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Zoom B3 As Preamp

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#901
CharlieC said:
Idea: Use your frequency graphing skills/tools to determine what settings are flattest on the BG250 preamp section and continue to happily use the cabinet sims on the B3! :D
Click to expand...

Ha ha, I already did it :D
This is why I say the preamp is really flat : everything at noon and you get almost the same signal.
The colouring part is the cab. And it's hard to figure well which frequencies are boosted or cut, as the sound is not very coloured.
But, it's not a big deal. I bought this amp because I like it. I just try to take the best of the B3 with it, you know, to be sure I am not missing something (imagine : you play and suddenly you discover that your tone could have been perfect, just with this little tweaking, but you didn't figure it... What a pity, no ? Hum... okay... I may be a little to much obsessed by these tone things :) )
 
#902
Just purchased a pair of EV ZLX15P and one EV ZXA-1 Sub. Hopefully I will have an update and/or some sound samples soon of the B3 going straight to the EV's. I really wanted the QSC K10s, but this will suffice for the time being. I plan on only using one ZLX15p, but bought two for a basic PA when needed.
 
#903
gard0300 said:
Just purchased a pair of EV ZLX15P and one EV ZXA-1 Sub. Hopefully I will have an update and/or some sound samples soon of the B3 going straight to the EV's. I really wanted the QSC K10s, but this will suffice for the time being. I plan on only using one ZLX15p, but bought two for a basic PA when needed.
Click to expand...

Congrats, the powered ZLX's are great speakers!

When using one or two of the 15's alone, be sure to keep them coupled to the floor and they will sound massive

:bassist:
 
#904
CharlieC said:
Congrats, the powered ZLX's are great speakers!



When using one or two of the 15's alone, be sure to keep them coupled to the floor and they will sound massive



:bassist:
Click to expand...


Yes the "monitor setting" is nice for that. The "Club" setting in the EQ section is a little boomy. I prefer the "live" EQ setting.
I currently have the crossover at 100hz, but I can see this changing based on the room and other scenarios. Also, I noticed a little sub goes along way. For a 12" sub it has quite a kick to it.
 
#907
Thanks Steve! I'll try both suggestions. Great idea of pumping music through it to attempt to flatten the response!

steve_rolfeca said:
I've played through a ton of those things- they seem to be very popular as bass monitors at churches in my area.

They've got a VERY coloured sound, with fairly unusual EQ centers.

If you do need to plug into the front end of the amp for any reason, it would be a good idea to start by playing full-range music through the BM200 while you tweak the amp's tone controls to get it sounding as flat and hi-fi as possible.

Otherwise, I would very strongly recommend that you plug the B3 into the Effects Return jack on that amp, to avoid the trademark BM200 scoop and upper mid squawk.

Once you have that out of the way, then you can start adjusting your patches to accommodate the sound of the single 15. You might want to try dialing the cab sims back a bit, since you're already getting a fair amount of "cab sim" from the cab itself. In particular, there's a pretty big low-mid bump with that cab.
Click to expand...
 
#908
driftingupward said:
Hi guys. I've been lurking this thread ever since I got my B3 last month and I did the mod that Andreas has shown us. I got some Radio Shack switches and made the bar out of an old bed frame. The cord is an old printer cable (I think). I think it's called a 9 pin d-sub connection if anyone's interested. I just used 5 of the 9 wires and just cut the rest off. It's my first mod so I'm geeked out about it. All in all I think I paid about $8.50 total for the switches. Totally makes it a usable live unit for me. Thanks for the info on that and on all the other settings CharlieC and the rest have been going over. It's so nice to not have to figure a unit out all on your own every time you get something new.

Thanks again,

Rob

2013-11-14172151.jpg


2013-11-14172205.jpg
Click to expand...

You are welcome and I am of course pleased you found my mod info useful. Good idea with your choice of plug. Was probably easier to soldier than mine, wasn't it?

Enjoy!

Andreas
 
#909
CharlieC said:
^^^

Just to clarify the topic in question above:

For playing along to certain recordings where the instruments were not tuned to standard pitch, it is indeed a possible cheat to use a Pitch Shifter effect and alter the pitch of your bass tone without retuning the actual strings.

The trick is in use of the BALANCE parameter to output only the full wet, affected tone and none of the dry tone.

Although Zoom's effects track very well, the deal-breakers for me were the slight tonal artifacts from the pitch shift and the fact that my fingers were able to sense the difference in string vibration vs. the notes being heard from the speakers (and it felt strange.)
Click to expand...

I adjust the tunes on my computer. I use Amazing Slowdowner from Roni music, a wonderful little utility. No need to ever adjust my bass during practicing. It is now also available as an App and the sound is very good, when you slow down or when you shift the pitch. Highly re commendable.

Andreas
 
#911
andreas_flf said:
I adjust the tunes on my computer. I use Amazing Slowdowner from Roni music, a wonderful little utility. No need to ever adjust my bass during practicing. It is now also available as an App and the sound is very good, when you slow down or when you shift the pitch. Highly re commendable.

Andreas
Click to expand...

I use Transcribe. I've tried Amazing slowdowner, but I prefer Transcribe. (YMMV)

Cost is $39

I bought mine years ago and I still get updates.

http://www.seventhstring.com/xscribe/overview.html

Dimitrius
 
#912
ticol07 said:
Someone in another thread was looking for a high pass filter in the B3.
.....
I know it looks like a multiband eq, but the fact it has a high pass filter is a great plus for the tone, and very simple to use.
Click to expand...

PilbaraBass said:
Thanks, man! I need to play with this

I believe this model is from the Fishman acoustic pre... I'll need to look up the manual...
Click to expand...

ticol07 said:
I never used the Fishman so I don't know.
And in the manual it doesn't explain the High Pass. The Depth is explained as a Bass control... I saw that by playing with it on my frequency analyzer.

It gives very good results combined with the BB Preamp if you're after some dirt :bassist:
Click to expand...

Hey guys, check this thread...it has the info you are referring to (including the link to the Fishman Pro manual, which explains how the HPF works).

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f36/zoom-ms60-b3-para-eq-help-999053/
 
#919
andreas_flf said:
However, this is available only for Windows.
Click to expand...

My favorite song practice tool is actually an iOS app (probably android as well)
AnyTune Pro+

It works really really really really we'll on both my iPhone and iPad.
I typically run my B3 into the iOS device with an Apogee Jam interface and monitor directly from AnyTune Pro+. There is a level mixer and EQ available in the app so you can balance your bass volume with that oft eh song and vice versa.

You can also use the EQ to boost the bass frequencies of your having a hard time hear a lick or you can get rid of it to "jam along". Of course it is very flexible so you can also just use it to make the music sound better through your headphones or whatever your monitoring with.

Easily set loops, markers and transpose at the tap of a "button".

I know this sounds like an ad, but it is really the best of any application for is that I have used, ever.

I use it almost daily.
http://www.anytune.us
 
#920
bassgrooves2 said:
My favorite song practice tool is actually an iOS app (probably android as well)
AnyTune Pro+

It works really really really really we'll on both my iPhone and iPad.
I typically run my B3 into the iOS device with an Apogee Jam interface and monitor directly from AnyTune Pro+. There is a level mixer and EQ available in the app so you can balance your bass volume with that oft eh song and vice versa.

You can also use the EQ to boost the bass frequencies of your having a hard time hear a lick or you can get rid of it to "jam along". Of course it is very flexible so you can also just use it to make the music sound better through your headphones or whatever your monitoring with.

Easily set loops, markers and transpose at the tap of a "button".

I know this sounds like an ad, but it is really the best of any application for is that I have used, ever.

I use it almost daily.
http://www.anytune.us
Click to expand...

Sounds very good and I guess this is indeed a good practice setup if you start playing these days. Concerning me I play instruments since a very long time (I am no longer the youngest ;-) ) and have therefore invested a lot into Amazing Slow Downer. I have probably about a thousand loops from songs I have studied and/or played along at some point in time. This represents a considerable investment, but unfortunately without a possibility to use that easily with other software. Thus switching to another system starting all over again, is not something that would be easy to do for me.

BTW, I have also looked at AnyTune and found it quite well done. Especially the soundwave pictures I find useful when looking for loops. However, the quality of the slow downed music I found noticeably inferior to Amazing Slowdowner. I didn't bother to go Pro or whatever that extra costs level is called. It just made me suspicious. I paid for the program, yet the sound quality is meagre. With Amazing Slowdowner I paid once the license fee, many, many years ago and I still get upgrades and the sound quality is the best from the very beginning.

But as I said, this has much to do with the investment I have been making. I wish I could export all those settings for reuse. Might have to write to Roni Music on this. On the other hand I find myself still returning to the Mac, despite my iPad and iPhone, since it is still the most versatile machine there is to maintain notes, tabs, pdf's, song texts, MIDI tracks, audio recordings, and Amazing Slowdowner settings, which all can be organized, watched and edited almost all at the same time, limited only by my screen estate. ;-)

Cheers,
Andreas flf
 
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