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Zoom B3 As Preamp

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#761
CharlieC said:
That amp and cab are a great rig just by themselves and with the B3, you should be all set for warm and thumpie and everything else.

I am unsure if adding a tube pedal will actually justify purchase, but please let us know how it works out if you do.

Cheers!
Click to expand...

that's what I'm thinking. So I'm going to hold off and try and figure out the zoom better. BTW would it be better if I ran the b3 straight rather than through the effects loop?
 
#762
One of the best pedals I've had. I use the SVT and B15 patch for flavor(EQ), the comps are more than usable. The tuner is spot on and the tape echo is serviceable. Is worth the 150 I paid for it and I got the pedal w/switch too.
 
#764
Big Up to CharlieC and LowLife350!

Rest assured, I did go through the entire chain of levels (Patch, Total, Global) and the active/passive aspect. Ironically, the "pre" level was also way too high. And that one, I cannot influence with any settings. What I did when initially setting the unit up was to try to keep the level in line (nice pun) with the instrument level going in at all stages in the chain (for each effect, total and global) by turning everything off and independently levelling each effect in the chain. That way, I can turn the slots on and off without worrying about throwing off the soundcheck (that I am usually in charge of anyway).

I'll give it another go 'round tonight and see if my hearing was out of whack yesterday or whatnot... Otherwise, I'll also A/B the Fender vs the Ibanez and see how that PassivePUP/ActiveEQ setup works out...
 
#768
OK, the Ibanez puts out about 8dB more than the Fender, and the Active/Passive switch only changes Impedance, it leaves the levels untouched. I realized I do not have any XLR cables at home right now (major band GAS has inhaled all spare cables) so I have only been able to verify everything *else* apart from the behavior of the XLR out. Maybe I can find one tomorrow. Fact is, everything works as expected (total level, global level) but somehow I believe my box is outta whack in terms of the XLR out.

BTW: a quick check to see that pre/post is set correctly is to go to the tuner in mute (hold middle switch for two secs) - if you can still hear the bass coming out the XLR out, you are set to PRE.

Firmware update would require some way to influence the levels between the 1/4" output and the XLR. If there is just a dedicated balancing unit in there then there won't be a way to modify the output levels independently...
 
#769
jance said:
... Firmware update would require some way to influence the levels between the 1/4" output and the XLR. If there is just a dedicated balancing unit in there then there won't be a way to modify the output levels independently...
Click to expand...

As the XLR is currently under digital control, I would think Zoom would be able to harness and separate control via firmware.

Ultimately however, I believe this (and other) pro-level improvements and functionalities are not on Zoom's To-Do list.

But what do I know? :D

Cheers!
 
#770
Interesting question for you gurus...I just bought a G3X for use in a show where I had to play guitar. As guitar is not my main instrument I was impressed at how easy it was for me to use the effects pedal to get exactly what I needed. Now for the interesting part..do you think I could load the B3 firmware onto the G3X and get the bass effects? I'm guessing the expression pedal won't do anything but since the rest of the hardware is the same I'm wondering if I might have a dual purpose box where I can simply load the firmware I need for whatever instrument I am playing (guitar or bass). Thoughts? Of course my biggest concern is bricking the unit...
 
#771
fcajr said:
Interesting question for you gurus...I just bought a G3X for use in a show where I had to play guitar. As guitar is not my main instrument I was impressed at how easy it was for me to use the effects pedal to get exactly what I needed. Now for the interesting part..do you think I could load the B3 firmware onto the G3X and get the bass effects? I'm guessing the expression pedal won't do anything but since the rest of the hardware is the same I'm wondering if I might have a dual purpose box where I can simply load the firmware I need for whatever instrument I am playing (guitar or bass). Thoughts? Of course my biggest concern is bricking the unit...
Click to expand...

As far as I know we don't have access to the B3 or G3 firmware files like you would if you wanted to root your phone and install a different operating system. You mentioned "bricking" so I figured you're a rooter. All we can do is to update the existing firmware.
 
#774
Not sure if I'm missing something obvious here, but I'm struggling a bit to get any crunch/overdrive/distortion tones out of the amp modelling effect without resorting to using an extra space for a distortion pedal sim.

I'm using a patch based on the G-krueger one, and if I set GAIN to max and then bring LEVEL down to keep the output at a similar volume to other patches - I just get a super clean tone still.

Tried it with a couple of other amp sims and seemed to get the same results - is this normal, or have I just got some odd setting somewhere that I need to track down?

Cheers,

stoo
 
#775
Hi, do you have any information, if I play a backing track over USB to the B3, will it goes through the XLR output? And which channel? The left or the right, or they are merged together as a single mono?

Thanks!
 
#776
stoo said:
Not sure if I'm missing something obvious here, but I'm struggling a bit to get any crunch/overdrive/distortion tones out of the amp modelling effect without resorting to using an extra space for a distortion pedal sim.

I'm using a patch based on the G-krueger one, and if I set GAIN to max and then bring LEVEL down to keep the output at a similar volume to other patches - I just get a super clean tone still.

Tried it with a couple of other amp sims and seemed to get the same results - is this normal, or have I just got some odd setting somewhere that I need to track down?

Cheers,

stoo
Click to expand...

I don't have the patch settings with me right now, but I've got a high-gain SVT patch that's really gritty and I'm 90% sure I did not add any extra distortion effects to it.
 
#778
Some of the amp models really don't overdrive, especially the ones based on solid state amps if I'm not mistaken. Try the SVT or the Marshal. Oddly, the fliptop model doesn't get any breakup either and IIRC neither does the Bassman :-/
 
#779
theLimeyBrit said:
I don't have the patch settings with me right now, but I've got a high-gain SVT patch that's really gritty and I'm 90% sure I did not add any extra distortion effects to it.
Click to expand...

Cool - at least I know what I'm trying to do is possible then!

PilbaraBass said:
Do like you would on an amp ... Dime the gain, turn down the level... Make sure that the mix parameter (under "total") is heavily set towards the effected signal
Click to expand...

Ah - that might be where I'm going wrong - I think I've got the Mix at 0 as I was going for just preamp overdrive rather than speaker breakup...

Swift713 said:
Some of the amp models really don't overdrive, especially the ones based on solid state amps if I'm not mistaken. Try the SVT or the Marshal. Oddly, the fliptop model doesn't get any breakup either and IIRC neither does the Bassman :-/
Click to expand...

The GK and fliptop were definitely 2 of the 3 I tried... I thought I'd had a go with the SVT too but not so sure now.

Will have another play with it tonight and see if I have any better luck! Thanks all
 
#780
theLimeyBrit said:
I don't have the patch settings with me right now, but I've got a high-gain SVT patch that's really gritty and I'm 90% sure I did not add any extra distortion effects to it.
Click to expand...

I found myself with some spare time this evening, so here we go:

Looking at the B3, going left to right:

Effect 1: D-Comp
Sense: 3
Tone: 8
Level: 80
Attack: Fast

Effect 2: Off (doesn't matter what you put here)

Effect 3: SVT
Gain: 100
Bass: 2
Mid: 4
Mid-F: 350Hz
Treble: 2
Ultra: Off
Level: 38
Cab: 8x10AG
Mix: 0

And it sounds something like this:


(Ibanez BTB405QM with D'Addario rounds, pickup ratio about 30:70 neck:bridge.)

*I accidentally recorded the demo with the cab set to ORGN instead of the 8x10, but you get the idea
 
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