Osiris

Ha, my mistake, I only clicked on the first link before getting sidetracked and doing some digging of my own

That looks interesting, especially as I'm looking to go over to in-ears soon and will be ditching my back-line and pedal board in favour of my Zoom B3 for DI/EQ/compression/tuner duties. My only reservation that I've got at the back of my mind regarding the move to the B3 is that I'm really going to miss my SpectraComp but something like this would give me everything I need in one box while keeping the control versatility of the SpectraComp. US price looks to be $199 so ought to be reasonably priced in the UK too. Here's the official video from TC

I've just 'discovered' these children too after recommended them by @Cuzzie and have been impressed by what I've heard so far. Yes, very very Zepp indeed, but I'm watching this space with interest to see what they evolve into once they find their own feet.

In short, no they don't on the MS-60B - but you can blend in some clean on the B3. The long winded explanation - I have both the B3 and the MS-60B and have been sinking a lot of time into the compressors on both lately as I'll soon be moving away from back-line to in-ear monitoring and my plan is to use my B3 as an all in one tone shaper, tuner, DI and compressor. To date I've been using the TC Electronics Spectracomp but as I'm hoping to ditch my board as well as back-line I've been getting to grips with the Zoom comps in greater depth. One thing you can do on the B3 is to go to the TOTAL menu for each patch and there is a blend option there called BAL where you can mix between the fully processed signal (BAL at 100%) and the unprocessed signal. For effective parallel compression I like a clean blend of around 20% give or take i.e. BAL at around 80. Unfortunately I have not been able to find a similar feature to the B3's BAL on the MS-60B. If it can be done and anyone else knows how to do it, please let us know.

I only use mine for quiet in-house rehearsals. The trouble is the noise of the thing drowns out the bass (and everything else) so it's hard to tell exactly how much squash is being applied. Still, the carbon monoxide emissions have killed the keyboard player so it's not all bad news.

Pffft, real men use one of these;

I've gigged one of these, it blew me away.

@andysg42 As has been said a few times already, the Genzler Magellan sounds like it ought to be on your shortlist, if not at the top of it! Please check out my review as linked by @Al Krow a couple of posts up. As an update since the review, I've been gigging mine for a year now and cannot fault it. The simple but effective tone stack allows me to EQ to any difficult room in seconds. You mentioned in your original post about "a bit of simulated tube warmth" and the Magellan absolutely nails it, IMO. It's a subtle drive with bags of those critical mids that you need for an effective drive sound in the mix. It's silky smooth too, neither gritty, fizzy or with a bloated low end mush. I cannot fault the amp in any way even though our honeymoon period has long since passed

Good luck with that

I have a Peavey Zodiac DE as well as an Ibanez SR1000 in my stable and while there's no doubt that the Ibanez SR neck profile is skinny and fast, but compared to the Peavey it's a tree trunk

No problem, but it was a major WTF moment first thing this morning My go to setting on the Mojo are Gain at around 10-11 o'clock ish, Volume at unity (1 o'clock ish?) Voice switch on (up position), Bass at about 10 o'clock treble at about 2 o'clock. On paper than might look like a high treble setting, but the bass I use these settings with is very dark sounding and the voice switch adds additional lows and mids to fatten things up. So although those particular settings work with my gear for the sound I want, they may not sound so great with other folks set ups. Both the BSF and Mojo do the mid rich low gain thing very well, so it all comes down to which one you prefer over the other.

Errr, where did that come from? Being in to "high treble" drive sounds is news to me

Thank you I've never had any noise issues with my Spectracomp and I've done dozens of gigs with it to date. I'd also read about some people having issues with noise but if I remember correctly it was something to do with the automatic gain make up setting in the PC editor that people seemed to think was the issue. I had previously downloaded the editor software and plugged my Spectracomp into it and there is something like 50 unique configurable parameters, so I'd imagine that unless you are seriously into the complexities of compression, it's relatively easy not to get something quite right and to potentially introduce some unwanted noise - Not that I'm claiming to be an expert, I didn't put together a setting from scratch but simply started with a Tone Print that I liked and fine tuned it to suit my tastes. I also toggled the automatic gain make up on and off a couple of times but didn't notice any excessive noise. But you really need to know what you're doing using the editor The free tone prints you can beam to the pedal from the mobile app offer loads of sounds to play with and I usually just stick with 3 or 4 of my favourite ones depending on what type of compression I'm after at the time. There's loads of mileage to be had from these alone so you don't need to go anywhere the full editor if you don't want to. I've not found either the Spectracomp or the M-Comp model on the Zoom to be noisy at the settings that I use but as with just about any other compressor they may well be noisy at extreme settings.

Agreed that a clean blend option would have been a useful addition on some of the models although I don't know how many of the models that they are emulating have clean blends? Having said that, Zoom have added clean blends to some of their drive sounds where the original pedals they are emulating didn't have them, so it can be done. Metering is useful too, I guess, although I always prefer to use my ears and dial in my compression sounds in the context of the band mix. I also find the M-Comp (my personal fave on the MS-60B) quick and easy to dial in for the punchy sound that I like Yes, the TCE SpectraComp is a thing of joy, it is paradoxically the simplest and most complex pedal compressor pedal available . I gig mine regularly love it. On those gigs where it's standing room only and I have no space for my pedal board, I use the MS-60B on top of my amp as a tuner and compressor. I just use the one, always on sound, so the limited form factor for chopping and changing patches all night isn't an issue for me. And although the SpectraComp performs 'better' IMO (possibly down to having a small amount of clean signal blended it along with a slight push in the higher frequencies?) (and depending on how you want to actually quantify 'better') the Zoom still holds its own in a live situation with a quality bass and rig.

Over years I've found that less is usually more when it comes to getting decent bass sound. Start with everything flat and just make small adjustments to the room if necessary. And I always go for a sound that works well with the rest of the band - it may not sound as sexy as a massive mid-scoop (which always seems to make the bass disappear from the mix when I've used it), but it works in context, and that's got to be the critical point, hasn't it? Agreed, I had a GP12SMX back in the day, it had a million tone shaping options but it was the only amp I've ever played that I could never get a good, usable sound out out of, no matter what you did with it. IMO/IME a simple 3 or 4 band EQ is way more effective.

Thanks for the info on the guitar show, unfortunately I can't make it this weekend either.

I'll give the G55 wireless a go once I have my IEM set up, although as I'm planning to go hard wired for the IEM's, I'm still going to be tethered by at least one cable . One of the OBBM custom IEM/guitar cable could be an option and I think someone has also suggested simply velcroing (is that a word???) the cables together. Either way I don't think it's going to be a significant problem for me in real world use. If your set up works and gives you what you want then that's great, part of me is jealous . Looking at some of the pictures you'd posted earlier in the thread you are doing gigs of a higher calibre than me so a set up like that is likely to be way over the top for my needs, but if I ever decide to follow you down the rabbit hole I might just have to tap you up for more of your wisdom Unfortunately I cannot make the London bass show this year. Apologies if I've missed something but what's happening at Bingley Hall, and when?

One again @EBS_freak I appreciate your wisdom I'm not looking to run any other pedals with the B3, digital or otherwise. I like to keep things as simple as possible - and yes I did see the diagram of your set up and it scared me to death ). I do have a Line 6 G55 digital wireless system, but as most of the venues we play are small to the point that's it's often standing room only with no room to swing a cat, it rarely gets used. So I think that even on the off chance that there is a latency issue if I were to use it (which sounds unlikely) those occasions would be rare. @EBS_freak I have taken on board your point of looking at quad drivers for additional bass response. The UE 900s seem to be universally well regarded and are within my budget and could well be what I ultimately (pun optional) end up going with. I was just curious about the 215's as some people seem to be happy with them as @jrixn1 is, whereas some people are not so impressed with the bass response from them. I'm just doing my homework so that as and when I commit to buying something I get what's right for me . At the minute I'm keeping all options open as this is all new to me.

That's good to know, thank you How do you get on with the Shure SE215's? Do they deliver enough low end in you opinion (there's mixed reviews online in that regard)? I'm not looking for massive subby lows, but I do like the give my bass a little push in the low mids when playing through an amp and would like to know if the 215's are happy delivering a similar tone?

Agreed, I'd probably go for a dedicated analogue pre-amp pedal if the Zoom doesn't work out in the long term, something that offers some form of EQ and tone shaping. But considering how relatively inexpensive the Zoom stuff is it does actually sound great, IMO. Admittedly, I've never had any experience of the likes of the Helix or Kempler to compare it to, so this is just based on limited experience. Part of me is quite happy to remain ignorant of the more expensive offerings in case I decide that I can't live without something of that calibre . But I always manage to get a good, usable sound that works for me in a band context with the Zoom, I only really use the compression and tone shaping options on it as I'm not a massive fan of effects as such. I've no doubt that there are 'better' options out there (depending on how you wish to quantify 'better') but as a weekend warrior playing to crowds who - let's be honest, are at times not that discerning - I suspect that the Zoom will be good enough for my needs. The only potential issue that I have at the back of my mind at this early stage is the cumulative latency between the Zoom and the Line 6 desk. I've no idea what the figures are for each item or even if they are widely available, so I'll try it and see. If it works, then great, if not then I'll probably start looking into an analogue pre-amp of some sorts.

Yes, I would imagine the processing on the desk may well be a step up from the Zoom but as it's a steep learning curve for me at the moment I'll start off with the Zoom as it's something I'm familiar with. One step at a time. Once I've got to grips with the IEM's I can start to investigate what options are available from the desk and may eventually use those instead of the Zoom. Presumably I'd still need a DI box of sorts?

Good man, I really appreciate your help and insight

I personally really rate the compressors on the Zoom B3 and MS-60B, and think they are among their strongest features. My personal fave for subtle compression and tonal fattening is the M-Comp model. No significant tonal colouration and it works really great with in the band mix. I've played through a couple of dedicated stomp box compressors that didn't perform half as well as the M-Comp model, IMO, IME etc. The Dyna comp model also sounds great to me and I love the squishy tone from the optical comp model (can't remember what it's called now ). I've had good results with the other models too, the only one that I wasn't too keen on was the Dual-Comp model as it had a massive mid-scoop. It might work well for slap stuff but like you, that's not something I really do either.

I've got an old iPad laying around so that's not a problem. Presumably there's just an app to download that will allow it to talk to the desk? It certainly sounds the more logical option compared to a small mixing desk. I guess I was just thinking aloud Good point about potential latency between an analogue and digital desks, I hadn't considered that, thank you. Just to clarify what I'm hoping to do; use the Zoom as an EQ/compressor/DI, run an XLR from the Zoom to the Line 6 desk, another XLR from one of the monitor outputs on the Line 6 to a headphone amp (now that it sounds as though as small mixer is not the wisest choice) to power the IEM's themselves. So yes, the B3 signal will be going to the desk and out through the FoH speakers. Ideally I want to ditch my amp and cab on stage and just use the Zoom and the in ears - via the Line 6 desk of course. Does that sound doable?

Awesome, congratulations, Nick.