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New Zoom B3 has arrived!!!!

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3 spots, each can be occupied by a pedal or an amp simul with HP.
So you could say it's 2 pedals+an amp simul, too, which is even less.
Several pedals have twin effects though, like comp+dist, wah+filter, delay+mod and even in this case you can always switch the order of effects at will.
You can always use the tuner, looper and beatbox on top of the 3 effects and all effects are blendable with clear tone.

Seriously, you may have 25 pedals on your board but how many times to you use more than 3 pedals at once ?
If the line is successful and it's going to be, they are likely to release a M13 style unit.
Anyway let's go crazy, if you chain 3 of them (which may be a bit clumsy but wouldn't really pose practical problems if you use single pedal models), it is still cheaper than a M13 :D.

As far as quality goes, they are the best models I've ever tried. They feel alive. The Muff and SansAmp are damn near perfect.
 
Oh yes, by far.
The 3 effect limit could be an issue to some but other than that it boxes in the M9 / GT10-B category as far as sound goes, while costing way less.
They combine excellent models and a perfect interface, which is a winner combo.
We need samples indeed, the SVT model is mindblowing. They even have ultra hi and lo switches.
 
I hate to be too enthousiastic about products days after receiving them but with this box it's difficult not to be.
I tried it yesterday with my band and the guitarists both want to order a G3.
The bypass doesn't cut lows or harmonics. I need to record it with a true bypass loop to really be sure about its quality but when everything is bypassed I still hear my bass, not a lifeless avatar.
 
One real bad point I noticed, unless I'm wrong you can't preselect patches.
You can foot navigate up and down banks and patches but you can't go from say, A4 to C7, without going through intermediate patches.
You can't be using A4, preselecting C7 and switching to it when you need like you'd do on a Korg or Digitech.

The same goes for individual pedals, although it's not that bad since you can be using a pedal on slot 1 while searching for another one on slot 2 or 3.
This is unfortunate, especially since it would be a really easy software fix.

While we're at it, effect switching is super fast. Manual says 1 ms, it's probably a bit more but you don't hear the gap when switching patches.

The same doesn't apply to individual pedal mode because when you change pedals the cut applies to all effects.
Say you have an oscillating delay or feedbacking fuzz on slot 1 and you're browsing for a pedal sound on slot 2. Every time you change the effect type on slot 2, you will hear a short but distinct cut in the overall sound of the unit (not on tuner or looper though).

This could be an issue for changing pedals on the fly live.
 
You guys that are skeptical are too funny. From everything Jazz has said, this unit sounds identical to my G3, except with bass patches. You can find rave reviews all over the web for the G3.

It's refreshing to hear that a savvy user like Jazz has great things to say about the models. I was certainly impressed with the guitar ones on the G3 and hoped that Zoom would knock it out of the park again with the B3; sounds like they did.

So don't fret...just buy one ;). I know I will the moment a US retailer has it.
 
Grateful said:
Any idea when it will be available here in the US?

Try emailing Samson Tech..

I don't wanna disclose anything because they have a confidentiality note on the email I received.

Btw for those who wanna order in advance , I got a quote from Ishibashi for 20k Yen that is around $275 dollars..

I'll just wait for it..
 
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