Zoom B3 As Preamp Part 2

[TitaniumRx]

Oh how I miss living in the countryside, where my nearest neighbours were over a km away! We used to have band practice outside with a 10.000W PA! Now, at home, I am limited to monitors or GK combo at low volumes, or headphones if I want loud

(BTW, I think you have an extra "c" in your post, I am guessing that your room is 80m2, or you have very small bandmates )

Yes,living in countryside have good advantages,but some disadvantages as well.My city have 50.000 population,so my neighbors is near me,few meters.But we are friends and they know that i am never go loud for many hours.
And you have right about the m2.My bad english again

 

[TitaniumRx]

nice !
And yes you managed very well your space in that 80 cm2 area, everything seems so big

Yes hahahahaa

 

[ticol07]

Yes hahahahaa

You should make holes in the roof to put your heads and play standing up

 

[TitaniumRx]

You should make holes in the roof to put your heads and play standing up

 

[JACink]

You should make holes in the roof to put your heads and play standing up

Thats what the windows above the bassist and guitarist are for!

 

[ticol07]

Thats what the windows above the bassist and guitarist are for!

when it doesn't rain...

 

[Heisenbass]

Thomann in DE is selling the B3 at €121. Looks like someone wants to drop some weight.... Maybe we're in for something new

 

[lamandrion]

Hey guys, ive got a problem with my b3:
I think my b3 can´t handle low frequencies. When i turn in the bass knob on my Bass i get noise. It sounds like the signal isn´t processed correctly.

This also happens if i play with headphones directly from the B3 and even without any effects turned on!
I tried batteries and different cables, but no difference...

I play an ESP Horizon bass btw....

Am i the only one who has issues with turned in bass-signal?

 

[TitaniumRx]

Hey guys, ive got a problem with my b3:
I think my b3 can´t handle low frequencies. When i turn in the bass knob on my Bass i get noise. It sounds like the signal isn´t processed correctly.

This also happens if i play with headphones directly from the B3 and even without any effects turned on!
I tried batteries and different cables, but no difference...

I play an ESP Horizon bass btw....

Am i the only one who has issues with turned in bass-signal?

What you mean with noise? Distorted sound like the signal is too hot?
Your bass is active for sure,and many basses when you crank up the bass knob distort the inputs of preamps without gain control.
If yes possible your pickups is too hot for the input of B3.
1.Check first the Passive/active switch.
2.Try with other bass if possible
3.Lower the volume of your bass
4.Lower the height of the pickups,the neck first,or play only with bridge one.

Report back your findings

 

[andreas_flf]

With NAMM 2015 coming up this weekend, at this time Zoom's website shows no signs of any new DSP products for Bass or Guitar.

Here's hoping that good things do come to those who wait!

I lost my patience already last year and simply bought my 2nd B3 then. We went on tour and I needed it. And the last firmware update did also not enhance the functionality. A pity, but who knows, maybe Zoom manages to surprise us this year positively.

Cheers, Andreas flf

 

[andreas_flf]

Does any of you power your B3 from a power strip with USB out? I found a power strip with 3 ac outs and 2 usb outs, and in theory it could be perfect for my board if I can power the B3 and MS60B from the USB outs in the power strip.

I stopped powering my B3's with USB, since once I had to factory reset a B3. It got into a very bad state with additional reverb effects and some distortion in all patches, which I could otherwise not get rid of. Since I regularly back up all my B3 settings on my Mac, that was not really an issue. I suspect power cycles when using USB power may cause such havoc. Since that incident - I am now always using only my ONE SPOT power supplies, on stage and at home - I never experienced anymore a glitch. Now you can argue, one incidence only does not count, but I decided nevertheless against USB power for my B3, regardless how convenient that may be.

Cheers, Andreas flf

 

[lamandrion]

What you mean with noise? Distorted sound like the signal is too hot?
Your bass is active for sure,and many basses when you crank up the bass knob distort the inputs of preamps without gain control.
If yes possible your pickups is too hot for the input of B3.
1.Check first the Passive/active switch.
2.Try with other bass if possible
3.Lower the volume of your bass
4.Lower the height of the pickups,the neck first,or play only with bridge one.

Report back your findings

Thanks for the quick response.
I tried all your tips and lowering the heights of the pickups helped a little! I found this thread http://www.talkbass.com/threads/zoom-b3-clipping.1039098/
and tried the FX loop insted of just Bass-->B3-->Amp and i get less distorted sounds!
I use a warwick CCL combo and i get clipping/distorted sounds even without the B3...

 

[dsamudio]

Thanks for the quick response.
I tried all your tips and lowering the heights of the pickups helped a little! I found this thread http://www.talkbass.com/threads/zoom-b3-clipping.1039098/
and tried the FX loop insted of just Bass-->B3-->Amp and i get less distorted sounds!
I use a warwick CCL combo and i get clipping/distorted sounds even without the B3...

I have used mine for recording direct to my Presonus. My chain is:


Bass===>B3===>Presunus==USB==>Computer==USB back to==>B3===>Head phones out


To get a quite signal, you have to boot your B3 to electric power first or else, you will hear clicks/drops when the USB draws power.

Here is what I do:

1. Boot B3 (do not use eco mode)
2. Boot CPU
3. Connect Presonus to CPU
4. Power up Presonus
5. Tune Bass with B3 (to make sure it has full power)
6. Plug in B3 to CPU via USB, plug in headphones to B3
7. Launch recording software

The real key is to make sure you are NOT using USB to power your B3.

I only used eco mode to power my B3 on a gig when I am running on fresh batteries.

I hope that this helps.

DS

 

[TitaniumRx]

I use a warwick CCL combo and i get clipping/distorted sounds even without the B3...

Your bass preamp then is very powerful.Maybe the distortion comes from inside the preamp it self,and the signal comes out allready distorted.To find that you must find a amp with gain control and peak led.If the led on the gain stage is off and you hear distorted sound,then the preamp of the bass is the cause.

Edit:Just see that your combo has peak led in gain input.The led stays on when you get distortion?

 

[lamandrion]

Your bass preamp then is very powerful.Maybe the distortion comes from inside the preamp it self,and the signal comes out allready distorted.To find that you must find a amp with gain control and peak led.If the led on the gain stage is off and you hear distorted sound,then the preamp of the bass is the cause.

Edit:Just see that your combo has peak led in gain input.The led stays on when you get distortion?

I tried another amp (without peak led) and i did not get the distorted sound.

Even if i play with 0 gain, i still get distortion and led is off. With more gain i get more distortion and sometimes led on.

Maybe i need another amp...

 

[TitaniumRx]

I tried another amp (without peak led) and i did not get the distorted sound.

Even if i play with 0 gain, i still get distortion and led is off. With more gain i get more distortion and sometimes led on.

Maybe i need another amp...

If understand correct you try your bass with other amp and you don't have the distort.Then you try your bass with the Warwick amp and even without a lot gain you got distortion.And the same situation happens with your B3,even with your headphones only.Weird ....Try when and if you can your amp and B3 with other bass,preferably passive one and tell us what happens.

 

[lamandrion]

If understand correct you try your bass with other amp and you don't have the distort.Then you try your bass with the Warwick amp and even without a lot gain you got distortion.And the same situation happens with your B3,even with your headphones only.Weird ....Try when and if you can your amp and B3 with other bass,preferably passive one and tell us what happens.

It seems that its a general problem with my amp. I´ve tried another bass and got distorted sound, too. I would like to buy a new amp anyway

Thanks for your help!

 

[Roman4405]

New guy here thinking about getting a B3. My Church band doesn't have a bass player so I've volunteered to take on the challenge, I'll also be playing guitar sometimes so I need something that I can use to go direct to the PA with both.

I was thinking of getting a B3 and setting up maybe a compressor, a chorus and using one of the Amp presets for the bass. My question is how would it work homing my guitar and pedal board into the B3 amp Sim and then going direct to the PA?

Sorry if this has already been asked, I just found this site today.

 

[TitaniumRx]

New guy here thinking about getting a B3. My Church band doesn't have a bass player so I've volunteered to take on the challenge, I'll also be playing guitar sometimes so I need something that I can use to go direct to the PA with both.

I was thinking of getting a B3 and setting up maybe a compressor, a chorus and using one of the Amp presets for the bass. My question is how would it work homing my guitar and pedal board into the B3 amp Sim and then going direct to the PA?

Sorry if this has already been asked, I just found this site today.

Welcome!!
You mean your Bass guitar?
If yes that will work just fine.The only think you need is a monitor wich you can feed with the B3 also.Connect the b3s DI out to PA console and the monitor speaker with the B3 left output.The cab mix of the amp sim at 100% and you just have everythink you need,to be heard end to hear yourself.For more info begin to read the
Zoom B3 As Preamp Part 1.

 

[Roman4405]

Thanks, I figure the bass guitar would work fine but what if I plugged my Les Paul or Telecaster into it?