each bass and make nearby patches if I need different ones for different songs. Dragging them around in the software interface makes it sooo easy.
 
#786
My hope is that zoom comes out with a B5 soon. I'd love a bass version of the G5. Can leave the "always on" stuff "hidden", like amp models, comp, etc, and have the four pedals/switches set up for actual EFFECTS, plus an onboard expression pedal, and separate adjustable boost. Sign me up. I do like my B3, but it will move to bedroom status if/when they do a B5.
 
#789
stingray69 said:
The Zoom site states that it will work in WinXP, but you need to have Service Pack 3 installed. Beyond that, maybe the FAQ on the Zoom site may hold some answers.
Click to expand...
Also I bet the G3 software is almost identical, if not completely identical.... might search around for hints relative to it. Probably more G3's out there now.
 
#790
I found out something interesting about the B3. I use the MXR M80 as a boost with the EQ flat. Something about putting sound thru that pedal makes my bass sound amazing. Anyways, I found that when I boosted the signal with the active effects switch pushed in the effects on the B3 sounded alot better. I AB'd all of the delays with my Boss DD-7 (my favorite delay) and they sounded the same quality. The only thing I can't stand about the delay is that it cuts out when you tap the tempo and it also cuts off the trails when you turn the effect off. Hopefully this is corrected in a firmware update.

I now run the MXR M80 into the Zoom so it 1) boosts the signal and 2) saves an effect slot.

I also realized I like digital filters, modulations and delays but prefer analog wahs, compressors, octaves and dirts. So I just pick the right tools based upon what my ear prefers in an effect. Now I am pretty much satisfied with the following chain.

Boss LMB3 > Boss OC2> MXR M80> Zoom B3 w/tap tempo> Jamman Solo for sampling and looping.

PS: I hated the phasers on the B3 until i realized the stock settings have a Low Cut parameter that's engaged.
 
#791
willerichey said:
I found out something interesting about the B3. I use the MXR M80 as a boost with the EQ flat. Something about putting sound thru that pedal makes my bass sound amazing. Anyways, I found that when I boosted the signal with the active effects switch pushed in the effects on the B3 sounded alot better. I AB'd all of the delays with my Boss DD-7 (my favorite delay) and they sounded the same quality. The only thing I can't stand about the delay is that it cuts out when you tap the tempo and it also cuts off the trails when you turn the effect off. Hopefully this is corrected in a firmware update.

I now run the MXR M80 into the Zoom so it 1) boosts the signal and 2) saves an effect slot.

I also realized I like digital filters, modulations and delays but prefer analog wahs, compressors, octaves and dirts. So I just pick the right tools based upon what my ear prefers in an effect. Now I am pretty much satisfied with the following chain.

Boss LMB3 > Boss OC2> MXR M80> Zoom B3 w/tap tempo> Jamman Solo for sampling and looping.

PS: I hated the phasers on the B3 until i realized the stock settings have a Low Cut parameter that's engaged.
Click to expand...

+1

This is my take on it too. I found that with my passive single coil basses (VM Jazz 5, etc) that it just didn't have quite the same depth of character tone-wise then when I am using one of my hotter output basses with dual humbuckers/active EQ. That kind of set me on the path to experimenting with the front end gain of the unit and how the input signal level affects the overall tone of the patches. Although I have the means to boost externally before entering the B3, for now I am experimenting with dropping one of the preamp sims (usually Bass Pre or ACBsPre) into Slot 1 so my signal is hitting the other DSP effects a bit harder & it really brings them to life with much depth. I've dropped the Bass Pre effect (with fairly flat EQ, moderate boost) into a couple of existing patches (that allowed me the room to do so), and the overall character of the patch's tone changes quite dramatically. They were fuller sounding - in much the same result as you'd get by running a quality analog boost pedal into the front end of your amp, everything becomes bigger, fuller in depth, more responsive to playing volume/touch, more alive sounding, etc.
 
#792
I been thinking about purchasing a zoom b3 sometime soon. I've owned a zoom b2.1u for the past 2 years and it has served me well. lately I've been curious on what the zoom b3 has to offer. I've check out some video demonstrations on this mulit-effects processor and I think it sounded pretty cool. I'll be purchasing one real soon.
 
#795
For those who don't know, I've started a soundclick website where I record sound samples of certain multi-effects processors like the zoom b2.1u, the digitech bp355, and the deltalab dbfx1. I do have a bunch of sound samples of the zoom b2.1u on my soundclick website. if you guys request that I should do sound samples of the zoom b3, I can do that. no problem. anywho, here's the link to my soundclick website.

www.soundclick.com/crystalman85

Feel free to check it out.
 
#799
willerichey said:
I am trying to come up with some use able synth sounds. I do wish there was a hold feature on the synths. It seems like you have to stack pedals to come up with good synth sounds.
Click to expand...

Check my B3 site I have some synth patches made you can download. Ideally you'd stick a BOSS OC-2 in front of the B3 to get the octave shift down, plus you could blend in some of the raw OC-2 sound for additional texture. Then you'd free up one of the slots in my presets for chorus/delay/whatever.
 
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