Zoom B3/MS60B compressors vs dedicated pedals

[Osiris]

21 hours ago, jimfist said:

The Zoom comps are good-to-go IMO.  Two things where Zoom has missed the boat (For a long time) are:  WET/DRY blend, and LEVEL meters for viewing gain reduction.  That said, though the comps are a bit touchy an tricky to dial in, I find them to be satisfactory vs. many garden-variety dedicated comps, but with a few exceptions.  For example, the TC SpectraComp (and other comps with computer interface that also implement the TONE PRINT feature) allows you to use a computer for extremely deep editing, since it is a true 3-band multi-comp, with each band having a full complement of parameters. It is really, REALLY deep in terms of features.  This is hard to beat at this price point, but you really need a thorough understanding of multi-band compression or it's very easy to get lost.

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. 

Edited February 26, 2018 by Osiris

[LukeFRC]

7 hours ago, Osiris said:

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. 

That is a really useful post - thanks!

i heard reports that the spectra comp is quite noisy - compared to the Zoom is it? How much of the complex features in the spectracomp do you get into using?

[Osiris]

1 hour ago, LukeFRC said:

That is a really useful post - thanks!

i heard reports that the spectra comp is quite noisy - compared to the Zoom is it? How much of the complex features in the spectracomp do you get into using?

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. 

[la bam]

Ive a spectracomp and no noise issues at all.

[Osiris]

On 24/02/2018 at 20:30, funky8884 said:

Hi, 

 

Does anyone know if the Compressors on the MS-60B have a wet/dry blend ?

 

thanks 

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.