New: Zoom B3n Multi-Effects

[jimfist]

Edit - @jimfist I noticed a huge difference in tracking myself; pitch shifting quality is better as well as faster (the lag is gone or no longer noticeable) and synths track when I play lots of quick notes rather than having to slow down for it, hold notes longer etc. Latency might be there on a level a computer can detect but I haven't noticed any with the B3n! I definitely could with the B3 and MS60B though. I think they're great too but I always felt like I was fighting them when I used certain effects.

Yeah, that has me curious. I was using a cheap passive bass to test. I'm going to try again using my other gigging basses to compare. I definitely hear a better quality to the shifting on the B3n. I recall trying the synths and pitch effects a long time ago with the B3 and felt the same as you - that they were laggy and didn't track very well. I don't know why they seem to track better now, other than the bass I was using. Hmmm.

 

[FuzzFacetious]

Yeah, that has me curious. I was using a cheap passive bass to test. I'm going to try again using my other gigging basses to compare. I definitely hear a better quality to the shifting on the B3n. I recall trying the synths and pitch effects a long time ago with the B3 and felt the same as you - that they were laggy and didn't track very well. I don't know why they seem to track better now, other than the bass I was using. Hmmm.

There may be something to this, a lot of people say that tracking is improved with a compressor before the effect that needs to track the note. Maybe the signal from cheap pickups is more compressed naturally?

 

[BassikLee]

Power bank mostly under the zoom. Tiny bit of Velcro on the G10 transmitter, so I can secure it during transport. They say it has auto shutoff. I find that it still drains the battery when plugged in, so....

 

[kasbrey]

I managed to get hold of my B3n yesterday and so far so good Everything seems more organic and dynamic and favourites so far include the Aguilar DB750 and Acoustic 370 sims and the comps. The cab sims are way better too. Of course, the acid test will be when I try it with the band.
One thing I'm not so keen on is the Bassman 100 sim which seems to have a hollow sound in the mids which I can't eq out. A shame as this was my favourite sim on the B3.

An HPF would be nice too......

 

[Askia]

I managed to get hold of my B3n yesterday and so far so good Everything seems more organic and dynamic and favourites so far include the Aguilar DB750 and Acoustic 370 sims and the comps. The cab sims are way better too. Of course, the acid test will be when I try it with the band.
One thing I'm not so keen on is the Bassman 100 sim which seems to have a hollow sound in the mids which I can't eq out. A shame as this was my favourite sim on the B3.

An HPF would be nice too......

A real Bassman 100 has similar hollow sound. (At least the one I have played through for several times was lacking mids, or had difficult time to dial in good mids, no matter what I tried.)

 

[kasbrey]

A real Bassman 100 has similar hollow sound. (At least the one I have played through for several times was lacking mids, or had difficult time to dial in good mids, no matter what I tried.)

I had a Bassman 50 and 2x15 40 years ago but my memory might have faded!
It's more like an annoying hollow ring in the mids and I don't remember it on my old Line 6 sims (which reminded me a lot of my old amp) or on the B3's version. It also might be the cabs I've tried it with so far (Barefaced One10 and Markbass Minimark) and I've tried a few different basses too.....

 

[CharlieC]

I managed to get hold of my B3n yesterday and so far so good Everything seems more organic and dynamic and favourites so far include the Aguilar DB750 and Acoustic 370 sims and the comps. The cab sims are way better too. Of course, the acid test will be when I try it with the band.
One thing I'm not so keen on is the Bassman 100 sim which seems to have a hollow sound in the mids which I can't eq out. A shame as this was my favourite sim on the B3.

An HPF would be nice too......

A real Bassman 100 has similar hollow sound. (At least the one I have played through for several times was lacking mids, or had difficult time to dial in good mids, no matter what I tried.)

Authentic sounding models, indeed!

 

[FuzzFacetious]

Bassman was made for guitar! Unintentionally


Edit - when "cutting through a mix" with bass, what is the preferred frequency to raise?

I mean, although a lot of metal guitarists (for whatever reason) like to scoop the mids, the mids are the essential frequency to get the guitar to sound good in the mix (and I love a good thick mid on guitar).

With bass, is it the low end, the high end, the upper mid or the lower mid that really needs to be present for bass to sit nicely in a mix and sound good?

I have found that with mids boosted, it often gets a bit muddy, and upper mids also make it a bit boomy on higher fretted notes (shaking the room and rattling windows at times!), any general tips in this regard that work as a basic guide ?

 

[jimfist]

I had a Bassman 50 and 2x15 40 years ago but my memory might have faded!
It's more like an annoying hollow ring in the mids and I don't remember it on my old Line 6 sims (which reminded me a lot of my old amp) or on the B3's version. It also might be the cabs I've tried it with so far (Barefaced One10 and Markbass Minimark) and I've tried a few different basses too.....

I recall the Fender amp/cab model in the B3n having a definite mid-present tone, but nothing that stuck out as being "hollow" or "ringing". Will put this on my to-do list for listening tests.

 

[kasbrey]

I recall the Fender amp/cab model in the B3n having a definite mid-present tone, but nothing that stuck out as being "hollow" or "ringing". Will put this on my to-do list for listening tests.

To be fair I like all the other amp sims so I'm sure I'll be fine

 

[jimfist]

Well, if the rig below is the one that Zoom modeled, I can imagine why the sound is a bit ....different... when mic'd.

 

[FuzzFacetious]

There's a B3n group on Facebook! Log into Facebook | Facebook

 

[CharlieC]

Below is a picture I previously shared on the old B3 As Preamp thread.

Look at this beast!

 

[kasbrey]

I recall the Fender amp/cab model in the B3n having a definite mid-present tone, but nothing that stuck out as being "hollow" or "ringing". Will put this on my to-do list for listening tests.

Having checked the Tonestack calculator, setting the mids on 800hz and keeping the bass control down at about 22 then adding bottom back in later now seems to work for me with the Bassman.

 

[Stu_Bass]

Well, if the rig below is the one that Zoom modeled, I can imagine why the sound is a bit ....different... when mic'd.

View attachment 1105521

My first good amp

 

[Noshtero]

I spent an hour and a half yesterday dialing in a fantastic tone only to find out that I had inadvertently turned the pots on my bass somewhere between casing it at practice and taking it out at home. .... grrrr.........

 

[Spblat]

In the "things I believe because I want them to be true and because of stuff I've read" category:

I think what's going on is these digital pedals each have a clock rate in the KHz or possibly MHz range, and are each inadvertently sending clock voltage spikes back down through their power inputs. The clock rates of the pedals are different and so those spikes beat against each other, just like the throbbing you hear when you tune your bass by plucking harmonics.

Isolating the Polytune will prevent its clock spikes from entering the power channel, leaving only the clock spikes from the B3n. Because the B3n's clock is running at an inaudible frequency and has nothing to beat against, the whine will be silenced.

This is obviously true because, again, this is what I want to be true.

Diago PS09 works. More later.

 

[Stu_Bass]

Diago PS09 works. More later.

Did you try it on the Polytune? I would be a little worried about the draw from the B3n stressing the components and causing a failure. (That being said i also wouldn't hesitate to do it myself)

 

[Spblat]

Did you try it on the Polytune? I would be a little worried about the draw from the B3n stressing the components and causing a failure. (That being said i also wouldn't hesitate to do it myself)

Nah, I figure it might work too but I wouldn't trust it if I was powering more than 100mA through that isolator. It's wired like this:

Battery -> USB Thingy (just one!) -> DC Polarity Flip -> Splitter
Splitter Output 1 -> Diago PS09 -> Polytune 2
Splitter Output 2 -> B3n

My 10,000 mAH battery was at 87% a few hours ago and is now down to 66%. Tuner's been on and that loop above has been playing the whole time. WE HAVE A WINNER

Here's three pictures of my new contraption, powered by external AC-to-USB power adapter. Underneath: two ordinary 10,000mAh USB batteries. Each is good for several hours, I'd guess 5 or perhaps considerably more hours each. And it nestles in my Mono Guitar Tick. Behind the pedalboard: Macbook for capturing all 18 tracks for mixing later. And behind the MacBook, two patch cables.





Update 5/6/2017: Polytune 2 replaced with a Polytune Noir. Unlike the larger one it doesn't "poly" with bass but a couple of weeks messing with tuning multiple strings simultaneously convinced me that it's just an impressive gimmick. Still I very much like the single-string tuning of this little pedal.

And I added a DI. I'm not sure if I can find an amp that accepts balanced mic-level input, but even if not, it's a nice way to get from my pedalboard into the house mixer.

Here's all the gear in my happy place.

 

[mrufino1]

I managed to get hold of my B3n yesterday and so far so good Everything seems more organic and dynamic and favourites so far include the Aguilar DB750 and Acoustic 370 sims and the comps. The cab sims are way better too. Of course, the acid test will be when I try it with the band.
One thing I'm not so keen on is the Bassman 100 sim which seems to have a hollow sound in the mids which I can't eq out. A shame as this was my favourite sim on the B3.

An HPF would be nice too......

A real Bassman 100 has similar hollow sound. (At least the one I have played through for several times was lacking mids, or had difficult time to dial in good mids, no matter what I tried.)

Is the bassman tonestack like the dual showman? If so, then anything below full up is actually cutting mids, the mids are flat on 10, but not the bass and treble. It's been a while since I owned either amp but that's what I remember.