Skinnyman Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 I've just bought myself a Zoom B9 (at the price GAK are offering them, I just couldn't say no....) It's taken me an afternoon of playing with it to get my head round it but I'm getting there - and so far, I'm very impressed. It seems to do everything I wanted an FX unit to do and quite a few other things besides. However, I can't decide if I've missed something in the manual, if I'm going crazy or if this is just a really odd feature.... Underneath the "toe" end of the expression pedal, there's a push-switch, identical to all the other footswitches. From the placement, it looks like it should be activated when the pedal reaches the full extent of its travel - but there's no way that the pedal can ever be pushed down far enough to actually activate the switch owing to the two bump stops on the bottom of the pedal. There's a soft rubber pad on the bottom of the pedal directly over the switch that looks like it's there to cushion the activation - but it's too shallow to actually make any contact. I've tried pressing the switch manually but it doesn't appear to do anything. There's no reference to it in the manual that I can see (although, I could easily have missed it). So it appears that they've gone to the trouble of fitting a switch that can never be pressed and which has no apparent function. Has anyone else noticed this? Have I missed something really obvious? Is there a key piece missing from my unit that would magically allow the button to be activated? Or am I just going crazy? As it stands, I'm not that bothered- the unit seems to work fine - I'm just intrigued as to what this thing is there for and what it might do.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 Weird. Is it not just a sort of stopper for the pedal, using the same component to save costs? It looks like a switch to let the unit know the pedal is fully down, like an on/off on a wah, but you're right the pedal never goes low enough to hit it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybass 70 Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 its certainly a mystery, I put a rubber top on it, it switches the pedal off or can be programmed to switch between Wah and volume, if i remember rightly not at home at the Moment so can't have a fiddle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBus Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 I don't know if it is anything like the B2.1u. That has what sounds like a similar switch under the pedal. I have to push the pedal down really firmly to activate that switch. Otherwise the little rubber pad under the pedal does not touch the switch. Don't know if that's of any help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted January 17, 2013 Share Posted January 17, 2013 Mine has just gone back because of a dead PSU, but before it went I also discovered this switch. It won't switch by hand, but if you are standing on the foot pedal and put some body weight on it, it switches just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnyman Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 [quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1358448836' post='1939474'] Mine has just gone back because of a dead PSU, but before it went I also discovered this switch. It won't switch by hand, but if you are standing on the foot pedal and put some body weight on it, it switches just fine. [/quote] Interesting - on mine there is no way that you can press this with the expression pedal - the bump stops prevent it going down. I'm surprised Zoom QC is that variable....I'm wondering if they've deliberately "disarmed" the switch for some reason Jaybass - the rubber stop sounds like a neat idea - I wonder if there's meant to be one in place from factory? Did you use the Editor Librarian software to change the function? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybass 70 Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Jaybass - the rubber stop sounds like a neat idea - I wonder if there's meant to be one in place from factory? Did you use the Editor Librarian software to change the function? Didn't get the librarian software to work unfortunately , i think you can change the setting on the pedal itself ,ill get some time to play with it this aft and ill let you know later , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyboo Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 (edited) I can't press it either. When googling I found out that this problem has been with this model for a long time. A piece of rubber should do. Edited January 18, 2013 by kyboo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybass 70 Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 The switch only works on a few patches ! It will disable the vertical movement but the horizontal still works, i don't think you can assign it to change its function though. I really like this pedal but the biggest bummer is that you can only have one pre amp model or a distortion model on at any one time , not both together . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnyman Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 (edited) Thanks for that - the main thing is that it seems like it's not me going crazy.....I've emailed Zoom support although I'm not anticpating a speedy reply, if at all - but if they do respond, I'll update here. Got a MIDI interface on order so I'll have a crack at the Librarian software next week and see how that goes - fortunately, I've now got all weekend to play with the board and see properly what it can do. Cheers! Edited January 19, 2013 by Skinnyman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 And before anybody says it, no I am not! - 11 stone tops :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnyman Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 (edited) Wasn't going to say a word.... There's a rubbery pad under the pedal and I'm wondering if on some units, this gets squished too far in shipping (given that the unit comes from Japan with the pedal in the fully down position) Anyway, I've taken a leaf out of Jaybass' book and stuck a small rubberised washer onto the existing pad and it now works perfectly. The only minor gripe I have is that the function switches 1-3 are assigned differently in different patches - but there's nothing in the reference docs to say what they're assigned to for each patch. Hopefully, that'll become easier to work out when I have the Librarian software working properly. My current thinking is that I'll end up with a few user patches that I've created for specific songs or groups of songs and then just swap between these as needed. So my current occupation is going through each of the songs in our setlist and working out whether they'd benefit from any effects above and beyond the raw sound of the bass and amp and, for those that do, what kind of effects will work best. It's great having a unit like this that will give me loads of effects - but I also think these things are most effective when used sparingly. Just because I can have a stack of overdrive, a ton of delay and a big fat chorus on every song doesn't mean I should, right? Off to play some more now..... Edited January 19, 2013 by Skinnyman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybass 70 Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 I have just figured out how to access the on off function for this switch in any patch press the 'total function ' button. 3 clicks to the right on the 'type' knob (the black ones under the LCD) will access the assignment parameter for PV1. rotate the 'Parm 4' knob , this will disable or enable the switch under the pedal, it basically bypasses the volume control on the foot pedal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnyman Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 Neat....I hadn't spotted that. You can also change it in the Librarian patch editor - bring up the foot pedal window and for the Vertical and Horizontal pedal you can assign up to four functions and have the switch enabled for any or all of the four. I can't think of a time that I'd want four functions all controlled simultaneously by the pedal and have them all switched on and off simultaneously with the pedal footswitch - but it's kind of nice to know that I can if I want :-) 'Course, that only works when you're at home with the B9 connected to the PC so it's worth knowing how to change it on the fly if I ever need to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybass 70 Posted January 25, 2013 Share Posted January 25, 2013 just had another pop at getting the Librarian software to work, no joy I am going to give up on it now as I have sussed the pedal out now, Don't really want to spend too much time messing about with software probs! want to spend time making music well impressed with this pedal though! sounded great in practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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