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Faylith

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  1. Ease of use: I read the instruction manual before going to guitar center just a single time, and i didnt have any problem setting the b3n up. Switching patches is much better, as you clearly see what patch you are switching to. Editing effect is also easier, cause you see all parameters at once. When adding or changing an effect, you don't have to scroll through all of them to get the desired one, they are categorized. Only thing that changed to (anyhow) worse, is that you don't see all selected effects at once, and have to scroll through them, but thats easy one-button operation. Worth to mention that springs on footswitches are not as hard as on b3, so they are comfortable for both foot and hand operation. Menu navigation with this pressable knob is as easy as total and global menus from B3. All that ease of use improvements make up for a downside: the PC/Mac software no longer allows editing the patches, only moving and renaming. So all your editing will be on B3n now. Build quality: B3 had full aluminium housing with only plastic elements at the display section. B3n has almost no plastic on the "dashboard", but instead unit sides are black plastic. Despite that, unit seems as sturdy as B3. The lower plastic footswitches function way better that similar hinged switches on some low end pedals, like behringer. They have the same nice "click" as the upper, chrome-looking footswitches. Parameter knobs are smaller, but click as nice as on B3 and were comfortable to use for me, i have medium sized hands. Displays are of course smaller, but backlight is closer to white. Features: I'll be short on that one. Tuner works as well as on B3, but displays on screen, not on dedicated LEDs, so visibility is slightly worse. Looper and drum machine are now separate effects to add to the chain, didnt test if you can put in multiple loopers, but i know that only one drum machine can be used at a time. There are 4 variants of looper: stereo/mono and single/dual unit. B3n is missing some features from B3: - separate balanced XLR out - usb bus power - usb audio interface - possibility to reverse order of effects (to right to left) - possibility to change dry/wet blend on patch level - possibility to power it with batteries But they are some added features too: - master level knob - aux input - possibility to install and remove effects/amps/cabs to the unit - and up to 7 effects in the chain of course! Tone: Compressors seem to be same quality as in B3, didn't notice any difference. Amp sims... there could be more to choose from. I couldn't get my favorite GK tone, but they are as good as on B3, especially after some tweaking and getting used to. Overdrives/distortions/fuzzes. I got surprised by those. I tried to get my frequently used Big Muff to sound same as on B3, but it changed drastically. Maybe a little closer to original one, but to my taste worse. In my opinion, darkglass gear make up for that, they sound really good. Tube screamer is pretty much the same. Thanks to the introduction of 2-unit effects, you finally can use distorted channel of MXR DI+. All other effects from this category sounded more harsh, somehow mid-lacking, but i suppose they just need more tweaking and combining with other effects to get good results. Potentially better than on B3. All effects are now having 4 or 8 parameters, so some effects lost the blend control that i am using all the time on B3. Refer to the effect list for more information https://www.zoom.co.jp/sites/default/files/products/downloads/pdfs/E_B3n_FX-list_0.pdf. Synths didn't change much. They seem to track a little better, but sound pretty much the same. Sadly i didn't test Octavers. In my opinion, Reverbs, Choruses, Wahs and Delays sound same as on B3, but i don't use them too often so it's possible i just missed the difference. They removed the Bit Crusher! Tone overall seems a bit diffrent. On B3n all preamps/amps and overdrives have a bit larger tonal range, but mid frequencies are somehow less defined. It were a barely noticable difference, something that is rather felt than heard, and is not really easy to describe. I hope that my amp's graphical EQ will be enough to build up the mids. Worth to mention that B3n seems to be more sensitive to the instrument's tone. Is it worth upgrading?
 In my opinion, none of them is better. They are just different units with different purpose. B3n is more tone focused, as you can chain more effects and switch between patches easier. Use it, if you already have external DI-box and USB audio interface (or you don't need them). B3 is all-in-one utility, get it if you are sure that 3 fx slots will be enough for you. In other hand, when i were buying B3, i didnt thing i'll use all 3 slots, and now it turned out that i need much more! And for the tone, i think its a matter of taste, you can guess how it feels to play basing on my review, but i highly recommend trying it out at local musical store, if possible.
 
 Some tips: - Refer to https://www.zoom.co.jp/sites/default/files/products/downloads/pdfs/E_B3n_FX-power-chart.pdf to check if all effects that you want to use can be selected at once. - To tighten up your sound and make bass more clear and readable, use the splitter to remove all signal below certain frequency. For my mahogany bass, 100 or 125hz is just fine. It works best for me if put at the front of the chain. - You can also use splitter to get rid of that hissing, digital sounding high tones from distortions. - If you're not really good at timing with the looper, you can set it to end after certain time, based on the tempo set on the unit. Feel free to ask me any questions.
  2. Hi there, first post:) I've stalked on this forum for some time, gathered mailnly gear knowledge, and finally i can repay with some bit of information. I'm currently a B3 user and planning to upgrade to B3n. I went to compare them to GuitarCenter today, A/B'ed them for about a hour, so if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask me!
  3. Hi there all the bassists! I've been stalking this forum for a long time in terms of gear research, and now finally i can contribute and share some knowledge too! Playing in a hard rock/heavy metal band Mad Teacher, on korean Cort B5, through Zoom B3 and BDI21, to Hartke HA3500.
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