Zoom MS-60B announced... at last

[gregmon79]

I finally fit my 60b on my board. I figure this will either force me to figure out how to use it with all my other pedals or I'll crash and burn with it and take it after a time and just use it for fun at home for practice. I'm diggin the slap and SVT patches after I tweaked them a little. I'm going to use it for more tone shaping at this point. He it is:

 

[JohnPativens]

Sorry if you talked about this on the previous 37 pages already.. can you load B3 patches on the 60B via the Zoom Edit software?
I'm also thinking to downsize from B3 to 60b and I'd like to keep my custom patches if possible.

 

[KPJ]

Sorry if you talked about this on the previous 37 pages already.. can you load B3 patches on the 60B via the Zoom Edit software?
I'm also thinking to downsize from B3 to 60b and I'd like to keep my custom patches if possible.

No, you can not edit the MS-60B with the software. I have both pedals and I have manually entered some of my B3 patches on the MS-60B. Not too hard to do. Also, there is not 100% compatibility of effects between the two. The B3 does have more options and some of the parameters of similar effects are slightly different between the two.

 

[Bassmike62]

Ok... had my Jack last night.

This pedals sounds pretty good on a lot of patches, especially (IMO) most comps and filters, the phaser, flanger and octave. I even find some analogish qualities to some phaser and filters settings, but that's to my ears.... Anyhoo, great sounding pedal. But let's face it, this gadget is anything but intuitive. Just spent an insane amount of time setting up five simple patches (the most complex has 3 effects, ya see....).

Here's my question: I'd like to use this as a typical stompbox, i.e. start a tune clean, click on a filter for a passage and then back to clean. I haven't found the way to do this without bending down. I recall reading earlier in the thread that a TBer used it as a stompbox, but can't find the post anymore.... and we're up to post # 764.

Anybody have the answer to this ?

 

[gregmon79]

Ok... had my Jack last night.

This pedals sounds pretty good on a lot of patches, especially (IMO) most comps and filters, the phaser, flanger and octave. I even find some analogish qualities to some phaser and filters settings, but that's to my ears.... Anyhoo, great sounding pedal. But let's face it, this gadget is anything but intuitive. Just spent an insane amount of time setting up five simple patches (the most complex has 3 effects, ya see....).

Here's my question: I'd like to use this as a typical stompbox, i.e. start a tune clean, click on a filter for a passage and then back to clean. I haven't found the way to do this without bending down. I recall reading earlier in the thread that a TBer used it as a stompbox, but can't find the post anymore.... and we're up to post # 764.

Anybody have the answer to this ?

You know how you can assign a letter to each patch? All I did was put an empty patch after the patches I knew I'd use a lot. Which is only maybe 2. That way when Im in that patch in use lets say for an intro to a song, I can tap the fs once and it goes to an empty patch. Then when the songs over I can tap this fs however many times I need to to repeat the cycle. I can see it being a tad tedious at times but I have a lot of other pedals on my board and the zoom can be a def benefit if I set it right. Hope that made sense. That's the only way I've thought to do what you're describing.

 

[Bassmike62]

Hope that made sense.

Totally does. That's the way I figured it could work, which is the same with the Zoom A2 I have for acoustic guitar.
But I hadn't caught on to the lettering thing on page 11 of the manual, so you lightbulbed it to me.

Thx

 

[JohnPativens]

No, you can not edit the MS-60B with the software. I have both pedals and I have manually entered some of my B3 patches on the MS-60B. Not too hard to do. Also, there is not 100% compatibility of effects between the two. The B3 does have more options and some of the parameters of similar effects are slightly different between the two.

Ok, thanks.

 

[Bassmike62]

Aaaaaahh.... now it's starting to look even better than expected. I can incorporate my favorite preset patches (oldskool, reggae, wrath and a few others) with my custom patches. It extends the cycle a bit, but I wanted flexibility .... I gots it.

Now, back to the Jack.

 

[bassist4dalord]

I've never really used effects in my 7 years of p,aging bass, but a recent $100 Guitar Center gift card for my birthday has me very seriously considering this pedal. I thought about a Digitech BP335, but I like the simple design of this pedal. It seems to check all of the boxes for me. Very cool stuff indeed!

 

[khutch]

Here's my question: I'd like to use this as a typical stompbox, i.e. start a tune clean, click on a filter for a passage and then back to clean. I haven't found the way to do this without bending down. I recall reading earlier in the thread that a TBer used it as a stompbox, but can't find the post anymore.... and we're up to post # 764.

Anybody have the answer to this ?

The pedal has two (at least) modes for the foot switch. The default mode does exactly what you want, it turns whichever effect is currently displayed on screen on and off. Not sure why you would be having any trouble with this actually. The other mode is what gregmon79 is talking about. You can assign letters to each patch and cycle through the list A, B, C, D etc by stomping on the foot switch. Maybe you have gotten your pedal into this mode. I've never used this mode so I don't know how to switch the pedal between the two modes but the manual is your friend.

Now I believe you can set the tuner mode to either bypass or mute. You can go into tuner mode at any time by holding the foot switch down for a couple of seconds. If you don't need the mute function (which of course is very handy for silent tuning between songs) you could set it to bypass and have a nearly instant clean sound available any time.

Ken

 

[Bassmike62]

Not sure why you would be having any trouble with this actually.
Ken

As mentionned, I hadn't caught on that the letters set the cycle order and that you then go through the cycle order with the footswitch.
It all fell into place when Gregmon explained it.

 

[khutch]

I've never really used effects

Me too. And I am not sure if I ever will. But I got the pedal anyway because it makes a nice preamp for my passive basses, the tuner mute function makes it easy to kill a bass during quiet moments in a church service without having to mess with the VVT pickup balance settings constantly, and it allows me to equalize the sound level of my one quiet bass to that of the others I own. Makes life easier for the sound guys. I find those functions very useful and I have been using the amp models too even though the sound team probably equalizes them out of existence. I think it is worth the price for those alone and perhaps some day I will need one of the effects.

Oh, I forgot one more. Some day I just know I will walk into church one morning and be told we need to shift this song up or down these many steps to accommodate a substitute vocalist. The synth player just dials in the pitch shift and never knows the difference. This pedal has a couple of pitch shifters too that do a decent job, especially when the shift is small. Maybe it will never happen but if it does those pitch shifters will be life savers! In fact the pitch shifter means I no longer have to use Audacity to pitch shift practice mp3s that are in the wrong key, I can just play where I will be playing and let the pedal do the shift.

Ken

 

[Johno Dunn]

In fact the pitch shifter means I no longer have to use Audacity to pitch shift practice mp3s that are in the wrong key, I can just play where I will be playing and let the pedal do the shift.

Ken

That right there is GOLD! Pure genius!

J!

 

[Bassmike62]

Very cool stuff indeed!

Lots of good stuff to get creative with, in addition to a few impressive presets. I tried the reggae patch at practice and it did a great job.

 

[gregmon79]

I really like the tuner/bypass feature. It's nice because if I want to use the 60b for one effect in one passage all I have to do to turn it off is hold it and it bypasses itself. I just put mine on my board so I'm really starting to get to know it. I was worried I wouldn't be able so utilize it well in my chain. It's pretty friendly to use the way I am using it.

 

[Bassmike62]

I really like the tuner/bypass feature.

Cool little feature indeed, just checked it out. This little box is full of goodies. If the footswitch is as sturdy as it looks, this pedal might last for a quite a while.

 

[pauliebass]

I really enjoyed the chorus tonight on a gig, and I have historically disliked using chorus effects.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

I really enjoyed the chorus tonight on a gig, and I have historically disliked using chorus effects.

+1.

I've been a brand snob for years, and if the MS-60B had been close but no cigar for sound quality, I would have continued shopping.

I dumped the TC Corona Chorus without a backwards glance when it failed to make the grade, even after I tweaked a bunch of artist Toneprints.

Ditto for boutique compressor pedals. I had just rejected a $200-plus Diamond comp, when I decided to check out the Zoom for comic relief. It only took a few minutes, to realize that I wasn't going to have to step up to an Empress or an FEA after all.

The fact that a compact $100 multi beat out names like Demeter, Diamond, Barber and TC Electronic to become my always-on pedal for bass, still blows my mind.

 

[FretNoMore]

It's good, in most situations even good enough, but I do sometimes believe people hear what they want to hear.

The MS-60B can not compete with my separate pedals when listening critically, there is clearly a lack of detail and dynamics. Having said that, in terms of sound quality I could easily use it for a live gig where these details get lost in the FOH sound anyway. The main reason I'm not doing it is the limited control you get over individual effects and patches, it's not very practical if you want to turn effects on and off during a song.

 

[Bassmike62]

I really enjoyed the chorus tonight on a gig, and I have historically disliked using chorus effects.

Cool. The one gripe I have about this pedal is the choruses, which is unfortunate because chorus is my favorite effect on bass, right after filters. I haven't found anything I really like yet.

Mind sharing your patch settings ?