Zoom B1 Four

[dave_bass5]

8 minutes ago, krispn said:

Sounds like you already know the solution and by combining the G pad and maybe even some low eq manipulation you’ll be sorted. 

Yeah, i guess the Gramma pad will be the best option, but im still interested in hearing what both HPF's can do. Maybe at some point ill have time to try both. I like the idea of the B1 having an adjustable HPF over the fix freq on the Thumpinator.

[krispn]

Just take them along and use them. Do the major tweaking at home and set up some presets where you think it’ll be most effective. It’s just a matter of changing the preset which is pretty hassle free once set up. Better to try it than have goofs like me stomping all over your thread 😀

[Al Krow]

3 minutes ago, krispn said:

Just take them along and use them. Do the major tweaking at home and set up some presets where you think it’ll be most effective. It’s just a matter of changing the preset which is pretty hassle free once set up. Better to try it than have goofs like me stomping all over your thread 😀

Haha it's @Woodinblack's thread and it's about time he got one of these B1-4 thingy's 😁

(Look how many Yammy's I've ended up having to get, just 'cos I started up a Yammy thread...🤣)

Edited May 17, 2019 by Al Krow

[dave_bass5]

13 minutes ago, krispn said:

Just take them along and use them. Do the major tweaking at home and set up some presets where you think it’ll be most effective. It’s just a matter of changing the preset which is pretty hassle free once set up. Better to try it than have goofs like me stomping all over your thread 😀

I'm still getting to grips with my new Paradriver and MXR filter, plus the Tone prints in my BH800 to worry about replacing them just yet 🙂

 

[stoo]

3 hours ago, PaulWarning said:

one thing does puzzle me about the need for a Thumpinator (and I agree you don't want low end crud) if it's inaudible why wouldn't amp designers design their amps not to produce it, after all it's soaking up power to no obvious benefit

Something I've read somewhere, (but have no idea how accurate it is) is that combining loud distorted tones with excessive HPF use can cause the driver to overheat in some situations as all the movement (and hence power and heat dissipation is concentrated around a small section of the coil.

Seems plausible enough, but no idea how likely it is to be a real cause for concern?

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Haha it's @Woodinblack's thread and it's about time he got one of these B1-4 thingy's 😁

 

I probably will get one but I am not allowed to buy anything in the month of may as it is my birthday next week so there is a 'no buying something that I could have been bought'. Easiest way of that is not buying anything!

[Al Krow]

1 minute ago, Woodinblack said:

I probably will get one but I am not allowed to buy anything in the month of may as it is my birthday next week so there is a 'no buying something that I could have been bought'. Easiest way of that is not buying anything!

Ahhh...you country folk and your quaint habits! 😂

[Phil_T]

I've had one for a couple of weeks now - I think it's great. You can't go wrong for the money

[dave_bass5]

Ive been having another play with mine tonight, and found a possible issue that might sway me back to the B1-on for home use. 

Since getting the B1-Four ive thought my bass sounded a bit muffled. I put it down to old strings, different presets and i  just need to get used to them.  Didn’t worry about it, but each time i used the B1-Four it just sounded a bit like my strings were really old. I couldn’t hear the notes clearly when playing along with my ipad. 

Anyway, i put new stings on tonight and they still sounded muffled, no brightness and zing. I got my B1-on out and it was much, much more open sounding. I didnt do a 100% direct comparison, just went through some of the presets on both. I went in to the SVT patch on the Four and turned off the cab sim, and back came the top end and sparkle. Tried it with a few of the other rig patches with the same result. 

I’m sure my unit isnt faulty, but I’m going to investigate more over the weekend. I ended up using the B1-on for most of the evening. 

 

[LukeFRC]

15 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Ive been having another play with mine tonight, and found a possible issue that might sway me back to the B1-on for home use. 

Since getting the B1-Four ive thought my bass sounded a bit muffled. I put it down to old strings, different presets and i  just need to get used to them.  Didn’t worry about it, but each time i used the B1-Four it just sounded a bit like my strings were really old. I couldn’t hear the notes clearly when playing along with my ipad. 

Anyway, i put new stings on tonight and they still sounded muffled, no brightness and zing. I got my B1-on out and it was much, much more open sounding. I didnt do a 100% direct comparison, just went through some of the presets on both. I went in to the SVT patch on the Four and turned off the cab sim, and back came the top end and sparkle. Tried it with a few of the other rig patches with the same result. 

I’m sure my unit isnt faulty, but I’m going to investigate more over the weekend. I ended up using the B1-on for most of the evening. 

 

If it’s like the cab sims on the B3n the second mic option will have more top end to it, so turn that up

[dave_bass5]

30 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

If it’s like the cab sims on the B3n the second mic option will have more top end to it, so turn that up

Thanks, Ill give that a go tomorrow. I also found lowering the level of the cab sim helped, although i had it very low.

I cant go back to the B1 tonight, but I’m sure there are no cab sims on the B1-on, they are built in to the amp sims and not adjustable, this could be the difference. 

I wonder if the Four has a built in Ashdown mode lol 😬😬

Edited May 17, 2019 by dave_bass5

[LukeFRC]

3 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Thnaks,Ill give that a go tomorrow. I also found lowering the level of the cab sim helped, although i had it very low.

I cant go back to the B1 tonight, but I’m sure there are no cab sims on the B1-on, they are built in to the amp sims and not adjustable, this could be the difference. 

I wonder if the Four has a built in Ashdown mode lol 😬😬

my 2p, presuming it's similar to the B3n in terms of models.... - you either need a cab sim (so use 100%) or you don't... something like the 810 sim is going to have a attenuated top end, and a massive fat bottom end - depending how you have it set up (if you're running a compressor after) it will sound like a big tweeterless 810 cab! the Ampeg 410 cab has a tweeter - if you compare the two you'll notice! The first mic is a nice "bass cab sound", the is a SM57 or something second lets more treble through, and tends to be pointed at the tweeter if it's got one... so on the 410 cab the SM57 mic acts like a tweeter control... Try the EBS cab for something utterly unlike the 810 as it's a cab with a lot of top end. 

Of course I'm talking about a completely different pedal to yours so your mileage probably will vary!

[dave_bass5]

Thanks, food for thought and i will give all these suggestions a go tomorrow. Its been ages since i used my B3n, and maybe it is the same, but i know i prefer the openness of the B1-on at the moment. 

[Al Krow]

9 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Of course I'm talking about a completely different pedal to yours so your mileage probably will vary!

The core effects are identical between the B3n and the B1-4, so your comments should be entirely on point Luke.

[dave_bass5]

15 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

The core effects are identical between the B3n and the B1-4, so your comments should be entirely on point Luke.

And as Ive  not used my B3n for months I’m probably not familiar  with how they sound in comparison to the B1-on. 

[Al Krow]

Where I've got to so far after a couple of weeks with the B1X-4:

• Definitely a keeper!
• I’m currently applying a rule of seeing if I can get to around 85% to 90% of the sound of a dedicated pedal that I really like, before thinking about letting it go. I've found that the ‘Glam Comp’ gets pretty close to my ‘always on’ TC Spectracomp setting so that’s found its way to the FS. 
• But I haven’t got anything like close enough to the OC-2 sound on my Valeton OC-10 (a very good Boss OC-2 clone) or the 'authenticity' of the octave up on my Digitech Mosaic, so both these dedicated pedals will be sticking around (sorry about the Mosaic bassfan...)

I am starting to find some juicy drive settings on the Zoom though... 😊

[dannybuoy]

Not missing the extra knobs and stomps from the B3n then?

[ped]

14 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Thanks, food for thought and i will give all these suggestions a go tomorrow. Its been ages since i used my B3n, and maybe it is the same, but i know i prefer the openness of the B1-on at the moment. 

Just a thought, is there an option to tell it you’re using headphones rather than into an amplifier? I have that option in my Roland and it does make a huge difference. When you select headphones it’s quite different to the output to an amp. Makes sense to have that option - otherwise I guess you could make models specifically for each category, with cab sims off for cans...

[Guest MoJo]

25 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

I've found that the ‘Glam Comp’ gets pretty close to my ‘always on’ TC Spectracomp’

😊

Would it be possible to recreate the Glam Comp on the B3n? If so, what are the effects/settings please?

[dave_bass5]

18 minutes ago, MoJo said:

Would it be possible to recreate the Glam Comp on the B3n? If so, what are the effects/settings please?

I’m sure its possible to get the same final effect as the Glam comp, but this is an actual effect in the Four rather than a combined patch, and seems to be the only Comp with a dry mix control. It doesn't exist in the B3n. 

[Al Krow]

32 minutes ago, MoJo said:

Would it be possible to recreate the Glam Comp on the B3n? If so, what are the effects/settings please?

Yes absolutely, as the B3n and the B1(X)-4 share all the same effect sims.

If you check this thread you will see I have uploaded the patch settings I'm using for the Glam Comp patch. Link below:

 

Edited May 18, 2019 by Al Krow

[dannybuoy]

13 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

I’m sure its possible to get the same final effect as the Glam comp, but this is an actual effect in the Four rather than a combined patch, and seems to be the only Comp with a dry mix control. It doesn't exist in the B3n. 

Eh? My B3n has a Glam Comp effect, that’s where it showed up first, before the B1Four existed. Maybe you need to update your firmware?

Edited May 18, 2019 by dannybuoy

[dave_bass5]

Sorry, my mistake, Glam comp is in the B3n as well. 

[dave_bass5]

2 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

Eh? My B3n has a Glam Comp effect, that’s where it showed up first,  enforce the B1Four existed. Maybe you need to update your firmware?

Nah, maybe i just need to power it up and look lol. I was going by the PDF FX list, which is obviously out of date. 

[Al Krow]

38 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

Not missing the extra knobs and stomps from the B3n then?

Nope!

The extra knobs and stomps would definitely have been useful for patch editing before ToneLib came along, but now that it is here and freely available I couldn't recommend ToneLib strongly enough to any Zoom multifx user for patch creation and editing.

As mentioned by a few of us earlier in the thread, a couple of foot stomp switches rather than paddles would be better for live use on the B1(X)-4. Maybe next time around eh Zoom? 

Having said that, the bank of 5 buttons on the B1(X)-4 is great and gives you easy access to a bank of 10 effects (so e.g. I'm going to be putting all my drive patches in one bank), as are the dedicated buttons for both the drums and looper (rather than having these both as 'in patch' effects on the B3n).

Edited May 18, 2019 by Al Krow