New Zoom B3

[bartelby]

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1330859953' post='1563787']
Thanks for going out of your way to record samples and even comparisons bartleby, will check these out tonight! What are your thoughts on the Sansamp model?
[/quote]

I'll record some later for you. Any settings preferences? Passive or active bass?

[quote name='PauBass' timestamp='1330863742' post='1563877']
Yes, thanks for the soudclips, I really appreciate it...cheers!
I assume that's been recorded directly into your PC, no amp/cab involved?
[/quote]

As before, straight into the audio input, into Audacity.

[PauBass]

[quote name='Dave Tipping' timestamp='1330773393' post='1562726']
Paubass .. didn't mean to be cheeky, but u have mentioned the quality of the distortions in particular in the rest of this thread. They really don't sound digital at all and from my experience with a number of the real pedals in a live environment I don't think anybody would know the difference. The added bonus is no knob twiddling between songs and with the mix control on every effect allows you to blend each effect with your clean sound.
[/quote]

umm.... a bit confused about this comment since I haven't been involved in this post...are you sure you are not mistaking me for someone else?

[Dave Tipping]

No .. all I meant was if you read the rest of this thread you would find out what a number of people think about the unit. I can't comment much about the quality without putting it through an amp, but through an amp at volume the distortions are very good and not fake sounding .. for the covers I do I use the sansamp, the boss and the bass muff, a mixture of a couple of chorus effects, the phaser, the synth (for katy perry ~ I kissed a girl {cringe!} .. it does sound exactly as per the record though) and one of the compressors. The great thing is I've spend a fair bit of time messing about with sounds etc .. but I keep finding new sounds all the time the more I tweek things .. also the ability to stack three distortions, or other effect at the same time is brilliant .. esp. when you need a totally over the top effect.

[PauBass]

[quote name='Dave Tipping' timestamp='1330887020' post='1564403']
No .. all I meant was if you read the rest of this thread you would find out what a number of people think about the unit. I can't comment much about the quality without putting it through an amp, but through an amp at volume the distortions are very good and not fake sounding .. for the covers I do I use the sansamp, the boss and the bass muff, a mixture of a couple of chorus effects, the phaser, the synth (for katy perry ~ I kissed a girl {cringe!} .. it does sound exactly as per the record though) and one of the compressors. The great thing is I've spend a fair bit of time messing about with sounds etc .. but I keep finding new sounds all the time the more I tweek things .. also the ability to stack three distortions, or other effect at the same time is brilliant .. esp. when you need a totally over the top effect.
[/quote]

Cool, that's aIl I wanted to know, thanks!

[chrismuzz]

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1330864088' post='1563891']
I'll record some later for you. Any settings preferences? Passive or active bass?
[/quote]

Nice one dude. I play passive but I'm sure active bass samples would help a lot of guys out too

[Walker]

[b]Upright Tone?[/b]

I'm really starting to enjoy the B3, I've managed to get some beautiful tones out of my rig - stuff I never thought I would hear and certainly couldn't do with my standard pedalboard. Some of the amp sims sound wonderful and I'm having a ton of fun with the Sansamp and Eden models.

Anyway, I'm trying to work out how to approximate an upright tone for gigs in tiny pubs where I don't want to take my upright. I reckon a lot of folks would find such a patch useful. I reckon start with a defretter, a bit of EQ tweaking but what about losing the sustain to get the percussive thunk? Any ideas?

Reckon there should be a prize for the best upright patch

Edited March 8, 2012 by Walker

[cheddatom]

You could use compression with a slow attack to try and kill the sustain

I find playing with my thumb over the end of the fret board on the bridge pickup seems to work better than what I can do with pedals.

[Rumple]

[quote name='Walker' timestamp='1331140295' post='1568381']
[b]Upright Tone?[/b]

[/quote]

I think some heavy compression would help bring the click out and even create a kind of swell plus maybe slipping something under the strings down near the bridge to help mute the strings or play with the thumb and use some palm mutiing as I'm not sure any of the effects have an envelope to reduce volume/sustain.

[brensabre79]

I don't rate the defretter much on the B3 to be honest. I get quite a convincing upright tone with my fretless bass - the key is the EQ as I use the ACG/East one with sweepable LF. I use this to boost a lot of mid (you could use a parametric EQ in the B3 to the same effect) and then play over the fingerboard with the neck pickup on only. Flatwound strings help.
When I dont take the fretless to a gig by boosting the mid frequencies and playing as above with roundwounds the sound is not far off...

[OmeDunk]

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1330856993' post='1563722']
But which is which?
Small Stone vs 4-Phaser.
Bass Big Muff (Dry setting, tone 100%, Sustain/Gain 100% Blend 50%)
[/quote]

Thanks for posting these clips!

I listened to these two soundclips.
And in both clips I liked the first recordings a bit more. Because they both have a bit more definition to my ears.
The second parts were a bit more drowned in the effect.

So I place my bet on the B3 being the second part of these two recordings.

Could you also please record some octave up & down, some synth stuff and maybe a bit envelope filters?

[bartelby]

[quote name='OmeDunk' timestamp='1331330616' post='1571658']
Thanks for posting these clips!

I listened to these two soundclips.
And in both clips I liked the first recordings a bit more. Because they both have a bit more definition to my ears.
The second parts were a bit more drowned in the effect.

So I place my bet on the B3 being the second part of these two recordings.

Could you also please record some octave up & down, some synth stuff and maybe a bit envelope filters?
[/quote]

Only just seen your reply.

You're right about the B3 being the second part in those recordings.
The Big Muff on dry is quite easy to tell as the dry signal is so high. With a bit more time I could probably get them even closer.

The B3's emulation effects are just a little smoother.
I'll record some other stuff when I get chance. The envelope stuff will be rubbish as I've never really used one.

[PauBass]

I received mine yesterday afternoon, I've only had a quick play around but first impressions are very good...

Quick question: Is the USB cable included with the Zoom B3? I just went to set up it with my computer and there's no USB cable in the box

[Rumple]

Sadly no, luckily I had an old printer cable that did the trick and saved having to buy one, although they are only a couple of quid you would have expected one to come with it.

[cheddatom]

I have loads of them spare, PM if you need one

[PauBass]

[quote name='Rumple' timestamp='1332921959' post='1594773']
Sadly no, luckily I had an old printer cable that did the trick and saved having to buy one, although they are only a couple of quid you would have expected one to come with it.
[/quote]

Thanks....it's a bit annoying they don't include it, I don't have any at home and won't be able to try it on PC for a few days now, if I had known I would have bought one a the same time I bought the B3

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1332928560' post='1594904']
I have loads of them spare, PM if you need one
[/quote]

Yes, please....Thanks!

[Ghosts Over Japan]

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1330790949' post='1563073']
Just done a quick recording of the overdrive, distortions and fuzzes from Zoom B3. Each recorded:
i) all settings 50%
ii) gain 100% rest 50%
iii) gain 100% tone 100% rest 50%

All with blend at 50%
1) Overdrive
2) Bass Muff
3) T Scream
4) Dist 1
5) Squeak
6) Fuzz Smile
7) Great Muff
8) Metal

[url="http://soundcloud.com/warm_leatherette/b3-od-dis-fuzz"]http://soundcloud.co.../b3-od-dis-fuzz[/url]

Excuse the dodgy playing.
If you want any redone with specific settings let me know
I'll chuck up the EHX / B3 pedal comparisons tomorrow. I'm now off to Bristol to see Earth.

EDIT: bear in mind this is just the fx, going straight into the computer from the audio output of the B3. Through an amp and can they sound much better.
It's also using a Stingray with the eq flat.
[/quote]

Really appreciate you putting this up as I've been looking at this pedal mainly for its choice of overdrives/distortions!
Cai

[topo morto]

So, I just got this from the OP. Does that mean I own this thread too now?

All IMHO of course:

Obviously first thing to try is all the distortions... I think some hit the mark, some don't. Muff is not that good, too compressed sounding 'inside' the sound. On the other hand they have got the character of the bass BB pretty accurately. The rat 'squeak' is well - thought out, with a blend added - best of all IMO is the DI + (MXR sim). For cleaner fatness, The Bottom B and Booster are nice, and the Bass Driver is decent enough - although you can get your fatness and warmth from the amp sims.

Delays are good, with the analogue delay being quite convincing and the Filter delay is nice. So are all the filters actually - including the envelope filters. This makes up for the synths which are for low tempos only, although they sound good.

The '4 voice syn' and Bitcrusher are good creative effects.

My favourite effect? 'BendCho' - a little pitch bend up or down effect triggered on note start.

In terms of the design, it is a shame that the footswitches aren't more assignable, especially for tap tempo, as I'd quite like to use tap tempo AND the input mute with the delays rather than have to choose.

Another missed trick (unless it's me that's mising it) is the ability to do different routings for the effects, e.g. 1 and 2 in series and then 3 in parallel with those.

Overally - It's pretty nifty. Because I'm a 'bit of drive and that's it' type I was expecting to try it for a few days and move it on, which may be what I end up doing... but I do like it. we shall see!

Edited April 14, 2012 by topo morto

[Walker]

Anyone else enjoying some of the amp sims or just me? The Eden sounds fabulous with my rig set flat. This thing is a bunch of fun. I bought it to leave in our practice room but may need to buy another!

Been ABing my analogman chorus with the Zoom. Nowhere near, but in I live situ, it'll only be me that's noticing.

Almost managed to get a usable and subtle OD and the envelope filters take some tweaking but again, very usable. Totally happy with this.

[dumelow]

Very interested in this thing after reading the great but honest comments and reviews. How does the tuner compare to a tu2 or a korg pitch-black? Is it visible on stage and accurate? Is it a huge tonesuck like the b2.1u is? I owned a b2.1u twice and could never decide if I was or wasn't happy with it. The b3 seems like a huge improvement

[topo morto]

[quote name='dumelow' timestamp='1334351252' post='1615174']
Very interested in this thing after reading the great but honest comments and reviews. How does the tuner compare to a tu2 or a korg pitch-black? Is it visible on stage and accurate?
[/quote]

It has 7 big LED's on the top so I don't see a problem with it being visible unless you're on a stadium stage. Maybe not quite as visible as the pitchblack plus I had but probably more visible than a TU2?

As for accurate... well it agrees with my other tuners!

[quote name='dumelow' timestamp='1334351252' post='1615174']
Is it a huge tonesuck...?
[/quote]

My P copy is often slightly helped by going into a buffer and it's no difference here - I prefer the sound going though the B3 in bypass to cable only.

With the passive bass in general it's quite good. Not so good with an active, I get a strage hissing sound on every note (that's with the switch on the back switched to 'Active')

[Kev]

[quote name='topo morto' timestamp='1334412279' post='1615889']

Not so good with an active, I get a strage hissing sound on every note (that's with the switch on the back switched to 'Active')
[/quote]

Okay, i wanted this pedal but this bothers me. Does the zoom bypass only cause this hiss when active switch is selected, or does it always add noise to an active bass in bypass? Or have i misunderstood you?

[topo morto]

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1334695873' post='1620011']
Okay, i wanted this pedal but this bothers me. Does the zoom bypass only cause this hiss when active switch is selected, or does it always add noise to an active bass in bypass? Or have i misunderstood you?
[/quote]

For me I can hear a slight hiss
- when I play a note
- AND the switch is set to active
- AND and when the unit is in bypass OR set to a patch that doesn't 'hide' the hiss.

The passive / active switch is supposed to switch between low and high impedance. Maybe there's some other interaction with my equipment going on. it seems fine with the switch in passive mode (even with an active bass or boost pedal before it). There doesn't seem to be much difference in headroom between the positions.

Possibly worth getting some other (maybe better-informed) opinions!

I will re-iterate that with the switch to passive, the quality is spot on... no complaints.

Edited April 17, 2012 by topo morto

[dannybuoy]

I got the same hiss... Solution is to never ever set the switch to active! I found it perfectly fine in 'passive' mode with a Stingray with the EQ boosted!

[1976fenderhead]

I have a Fender MIA Jazz Bass Deluxe (18v) and didn't notice any hiss in passive or active when using the supplied PSA to power the unit and using no other pedals with it.
It's possible you may get hiss if daisy-chaining it with other pedals but I didn't try that. It happens with my M5 though, so I have to give it its own PSA, though in theory it's just 9v DC, it needs its own PSA due to high current draw. Not sure if its the same case with the B3...

[PauBass]

[quote name='1976fenderhead' timestamp='1334705935' post='1620191']
I have a Fender MIA Jazz Bass Deluxe (18v) and didn't notice any hiss in passive or active when using the supplied PSA to power the unit and using no other pedals with it.
It's possible you may get hiss if daisy-chaining it with other pedals but I didn't try that. It happens with my M5 though, so I have to give it its own PSA, though in theory it's just 9v DC, it needs its own PSA due to high current draw. Not sure if its the same case with the B3...
[/quote]

Mine is fine too, no hiss or noise.
....this little box is brilliant! I'm getting great tones out of it, my band mates have already mentioned how good it sounds and they can't believe the price the sell for.