Zoom MS60-B

[Si600]

Rather than ressurect Dood's old thread I thought I'd start a new one with my questions, unless you want it adding to the other one to keep all the info in one place?

I got one of these wee beasties last night and so far I'm very impressed and more than a little bit lost!

1, Is there a suggested place in the chain for it, currently it's set up Tuner - GE7B - ODB3 - MS60B - Compressor/Noise Gate. I've not played with positioning, just chucked it in the chain to play with it.

2, The Cry and Talk wah seem to have a LOT of gain on them, to the point of almost being a fuzz pedal. I've never used a real one, so is this what they are actually supposed to sound like?

3, One of the Synth models doesn't seem to track very well, if I play even medium fast by the time I'm at the end all I'm getting is clean notes, again, I've never used a real one so I wouldn't know whether this is normal behaviour or not.

4, Overall it's a great bit of kit, once I realised that the memory patches were a whole string of effects in one go and how to find the individual models it mostly fell into place but now I need to watch Dood's review and RTFM, though the manual does look a bit thin for the amount of stuff this thing looks capable of!

[phil.i.stein]

haven't got one yet, but it's on the cards as my next purchase, although the B3 might be more suited for my needs.

i think i'd chuck it at the end too, to utilise the comp/modulations.

try it on it's own first (i.e. no gain/equalization before it), especially for the synth tracking issue.

[Dood]

Ello!

ok, quick answers as I'm taxing my grey cells elsewhere

1. I run mine at the end of the chain so reverbs and delays are able to ring out without other effects...ermmm.. effecting them ..lol
2. Check the output level on the last parameter page of said effect. Sometimes they are defaulted to higher than 100% and need winding back a bit. That should help.
3. Some of the synths are a bit sensitive and you have to tweak a little to get them to behave in some environments. For really naughty ones, try a compressor before them or adjust EQ going in to the effect block. You may find other aggressive effects before the MS will make it misbehave whilst it is trying to find a note to latch on to.
4. A memory 'slot' can hold up to 4 simultaneous effects in any order that can each be selected from gazillions of choices. You could have 4 Big Muff distortions in series if you really want. Pop that in ya pipe Chris Wolstenholme lol

Hope this helps!

[Si600]

It's amazing what an hour making weird noises and reading the instructions gets I've got a list of effects stacked up in sequence to cycle through with the footswitch and made a patch with 4 ODB3s in it, then my real one and the OD channel on the amp... Won't be doing that again!

There are some strange things on there that I have no idea where they'd be anymore than a novelty but the seq filter is my favourite oddity

I think that for what it is and what it costs these pedals are a cracking buy, I need to adjust the levels on it and my compressor/noise gate a bit though.

Pipped by Dood!

Edited August 28, 2013 by Si600

[Lozz196]

I`ve not got the MS60-B but do have the B3 and have found the blend control on many of the features to be my friend. Most of the effects, when they are on full on the blend are far too much, but backing these off works nicely. Likewise with gain settings, I take them down to about 15 or 20 and the effect is then fine.

[Dood]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1377726452' post='2191157']
I`ve not got the MS60-B but do have the B3 and have found the blend control on many of the features to be my friend. Most of the effects, when they are on full on the blend are far too much, but backing these off works nicely. Likewise with gain settings, I take them down to about 15 or 20 and the effect is then fine.
[/quote]

Yup, for me too 15-25% on the mix control for me is about right for most effects. Too wet and i think the bass definition can get lost. Unless of course that's the intention

[Kevin Dean]

One thing I find & that is when I choose an effect that I have already edited & put in s memory space ,I'm changing it by accident sometimes or could I be doing something wrong ...probably .

[ratman]

I have a B3, and I find the wet/dry blend option that most of the models have really helps to retain my depth of tone. I don't need much wet in there to get really usaeable sounds. A cracking piece of kit. From what I hear about the MS60B it's great too, I'd love to try one.

[tauzero]

First thing to do is take it off automatic store. That way, you can mess around with your patches and get the original settings back if you want to.

My chain goes Line 6 wireless -> MS-60B -> amp. Or Line 6 wireless -> Zoom B3 -> amp under other circumstances (some of my songs require more than one effect to be switched on and off in a song). And as it's got a tuner, you can leave other tuners out of the chain.

[Kevin Dean]

On the MS60b , would it be possible to do this , have these effects in one patch ,Sans amp,Delay,& metal distortion. & use it like this ,hit a note that has a metal distortion & a delay that would just repeat for the entire song but play the bass line over this with just the sans amp sound ?

[ratman]

[quote name='Kevin Dean' timestamp='1379915525' post='2218083']
On the MS60b , would it be possible to do this , have these effects in one patch ,Sans amp,Delay,& metal distortion. & use it like this ,hit a note that has a metal distortion & a delay that would just repeat for the entire song but play the bass line over this with just the sans amp sound ?
[/quote]
In a word, no

[hookys6stringbass]

Anyone tried the defretting effect... Is it any good??

[ratman]

I've had mine for a couple of weeks now. I got it for pub gigs where the big board is just too much. I love it. I copied a lot of my effect settings from my B3 and apart from having to adjust the wet/dry on a couple of filters, they are identical sounds. The stand out effect for me is the LineSel. It's the LS2 model, and it adds a lot of functionality to this pedal. With this you can have say a comp 1st in your chain, then the LineSel 2nd, then another effect or two in 3rd & 4th slots. The comp stays on all the time but you can use the LineSel to turn on the next two effects. Just like the real thing, as if they were in the effect loop. Sweet.
I'll have a look at the defretter later.

[lefrash]

[quote name='ratman' timestamp='1383218769' post='2261645']
I've had mine for a couple of weeks now. I got it for pub gigs where the big board is just too much. I love it. I copied a lot of my effect settings from my B3 and apart from having to adjust the wet/dry on a couple of filters, they are identical sounds. The stand out effect for me is the LineSel. It's the LS2 model, and it adds a lot of functionality to this pedal. With this you can have say a comp 1st in your chain, then the LineSel 2nd, then another effect or two in 3rd & 4th slots. The comp stays on all the time but you can use the LineSel to turn on the next two effects. Just like the real thing, as if they were in the effect loop. Sweet.
I'll have a look at the defretter later.
[/quote]

that is very useful to know. I was thinking of a ms60b to cover my 'always on' effects, but this would mean I could use it for a stomp too. ie have comp, amp sim eq and noise reduction always on, next slot as line selector and last slot as chorus. thanks for the info!

[lefrash]

[quote name='ratman' timestamp='1383218769' post='2261645']
I've had mine for a couple of weeks now. I got it for pub gigs where the big board is just too much. I love it. I copied a lot of my effect settings from my B3 and apart from having to adjust the wet/dry on a couple of filters, they are identical sounds. The stand out effect for me is the LineSel. It's the LS2 model, and it adds a lot of functionality to this pedal. With this you can have say a comp 1st in your chain, then the LineSel 2nd, then another effect or two in 3rd & 4th slots. The comp stays on all the time but you can use the LineSel to turn on the next two effects. Just like the real thing, as if they were in the effect loop. Sweet.
I'll have a look at the defretter later.
[/quote]

that is very useful to know. I was thinking of a ms60b to cover my 'always on' effects, but this would mean I could use it for a stomp too. ie have comp, amp sim eq and noise reduction always on, next slot as line selector and last slot as chorus. thanks for the info!

[ratman]

[quote name='lefrash' timestamp='1383316262' post='2263081']
I could use it for a stomp too. ie have comp, amp sim eq and noise reduction always on, next slot as line selector and last slot as chorus
[/quote]

Just remember you have only got a maximum of 4 slots to fill. I wouldn't worry too much about noise reduction, unless to have your gains or ttebles really cranked up to silly levels. So you could use Comp, Amp, LineSel & Chorus, for example.

[lefrash]

Oh I see.... I misremembered. I thought it was 5. you're right, I generally only have a noise gate on because its there... not necessarily because my sounds need it.


(sorry about the thread hijack).

FWIW, I currently use a zoom b9.1ut, and the defret sounds really good on that. I would guess the ms60b is similiar.

[DiMarco]

[quote name='hookys6stringbass' timestamp='1383215814' post='2261586']
Anyone tried the defretting effect... Is it any good??
[/quote]

Yes... No, Boss do a better job at defretting effects.

[ratman]

I've tried the defretter out. The problem is, apart from a real fretless, I've got nothing to compare it to. It does give the timbre of the bass a sort of seudo-fretlessy growl. Sliding up and down the neck you will still hear the notes change as you pass over the frets, so don't expect to hear a smooth slide. I won't be using this effect anytime soon. IMO the best thing to use to sound like a fretless........is a fretless.

[tauzero]

[quote name='lefrash' timestamp='1383316255' post='2263080']
that is very useful to know. I was thinking of a ms60b to cover my 'always on' effects, but this would mean I could use it for a stomp too. ie have comp, amp sim eq and noise reduction always on, next slot as line selector and last slot as chorus. thanks for the info!
[/quote]

Forget the LineSel and just have the chorus as the effect showing in the window, which means you can switch it off and on with the footswitch.

[arcureo]

[quote name='ratman' timestamp='1383218769' post='2261645']
The stand out effect for me is the LineSel. It's the LS2 model, and it adds a lot of functionality to this pedal. With this you can have say a comp 1st in your chain, then the LineSel 2nd, then another effect or two in 3rd & 4th slots. The comp stays on all the time but you can use the LineSel to turn on the next two effects. Just like the real thing, as if they were in the effect loop. Sweet.
[/quote]

I'm curious about the LineSel, too, but I have a couple of questions, from a practical point of view.
What you've just explained is exactly how I figured it out and it's very useful, indeed, but say you're in a live situation. You've prepared a bunch of patches, each with different effects, and each one labeled with a letter, so you can cycle through them alphabetically, with just your toes.
Say that one patch has the LineSel in it… in order to switch the LineSel itself on and off (and therefore engaging or skipping all the other effects after it) you'd have to enter that patch's configuration… which cannot be done using just your foot, right?
…or did I miss something?

Thanks in advance!

A'

[ratman]

That's right arcureo, you can only be in one mode or the other. Tauzero made a valid point above too. He correctly said that if you only need to turn 1 effect on in a patch, just have it in the effect in the window and use the switch to turn it off/on. The LineSel will do the same for 2 or 3 effects at once, ie anything after it in the patch.
This pedal does have its limitations but for the money it's a bargain and very useable. The same could be said about the B3 to some extent. And that's brilliant too,

[arcureo]

Oh yeah, it's one of the best bargains [b]EVER[/b]!
As for Tauzero's point, maybe the LineSel also works fine if you have to switch on and off more than one effect. (Otherwise it would be best just to do as he suggested)
For a slap sound, for instance. An EQ for a mid-scooped sound and a just touch of flanger… which you can turn [b]both[/b] off, when you need a more conventional fingerstyle sound.
But, then again, it would be useful only if you had [u]not[/u] to cycle through patches. In that case, just build up the different combinations, save them alphabetically, and browse through them with you toes

[ratman]

Absolutely agree with all of that, that's one of the limitations. I use it two ways. 1- to cycle through patches ABC etc. I use blank patches here too if I know I'll need effect off settings in the cycle mode. And 2- normal footswitch mode, where i just want effect on or off. I have my MS60B on my small board which I use for pub gigs. If I'm on a bigger gig I use my main board with the B3. That's a lot more gig friendly, but I dion't use and amp models with either, mainly modulation effects. So I don't spend all night fiddling with the Zooms, I only need them here and there. Most of my OD's and compressors are real pedals.

[arcureo]

Same here… on the rare occasions in which I have to tweak my sound [u]a lot[/u], I use it as a "jolly" - or, better yet, as a "swiss army knife" - among other "real" effects. (The funny thing is seeing that the Zoom has many emulations of effects that I see [u]for real[/u] right next to it in my pedalboard! Ha! )
For smaller gigs I use it alone (or in conjunction with a tuner and eventually a line selector if I have more than one bass) and then I set it up depending on the situation...