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New: Zoom B3n Multi-Effects
- Thread starter CharlieC
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- b3n multi-effects zoom
Allo all! I wrote on here about a year back just after I got my B3n and got some amazing responses.
Anyhoo, I haven't actually really touched my bass in the last year. Primarily a guitar player and playing at home, so yadda yadda.
Bunch of guys I used to play with just started playing together again where I do bass. Last time I played with em, I used discreet pedals (if I recall: tuner -> Digitech Bass Synth Wah -> EHX Bass Big Muff Pi -> Boss CE-2B -> Boss LMB-3. That LMB-3 did wonders to rein in the synth and muff dynamic spikes!).
Last night we did a stripped down first rehearsal. How stripped down? I brought my Roland Bass Microcube RX
Anyhow, used the B3n just for FX (live, i will likely do the same thing and use a DI with cab sim to go direct). There was one song we played which was kinda a mix between reggae and folk. I used the Fretless simulator and the bandleader gave me a big smile. Personally, I felt I had set it a little too amateurishly (first time, heat of the moment) with too much treble making an almost envelope-filter like sound, but I got in the ballpark. Really happy how that went.
We did a bluesy song and I wanted something that sounded a bit like an overdriven amp, so I tried the Xotic BB effect and that did the job well enough.
I attempted to use the LMT-76 comp, a device I like on the G5n, but it was tough for me to dial it in correctly with no feedback as to when the trigger is hit so the threshhold knob isn't clear as to where to set it. Kept the ratio 4:1 but even so, felt like it rolled off the grit on the BB effect too much for that raw bluesy sound. Will take tweaking and maybe a different dirt pedal (I like the Boss OD for Lemmy-like midgain and the Muff for Muse-style overthetop fuzz).
Anyhow, what was the best part was that activating any of these effects did not erase me from the mix. This is something I've worried about with multi-fx in general so it was a great relief to get this outta it. If I knew my bass FX/amps/signalchains the way I know guitar, I'd likely use this straight into the return of my main bass amp for maximum flexibility but that won't be the case until I get more comfortable with tweaking fancy bass stuff in general. (y'all talk about Darkglass and I'm like "whatzitnow?"
)
Blah blah, using this as just an FX unit into a clean bass amp is pretty stellar.
Anyhoo, I haven't actually really touched my bass in the last year. Primarily a guitar player and playing at home, so yadda yadda.
Bunch of guys I used to play with just started playing together again where I do bass. Last time I played with em, I used discreet pedals (if I recall: tuner -> Digitech Bass Synth Wah -> EHX Bass Big Muff Pi -> Boss CE-2B -> Boss LMB-3. That LMB-3 did wonders to rein in the synth and muff dynamic spikes!).
Last night we did a stripped down first rehearsal. How stripped down? I brought my Roland Bass Microcube RX
Anyhow, used the B3n just for FX (live, i will likely do the same thing and use a DI with cab sim to go direct). There was one song we played which was kinda a mix between reggae and folk. I used the Fretless simulator and the bandleader gave me a big smile. Personally, I felt I had set it a little too amateurishly (first time, heat of the moment) with too much treble making an almost envelope-filter like sound, but I got in the ballpark. Really happy how that went.
We did a bluesy song and I wanted something that sounded a bit like an overdriven amp, so I tried the Xotic BB effect and that did the job well enough.
I attempted to use the LMT-76 comp, a device I like on the G5n, but it was tough for me to dial it in correctly with no feedback as to when the trigger is hit so the threshhold knob isn't clear as to where to set it. Kept the ratio 4:1 but even so, felt like it rolled off the grit on the BB effect too much for that raw bluesy sound. Will take tweaking and maybe a different dirt pedal (I like the Boss OD for Lemmy-like midgain and the Muff for Muse-style overthetop fuzz).
Anyhow, what was the best part was that activating any of these effects did not erase me from the mix. This is something I've worried about with multi-fx in general so it was a great relief to get this outta it. If I knew my bass FX/amps/signalchains the way I know guitar, I'd likely use this straight into the return of my main bass amp for maximum flexibility but that won't be the case until I get more comfortable with tweaking fancy bass stuff in general. (y'all talk about Darkglass and I'm like "whatzitnow?"
)Blah blah, using this as just an FX unit into a clean bass amp is pretty stellar.
The Darkglass sims are actually pretty good on this.Allo all! I wrote on here about a year back just after I got my B3n and got some amazing responses.
Anyhoo, I haven't actually really touched my bass in the last year. Primarily a guitar player and playing at home, so yadda yadda.
Bunch of guys I used to play with just started playing together again where I do bass. Last time I played with em, I used discreet pedals (if I recall: tuner -> Digitech Bass Synth Wah -> EHX Bass Big Muff Pi -> Boss CE-2B -> Boss LMB-3. That LMB-3 did wonders to rein in the synth and muff dynamic spikes!).
Last night we did a stripped down first rehearsal. How stripped down? I brought my Roland Bass Microcube RX
Anyhow, used the B3n just for FX (live, i will likely do the same thing and use a DI with cab sim to go direct). There was one song we played which was kinda a mix between reggae and folk. I used the Fretless simulator and the bandleader gave me a big smile. Personally, I felt I had set it a little too amateurishly (first time, heat of the moment) with too much treble making an almost envelope-filter like sound, but I got in the ballpark. Really happy how that went.
We did a bluesy song and I wanted something that sounded a bit like an overdriven amp, so I tried the Xotic BB effect and that did the job well enough.
I attempted to use the LMT-76 comp, a device I like on the G5n, but it was tough for me to dial it in correctly with no feedback as to when the trigger is hit so the threshhold knob isn't clear as to where to set it. Kept the ratio 4:1 but even so, felt like it rolled off the grit on the BB effect too much for that raw bluesy sound. Will take tweaking and maybe a different dirt pedal (I like the Boss OD for Lemmy-like midgain and the Muff for Muse-style overthetop fuzz).
Anyhow, what was the best part was that activating any of these effects did not erase me from the mix. This is something I've worried about with multi-fx in general so it was a great relief to get this outta it. If I knew my bass FX/amps/signalchains the way I know guitar, I'd likely use this straight into the return of my main bass amp for maximum flexibility but that won't be the case until I get more comfortable with tweaking fancy bass stuff in general. (y'all talk about Darkglass and I'm like "whatzitnow?"
Blah blah, using this as just an FX unit into a clean bass amp is pretty stellar.
So I hear. My problem is, I don't know what a Darkglass is :\ I'm a guitar player, remember? I know Ampeg SVT, Acoustic, Aguilar, SWR, Markbass (i own a Little Mark II head). I know Sansamp. When it comes to high-priced bass effects, my knowledge (chronologically) ends at EBS.
Who are Darkglass?
Oh, hey, just found this website. Again, I know all the little tricks for guitar, and I can dial in a bass in a recording studio band mix, but doing it live as the bass player leaves me a little overwhelmed and second-guessing myself. This site's pretty good, although it's brand-agnostic
Bass Effects | Bass Gear | StudyBass
Question on the B3n: I am having trouble figuring out how to adjust the sensitivity knob on the filters like the Z-tron. When set to negative values, it seems to neuter the sound and I can't get it to trigger (it's possible I didn't try hard enough). What did I miss?
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How does the sound quality of the B3n compare to the B1 Four? I have the B1 Four but I find it dulls the sound some what even bypassed. I currently got the Spectracomp, Le Bass and CAB M, I just want a universal pedal to sit between the Le Bass and the CAB M to for modulation and synth. I just can't stand the B1 Four really neuters the tube preamp when it sits anywhere in the chain.
The G5n does as well, compared to my HX Stomp. Pretty justifiable, considering the price difference.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it neuters the tone, though. Just requires a minor treble tweak to compensate.
The modeling specs are supposed to be the same on all three Zooms. Perhaps the analogue circuitry in the B1 Four isn’t up to quite the same audio spec?
once again, that would not be a shock considering the price and construction...
Pretty much any tone-suckage could be addressed by adding some EQ patch (Exciter, Parametric, whatever). The problem, of course is that uses up one of your slots
yeah, unfortunately the B3n does have some tone suckage. Not too noticeable if you are using amp sim / eq.
Well, FWIW, I've experienced zero tone or gain loss through the B3n. I'm not saying you don't, but just that I don't.
I spent an evening on a quest to find tone/gain loss in the B3n. I made sure to set up a patch that only passed an unprocessed signal through the B3n (no effects), and that the gain through the B3n matched that of my bass going direct (bypassing the B3n). What also made this easier was that since my Wal bass has both 1/4" and XLR output jacks, I could track the 1/4" output running through the B3n --> record input 1, and the XLR output direct to record input 2 in one pass.
Other than the expected few milliseconds of latency due to digital conversion in the B3n, I found the recorded signals to be virtually identical for all intents. Again, FWIW, YMMV.
I think they have the same paper stats but I think the hardware must be different. Last summer I saw a video that actually showed the audio difference between the two. The only thing I could discern was the B1 Four popped more and the B3n was more level. Unfortunately they did not mike the audio correctly and it was hard to hear the fidelity.
Just got this today. Sounds much better than the previous multi I used, more natural, if you will. I'm familiar with a few Zoom gadgets, but on this unit, I can't figure out how to create a patch . I go to one of the empty patches and when I use the menu, I don't see the add function, the options start with delete. I'm sure I'm missing something simple, but am I not doing right ?
I'm really liking this thing and its possibilities. I can see the benefit of having 3 patches looking at you and going stomp mode after selecting one and selecting whatever effect is needed. The expression pedal should be here Monday at the latest, planing to use it as a wah. I'll post a pic in the PYPB thread in a few days, got a few other thingys on the board.
Expression pedal came in today, much to my amazement and for now, using it as a bass wah, put that whammy-style stuff is interesting. Board lay-out is clean and gig-efficient and more important, no more Tetris when a new effect is required. The MS60B might go back in its box, eventually, but for now, using it as comp and drive allows more flexibility.
Question: I was under the impression I could use the expression pedal as some sort of controller for some effects, ex. the Bass Cry effect, but its uses seem limited to what I'm seeing in the manual. Or is it ?
Question: I was under the impression I could use the expression pedal as some sort of controller for some effects, ex. the Bass Cry effect, but its uses seem limited to what I'm seeing in the manual. Or is it ?
Look in the Effects List for the B3n. For each effect, the right hand column is either blank, has an eighth note symbol or a P. Only those effects with a P can be manipulated by an expression pedal.
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Apologies if this is a repeated question dealt with elsewhere here. The first 68 pages had 1 or 2 references without detail, I gave and skipped to the end to ask.
Does the B3n work effectively without an amp plugged directly into the mixer through a DI?
Are there any issues, comments or tips regarding doing this?
Does the B3n work effectively without an amp plugged directly into the mixer through a DI?
Are there any issues, comments or tips regarding doing this?
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