Have you Got A Zoom effects Pedal

[bassistmike]

Having decided I want a Zoom Effects pedal I have been looking at the differences Price wise and spec wise between the B2 with and without Pedal and the B1 With and without.
Has any one got one, or had one and wished they had got the other
The Price Difference is from about £60 to £109
which one is best value, will I use the USB if I get it ?

[cheddatom]

the usb interface is very useful if you don't already have a means of recording into your computer.

The expression pedal is very useful for changing parameters "on the fly", and I use it for wahs, gain, volume, and for controlling the rate of modulation. You might be the kind of guy who sets up 3 sounds and just switches between them for the whole gig, in which case it's probably not worth it.

The wahs aren't amazing on the B2 but i'm not using it for a traditional funky bass wah so I don't know if it can acheive that.

I think some of the cheaper ones have a plastic casing, which is worth bearing in mind.

[mcnach]

I have the B2. I chose it over the B1 because the B2 is very solid, with a metal case. I think the functions may be identical, not sure.

The difference between the B2 and the B2.u (pedal) is 1) usb output and 2) expression pedal built in.

The USB is only interesting if you want to record in the computer. It is very easy to use and the signal clearer and cleaner than using audio into a regular soundcard. If you have a good soundcard with nice analog/digital convertors then it may not be such a big issue.

The pedal is useful... if *you* have an use for it. And you can always buy a separate expression pedal for the B2 later on if you find you actually want one.
Why would I want an expression pedal?
1) volume. it can be useful to adjust volume on the go, live. You can do "swells" easily with your foot, if your music requires that effect.
2) wah. You can control the wah effect in real time rather than usng the autowah function. If you use that sound. I quite like the autowah in the B2.
3) synth. To control the synth effects... but I don't really like the B2 synth sounds. I bought the pedal for this purpose, and sold the pedal as I didn't like the synths. You don't have a lot of control over the various synth parameters and none gave me a basic sound I wanted.

4) I can't recall if you can assign the pedal to control the amount of effected signal. If it does, it can be another good use for the pedal. You could have your dry signal going on, and blend in any amount of... chorus, flanger, or overdrive sound. I know you can use the pedal to control the amount of gain you get from the overdrive, but not sure whether you can use it to control the blend function instead.

If you don't need the USB, I'd say just go for the B2. You can find them use for around £50 or less. You can always ad an expression pedal. Although it can be cool to have it all in one package. Personal preference.