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Zoom B3 As Preamp

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#621
CharlieC said:
I had the great pleasure of playing outdoors this weekend at a water-front beach club with significant FOH reinforcement.

My bass tone from the B3's XLR was spectacular to say the least, with massive amounts of warm, gut-rumbling fire power under my fingers.

I cannot stress enough the power of Zoom's ZFX-IV amp and cabinet simulations when set properly, making for my best DI experience ever!

:bassist::bassist::bassist:
Click to expand...
Awesome to hear this. I will have the choice this coming Saturday between the Zoom's XLR or the Hartke LH1000's. May I ask what type of music you played and which Amp/Cabinet Sims you used? Thanks Charlie, Gerry
 
#622
NYCbassist said:
Awesome to hear this. I will have the choice this coming Saturday between the Zoom's XLR or the Hartke LH1000's. May I ask what type of music you played and which Amp/Cabinet Sims you used? Thanks Charlie, Gerry
Click to expand...

We play Top 40 from the past 40 years and the models in the B3 have me fully covered.

My absolute favorite sim is the SVT, with the Bassman and Acoustic sims not far behind, but the trick is in the MIX parameter. Set to 100 and compensate with model EQ for the high-end roll-off, absolutely outstanding!

Once you hit them right, the B3 amp/cab tones are like a crack pipe :D
 
#623
CharlieC said:
We play Top 40 from the past 40 years and the models in the B3 have me fully covered.

My absolute favorite sim is the SVT, with the Bassman and Acoustic sims not far behind, but the trick is in the MIX parameter. Set to 100 and compensate with model EQ for the high-end roll-off, absolutely outstanding!

Once you hit them right, the B3 amp/cab tones are like a crack pipe :D
Click to expand...
Thanks, I'll be experimenting with them all week.
 
#624
Jools4001 said:
... snip ...
With the Zoom, at the end of each song, I have to hold the left button until it flicks into patch mode, then hold the left button again until it goes back into 'home' mode for that patch to allow me to use the stomp switches for the patch effects....Not really a big deal, but just a bit clunkier than it needs to be...leaves me wishing for a couple of dedicated patch up, patch down stomp switches...
Click to expand...

This is exactly why I made my stompbar modification of the B3 ([thread=926127][post=14255067]#741[/post][/thread]). Yes, it is probably going to take you perhaps one day's work, but it is well worth it IMHO.

Enjoy!
 
#625
andreas_flf said:
This is exactly why I made my stompbar modification of the B3 ([thread=926127][post=14255067]#741[/post][/thread]). Yes, it is probably going to take you perhaps one day's work, but it is well worth it IMHO.

Enjoy!
Click to expand...

Hey, Andreas, that's great! Thanks for the tip and the details. I have an electronics background, so a little soldering doesn't scare me...and I know what I'll be doing tomorrow
 
#627
I sent this to Charlie as a PM and he suggested I post it to the tread:


Hello Charlie,

I hope you don't mind, but I wanted to see if maybe you could help me out with a problem I am having.
I am still having the hardest time getting a good bass sound through the FOH, the tone I am after is not much different then the sound clips of the SVT with the Jazz bass you have posted on your web site.
I have set the B3 for the SVT amp with the 8x10 cab and it sounds great coming out of my computer at home, so I believe it must have something to do with the mixer settings of the FOH system.
We are using a Mackie Pro FX16, I have the Eq set relatively flat, except I have the high 12k rolled off.
The board is feeding a pair of QSC K12 and a pair of Yorkville 720s subs. My bass is a Ibanez SR505, it has and active pre-amp, and the tone controls are set flat.
The issue I am having is when I play the higher strings, the D and G, the bass sounds horn like almost like a clarinet, round and woody, kind of a fusion bass sound.:bawl:
I have tried cutting and boosting different FQ but nothing seems to get rid of it, and when I am doing a soundcheck I first shut my onstage amp off, so I can hear what is coming out of the FOH. I realize with out a sound clip it hard to determine what I am talking about , but I was hoping you could give me some suggestions based on your board settings.
I know this is long and I apologize, but I am relatively new at playing electric bass live, and this is really kicking my butt.

Any suggestions you can give would be greatly appreciated, as an added note, We play Top 40, Pop, Dance and Rock.

Thanks
John


Charlie made the suggestion that perhaps the Pre-Post switch was on Pre, I was hoping this was the case, but it was not.
The B3 is set to Post.
 
#628
Doley50 said:
I sent this to Charlie as a PM and he suggested I post it to the tread:


Hello Charlie,

I hope you don't mind, but I wanted to see if maybe you could help me out with a problem I am having.
I am still having the hardest time getting a good bass sound through the FOH, the tone I am after is not much different then the sound clips of the SVT with the Jazz bass you have posted on your web site.
I have set the B3 for the SVT amp with the 8x10 cab and it sounds great coming out of my computer at home, so I believe it must have something to do with the mixer settings of the FOH system.
We are using a Mackie Pro FX16, I have the Eq set relatively flat, except I have the high 12k rolled off.
The board is feeding a pair of QSC K12 and a pair of Yorkville 720s subs. My bass is a Ibanez SR505, it has and active pre-amp, and the tone controls are set flat.
The issue I am having is when I play the higher strings, the D and G, the bass sounds horn like almost like a clarinet, round and woody, kind of a fusion bass sound.:bawl:
I have tried cutting and boosting different FQ but nothing seems to get rid of it, and when I am doing a soundcheck I first shut my onstage amp off, so I can hear what is coming out of the FOH. I realize with out a sound clip it hard to determine what I am talking about , but I was hoping you could give me some suggestions based on your board settings.
I know this is long and I apologize, but I am relatively new at playing electric bass live, and this is really kicking my butt.

Any suggestions you can give would be greatly appreciated, as an added note, We play Top 40, Pop, Dance and Rock.

Thanks
John


Charlie made the suggestion that perhaps the Pre-Post switch was on Pre, I was hoping this was the case, but it was not.
The B3 is set to Post.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't use a cab emulation, just a pre. Cab emulation is for direct to recording console IMO. The svt pre by itself should sound great.
 
#629
Doley50 said:
I sent this to Charlie as a PM and he suggested I post it to the tread:


Hello Charlie,

I hope you don't mind, but I wanted to see if maybe you could help me out with a problem I am having.
I am still having the hardest time getting a good bass sound through the FOH, the tone I am after is not much different then the sound clips of the SVT with the Jazz bass you have posted on your web site.
I have set the B3 for the SVT amp with the 8x10 cab and it sounds great coming out of my computer at home, so I believe it must have something to do with the mixer settings of the FOH system.
We are using a Mackie Pro FX16, I have the Eq set relatively flat, except I have the high 12k rolled off.
The board is feeding a pair of QSC K12 and a pair of Yorkville 720s subs. My bass is a Ibanez SR505, it has and active pre-amp, and the tone controls are set flat.
The issue I am having is when I play the higher strings, the D and G, the bass sounds horn like almost like a clarinet, round and woody, kind of a fusion bass sound.:bawl:
I have tried cutting and boosting different FQ but nothing seems to get rid of it, and when I am doing a soundcheck I first shut my onstage amp off, so I can hear what is coming out of the FOH. I realize with out a sound clip it hard to determine what I am talking about , but I was hoping you could give me some suggestions based on your board settings.
I know this is long and I apologize, but I am relatively new at playing electric bass live, and this is really kicking my butt.

Any suggestions you can give would be greatly appreciated, as an added note, We play Top 40, Pop, Dance and Rock.

Thanks
John


Charlie made the suggestion that perhaps the Pre-Post switch was on Pre, I was hoping this was the case, but it was not.
The B3 is set to Post.
Click to expand...

The beauty of fully processing your bass tone with B3 is that you have complete control over the output signal.

For a connection to a full-range system like to FOH, I fully utilize the cabinet simulations which are part of every amplifier model in the B3. For this I almost always run with a MIX parameter value of 100 and compensate for any high-end roll-off with the amp model's EQ, specifically the TREBLE parameter.

You have stated that the bass sound from the B3 through your computer and it's speakers is acceptable. I understand that your bass is an Ibanez SR505, with an active preamp, and the tone controls are set flat. I assume that you are connecting to FOH via the B3's XLR out and we have established that you have the XLR's PRE/POST switch set to POST.

Before we go off on a wild goose chase, let us review all the settings in-play in your B3 patch and how you are connecting the B3, both to your computer and FOH. Please be sure to also indicate the TOTAL and GLOBAL values that ultimately govern the effects in the chain. For simplicity's sake, please let the SVT simulation be the only active effect in the patch.

Thanks!

...

As an example reply to my above request for your settings, here are the exact settings I used on the SVT with the Jazz bass clip on my web page

-- SVT --
Bass: 2
Mid: 4
Trebl: 2
Mid_F: 350Hz
Gain: 40
Level: 38
Ultra: Off
CAB: ORGN
Mix: 100

-- TOTAL --
LEVEL: 100
BAL: 100

-- MASTER --
LEVEL: 100
 
#630
Hello,

I had a gig last night outside and I through I was going to have even more trouble with my sound, but it sounded really good. I still don't like the way the D and G string sound, but I believe it may have more to do with the strings, Elixir .045 .065 .085 .105 .125 , but that is a subject onto it's own.
I am wondering if the pre-post button was not properly engaged, I wanted to be sure I had it set to post, which is in the pushed in position, I pressed it out then push it in again to be sure it was fully engaged.


Do you have a wireless system or at less a long cable that lets you go out into the room to hear the FOH mix ?

So many questions ? This forum is a blessing !!!!


These are the settings that I have, The major differences are the CAB and the Master.

-- SVT --
Bass: 0
Mid: 0
Trebl: 0
Mid_F: 350Hz
Gain: 45
Level: 105
Ultra: Off
CAB: 8x10
Mix: 100

-- TOTAL --
LEVEL: 100
BAL: 100

-- MASTER --
LEVEL: 60

Thanks for all your help.

John
 
#631
Doley50 said:
Hello,

I had a gig last night outside and I through I was going to have even more trouble with my sound, but it sounded really good. I still don't like the way the D and G string sound, but I believe it may have more to do with the strings, Elixir .045 .065 .085 .105 .125 , but that is a subject onto it's own.
I am wondering if the pre-post button was not properly engaged, I wanted to be sure I had it set to post, which is in the pushed in position, I pressed it out then push it in again to be sure it was fully engaged.


Do you have a wireless system or at less a long cable that lets you go out into the room to hear the FOH mix ?

So many questions ? This forum is a blessing !!!!


These are the settings that I have, The major differences are the CAB and the Master.

-- SVT --
Bass: 0
Mid: 0
Trebl: 0
Mid_F: 350Hz
Gain: 45
Level: 105
Ultra: Off
CAB: 8x10
Mix: 100

-- TOTAL --
LEVEL: 100
BAL: 100

-- MASTER --
LEVEL: 60

Thanks for all your help.

John
Click to expand...

As the B3 has no bias towards D and G strings, at this point I am going to say that your dissatisfaction with the thinner bass strings is a combination your pickups and perhaps some lacking EQ. Instruments using 2 pickups at once can sometimes pinch-out certain frequencies due to phase cancellation, making certain notes/strings sound wonky. Corrective EQ can sometimes compensate for this, as well as favoring one pickup over the other. I myself would raise BASS and TREBL on your provided settings, especially the TREBL, to overcome the significant high-end roll-off of the cabinet sim and punch through a bit more.

The strongest advice I can give is to send the best, finished-product signal out to FOH so that less needs to be done there. Under ideal circumstances, what goes into the mixer is what you should hear coming out of the mains, unless there is some other issue afoot at FOH.

My good news diagnosis is that I do not think anything is broken and additional experimentation costs nothing.

Good luck!
 
#633
Rocksolid said:
Charlie, I found a QSC K12 at my local shop today which they agreed to let me have on 48 hour loan to try it out! Yay!

I'll go get it next week.
Click to expand...

Way to go, you will not be disappointed!

The few times I used a K12 with the B3 yielded more than impressive results.

Here are a few tips:

  1. Make sure the K12 remains coupled to the floor, do not put it on a stand, but you may angle it upward like a monitor wedge should you prefer
  2. If using Channel A on the K12, ensure that the MIC/Line switch is set to "Line"
  3. For starters, set the K12's LF switch to NORM and then explore the value of the DEEP setting for extended low-end treatment, but at the cost of less headroom
  4. Set the K12's HF switch to FLAT
Here's a link to the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] should you be interested

Cheers!
 
#634
Cool. Thanks for the heads up. I noticed however that although it is rated at 1000w, it is 500w each to the driver and the horn. That's a lot of watts to only the horn. From memory, a Mackie SRM450 is 300w to the driver, 150w to the horn, a much more usable and sensible distribution IMO.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to hearing it. It's really small compared to other powered 12/horn monitors.
 
#637
Has anyone used an active 5 string with the B3?

Just noticed the B3 does not have a clip meter, and I'm wondering if this unit can handle a low B with an active preamp boosted (even with the active/passive switch set to active).

Thoughts?
 
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