Zoom B6

[GotGroove]

I've never had any issues using micro SD to SD adapters. And those compatibility lists are helpful, but unless a card is weirdly different from the general spec, it should work. I don't think it'll hurt anything to try an unlisted card.

Nor I. Then again, I never put one in an multi-effect processor either. Camera's, sure. Phones, no problem, but never an effect processor. Until now it seems.
I'll give it a go. They are just regular Sandisk and Samsung cards, nothing special about them that I can tell. A few of them are HC. I'll try those first as that seems to be a requirement according to the compatibility list.

I'll post the results this weekend.
Cheers!

 

[GotGroove]

Sorry for the delay. UPS delivered the zoom today instead of last Friday.

So, on the subject of micro-SD cards: The zoom appears to have no problems with micro to SD adapters. First, I tried a Sandisk micro HC card and that went fine. No lag or delay when writing IRs or loops from PC/mac to the B6. It takes a few seconds tops.

I also tried a Samsung non-HC card. The B6 accepted and formatted this one too, but it was slower in reading from and writing to it when you have it hooked up to your pc or Mac to add some IRs or loops using Guitar Lab. It's not horrible though. It takes about 2 seconds extra to load in an IR and a bit more if you add longer loops. There's no noticeable delay or lag between patch switching or loop selection on the b6 itself. So once the SD-card is loaded, you won't notice any difference.

Lastly, I just had to try a regular HC SD-card (I took one from my girlfriend's camera) and I couldn't tell the difference between this one and the micro-SD card with adapter except for the formatting, which was slightly faster this time, but hardly noticeable unless you use a stopwatch and time the process like I did. Everything else was as if I'm still using the adapter with the micro-SD in it.

So the quality of the micro-SD does matter, but the B6 will work with micro-SD cards and an adapter. I saw some people in this thread having trouble with the looper after using a unsupported SD-card, but I have had no problems with the looper so far. Let's hope it stays that way

 

[mcnach]

I have a couple of R16 that record on SD cards.

I haven't had any trouble with any cards... unless it was an SD-XC type (> 32Gb) I bought two cards before I realised that the Zoom does not read XC types. Adaptor or not should not make a difference. If the B6 also does not work with XC types, that could be why some cards don't work. But being a more modern unit (the R16 was around 10 years ago) perhaps it doesn't have that limitation.

 

[GotGroove]

It would be nice if Zoom made things that simple. Certain XC cards are supported on the B6. Problem is, the list was probably outdated the week after was published and was never updated.


My takeaway from this: If you buy a new piece of gear that needs an SD card, buy one along with it. They are cheap enough. Even though I hate wasting my older SD cards with less space (who needs 64gigs+ worth of loops and IR's for a single gig anyway?), at least you know they'll work together.

 

[himluis1]

when using a bass amp , do you guys use the xlr of the amp (head or combo) or do you always use the pedal’s xlr ?

 

[Acoustic356]

when using a bass amp , do you guys use the xlr of the amp (head or combo) or do you always use the pedal’s xlr ?

It depends on the amp that I'm using. Every amp colors the tone in a particular way. I have multiple amps, and I know the difference between:

1. How things sound direct
2. How things sound mic
3. How things sound with any of my DIs in front
4. How things sound with any of my DIs in the effects loops of my amps with effect loops.

There are all subtle differences - so you ned to choose the sound that you like.

For me, I like the control of going from the DI instead of the amp. I get a lot more control using the DI switch to manage the way the unit responds. The tube DIs have a little more "sag", whereas the solid state DIs have a little faster response. The 2 tube DIs and the 2 solid state DIs also respond to distortion differently.

I think about it this way - if I am mic'ing a cab for distortion the mic placement is different than for clean.

You may or may not be able to fully replicate this from the DI of your amp... so, experiment...

 

[himluis1]

It depends on the amp that I'm using. Every amp colors the tone in a particular way. I have multiple amps, and I know the difference between:

1. How things sound direct
2. How things sound mic
3. How things sound with any of my DIs in front
4. How things sound with any of my DIs in the effects loops of my amps with effect loops.

There are all subtle differences - so you ned to choose the sound that you like.

For me, I like the control of going from the DI instead of the amp. I get a lot more control using the DI switch to manage the way the unit responds. The tube DIs have a little more "sag", whereas the solid state DIs have a little faster response. The 2 tube DIs and the 2 solid state DIs also respond to distortion differently.

I think about it this way - if I am mic'ing a cab for distortion the mic placement is different than for clean.

You may or may not be able to fully replicate this from the DI of your amp... so, experiment...

if going directly from pedal to the board (B6 XLR) & not the Amp’s XLR , do I need Amp & Cab simulators on the B6 ? even when using a Combo Amp as a monitor ?

 

[Acoustic356]

if going directly from pedal to the board (B6 XLR) & not the Amp’s XLR , do I need Amp & Cab simulators on the B6 ? even when using a Combo Amp as a monitor ?

Again, that is personal choice. WhenI run amps, I run with a tweeter because I like the overtones. When I user the amp and cab sims, it's like just the woofer is mic's and I lose some of the top end. As a result, I prefer running without the cab sims, and just the amp sim.

Really, everyone has a different ear in terms of what they want to hear.

Try both during your next sound check and determine what you prefer.

 

[ndjester]

Hi all! Just registered today. Been playing bass in bands for a couple of decades but this is the first time I have really delved into a multi-effects processor like this. Would like to just use the sample banks on the unit whenever I can because I dont have to dial things into 3 significant digits, but I was wondering which of the built-in patches would work bets for:
- SAIL by AWOLNATION
- Gold, Guns, Girls by METRIC
- No One Knows by QOTSA
- Sabotage by BEASTIE BOYS
- Somebody Told Me by THE KILLERS
- Hash Pip by WEEZER
We have well over 50 songs, but these are the ones that I think most deserve the right tone and effects to make them shine
Appreciate any inputs you guys might have

 

[Appogee]

I just spent 2 hours trying to get the Zoom B6 working with Tonelib Zoom software... to eventually realise that the B6 isn't listed in the "compatible devices" for Tonelib

Is there a way to get Tonelib Zoom working with the B6?

Or am I stuck using Zoom's Guitar Lab for PC management of patches on the B6?

 

[GotGroove]

I just spent 2 hours trying to get the Zoom B6 working with Tonelib Zoom software... to eventually realise that the B6 isn't listed in the "compatible devices" for Tonelib

You, me and probably many of us tried it. I knew it wasn't compatible, but since it can export and backup presets I tried it anyway. No luck=\

Is there a way to get Tonelib Zoom working with the B6?

Or am I stuck using Zoom's Guitar Lab for PC management of patches on the B6?

If there is a way to get Tonelib to work with the B6, I haven't found it. I tried it on Mac, Windows and Linux. Guitar lab isn't bad though. It can't backup your presets, but it will do everything else just fine.

 

[BatBasstard]

You, me and probably many of us tried it. I knew it wasn't compatible, but since it can export and backup presets I tried it anyway. No luck=\


If there is a way to get Tonelib to work with the B6, I haven't found it. I tried it on Mac, Windows and Linux. Guitar lab isn't bad though. It can't backup your presets, but it will do everything else just fine.

it can back up your presets. But not in a format where you can share them if that’s what you mean.

 

[GotGroove]

it can back up your presets. But not in a format where you can share them if that’s what you mean.

This made me take another look at Guitar lab, wondering what on earth I'd missed. Of course it had to be the patch pool, the only feature I hadn't explored. I noticed the option before, but since it was an odd name and not what I was looking for at that time, I figured I'll look into it later. Never got around to it though. Never considered that would be the way to back up. That's what you get for not reading the manual. I can kick myself.

While I may not be able to share them (is there really no workaround for this, like importing the entire patch pool folder and importing those into the b6 before restoring your original folder?), I am able to back them up to another location and restore them locally. This also makes me think there has to be some way of sharing patches in a creative way. Anyway, all I have to do then is to synch my B6 presets, the patch pool folder and it's backup every once in a while. Easy enough.

Cheers and thanks for the wake-up call @BatBasstard
-edit- typos
-kicks himself again-

 

[BatBasstard]

This made me take another look at Guitar lab, wondering what on earth I'd missed. Of course it had to be the patch pool, the only feature I hadn't explored. I noticed the option before, but since it was an odd name and not what I was looking for at that time, I figured I'll look into it later. Never got around to it though. Never considered that would be the way to back up. That's what you get for not reading the manual. I can kick myself.

While I may not be able to share them (is there really no workaround for this, like importing the entire patch pool folder and importing those into the b6 before restoring your original folder?), I am able to back them up to another location and restore them locally. This also makes me think there has to be some way of sharing patches in a creative way. Anyway, all I have to do then is to synch my B6 presets, the patch pool folder and it's backup every once in a while. Easy enough.

Cheers and thanks for the wake-up call @BatBasstard
-edit- typos
-kicks himself again-

I’ve just remembered! You CAN share them.
Not only can you share them, a guy last year, set up a centralised webpage to share them on.
Link Removed
I don’t think it’s necessarily maintained though and I can’t remember how to access the patches to share.
I think you just search for .zptc files.
But it’s just as likely that there is a folder on your computer with them in marked “Guitar Lab”

 

[GotGroove]

I’ve just remembered! You CAN share them.
Not only can you share them, a guy last year, set up a centralised webpage to share them on.
Link Removed
I don’t think it’s necessarily maintained though and I can’t remember how to access the patches to share.
I think you just search for .zptc files.
But it’s just as likely that there is a folder on your computer with them in marked “Guitar Lab”

There is. C:\Users\<username>\Documents\ZOOM Guitar Lab\Patches. But sharing is not that simple.

I tested it when I tried to add a single file from my backup to the patch pool folder. It didn't work. Guitar lab won't read the any of the downloaded patches from that website either. Perhaps it needs the the patchpool.db file along with the patch number it's saved on so you can clear it beforehand? It does seem to work that way when restoring from a backup so that might be the way to do it.

I'll play around with it and see if I can find what it takes to share them, but I see now why people chose Guitar Lab screenshots to share them in that patch share thread. It's a lot easier.

 

[joellay]

Is there a forum or thread for Guitar Lab questions?

I realize this isn't the perfect thread for posting the above question, but I know that many people who follow this thread use Guitar Lab with the B6.

My specific questions (and you can direct me elsewhere) are:

1. Is there a way to clear a patch? Currently I go to the Editor, delete each of the effects, change the patch's name to "Empty" and delete the comment. It seems like there should be an easier way.
2. Is there a way to rename a bank? I know I can do this on the B6 by (non-intuitively) choosing "Change Bank Order" in the main menu and then clicking on the keyboard next to the bank's name. (FWIW, the word "bank" doesn't even appear in the Guitar Lab 7.0 user manual.)

Thanks for answers to these questions or for redirecting me to a more appropriate forum!

Is there any forum for discussing how to use the lab? At 53, I'm a total newby when it comes to this stuff. I'm as analog as they get. Used the B6 for the first time at rehearsal and was quite impressed, but would like to see a few more options on the amps offered.

 

[joellay]

Well, I use to have the B6, then switched to a borrowed HX Stomp, then bought a Helix LT, and now I have a new HX Stomp of my own, plus the Helix. (two different boards).

I switched from the B6 mostly for 3 main reasons (but there were others too).
1. IMHO the B6 just navigates clumsy live.
2. Lack of Midi.
3. Parallel routing (important to me, other people maybe not)

Do I think the Helix stuff has better examples of the Ampeg & GK Stuff? Absolutely, without a doubt, plus the drives, comps & modulation are plentiful and great (synths, not so much, the B6 is better there)....but that is also just my opinion, there WILL be those that disagree.

However, despite what I've mentioned, the HX Stomp has it's own limitations, which is why I bought the Helix LT, nothing is perfect, most have limitations, but the Helix family is exactly what I needed, for my situations, YMMV

Explain the parallel thing?

 

[stubbsonic]

With parallel routing you can the audio path and split it into to paths; putting different process modules on each path.

Some multi-FX will have a module that is a "splitter" which divides the path in two, and then at the opposite end of the split path is a "mixer" which rejoins the paths and gives you control over the relative levels of the "upper" and "lower" paths.

Inexpensive multi-fx just have "serial" signal paths with a chain of FX modules. However, if the module has a wet/dry mix, then that's at least a little parallel path around that particular module.

 

[GotGroove]

Is there any forum for discussing how to use the lab? At 53, I'm a total newby when it comes to this stuff. I'm as analog as they get. Used the B6 for the first time at rehearsal and was quite impressed, but would like to see a few more options on the amps offered.

Welcome to the digital age
There is a Guitar lab manual that may help you if you haven't seen it yet.
Other than that, I can't find a dedicated Guitar Lab thread on here. Nor does Zoom offer one on their site. So my suggestion would be to create a thread and ask away =] I'm sure that there are people on this thread who can help you out, but I can imagine the mods would prefer a separate thread and keep this one focussed on the B6 itself. If you happen to make the wrong choice (according to the mods) or put it in the wrong section, the mods will fix it no doubt.

What are you missing on the cabs?

 

[Appogee]

Hello fellow B6ers.

Can you kindly share which of the B6's compressors you use and recommend?
Bonus thanks if you also share the approximate settings for that compressor

As reference, I'm mostly playing 70s rock (thumpier flatwound sound - think Neil Young accoustic) and 80s rock (think brighter roundwound sound, such as Bon Jovi or Journey).

Cheers!