Ok I've just tried this with my B3n. There's a big difference between "empty" and tuner bypass. I couldn't hear a difference between tuner mode and direct into my Quilter with a passive P.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
New: Zoom B3n Multi-Effects
- Thread starter CharlieC
- Start date
-
- Tags
- b3n multi-effects zoom
B3n = pretty good modeling and fx in a reasonable size package, good switching capabilities, very easy to program, and fairly low cost. Primarily, all things considered, best bang for buck.
All multi-fx pedals have their strengths and weaknesses, and it's just too subjective a thing, depending on what's important. Needless to say, the best sound quality and features will be found at the top end of the price market. Considering that Zoom is at the low end of the market, I think it's remarkable what they've done with their products lately. Of course, not everyone will agree.
Speaking for my own situation, Zoom ticks these boxes:
- size
- very simple to use, but still pretty flexible (limited features suit my limited needs at the moment)
- ease of adjustment on the fly (no deep menu diving)
- price
- not loaded with tons of features I don't need
- future additions and updates provided by Zoom (IOW, new amps and effects)
- amp/cab modeling upgraded from B3, and IMO sounds surprisingly good, especially at this price
- switching implementation upgraded from B3
I picked up a B3n about a week ago. First impressions...very decent sounding unit. The amp models are quite good, although I find most of the cabs very dark and lacking detail (I think that I've pretty well established that I don't care for cab simulation much). This can remedied somewhat by drastic eq'ing but that kind of defeats the purpose imo. I find the od/distortions to sound much better that my Line 6 M9, however the M9 still sounds much better for modulation to my ears. The delays and reverbs are decent enough but there aren't a lot of options (M9 wins out here as well). The synth sounds in the B3n are awful to me.
I may or may not keep the Zoom. I'd love to give a Helix a run through if I could find one locally.
I may or may not keep the Zoom. I'd love to give a Helix a run through if I could find one locally.
I have solved the whine problem in my pedalboard but the Diago isolator I found only supports 100mA. Details in my signature. I think given that your MS60b probably wants more than 100mA you're stuck with a big fat expensive isolator from voodoo or one-spot, or a couple of wall warts.
SirMjac28
Patiently Waiting For The Next British Invasion
Mine is still on the truck should be here soon anyone know if the B3n shares the same power plug as the B3?
SirMjac28
Patiently Waiting For The Next British Invasion
Yes, same power/plug.
Thanks that's beautiful I don't want to take apart my amp stand and pedal board to install a new one I'm getting so lazy
Thanks that's beautiful I don't want to take apart my amp stand and pedal board to install a new one I'm getting so lazy
Just make sure the B3n has its own power tap, meaning that it is not sharing the same 9V line with another device on your pedal board else you will experience power "whine" (discussed ad nauseam elsewhere in this thread.)
SirMjac28
Patiently Waiting For The Next British Invasion
SirMjac28
Patiently Waiting For The Next British Invasion
This thread was a lot to digest. I have a b3 and like it with the exception of the distortions, which I hate pretty much universally. Are the ones on the b3n any better?
I am fully with you and face the same issue. I have my B3n for the first test runs on a Warwick floorboard, which has its own power supply. Since that was too weak I no more use the original Warwick wall wart and use a 1 SPOT instead to power now the floorboard. I get the whine in most patches, very annoying, even if I disconnect all other devices (only one being digital). However, I get rid of the whine if I use the original, i.e. Zoom's wall wart. This somehow defies the whole purpose of the power supply system of the floorboard. But it seems necessary, since otherwise the whine is IMHO intolerable.
BTW, I have simply replaced the B3n for the B3 on this floorboard (here shown with the modified B3 with a stomp bar to switch patches):
I have not yet tested whether the B3 has less whine than the B3n in this very same setup. Will report as soon as I have some results.
Last edited:
So I had a bit of time to mess around with the B3n, and I'm warming up to it (alone in my practice room anyway). I'll try it out with a band tomorrow.
I noticed a couple of weird things -
I started a patch in an empty location, and I had to delete things before the add button showed up. But it was already empty! So I had to choose delete on nothing. Wassup?
A couple of the default patches in the 2nd bank (4 and 6 I think) were wrong. The autowah one had no wah, instead a flanger. The octave down had no octaver. Does this mean I got a returned unit and somebody messed with the presets?
How do I update and get the latest patches and effects? I didn't have much time but I didn't see that in the manual.
I noticed a couple of weird things -
I started a patch in an empty location, and I had to delete things before the add button showed up. But it was already empty! So I had to choose delete on nothing. Wassup?
A couple of the default patches in the 2nd bank (4 and 6 I think) were wrong. The autowah one had no wah, instead a flanger. The octave down had no octaver. Does this mean I got a returned unit and somebody messed with the presets?
How do I update and get the latest patches and effects? I didn't have much time but I didn't see that in the manual.
OK, I ordered one. You are all now officially responsible for my future happiness or lack thereof.
How many of you are using the/a expression pedal with the B3n? How much does it add to the usefulness?
Which pedals will work best with it, is Zoom's own FP02M the best bet?
To follow up on my promise: I have now measured what my FP02 pedals do: Between tip and sleeve you have a resistance of 86 kOhm. Between ring and sleeve you have indeed 0 kOhm at minimum position of the pedal (heel down). That resistance goes up to 82.5 kOhm when the pedal is at max position (toes down). Moreover, the resistance between tip and ring behaves accordingly, showing at minimum pedal position 86 kOhm, but at maximum pedal position not quite 0, but still about 7 kOhm. That's all folks (what this simple pedal does).
Finally, you wondered why that simple pedal can control a parameter of an effect, as it does when connected to the B3. Think about it, this has very little to do with the pedal itself, since that needs only to "send" information about the foot position, nothing else. The interpretation of that position as defined by a resistance is then fully done within the B3 or B3n, i.e. by the software (provided as firmware). Theoretically any parameter can then be controlled if the programming is done accordingly.
Unfortunately the B3n offers here in some sense less and in another more functionality. More flexibility comes from the fact that the B3n software treats the pedal as an effect unit as any other in the signal chain out of the 7 slots supported. This means in the B3n you are free to insert the pedal anywhere in that signal chain as controlling volume, or a wah effect, or a resonance filter, or a pitch bender. On the other hand, the pedal can control only the particular signal it receives from the chain where it is inserted, nothing else, since the "pedal unit" can logically no longer be connected to a specific other effect in the signal chain as is possible with the B3. Theoretically Zoom could release another pedal effect unit, which could again do that, but I doubt this, since such a pedal effect unit would mean the pedal is completely outside the actual signal chain. This would logically defy the insertion in the signal chain, making no longer sense and might confuse users. Thus I fear Zoom will not offer such a pedal unit for download.
With the B3 there is another solution offered: The pedal is not an effect unit and can therefore be inserted only at predefined positions. They are the begin, i.e. controlling input volume, or the end, i.e. output volume or thirdly balance between dry and effect signal, of the signal chain. There is a fourth, quite powerful option, where the pedal can be connected to one of the other 3 units in the signal chain controlling a particular parameter of that unit. For an equalizer unit it may be the bass tone control, for an amp simulation the gain or for a SFX some dominant parameter of that unit. While this is all somewhat limited, since you can control only one of the three units at a time and only a predefined parameter of that unit, in practice it is IMHO nevertheless quite powerful and offers more flexibility to control an effects behavior than what is possible with the B3n. Admitted, on my brand new B3n I have not experimented much with the resonance filter option for the pedal, which might allow to accomplish similar sounds as are possible with the B3. But that would need to be tested.
Hope this is nevertheless already helpful.
Cheers, Andreas flf
Actually, I tried today this, and the unit acted wierd. Looper was before synth effect, I played a riff, i tried to set the synth sound, but the synth didn't work properly. I was turning the knobs, but they didn't do what they should. Anyone had the same experience?
Didn't you also not notice the other power-related whine as well?
What Andreas described recently is a situation that is easily replicated by navigating banks with Preselect "Off" (the default.) It is most evident when landing on a patch laden with effects as part of the bank change. With Preselect "On", bank changes no longer include a patch change, and the cause of the issue is then eliminated.
Cheers!
Yes, Charlie, I tested this now more systematically, with Preselect "Off" and "On". However, Johno, one should not confound the whine (steady high pitched noise) with the bank switching noise I can get with Preselect "Off".
On the bank switching noise (Preselect "Off"): It is not always present. I detected it first with the factory preset patches. It behaves exactly as Charlie described, but according to my observations depends on which patch is currently selected and what effects are in that patch. Fortunately, with most of my patches I actually use – I find rarely any of much use of the factory presets
– I hear nothing noticeable when switching banks now. For the time being I prefer to have Preselect "Off", not wanting to have to confirm the patch switch each time I do a bank switch. Admitted, that may depend on the situation and a bank switch alone may not always be good enough during gigs and may indeed require also to choose one of the three patches in the new bank. So my preference may change as I use the B3n more.On the whine noise: Again, to my observation that also depends strongly on the patch in use, not only on the power supply. Some patches seem to make it very conspicuous, annoyingly so, e.g. "ODB-Drive", with other patches, e.g. "MM-CLEAN", it is more tolerable and I need to listen very carefully to detect it (the two examples given are factory presets #20 and #21). But the whine is always there with my 1 SPOT supplied Warwick floorboard power supply. Only using Zoom's B3n original wall wart or an extra 1 SPOT to power the B3n avoids the whine. Fortunately the whine is totally gone with the extra 1 SPOT, complete silence, which is of course very nice. Thanks once more Charlie for that hint, a very, very important one.
Latest posts
-
I didn't need it but I bought it anyway new (to me) cab day...- Latest: Element Zero
-
-
