New: Zoom B3n Multi-Effects

[Oly Spart]

Anybody had trouble with sound quality vareing on their unit. mine seems fine have everything set up the way i like it, same bass same amp, and sometimes it sounds thin and a bit fizzy especilly when using blueberry or other distortion type sims. firmware up to date but thought it just may be my ears, but pretty sure it is doing this.

thought i might try a full factory reset to see if that makes any difference, worried that may loose my own presets, but figured they should be reloaded once i connect to tone lab. any thoughts any body experienced similar.

yes it happened to me too sometimes. Specially when editing. It s a bug

 

[hintz]

The Korg G5 is very old. I had one 20 years ago. Very hard and expensive to find. There are videos on your usual online video review outlets on it, and the V-amp. You can still get a good array of synth sounds from the B1on, B3n, etc. If you check out something like Call Me Ruin (new Gary Numan track), then the synth bass sound type from that is very doable. I am having to bass this off my own record collection, but something like Absolute by Scritti Politti is just about doable on the B3n, but you have to work for it, whereas on the Bass V-amp it's pretty easy. For a Yamaha DX7 bass sound, then in theory the PWM sounds on the Zoom B2 or B9 should be perfect, but the tracking is so terrible it's unplayable, and for pedals only the Korg will get you anywhere close, from memory, but only one of the effects types, which might well just be a filter (it's been a while since I had a G5), but you'd still be better off with a keyboard, so there are sounds on early Nine Inch Nails that would be hard to obtain. For the sub-bass sound a Boss OC2 or clone with the direct sound turned off is your best hope, as even the octaver on the B3n doesn't do the job there.

Edit: I gave my OC2 away to a friend as I wasn't using it much, but I got a clone again in the end. Maybe I should try harder to get an OC2 sound from the Zooms, but they are reasonable octavers, but don't have that OC2 synthiness. In a sense, the beauty of the OC2 is that it's not actually that good an octaver.

I checked out some demos of the G5 last night and I gotta say that I was pretty impressed. Found a few for sale at reasonable prices as well so this might be worth checking out. However getting 2 multis kinda defeats the purpose of getting one but I've done crazier things.

It's weird you mention the OC2 because that's the next question I had, and you would think that on the G5 the octaver would be stellar(the Korg/BOSS connection)... either way I still have my OC2 and won't make the mistake of selling it off again as that imperfect glitchiness is what give it its character.

What appeals to me about this particular zoom is the dirt, preamps and compressor options. The other stuff is simply "icing on the cake" for me, but I'm almost certain this is a step up from the Bass Flyrig despite the price differences and looks like a lot of fun to experiment with.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I checked out some demos of the G5 last night and I gotta say that I was pretty impressed. Found a few for sale at reasonable prices as well so this might be worth checking out. However getting 2 multis kinda defeats the purpose of getting one but I've done crazier things.

It's weird you mention the OC2 because that's the next question I had, and you would think that on the G5 the octaver would be stellar(the Korg/BOSS connection)... either way I still have my OC2 and won't make the mistake of selling it off again as that imperfect glitchiness is what give it its character.

What appeals to me about this particular zoom is the dirt, preamps and compressor options. The other stuff is simply "icing on the cake" for me, but I'm almost certain this is a step up from the Bass Flyrig despite the price differences and looks like a lot of fun to experiment with.

The glitchiness of the OC2 I do not love. The clone I have is actually better in that respect. But it is its inability to create an exact copy of a bass an octave down (i.e. the change in tone) which is its advantage in some contexts. It's the B3n octaver that isn't like the OC2.

 

[StuntGibbon]

The Loop Roll effect in [sfx] does this.

I’ve played with that a bit, is there a way to make it not pulse and just hold the tone?

 

[kasbrey]

I’ve played with that a bit, is there a way to make it not pulse and just hold the tone?

No not really. I just set the time and duty to maximum and hit the latch after I played a chord. The less decay on the sound the less noticeable the repeat.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I’ve played with that a bit, is there a way to make it not pulse and just hold the tone?

You could try adding delay with very short repeat time and high feedback.

 

[lrinaldi]

I'd like to hear a suggestion from you guys: maybe, I'll get a passive Fender. I like active basses (it will be an option) and would use my B3n. Today, on my sound, I use: ZNR, Boost, Z synth, Glam comp and SVT. So, I do not have slot for a pre. Would it be better to take the SVT and put some pre or SVT already would be a pre? I hope you understand my doubt ...

 

[todd0864]

I'd like to hear a suggestion from you guys: maybe, I'll get a passive Fender. I like active basses (it will be an option) and would use my B3n. Today, on my sound, I use: ZNR, Boost, Z synth, Glam comp and SVT. So, I do not have slot for a pre. Would it be better to take the SVT and put some pre or SVT already would be a pre? I hope you understand my doubt ...

The SVT is emulating the pre and power section of an Ampeg as far as I know.

 

[lrinaldi]

By turning down or off the speaker emulation it will be more of an SVT preamp

I do not use speaker emulation ... I did not find a sound that I liked.

 

[DJ Bebop]

I'd like to hear a suggestion from you guys: maybe, I'll get a passive Fender. I like active basses (it will be an option) and would use my B3n. Today, on my sound, I use: ZNR, Boost, Z synth, Glam comp and SVT. So, I do not have slot for a pre. Would it be better to take the SVT and put some pre or SVT already would be a pre? I hope you understand my doubt ...

The SVT without the speaker emulation can act as a preamp unless you are looking for a preamp to use like a drive or dirt box.

 

[DJ Bebop]

I do not use speaker emulation ... I did not find a sound that I liked.

Ok then you are using it as a preamp now.

 

[Johno Dunn]

I'd like to hear a suggestion from you guys: maybe, I'll get a passive Fender. I like active basses (it will be an option) and would use my B3n. Today, on my sound, I use: ZNR, Boost, Z synth, Glam comp and SVT. So, I do not have slot for a pre. Would it be better to take the SVT and put some pre or SVT already would be a pre? I hope you understand my doubt ...

What are you running into, PA, amp and speaker, FRFR? It will help to know what your set up is.
J!

 

[lrinaldi]

What are you running into, PA, amp and speaker, FRFR? It will help to know what your set up is.
J!

I send to PA...

 

[fourstringbliss]

I've read through most of this and watched some videos. Here's what I think I know about this unit - correct me if I'm wrong.

• In memory mode each screen represents a different patch that can be turned on/off with a footswitch.
• Each patch is 7 slots.
• Amp models take up two slots and cabs take up one.
• When adjusting the parameters on an amp model all 8 of the amp controls are visible at once on two screens and can be adjusted without having to go deeper. Like having 8 controls on an actual amp face and not having to turn the head around to mess with a 9th control on back.
• This unit sounds better than the B3 because of greater processing power.

Correct?

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I've read through most of this and watched some videos. Here's what I think I know about this unit - correct me if I'm wrong.

• In memory mode each screen represents a different patch that can be turned on/off with a footswitch.
• Each patch is 7 slots.
• Amp models take up two slots and cabs take up one.
• When adjusting the parameters on an amp model all 8 of the amp controls are visible at once on two screens and can be adjusted without having to go deeper. Like having 8 controls on an actual amp face and not having to turn the head around to mess with a 9th control on back.
• This unit sounds better than the B3 because of greater processing power.

Correct?

I'll play with mine more and see if the slots issue is about visibility in the interface as opposed to processing (i.e. use the computer editor).

 

[BoydG]

• In memory mode each screen represents a different patch that can be turned on/off with a footswitch

All of your points are correct except for the "off" portion of this statement. You always have a patch active, which is selected by depressing the footswitch. If you press the footswitch for an inactive patch, it becomes the active one. If you press the footswitch for the active patch, nothing happens.

 

[fourstringbliss]

Not to be redundant (but I will be), but it sounds better enough than the B3 to make the investment worth it? I've owned a B3 and now have a B1on and my main gripe has been all the button pushes needed to change any parameter on an amp model. I don't use effects outside of noise reduction and maybe a compressor - just amp and cab modeling.

 

[megarat]

Not to be redundant (but I will be), but it sounds better enough than the B3 to make the investment worth it?

The sound quality difference was worth it for me (I was a former B3 owner, and sold the B3 as a result of picking up the B3n), but everyone's tastes are different, so YMMV.

Another critical difference between the B3 and B3n is worth mentioning: the B3n has fewer effects than the B3. Zoom appears to be porting effects over from the B3 (and creating new ones) with their (roughly) semi-annual updates, so this may not be an issue someday, but if you prefer a really deep selection of effects, then take note.

 

[fourstringbliss]

I

The sound quality difference was worth it for me (I was a former B3 owner, and sold the B3 as a result of picking up the B3n), but everyone's tastes are different, so YMMV.

Another critical difference between the B3 and B3n is worth mentioning: the B3n has fewer effects than the B3. Zoom appears to be porting effects over from the B3 (and creating new ones) with their (roughly) semi-annual updates, so this may not be an issue someday, but if you prefer a really deep selection of effects, then take note.

I've honestly never used fx beyond compression and maybe a little dirt, so it's okay with me. Better, more detailed amp and preamp sounds are what I'm loooking for.

Thanks!

 

[Johno Dunn]

I

I've honestly never used fx beyond compression and maybe a little dirt, so it's okay with me. Better, more detailed amp and preamp sounds are what I'm loooking for.

Thanks!

Then you need a B3n. You will be astounded by the difference. And there is a Diamond Compressor sim that rocks! So there’s that!
Sorry I quoted the wrong post, but you get my meaning.