Walker Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 As above, no noise with my passsive or active. Sounds great in the band. I've even got a great patch for my electric upright sorted. Fantastic value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Woo! Finally got one of these thanks to Jamesemt It's great! the delays, phasers, choruses, amp sims, octaves and a load of the 'silly' effects.. Even the compressors really surprised me... Especially the 160 comp! Wtf is the bomber all about though? Haven't found a distortion that I really like yet, but the Bass Muff is easily good enough to replace my real one! The tuner is good. Not as accurate as the korg pitchblack but it's good enough... Undecided whether I'll retire the korg... I also get the hiss... Well it's like a high pitched ringing sound that's constantly there :S its removable using the ZNR noise gate, however it's still audible over my actual playing... Strangely enough using the Tubescreamer model gets rid of it too! Turning off the tweeter on my cab helps too. It was only there when daisy chaining the power supply... I will double check tonight and see if it goes away when using its own supply... Anyone managed to find another way of removing the hiss? All in all it's an awesome pedal and will be replacing a lot of my board if I can get around the hiss... I'll be keeping my Aguilar comp, Sansamp (the model is ok on low gain settings, but doesn't quite sound as warm or aggressive as the real thing), Marshall jackhammer, and maybe the tuner... Thats the first review I've ever typed up, and my god do I ramble Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted May 11, 2012 Author Share Posted May 11, 2012 (edited) A constant high pitched background noise is probably down to the power supply, try using it on it's own supply with just that in the chain and see how you get on. Then again if the ZNR kills it perhaps it's coming from your bass or something earlier in the chain? The noise issue I experienced is a softer white noise hiss that only comes in when you play a note and you have the active switch pressed in. I could only hear this through my headphones or studio monitors though, not my bass rig as I don't use tweeters. Edited May 11, 2012 by dannybuoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 I never had this problem with any other pedals in my chain from the same power supply (it's the Johnny Shredfreak one), only since adding this one. However I didn't notice any noise using the Zoom power supply whilst using the pedal by itself. It might just be that it doesn't like being daisy chained! I'll go over all the variables later anyways, and I'll try taking a few pedals out since I'm planning to take 4-5 pedals off my board. I'll post my results! Cheers Danny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Took some pedals out of the chain... Hiss has gone! And that's with the daisy chain being used as the power supply! It's now the 4th unit in my chain after the Aguilar TLC, Sansamp PBDDI, and Marshall Jackhammer! Going to experiment a bit more with the distortions to see if I can match/improve on what I get from the Marshall. I'm also considering putting the EHX Small Stone Nano back on because I haven't YET tweaked a really amazing phaser... It's got Velcro stuck on it now though, so at the moment, the B3 stays! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 Gigging with my Zoom B3 on my pedalboard tonight... Sounded great in soundcheck! I'm keeping this for a LONG time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmeDunk Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Chris, how would you compare the B3 compressors with the Aggie TLC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 [quote name='OmeDunk' timestamp='1337113177' post='1655787'] Chris, how would you compare the B3 compressors with the Aggie TLC? [/quote] I didn't use them at any extreme length, and i'm hardly a compression expert... but they're actually very good! I mostly played with the M Comp (EBS Multicomp model), and 160 comp which is the DBX 160a model. My favourite is the 160comp which seems the most transparent. When I have my usual settings most of the compressors on the B3 get kind of squashy, and you can really hear the pumping and swelling, but it still sounds very natural, and I didnt feel much if any loss of tone. Still, I'm keeping the Aguilar as it is still noticeably more transparent at extreme settings like I use... Also I like to have the comp first in my chain, before the drive effects, which i'm still using 'real pedals' for. And the Zoom is last in the chain I would be more than happy to use the compressors on it if I had to though. I'm rather picky when it comes to sounds, and with enough tweaking this little box is a miracle worker! Never thought I would say that about a multi effects unit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmeDunk Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Many thanks Chris! Maybe more users can share about their experience with the compressors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumple Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 I use my B3 connected to my computer then a hi-fi for practice and recording and love it, I have the 160 compessor on all the time, for me it seems the easiest to get a decent sound from, I've also used it at band reheasals and it was as good as many pedals, I now have a lovely Diamond BCP-1 and that knocks spots off any of the B3 sims but then it should as it's dearer then the Zoom and only does one trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 I use the Dual Comp mainly, as I used to use an Ashdown Dual Band Comp. I haven't actually A/B'd them, maybe I shall have a go over the weekend, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted May 16, 2012 Author Share Posted May 16, 2012 I was surprised how good the comps were for a digital multi, the B2 ones were garbage but I liked these. I also preferred the phasers to my Small Stone, mainly because of the blend and I find the Small Stone to be quite overpowering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 [quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1337165507' post='1656384'] I also preferred the phasers to my Small Stone [/quote] Which phasers are your favourites? I haven't found one i like as much as my trusty Small Stone yet,but I'm loving the choruses! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 I found the 8-pole to be quite close to a small stone with the color switch down (I think), it's a little smoother sounding but in a full band situation no one will be able to tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmeDunk Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 [quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1337167004' post='1656411'] it's a little smoother sounding but in a full band situation no one will be able to tell. [/quote] That seems to be the story of the B3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 [quote name='OmeDunk' timestamp='1337175444' post='1656649'] That seems to be the story of the B3 [/quote] Absolutely - a great, simple and lightweight tool for a gigging bassist, probably not the first choice for a bedroom based tone-tweaking pedal guru perfectionist, but still bloody good fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brensabre79 Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 [quote name='Walker' timestamp='1337175963' post='1656668'] Absolutely - a great, simple and lightweight tool for a gigging bassist, probably not the first choice for a bedroom based tone-tweaking pedal guru perfectionist, but still bloody good fun. [/quote] Yep totally agree, for the [u]gigging bassist[/u] who often doesn't know what he or she will be required to do it is a multitude of quite useable effects in a very small box. I wouldn't even take it to the studio though, thats where you [u]do[/u] take the big box of pedals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartelby Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 For band reheasals I only take the B3 now. For gigs I take the B3 and a small pedal board running in a separate loop, For those moments you feel the need for an extra fuzz running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmeDunk Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 For my covers band I need 3 presets with increasing drive. From clean (Stereophonic's maybe tomorrow) to bit distorted (think Chelsea Dagger or Farewell to the fairground). And somewhere in between (Editors stuff). I also need a compressor to even the volume differences between finger style and pick. For these purposes I consider a VT Bass deluxe and a pedal compressor. But for the sake of money I think I will try the Zoom B3. The gig reviews almost convinced me. So trying is the only way to find out, me thinks. I am going to sell the big muff and the Boss RC-2 loop station. But will keep the VT Bass and Polytune for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 [quote name='OmeDunk' timestamp='1337519797' post='1661220'] For my covers band I need 3 presets with increasing drive. From clean (Stereophonic's maybe tomorrow) to bit distorted (think Chelsea Dagger or Farewell to the fairground). And somewhere in between (Editors stuff). I also need a compressor to even the volume differences between finger style and pick. For these purposes I consider a VT Bass deluxe and a pedal compressor. But for the sake of money I think I will try the Zoom B3. The gig reviews almost convinced me. So trying is the only way to find out, me thinks. I am going to sell the big muff and the Boss RC-2 loop station. But will keep the VT Bass and Polytune for now. [/quote] IMO the compressors on the B3 are awesome, but I havent found any drive settings I particularly liked.The Sansamp emulation is however very good, but not quite as good as the real thing. The Big Muff emulation on the other hand, I can't fault it, it's totally replaced my real Bass Big Muff! Definitely worth giving it a go dude, and if you don't like it they're very high in demand at the moment so you won't have trouble moving it on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluRay Posted May 20, 2012 Share Posted May 20, 2012 With some trepidation....here's my first go at recording using the B3. Excuse the dodgy playing, tragic guitar sound and general crapness. Done in a bit of a rush on a very old 8 track (my PC is way too slow for DAW unfortunately). thats enough excuses. Any suggestions for improving the recorded bass tone (other than learn how to play better? ). After a bit of fiddling about I went for DCOMP> > Graphic EQ> SVT/810 and Stingray with pick (how else? ). Too compressed? What do you reckon? [url="http://soundcloud.com/hollowsun/rough-idea"]http://soundcloud.co...wsun/rough-idea[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmeDunk Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Thx Ray, Great playing! Maybe you can add a touch of mids to get a bit more definition? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 [quote name='BluRay' timestamp='1337540191' post='1661677'] With some trepidation....here's my first go at recording using the B3. Excuse the dodgy playing, tragic guitar sound and general crapness. Done in a bit of a rush on a very old 8 track (my PC is way too slow for DAW unfortunately). thats enough excuses. Any suggestions for improving the recorded bass tone (other than learn how to play better? ). After a bit of fiddling about I went for DCOMP> > Graphic EQ> SVT/810 and Stingray with pick (how else? ). Too compressed? What do you reckon? [url="http://soundcloud.com/hollowsun/rough-idea"]http://soundcloud.co...wsun/rough-idea[/url] [/quote] Sounds good to me mate especially for a first go! Playing's definitely tight enough I'd say. Very nice tone even if I would have had a little more top to it if it was me. Unless its the compression darkening it a little? Personal preference is just that though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluRay Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Thanks for the feedback guys. Muchos appreciated. I find the EQ on my Stingray to be really challenging. It never seems to be quite right in the mix. On this go, I'd boosted the bass and cut the mids slightly as that sounded ok at input stage (pick-playing can come through a little clanky on the Ray if I'm not careful). But I think I need to compensate for the MP3 compression and the bassier sound through speakers. I think I'll try again in a few weeks, and try to get it a bit brighter maybe start with everything flat. I guess I really need to get a PC/DAW set up so I can EQ after recording. But I spend all day at a PC at work, so old hardware rules ok in our house. BTW that was a right zoomfest. B3, G2 and RT223. I hope they don't bring out a B5 anytime soon I'm really chuffed with the B3 so far. The parameter control is superb. But I do think that a lot of effects are just daft and get in the way (is it possible to remove them?). I use the bomber for scaring next doors cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 The bomber is just f***ing ridiculous what were they thinking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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