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NPD: Zoom MS-60B (a Review)
- Thread starter KevInDaBassment
- Start date
There is another mode it can operate in, where you designate specific patches with a letter, and the foot switch will cycle through the letters. So, if you save a patch with no effects, you can use that patch as an "off" setting.
In my opinion, you can actually pull this off. I had to work on live music for TV show, and the sound engineer was an absolute nazi with stage noise, so all was in-ear driven (except drums, but isolated in a plexiglass frame). The guitar player had a Line6 X3 Live which changed into a Kemper after a while. The amp sims on the zoom are good enough to make the in-ear experience to feel great, and I now only take my real amp if the gig requires it.
I know that this is an old thread but I wanted to share my impressions because I know how much I search and research when I am trying to get the clearer picture of the thing that I want to buy.
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This is my effort to try to explain the joy I am feeling every time I start to play with and explore Zoom ms60b.
Before I buy anything, I read and listen to everything there is on the web regarding it, and I have changed a great amount of pedals on my board. This should help you get the picture that I am a bit picky about effects. In the past years I have made a nice little board which had
EHX Bass Big Muff Pi
Boss OC-3
MXR Bass Envelope
MXR Phase 90 block
Boss GEB-7
Boss CE-5
Boss LS-2
Bad Monkey
Marshall GV-2
Digitech Bass Synth Wah
These are middle of the road stompboxes. They are the best value for the money that I could find.
Ok, now for the interesting part... After buying zoom ms60b and comparing it to the already mentioned effects, I have sold every single one of them and now I am using ONLY ms60b. I can get everything I have had on my board. It is incredible.
For the people that have commented that drives, overdrives, fuzzes are not as good...they just didn't tried to make it sound good. I mostly use drive effects and I have different tones for different songs, which made me buy all of the mentioned drive boxes, because I do not like to play with knobs in between songs. Now I have a patch for every type of drive I imagine. All I had to do is be patient and combine different things in ms60b but at the end I have managed to get everything I have imagined. It is really incredible little box. The drives do not sound digital or artificial if you tweak and combine. Just today I have managed to get the thick low driven tone for the Audioslave - Be Yourself, for which I have always struggled to make with stompboxes I have had. I have made patch for Hysteria - Muse, which I was previously played with Bass Big Muff in combine with Bass Synth Wah and with a help of Line Selector. Also sharp overdriven rock tone is one of mine most used, so that is also possible to make. Those are just a couple of examples.
All of my experiences are from playing with a band, because what you make in your room, is never completely usable when you are in a band situation. There are just a lot of new sonic influences from other instruments which you cannot mimic by yourself. But, as the time goes and your ear develops, and you get to know your band mates and how they set their equipment, it is easier to predict things.
Because the majority of users already expressed their satisfaction with a chorus, delay and reverbs, I will skip this.
On different forums bass players are mentioning MXR Phase 90 block letters as a best phase for bass. With zoom I manage to dial in a similar sound and on top of it, Zoom gives couple of additional changes to the frequencies.
I have written this review and forgot to post it and in the meantime....
I was so satisfied with MS60b that I have bought Zoom B3 also. It is quieter than MS60b, no cycle hum.
These things are right on the spot and extremely usable and I still have A LOT of effects I didn't even touched and used.
Buy one, be patient, experiment. You will not regret it.
.
.
.
This is my effort to try to explain the joy I am feeling every time I start to play with and explore Zoom ms60b.
Before I buy anything, I read and listen to everything there is on the web regarding it, and I have changed a great amount of pedals on my board. This should help you get the picture that I am a bit picky about effects. In the past years I have made a nice little board which had
EHX Bass Big Muff Pi
Boss OC-3
MXR Bass Envelope
MXR Phase 90 block
Boss GEB-7
Boss CE-5
Boss LS-2
Bad Monkey
Marshall GV-2
Digitech Bass Synth Wah
These are middle of the road stompboxes. They are the best value for the money that I could find.
Ok, now for the interesting part... After buying zoom ms60b and comparing it to the already mentioned effects, I have sold every single one of them and now I am using ONLY ms60b. I can get everything I have had on my board. It is incredible.
For the people that have commented that drives, overdrives, fuzzes are not as good...they just didn't tried to make it sound good. I mostly use drive effects and I have different tones for different songs, which made me buy all of the mentioned drive boxes, because I do not like to play with knobs in between songs. Now I have a patch for every type of drive I imagine. All I had to do is be patient and combine different things in ms60b but at the end I have managed to get everything I have imagined. It is really incredible little box. The drives do not sound digital or artificial if you tweak and combine. Just today I have managed to get the thick low driven tone for the Audioslave - Be Yourself, for which I have always struggled to make with stompboxes I have had. I have made patch for Hysteria - Muse, which I was previously played with Bass Big Muff in combine with Bass Synth Wah and with a help of Line Selector. Also sharp overdriven rock tone is one of mine most used, so that is also possible to make. Those are just a couple of examples.
All of my experiences are from playing with a band, because what you make in your room, is never completely usable when you are in a band situation. There are just a lot of new sonic influences from other instruments which you cannot mimic by yourself. But, as the time goes and your ear develops, and you get to know your band mates and how they set their equipment, it is easier to predict things.
Because the majority of users already expressed their satisfaction with a chorus, delay and reverbs, I will skip this.
On different forums bass players are mentioning MXR Phase 90 block letters as a best phase for bass. With zoom I manage to dial in a similar sound and on top of it, Zoom gives couple of additional changes to the frequencies.
I have written this review and forgot to post it and in the meantime....
I was so satisfied with MS60b that I have bought Zoom B3 also. It is quieter than MS60b, no cycle hum.
These things are right on the spot and extremely usable and I still have A LOT of effects I didn't even touched and used.
Buy one, be patient, experiment. You will not regret it.
When I am dialing in drive settings on the Zoom I start with the drive at 7:00 and mix at 50/50. I slowly increase the drive but be careful there as way too much gain on tap and it ramps up fast. I never reach noon usually twixt 8:30 - 11
It really depends of the voice of your instrument, but in a chain I always have an amp simulation and a compressor, beside drive box. Amount of drive gain is dependable to what drive pedal you choose to put in a chain. Mine different tones/patches are completely different regarding what I have choosen to use, so I do not have a complete answer on how to. Sorry man but it is all in patience and experimenting.
The amp simulations, cab combinations, and the possibillity to mix it with the direct sound is great and give me my in ear montoring finally an more live sound
The Zoom ms60b is much better than I expected!
With the new firmware a lot of more effects where added.
Great review by the way!
With the new firmware a lot of more effects where added.
Great review by the way!
I think this is one of the most underestimated pedals...its just magic and the finishing touch of my pedal chsin with these very good amp simulations@
I've got my MS60B since 2013 or 2014 .. and it has become my swiss army knife. My tone comes from a real Sansamp but I use the Zoom for all my flanger stuff and I use it as a tuner too.
Thank youThe Zoom ms60b is much better than I expected!
With the new firmware a lot of more effects where added.
Great review by the way!
Any other thoughts on real-world use of this pedal?
I used a B3n last week and it worked out well (needed sub-octave effect). I have a MS-60B v2 coming this week, just curious what everyone thinks. For the money, I think it gets a passing grade. If the crowd doesn't know the difference at a live gig, seems like a great way to cover a variety of needs from song-to-song EQ to all the effects.
DSP technology has come a long way!
I used a B3n last week and it worked out well (needed sub-octave effect). I have a MS-60B v2 coming this week, just curious what everyone thinks. For the money, I think it gets a passing grade. If the crowd doesn't know the difference at a live gig, seems like a great way to cover a variety of needs from song-to-song EQ to all the effects.
DSP technology has come a long way!
For 100 bucks the MS60 is impossible to beat as a utility effect, you will spend a hecka lot more for not much Audible return in the real world , dare I say. Now the fantasy land bass nirvana some folks seem to inhabit, that I have not found in 50 years of gigging, may say differently.
I have the MS-60B, the b1on, and the b3n. Yes, AFAICT they are all the same (or pretty close) audibly, but the b3n gives me a "pedalboard replacement", while the other are much more limited, and this is not because of the way they sound - it's because of how easy/difficult it is to set up.
The b3n is the only one that gives you direct control, much closer to the control you'll get with a "real" pedal board. E.g. if I want to change the sensitivity of the compressor- if the effect is being displayed - I just need to bend and rotate. With the b1on and the MS-60B it is usually much more work, to the point of being impractical in many cases.
(Also worth mentioning ToneLib – Second life for your Zoom pedal, although I rarely bother to get a USB cable with thr b3n)
The b3n is the only one that gives you direct control, much closer to the control you'll get with a "real" pedal board. E.g. if I want to change the sensitivity of the compressor- if the effect is being displayed - I just need to bend and rotate. With the b1on and the MS-60B it is usually much more work, to the point of being impractical in many cases.
(Also worth mentioning ToneLib – Second life for your Zoom pedal, although I rarely bother to get a USB cable with thr b3n)
I do concede the point of convenience but I have the availability of a laptop running tonelib when sound designing and that makes all the difference. On the fly I agree on convenience of the B3n or analog. It
ToneLib is valuable for a full backup of all patches too. Surprising the Zoom GuitarLab doesn't offer that.
I use ToneLib all the time for editing patches, I find it way faster/easier/better to navigate and explore the B3n. Ideally, there's no knob turning needed once things are setup...just stomp and go.
I did use a separate compressor when I brought the B3n out to play. One thing that bothers me about the swiss army knife of these all-in-one pedals is that it's not anything anytime independently. I use it as a multi-effect box and used some of the amp/cab sims to get a completely different tone (Ampeg vs. Fender Bassman vs. SWR), slap settings vs. smooth/mellow or deep thump. I'll keep using the dedicated compressor pedal, one less thing the Zoom needs to do.
I'll be interested to see how the MS-60B works out for me. I may combine them and use both. I have a Sansamp BDDI with XLR out if needed, and will replace that with a Q Strip EQ later. The Zoom Sansamp has more settings than my v1 BDDI.
I use ToneLib all the time for editing patches, I find it way faster/easier/better to navigate and explore the B3n. Ideally, there's no knob turning needed once things are setup...just stomp and go.
I did use a separate compressor when I brought the B3n out to play. One thing that bothers me about the swiss army knife of these all-in-one pedals is that it's not anything anytime independently. I use it as a multi-effect box and used some of the amp/cab sims to get a completely different tone (Ampeg vs. Fender Bassman vs. SWR), slap settings vs. smooth/mellow or deep thump. I'll keep using the dedicated compressor pedal, one less thing the Zoom needs to do.
I'll be interested to see how the MS-60B works out for me. I may combine them and use both. I have a Sansamp BDDI with XLR out if needed, and will replace that with a Q Strip EQ later. The Zoom Sansamp has more settings than my v1 BDDI.
I envisioned different used for the MS60 but just keep it in my recording kit for as needed effects so have never really worked it into a live set up. Live I still use my oldies B2 or B2.1u cuz they are tweaked to perfection for me. The B3 is on my recording bench and gets equal use between bass, piccolo, but and keys.
Long time user of the B3 here. It drove many boo-teak pedals and sow pedestrian pedals out of the house. It finally met it’s match (for me anyway) in Source Audio separates. The SA stuff is a large step up but about 7x the cost of a used B3... and you still have to buy a tuner...
