I was responding to marcusphagen, the only time I've run up against this particular limitation was when I tried to put 3 amp models on one patch in order to more easily compare them.
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Zoom B3 As Preamp Part 2
- Thread starter David Wilson
- Start date
I had my second gig with the B3 tonight. I brought my stingray instead of my jazz bass. With only the amp sim and compressor I could really hear more of a contrast in the amp sims. Adding the sansamp effect would only muddy the waters. I went through just about all of my preset amp sims and settled on the Markbass sim. It gave a nice clear tone and worked nicely with the group. I'll have to do some more experimenting with the B3 and each of my bass options.
Tip ...
When setting up for live at home, make the presets sound a tad thin and toppy. When you kick up the volume, the bass will be here without taking along the mud
- Nov 8, 2010
- 1,391
- 9
- Disclosures
- Unofficial Endorser: Ibanez, D'Addario, Zoom
That's a good tip. I would say the same about distortion/od/gain from amp sims. Go a little on the milder side because it may come through as overkill in the FOH.
I totally agree with that. My good band tone doesn't sound very bassy at home.
Bass is better heard at high volume and more if you walk some meters from your amp.
When I made a frequency graph of the setting I used at last gig, the bass part was lower than the highs and the high mids and I had good compliments from my tone from the audience.
I think this is why I've never been able to dial a good working tone in band context with the Sansamp. The lack of mids isn't working well for the kind of tones I like.
I think it could work if you're after a bass tone which doesn't stand out and you only want to fill the low end.
And regarding the dirt level : yes when playing in a band context, I hear it louder too at higher volumes.
What is fun is that now I'm becoming used to play at home with a thin and harsh tone. Not the most pleasant tone, but I know it will work with my bandmates.
That's great advice. Since I have a rather open floor plan and hardwood floors I ASSUMED that the resonance that I was getting in the living room was fairly accurate. That was definitely not the case.
The other thing I've noticed with both my TC Electronics amp (with or without the B3) and my Hartke kickback is that I like the sound of flat (noon position) levels. If I do anything too drastic to the EQ I usually find that I don't like it.
My setup that I liked last night was....
Sterling SUB Ray - vol MAX, treble cut MAX (rolled off), bass CENTER
BG250-210 - everything centered
B3 - Markbass sim (centered tone) + DComp (default settings)
Heya guyz!!!
First i want to thank CharlieC for the good job on that thread.And everybody also who helps us to understand the fantastic litlle B3.
I want to share that I found a way to be able to configure the B3 easily,special the amps and cabs.If someone have a additional audio interface,one good DAW and 2 studio monitors he can do it very easy.You can lender from a friend also.
Here is the plan.
Connect the XLR out of B3 with the pre mode(true bypass) in audio interface.Use your DAW and take some loops with you playing your bass any riffs and lines you like.Make sure your bass pots are flat.Carefully make your levels.
After that take a instrument cable and connect one of the outputs of your interface to the front input of your B3 and connect the B3 out to real amp,PA monitor or whatever you use for gigs.Be very carefull with volumes.Leave one of the studio monitors connected to interface.
Now start play your loops and make all the adjustments of the amps with comfort.I try that and works really nice.
You can go back to forth and hear the sound of the flat sound monitors and your reall amp/cab cobination.
Have fun
PS:Sorry for my bad english
First i want to thank CharlieC for the good job on that thread.And everybody also who helps us to understand the fantastic litlle B3.
I want to share that I found a way to be able to configure the B3 easily,special the amps and cabs.If someone have a additional audio interface,one good DAW and 2 studio monitors he can do it very easy.You can lender from a friend also.
Here is the plan.
Connect the XLR out of B3 with the pre mode(true bypass) in audio interface.Use your DAW and take some loops with you playing your bass any riffs and lines you like.Make sure your bass pots are flat.Carefully make your levels.
After that take a instrument cable and connect one of the outputs of your interface to the front input of your B3 and connect the B3 out to real amp,PA monitor or whatever you use for gigs.Be very carefull with volumes.Leave one of the studio monitors connected to interface.
Now start play your loops and make all the adjustments of the amps with comfort.I try that and works really nice.
You can go back to forth and hear the sound of the flat sound monitors and your reall amp/cab cobination.
Have fun
PS:Sorry for my bad english
Heya guyz!!!
First i want to thank CharlieC for the good job on that thread.And everybody also who helps us to understand the fantastic litlle B3.
I want to share that I found a way to be able to configure the B3 easily,special the amps and cabs.If someone have a additional audio interface,one good DAW and 2 studio monitors he can do it very easy.You can lender from a friend also.
Here is the plan.
Connect the XLR out of B3 with the pre mode(true bypass) in audio interface.Use your DAW and take some loops with you playing your bass any riffs and lines you like.Make sure your bass pots are flat.Carefully make your levels.
After that take a instrument cable and connect one of the outputs of your interface to the front input of your B3 and connect the B3 out to real amp,PA monitor or whatever you use for gigs.Be very carefull with volumes.Leave one of the studio monitors connected to interface.
Now start play your loops and make all the adjustments of the amps with comfort.I try that and works really nice.
You can go back to forth and hear the sound of the flat sound monitors and your reall amp/cab cobination.
Have fun
PS:Sorry for my bad english
You're welcome and thanks for the tip!
Cheers!
Yes, good tip
I made some other tweakings with the dirt boxes, since I know I'm not the only one liking to have different flavors of distorsions.
I get very good results by coupling them to the para eq : so for each distorsion I use 2 slots :
- first one : the distorsion / overdive
- second one : the para-eq
For example :
Tube screamer with a blend set at 28 + Para eq :
- 80Hz Q=1 Level = 4
- 3kHz Q=4 level = 6
BB Preamp with blend set at 42 + Para eq :
- 32Hz Q=0.5 Level = 8
- 800Hz Q = 2 Level = 3
Squeak with blend set at 36 + Para eq :
- 80Hz Q=1 Level=6
- 800Hz Q=4 Level =7
Subjective settings It's a matter of taste. It's just to give some examples of what I did.
The principle :
- a small Q (1 or 0.5) for the bass frequencies, then put the level around 10 and sweep between 32 and 80 until you hear your missing low end coming back, then adjust to your taste
- a higher Q for the mids/high mids : put the level around 10 and sweep the frequencies until your hear the sound you like, then adjust
I did that because I felt that, even with the blend knob, the dirt boxes were eating a lot of low end. And even if I liked the flavour of them I found it difficult to adjust them well.
With that kind of adjustments you can get the tones you want and keeping the spirit of the dirt boxes.
And by using some mids you can tailor your sound very perfectly.
The counterpart is that you need 2 slots when you want a custom overdrive.
So, WHEN DO WE GET THE NEW FIRMWARE VERSION WITH MORE SLOTS ????
What, we already discussed this subject ?
If you give a try to this kind of settings, please give me your feedback
I made some other tweakings with the dirt boxes, since I know I'm not the only one liking to have different flavors of distorsions.
I get very good results by coupling them to the para eq : so for each distorsion I use 2 slots :
- first one : the distorsion / overdive
- second one : the para-eq
For example :
Tube screamer with a blend set at 28 + Para eq :
- 80Hz Q=1 Level = 4
- 3kHz Q=4 level = 6
BB Preamp with blend set at 42 + Para eq :
- 32Hz Q=0.5 Level = 8
- 800Hz Q = 2 Level = 3
Squeak with blend set at 36 + Para eq :
- 80Hz Q=1 Level=6
- 800Hz Q=4 Level =7
Subjective settings
It's a matter of taste. It's just to give some examples of what I did.The principle :
- a small Q (1 or 0.5) for the bass frequencies, then put the level around 10 and sweep between 32 and 80 until you hear your missing low end coming back, then adjust to your taste
- a higher Q for the mids/high mids : put the level around 10 and sweep the frequencies until your hear the sound you like, then adjust
I did that because I felt that, even with the blend knob, the dirt boxes were eating a lot of low end. And even if I liked the flavour of them I found it difficult to adjust them well.
With that kind of adjustments you can get the tones you want and keeping the spirit of the dirt boxes.
And by using some mids you can tailor your sound very perfectly.
The counterpart is that you need 2 slots when you want a custom overdrive.
So, WHEN DO WE GET THE NEW FIRMWARE VERSION WITH MORE SLOTS ????
What, we already discussed this subject ?
If you give a try to this kind of settings, please give me your feedback
Yes, good tip
I made some other tweakings with the dirt boxes, since I know I'm not the only one liking to have different flavors of distorsions.
I get very good results by coupling them to the para eq : so for each distorsion I use 2 slots :
- first one : the distorsion / overdive
- second one : the para-eq
For example :
Tube screamer with a blend set at 28 + Para eq :
- 80Hz Q=1 Level = 4
- 3kHz Q=4 level = 6
BB Preamp with blend set at 42 + Para eq :
- 32Hz Q=0.5 Level = 8
- 800Hz Q = 2 Level = 3
Squeak with blend set at 36 + Para eq :
- 80Hz Q=1 Level=6
- 800Hz Q=4 Level =7
Subjective settings
The principle :
- a small Q (1 or 0.5) for the bass frequencies, then put the level around 10 and sweep between 32 and 80 until you hear your missing low end coming back, then adjust to your taste
- a higher Q for the mids/high mids : put the level around 10 and sweep the frequencies until your hear the sound you like, then adjust
I did that because I felt that, even with the blend knob, the dirt boxes were eating a lot of low end. And even if I liked the flavour of them I found it difficult to adjust them well.
With that kind of adjustments you can get the tones you want and keeping the spirit of the dirt boxes.
And by using some mids you can tailor your sound very perfectly.
The counterpart is that you need 2 slots when you want a custom overdrive.
So, WHEN DO WE GET THE NEW FIRMWARE VERSION WITH MORE SLOTS ????
What, we already discussed this subject ?
If you give a try to this kind of settings, please give me your feedback
Nice find,i try that this days.My favorite dirt tone comes from the Dunlop MXR bass di+ emulator .
- Nov 8, 2010
- 1,391
- 9
- Disclosures
- Unofficial Endorser: Ibanez, D'Addario, Zoom
I made some tries with it too. And this is the one that made me think of coupling the dirt boxes with some bass boost.
When the MXR DI is on distortion and set flat, it's only mids. And so I found the tone way better when setting the Bass at max.
Its sound is interesting too. I have to try it more
Hi folks!
I am going to grab a reference to an earlier post of mine in the previous (50+ pages) thread. In that I was explaining that I was having trouble with my B3 due to two things:
(1) The output level of the XLR output was freakingly high (aka line level)
(2) The XLR output was incredibly noisy (hiss)
On a sidenote: I had then been using a passive external DI as a replacement for the internal DI out since the internal one was obviously faulty. The original output was clean as a whistle, so was the output from my ART passive DI box. Needless to say: i find it nonsense to have a device with a direct XLR out that produces crappier signals than the instrument out. I can do that with an MS-60B for less cash.
I went to my local shop-of-choice and had it sent in in November. Took forever and finally got it back in the first week of January. Comment from the service center: "no fault found, no fix". Needless to say, I disagreed. I went to the PA department of the shop and plugged the B3 into their board: the regular output into a line channel of the mixer, the DI output to a mic channel. Adjusting their gain settings to reflect the same instrument level led to the conclusion that the level of the DI out was far too high and its noise level was much higher than the original out. I told them to send it in AGAIN. Assuming they would do the same thing (notably NOTHING), I would have been able to give it back after another round in the service shop for a full refund. Sometimes German legislation can be useful. In that case, I would have taken the cash, purchased an MS-60B and put my above mentioned DI box right next to it. No noise and 66 EUR to spare for whatever.
Just got it back on Monday. This time a different comment from the service center (mind you, NOT Zoom, but their contracted German sevice center "Sound Service"): "No fault found, but we replaced the mother board "just in case"".
Back to the PA guys, same setup, and looky here:
- The levels now are the way they should be (instrument/line level on the jack, mic level on the XLR)
- No hiss. Nothin. Cool.
In October, I had gone back to my analog pedal board (MXR Bass Envelope, MXR Bass Comp and MXR DI Plus) and am currently very much enjoying that setup, going straight out of the DI Plus to the mixing board and using in-ear for the entire band. For alternative and rock cover stuff that we are playing, this works like a charm (envelope for the funk, DI Plus for EQ, DI Plus on distortion for some dirty stuff). Since this setup works great, I'll now have the B3 as the originally intended backup solution. Between Jan and Oct, I was actually using the B3 as my go-to device: small footprint, more sounds than you can shake a stick at and a load of amp sims that can render any amp lugging obsolete.
For now, I'll stay with the pedal board that honestly produces some killer sound (I do like my MXR stuff!). But maybe I can try some stuff out again soon on the B3 that I cannot fulfill with the MXR setup because I just don't have an effect I might need (phasers, chorus, synths and whatnot).
ROCK ON!
I am going to grab a reference to an earlier post of mine in the previous (50+ pages) thread. In that I was explaining that I was having trouble with my B3 due to two things:
(1) The output level of the XLR output was freakingly high (aka line level)
(2) The XLR output was incredibly noisy (hiss)
On a sidenote: I had then been using a passive external DI as a replacement for the internal DI out since the internal one was obviously faulty. The original output was clean as a whistle, so was the output from my ART passive DI box. Needless to say: i find it nonsense to have a device with a direct XLR out that produces crappier signals than the instrument out. I can do that with an MS-60B for less cash.
I went to my local shop-of-choice and had it sent in in November. Took forever and finally got it back in the first week of January. Comment from the service center: "no fault found, no fix". Needless to say, I disagreed. I went to the PA department of the shop and plugged the B3 into their board: the regular output into a line channel of the mixer, the DI output to a mic channel. Adjusting their gain settings to reflect the same instrument level led to the conclusion that the level of the DI out was far too high and its noise level was much higher than the original out. I told them to send it in AGAIN. Assuming they would do the same thing (notably NOTHING), I would have been able to give it back after another round in the service shop for a full refund. Sometimes German legislation can be useful. In that case, I would have taken the cash, purchased an MS-60B and put my above mentioned DI box right next to it. No noise and 66 EUR to spare for whatever.
Just got it back on Monday. This time a different comment from the service center (mind you, NOT Zoom, but their contracted German sevice center "Sound Service"): "No fault found, but we replaced the mother board "just in case"".
Back to the PA guys, same setup, and looky here:
- The levels now are the way they should be (instrument/line level on the jack, mic level on the XLR)
- No hiss. Nothin. Cool.
In October, I had gone back to my analog pedal board (MXR Bass Envelope, MXR Bass Comp and MXR DI Plus) and am currently very much enjoying that setup, going straight out of the DI Plus to the mixing board and using in-ear for the entire band. For alternative and rock cover stuff that we are playing, this works like a charm (envelope for the funk, DI Plus for EQ, DI Plus on distortion for some dirty stuff). Since this setup works great, I'll now have the B3 as the originally intended backup solution. Between Jan and Oct, I was actually using the B3 as my go-to device: small footprint, more sounds than you can shake a stick at and a load of amp sims that can render any amp lugging obsolete.
For now, I'll stay with the pedal board that honestly produces some killer sound (I do like my MXR stuff!). But maybe I can try some stuff out again soon on the B3 that I cannot fulfill with the MXR setup because I just don't have an effect I might need (phasers, chorus, synths and whatnot).
ROCK ON!
My B3 will finally travel in style in this new neoprene laptop sleeve!
When inside, the B3's tall profile pulls in some of the extra width/height of the flat case, making for a good fit, with adequate space remaining for power supply and cables.
When inside, the B3's tall profile pulls in some of the extra width/height of the flat case, making for a good fit, with adequate space remaining for power supply and cables.
As an Amazon Associate, TalkBass may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via links on this site.
Thanks for the best wishes, honestly I might really have had a lemon mother board.
Charlie, your link goes to the 15 inch version, your picture suggests the 13 inch. That works out well, does it? It's a great idea and much less clunky than a case!
Charlie, your link goes to the 15 inch version, your picture suggests the 13 inch. That works out well, does it? It's a great idea and much less clunky than a case!
Thanks, yes. The 13" sleeve is the correct size for the B3.
I have since updated my web link above to point to a similar 13" sleeve from another vendor, as I could not locate a link to the exact sleeve I had purchased locally.
Cheers!
