• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Zoom Owners' Club!

Either way, that'd basically make it a B6 condensed into a single pedal format, assuming they'd update the effects to the current B2/B6 standard. You'd lose the pedalboard mode, but you can spend 6 blocks on the 60B+ sculpting your base sound, throw it into an effects loop on any other multi-effect and use that pedal in stomp mode for any effects you may want. That would give you double the power of the B6 for about 50% of the price of a new B6. You might even be able to do some sort of parallel processing combining these 2 units, which would be a first for Zoom I think.

I might be interested if I ever run out of DPS on my B6. For now I don't and don't expect to, but it's something to consider should I reach that point. There's one thing I don't like though:
The buttons around the stomp box. I've tried a B2 before deciding on the B6 and those buttons were one of the things that turned me far away from it. When playing live, you either hit them when you don't want to, or you can't hit them at the right time. It just didn't feel comfortable and reliable to me, but YMMV. I must admit, I haven't taken a deep dive into the B2, so there might be workarounds for that, like the preset selection on the other MS pedals.

Then again, if you use it the way I outlined above, that wouldn't be much of an issue. You'd just switch between 1,2 or perhaps 3 base sounds with it. The other multi-effect pedal would do the rest.

What would be interesting is if I could export my B6 presets into the 60B+ and back. It'd be a lot less to carry if you're doing small shows or when stage space is limited. But I don't really see that happening.


If there's ever going to be one, I will as well. But a B2/6 in single pedal format kinda sounds too good to be true in my opinion, especially at that price point. Guess we'll find out =]

I love my B6, but lately my humble B1 Four has been coming with to the majority of my gigs. That small footprint is hard to beat for simple pack-n-go. Sets up fast, with a variety of power options, sounds good, no worries.

I do see the MS50g+ has multiple ways to power it, much like the B1 Four - glad to see them carrying that feature over to their latest generation of small pedals.

Hoping the sample rates will match the B6, but that's yet to be seen obviously.
 
Last edited:
I do see the MS50g+ has multiple ways to power it, much like the B1 Four - glad to see them carrying that feature over to their latest generation of small pedals.

Hoping the sample rates will match the B6, but that's yet to be seen obviously.

Oh I definitely agree with you on that. Having the option to bring a battery-powered pedal with so many features at your fingertips (or feet) would be great. If it's going to be what we hope it'll be, I may to have to upgrade the powerbank that currently runs my B6 so I can run them together if I want to.

What I'm slightly worried about is that if you're going to pack the quality of a B2 or B6 into a single pedal that runs on 2 AA batteries it's hard to imagine I'm going to last a evening of band practice on those 2 batteries. My B6 draws 7500-8000 mA from my powerbank for a full evening of rehearsals. Using AA batteries to get that much power would last me no more than an hour. Perhaps a bit more since you don't have an LCD touchscreen, but still.

Do you think they can push it to 2-3 hours on those 2 batteries with the improved effects and sample rate? If so, that alone would make the pedal very competitive. I'd be seriously tempted if they can pull that off.
How long does your B1 last on batteries in a live environment and are you pushing it to the max?
 
Last edited:
I use my MS60b like this, I think I get 4 hours out of the aa’s but it’s my jam pedal. So it only has to last 5 minutes and if there is any random pedal power lying around I can plug it in.

But so far it’s been the best throw down and play solution I can find.

The rest of the time I power it from usb c with a usb c to micro usb adaptor.

Silly but if you want a small setup a power supply is nearly 50% more space taken up
 
  • Like
Reactions: stingray69
Do you think they can push it to 2-3 hours on those 2 batteries with the improved effects and sample rate? If so, that alone would make the pedal very competitive. I'd be seriously tempted if they can pull that off.
How long does your B1 last on batteries in a live environment and are you pushing it to the max?

IDK how battery power vs. sample rate plays out - that's above my paygrade so to speak.

Currently, my B1 Four gets at least 4 hours on batteries. Typically I am only running about 3 effects at a time on most patches.
 
That makes sense. I’ll get the adapter. Wish me luck!
Confirmed. I added this:

Lightning to USB Camera Adapter for iPhone with Charging Port USB 3.0 Female OTG Cable for iPad to Connect Card Reader USB Flash Drive U Disk Keyboard Mouse Hubs Midi

upload_2024-1-31_14-30-32.png


Now all works splendidly. There are a few different versions of this camera adapter gizmo. It's likely that as long as you have a lighting connector on one end, and the other end has that little USB logo, you're probably going to be good...
I wish the ToneLib folks would make something for the B2 Four. I have used their interface with other Zoom pedals and really do feel they have the better interface... Using Zoom's interface on my ipad is pretty do-able tho...
I've only played with my B2 Four a little at home. My learning curve for it isn't sufficient to feel comfortable taking the show on the road, as it were. May just be my imagination wanting to like the new shiny object, but the B2 Four does seem to sound a little better than the B1 Four I have been using. - Realistically, only a little better, but just enough that you would notice...
First impressions,
 
  • Like
Reactions: champbassist
Pedal 1: talk about what it does blah blah
Pedal 2: more talk
Pedal 3: more talk
etc
Pedal X: this one is for bassists. Silence.
This next pedal...

:D

That silence was SO loud lmfao.
I definitely have some potential interest though depending on how they are updating it from the original MS60B (aside from the obvious cosmetic change,) but they really didn't give us much to work with there :cautious:
 
  • Like
Reactions: mcnach
a B2/6 in single pedal format kinda sounds too good to be true in my opinion, especially at that price point.
There is also the notion that one pedal might "cannibalize" the market of one Zoom Pedal for another...

What would be really great is if Zoom would let the B2 Four "stack" pedals, allowing a patch combinations like Reverb+Trem on one foot switch, and fuzz+octave on another.
It feels like the B2 Four is an evolution of the B3n, which I believe does allow you to do that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: stubbsonic
What would be really great is if Zoom would let the B2 Four "stack" pedals, allowing a patch combinations like Reverb+Trem on one foot switch, and fuzz+octave on another.

Yea, the switches in the B2 Four are super limited. Hard to say if that is related to costs, or trying to keep the pedal simple for an entry level user. If I start to think about how Zoom could implement something more flexible, it balloons into complexity pretty fast. Most of what I need to do in terms of switches, I can do just by changing presets with the switches.
 
I know we're all eagerly anticipating the MS-60B Plus. (Well, OK, TBH I'm not. I just don't care for those directional buttons. I always seem to hit them when I don't mean to.)

But I thought I'd share how I'm using the good old MS-60B with a midi page turner (the M-Vave Chocolate) in my bass pedal board.

I'm sure you all already know all about the MS-60B and how you can build chains of up to four effects and save them as presets. I only recently discovered what the MS series could do with a midi page turner. If you're like me and haven't discovered this yet, you can use a midi page turner to select your presets. 1A=preset1, 1B=preset2, 1C=preset3, 1D=preset4, 2A=preset5, 2B=preset6, 2C=preset7, etc. all the way up to 8D=preset32. This greatly improves the functionality of the MS pedals and makes them much more versatile.

There are some videos on this already for the MS guitar pedals. It's pretty plug and play (though I had to go in through the MVave phone app and change the USB mode on the midi dongle). So I'm not going into how to set it up. I'm just showing how I'm using it.

 
Last edited:
I know we're all eagerly anticipating the MS-60B Plus. (Well, OK, TBH I'm not. I just don't care for those directional buttons. I always seem to hit them when I don't mean to.)

But I thought I'd share how I'm using the good old MS-60B with a midi page turner (the M-Vave Chocolate) in my bass pedal board.

I'm sure you all already know all about the MS-60B and how you can build chains of up to four effects and save them as presets. I only recently discovered what the MS series could do with a midi page turner. If you're like me and haven't discovered this yet, you can use a midi page turner to select your presets. 1A=preset1, 1B=preset2, 1C=preset3, 1D=preset4, 2A=preset5, 2B=preset6, 2C=preset7, etc. all the way up to 8D=preset32. This greatly improves the functionality of the MS pedals and makes them much more versatile.

There are some videos on this already for the MS guitar pedals. It's pretty plug and play (though I had to go in through the MVave phone app and change the USB mode on the transmitter). So I'm not going into how to set it up.



Here's some background you really don't need. For a long time, my pedal board included an MS-60B into a Zoom B3. It was a great combo. I could build chains of up to 7 effects and used the DI on the B3 to feed the front of house. Eventually, I stopped using a stage amp entirely and just relied on this pedal board. The sparkly new B2 Four caught my eye and I sold the B3 to simplify my setup and went with just the B2 Four. But ultimately I was disappointed in the B2. It sounded great. But some of Zoom's design choices made it hard for me to use.

So I ditched the B2 Four. I still had my trusty MS-60B that I kept as a backup. It has no DI and I really wanted quick access to tone shaping (something the B2 Four promised but didn't deliver). I tried the MS-60B with an EHX Battalion preamp. The compressor on that preamp was like a single knob tone sucker. So I started looking for a compressor. I realized that I really like the compressors on the MS pedal. So I bought a 2nd MS-60B. My idea was to run some always on effects on one and use the other for special effects and more complex patches. But I still didn't love the Battalion. I'm currently using a Darkglass preamp clone by DemonFX. It's still early days, but so far I'm much happier.

Then I stumbled on a video showing someone controlling a Zoom MS guitar pedal with the M-Vave Chocolate. That kinda blew my mind. Which brings us to where we are today. I just finished setting this up. I haven't even affixed the pedals to the board yet. But I'm really liking this so far.

With the Chocolate, you basically get 8 banks with 4 presets each. I've set the four patches I use the most on bank 1 (1A-1D). That includes my clean signal (comp + vintage flange), a boosted signal for "more me" when I need it, an envelope filter with a compressor, and a synth patch (comp + distortion + phaser + envelope).

Each bank has my clean signal in slot A so I can always get back to my clean patch quickly. The other banks include funky envelope filters, octaves, synth patches, and dirt.
 
The long anticipated Zoom MS-70CDR+ has been announced and is available for preorder on their website and Invalid Link Removed, perhaps other sources as well still the same price as 10 years ago ~ amazing. Looks pretty sweet but there is not an updated effects list as of this posting. I use my CDR all the time and had been thinking of getting a second so have already placed an order. I use the original on synths, keys, guitar, piccolo and pixie basses so hopefully I can stop robbing one setup to please the other.
 
just ordered a B3 to chain with my B1-Four.

B1-Four amps

Ampeg SVT
Fender Bassman 100
SWR SM-400
Aguilar DB750
Trace Elliot AH400SMX
Acoustic 370
Markbass MiniMark 802
EBS HD360
Ampeg B-15N

B3 amps

Ampeg SVT
Fender Bassman 100
Hartke HA3500
SWR SM-900
Ampeg B-15N
Acoustic 360
Aguilar DB750
Polyton Mini-Brute III
Marshall Super Bass
Gallien-Krueger 800RB
Eden WT-800
Markbass Little Mark III


best in the biz.
 
got a pretty good deal on a used Zoom B3

original packaging with all the plastic bags and the CD and manual!

like new.

chaining the B3 and the B1-Four, however, does NOT work as hoped.

with my PC system, i can't have both connected via USB and use the editing software simultaneously.

plus, the noise is not acceptable.

definitely keeping the B3, though - for live it's a fantastic unit.

great bass tones with XLR!!!

the B1-Four still rules for my recording setup.

even with guitar as a boost into my interface. it drives my VST sims nicely.

notes from the field.