Zoom MS-60B+ (a compact B2-Four?)

[nonohmic]

So far liking this. The knobs are a little hard to turn, and it's annoying to always have to save a patch after every change. Although I get that.

But yeah pretty much just using the limiter, noise gate, and sansamp. Plus a little chorus for the fretless. But it sounds great to me. Save $500 over buying individual pedals.

this video was a huge selling point - sounds the same to me

 

[nonohmic]

Can anyone school me on the compressors? I'm not experienced with compressors. Where is a good starting point just for taming the soiund. And then also for a single coil fretless jazz.

I think the 1176 limiter is sounding ok

 

[Hamburgeler]

So far liking this. The knobs are a little hard to turn, and it's annoying to always have to save a patch after every change. Although I get that.

But yeah pretty much just using the limiter, noise gate, and sansamp. Plus a little chorus for the fretless. But it sounds great to me. Save $500 over buying individual pedals.

this video was a huge selling point - sounds the same to me

There is an auto save option.

 

[dannybuoy]

This is a great pedal for the money. The BDDI v2 sounds better than my real one, the Darkglass B7K model sounds pretty dang close too. The octaver is as good as my Octabvre Mini I had too, with no perceptible lag.

 

[nonohmic]

There is an auto save option.

Word. That’s good to know. I’ll check it

 

[nickelwound]

There is an auto save option.

Can anyone school me on the compressors? I'm not experienced with compressors. Where is a good starting point just for taming the soiund. And then also for a single coil fretless jazz.

I think the 1176 limiter is sounding ok

Not an expert on compressors, but start with the Dynamic/MXR. Set the sense around three as a start. That will still gives you some dynamics on the sound but still boost lower levels and limit higher ones. A higher setting will squish both levels and make the sound very even but unnatural.

Setting the attack will adjust how quickly the compression comes on. I use slow.

Adjust volume and tone to taste. I go about 70 on both. I find you have to turn down gains and volumes throughout all effects and the master overall setting on the pedal itself.

I’m sure someone will have a better explanation on how they work but this might start you out…

 

[nonohmic]

Not an expert on compressors, but start with the Dynamic/MXR. Set the sense around three as a start. That will still gives you some dynamics on the sound but still boost lower levels and limit higher ones. A higher setting will squish both levels and make the sound very even but unnatural.

Setting the attack will adjust how quickly the compression comes on. I use slow.

Adjust volume and tone to taste. I go about 70 on both. I find you have to turn down gains and volumes throughout all effects and the master overall setting on the pedal itself.

I’m sure someone will have a better explanation on how they work but this might start you out…

This is great thanks!

Yea I put the master volume down to about 65. Way overpowering straight out of the box.

 

[nickelwound]

Great…

I’d like to see more people post on settings on the pedal. Especially on the drives, pitch shifts and synths.

Anybody have settings or suggestions on the above for anything above to get a more natural or useful sound?

 

[nonohmic]

Great…

I’d like to see more people post on settings on the pedal. Especially on the drives, pitch shifts and synths.

Anybody have settings or suggestions on the above for anything above to get a more natural or useful sound?

I thought the sansamp/bass driver preamp was the most natural drive/gain sound. Much more so compared to the effects in the drive/fuzz list.

I had the noise gate, a compressors, and then the bass driver preamp with the gain dialed to 70ish. Sounds great!

 

[nonohmic]

But yeah it’d be cool if people posted their presets

 

[nickelwound]

I thought the sansamp/bass driver preamp was the most natural drive/gain sound. Much more so compared to the effects in the drive/fuzz list.

I had the noise gate, a compressors, and then the bass driver preamp with the gain dialed to 70ish. Sounds great!

Will try that…

I found the EP drive to work best for me. Sounds good with the Bassman model.

 

[mikeynets]

Consider using some of the amp models with (cab turned off) for drive.

IME Most of the drives sound best at low gain settings. Also sometimes pairing with an EQ block helps.

But for the most part, I think the drives are the weakest link. No sweat though because the rest of the pedal is amazing. And even the drives are ok if you get creative.

 

[DJ Bebop]

So far liking this. The knobs are a little hard to turn, and it's annoying to always have to save a patch after every change. Although I get that.

But yeah pretty much just using the limiter, noise gate, and sansamp. Plus a little chorus for the fretless. But it sounds great to me. Save $500 over buying individual pedals.

this video was a huge selling point - sounds the same to me

I find if I'm bedrooming, yeah I can get granular about it and hear, this thing sounds a little less, or that thing sounds a little more. But when playing with music or in a band they usually sound great!

I have some vintage MXR pedals that I like but I find that using the Zoom I get very similar sounds and the convenience of it, not having to pack a big pedal board lets me use those sounds more

 

[nickelwound]

Consider using some of the amp models with (cab turned off) for drive.

IME Most of the drives sound best at low gain settings. Also sometimes pairing with an EQ block helps.

But for the most part, I think the drives are the weakest link. No sweat though because the rest of the pedal is amazing. And even the drives are ok if you get creative.

Will try this too, I’d love to get a good fuzzy/distorted sound but haven’t been able to find it yet.

 

[bassbrad]

Consider using some of the amp models with (cab turned off) for drive.

IME Most of the drives sound best at low gain settings. Also sometimes pairing with an EQ block helps.

But for the most part, I think the drives are the weakest link. No sweat though because the rest of the pedal is amazing. And even the drives are ok if you get creative.

Absolutely agree, I find the amp sims much more dynamic and tweakable. All of the drives have too much gain, sound on the harsh side to my ear and are not as touch dynamic as the amp sims. While the amp sims may not be 100% accurate I do appreciate the flavor and texture that they add. Sad that they decided to leave out so many great amp models from the previous version like the B15 and Marshall for example.

 

[stingray69]

I find the drives to be very good overall, but often times experimentation with other gain drives in the path yields the best results for me. For example, I like to add in the EP Drive in front of the MXR clone (or most drives, for that matter) into the Ampeg SVT amp sim - one of my favorite combo chains to use in the MS60B+. Just sounds bigger and better to my ears with a little gain-staging.

Experimentation with effect placement within the chain is crucial - slide them around and find the best sounding position for each effect. It sounds like a simple thing, but the difference is huge most of the time - especially with the drive effects.

 

[nickelwound]

I find the drives to be very good overall, but often times experimentation with other gain drives in the path yields the best results for me. For example, I like to add in the EP Drive in front of the MXR clone (or most drives, for that matter) into the Ampeg SVT amp sim - one of my favorite combo chains to use in the MS60B+. Just sounds bigger and better to my ears with a little gain-staging.

Experimentation with effect placement within the chain is crucial - slide them around and find the best sounding position for each effect. It sounds like a simple thing, but the difference is huge most of the time - especially with the drive effects.

Ok, so in you example are going EP>MXR (clean)>SVT? Which effect are you using the highest gain setting or are all roughly equal.

I understand the idea of sliding around the position of each module. So will try that.

When you use amp sims are you turning off the cab, in most cases, if you are running into the front of your bass amp? This would be a question to all following this thread…

 

[stingray69]

Ok, so in you example are going EP>MXR (clean)>SVT? Which effect are you using the highest gain setting or are all roughly equal.

I understand the idea of sliding around the position of each module. So will try that.

When you use amp sims are you turning off the cab, in most cases, if you are running into the front of your bass amp? This would be a question to all following this thread…

Technically, I am running the ZNR noise gate, followed by compressor (DB160) at the front of the effect chain, followed by the rest. (ZNR>DB160>EP>Ampeg SVT).

Gain settings are pretty much balanced out to be the same, but I do like to set the MXR distortion a little hotter than my clean volume so that when I kick it on I get a slight boost in volume, it works well with how the other guys in the band have their OD pedals set, so I need follow suit to match them. But it's entirely just personal preference really.

I like the drives better thru an amp sim (the Ampeg SVT is my favorite, so I almost always use that sim). I can't recall my exact setting for the cab blend right now, but around 60-70% I think. But there is no right or wrong, everyone has different gear than comes into play. If it sounds better without cab sim engaged, then dial the cab blend back.

 

[stingray69]

When you use amp sims are you turning off the cab, in most cases, if you are running into the front of your bass amp? This would be a question to all following this thread…

Sorry, forgot to address this - yes, I'm running into the front of my amp with my 60B+.

Some people will go into the FX Return to bypass the EQ settings of their amp.

I just set my amp "flat", and set my general EQ on my amp sims in the MS60B+.

This way I can still make on-the-fly adjustments from the EQ on my main amp if need be.

 

[bassbrad]

When you use amp sims are you turning off the cab, in most cases, if you are running into the front of your bass amp? This would be a question to all following this thread…

When I'm sound designing I have different groups some with speaker sim on for going direct or iem and some speaker sim off when using an amp. I also have different groupings for different situations cuz I play in different situations.