Zoom B1 Four

[Bafflegab]

12 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Yeah, way too much latency. Just tried it with my Helix and BT transmitter. Fine for music of course, but not with playing. Could be the type of BT system though. Mines pretty old. 

I imagine it would be the same.  My Samsung Galaxy buds just sound so good, it would have been really great to play along using them!  Thanks for checking it out though, appreciated!

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, Bafflegab said:

I imagine it would be the same.  My Samsung Galaxy buds just sound so good, it would have been really great to play along using them!  Thanks for checking it out though, appreciated!

No problem. I’d like to use my AirPod Pro’s but cant.

[No. 8 Wire]

Thread resurrection!

I'm going to be living out of a suitcase for a while and need a headphone amp.  I'd like one box for both Guitar and Bass though.  The B1 or G1 looks to be the best solution for the price.

Can you load Guitar patches onto the B1-Four?

 

[dave_bass5]

2 hours ago, No. 8 Wire said:

Thread resurrection!

I'm going to be living out of a suitcase for a while and need a headphone amp.  I'd like one box for both Guitar and Bass though.  The B1 or G1 looks to be the best solution for the price.

Can you load Guitar patches onto the B1-Four?

 

I’d get the guitar version. Guitars seem more fussy about effects. I’ve used my B1-Four with both and it worked ok, but I wasn’t   too happy with the amps and drives for guitar. 
With bass most things will work, unless you are looking for specific sounds. 

Edited November 28, 2020 by dave_bass5

[No. 8 Wire]

6 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

I’d get the guitar version. Guitars seem more fussy about effects. I’ve used my B1-Four with both and it worked ok, but I wast the too happy with the amps and drives for guitar. 
With bass most things will work, unless you are looking for specific sounds. 

Thanks,  that's what I was thinking.   I'll have to check out the G1 effects list to see if they have a clean blend.

[No. 8 Wire]

Bit of a scout round,  most of the G1 effects don't have a clean blend, plus,  I don't like how it sounds in the demos.  Maybe I've been a bit spoilt with tube combos.

But... the B1 sounds pretty good in the demos, so I think I'll go for that seeing as I'll be playing bass 80% of the time.

[Al Krow]

29 minutes ago, No. 8 Wire said:

Bit of a scout round,  most of the G1 effects don't have a clean blend, plus,  I don't like how it sounds in the demos.  Maybe I've been a bit spoilt with tube combos.

But... the B1 sounds pretty good in the demos, so I think I'll go for that seeing as I'll be playing bass 80% of the time.

Zoom B1-4 is IMO the best value bass pedal available from any manufacturer, full stop!

Multifx, tuner, drum machine, headphone amp (and a pants looper).

I like mine so much, I've got one on my board and a spare for my gig bag. 

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, No. 8 Wire said:

Bit of a scout round,  most of the G1 effects don't have a clean blend, plus,  I don't like how it sounds in the demos.  Maybe I've been a bit spoilt with tube combos.

But... the B1 sounds pretty good in the demos, so I think I'll go for that seeing as I'll be playing bass 80% of the time.

Ah, in that case yes, go for the dominant instrument. Thats pretty much what i was doing. A bit of guitar evert now and then worked fine through the B1. 

The only thing I will say is,  if you are using a sim of a pedal that doesn't  have a clean blend, then its going to be more authentic. A few people  make a big deal out of the lack of clean blends in pedal sims, but are happy with the real thing not having them. I’m sure most of us using small pedal boards don’t run parallel clean paths etc, and yet its a deal breaker when a sim doesnt have it. Cant quite see the logic there, but each to their own. 

You can download the manuals of each to see exactly what parameters and FX each has. 

[No. 8 Wire]

28 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Ah, in that case yes, go for the dominant instrument. Thats pretty much what i was doing. A bit of guitar evert now and then worked fine through the B1. 

The only thing I will say is,  if you are using a sim of a pedal that doesn't  have a clean blend, then its going to be more authentic. A few people  make a big deal out of the lack of clean blends in pedal sims, but are happy with the real thing not having them. I’m sure most of us using small pedal boards don’t run parallel clean paths etc, and yet its a deal breaker when a sim doesnt have it. Cant quite see the logic there, but each to their own. 

You can download the manuals of each to see exactly what parameters and FX each has. 

Actually I was just talking about the G1 when it comes to clean blends.  I find a lot of guitar effects, especially drives will sound good on bass if they have a clean blend.  Not so worried with the B1. 

I did also download both sets of manuals to check out the parameters.  But basically I didn't like the sound of the G1 much at all,  so that solved the problem.

[No. 8 Wire]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Zoom B1-4 is IMO the best value bass pedal available from any manufacturer, full stop!

Multifx, tuner, drum machine, headphone amp (and a pants looper).

I like mine so much, I've got one on my board and a spare for my gig bag. 

I agree, it's 60 quid in most places now,  so my order is going in this weekend.

[dave_bass5]

5 minutes ago, No. 8 Wire said:

Actually I was just talking about the G1 when it comes to clean blends.  I find a lot of guitar effects, especially drives will sound good on bass if they have a clean blend.  Not so worried with the B1. 

I did also download both sets of manuals to check out the parameters.  But basically I didn't like the sound of the G1 much at all,  so that solved the problem.

Cool. You wont be disappointed in the B1 for either instrument. There is plenty of EQ on tap to fix most tonal issues anyway. 

[PaulWarning]

I may be talking out of my backside here but the actual electronics are probably the same in the B1 and G1 it's just the way the effects set up that's different, I base this on the fact I've uploaded the G1on effects onto the B1on, I think I could have got the same sounds with a bit of nob twiddling

[dave_bass5]

19 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

I may be talking out of my backside here but the actual electronics are probably the same in the B1 and G1 it's just the way the effects set up that's different, I base this on the fact I've uploaded the G1on effects onto the B1on, I think I could have got the same sounds with a bit of nob twiddling

Spot on. I thought someone had done this, but couldn’t remember what devices. It would be good if we could just load whatever sounds we want on to these devices, a bit like Source Audio allowed with their Phaser/Flanger/Chorus pedals 

[PaulWarning]

22 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Spot on. I thought someone had done this, but couldn’t remember what devices. It would be good if we could just load whatever sounds we want on to these devices, a bit like Source Audio allowed with their Phaser/Flanger/Chorus pedals 

there's a thread about it, that's how I found out anyway

 

[dave_bass5]

11 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

there's a thread about it, that's how I found out anyway

 

Ah yes. I remember now. Cheers. 

[Baloney Balderdash]

I bought the Zoom G1 Four, as it got a few more modulation models, and I believe a few more reverb and delay models as well, compared to the B1 Four.

But really all I use it for at the moment is as an always on 5 band fully parametric equalizer, stacking 5 of the 1 band parametric equalizer model in a patch.

And it's really effective as such, nice to be able set the gain of each band with 0.5dB intervals and the Q with 0.1 intervals, allows for some very specific and quite surgical EQ adjustments, which is exactly what I use it for, having non of the 5 bands boosted any more then 2dB at maximum.

Sounds great, and I doubt for something as simple as EQ'ing that any higher end digital equalizer models could do a better job, might very well be the absolute cheapest solution on the market if you want a great 5 band fully parametric equalizer.

Well fully parametric EQ'ing except for the fact that there are some jumps between the selectable frequency bands, but they are still close enough together for my use (and I would guess most people), and with the more specific choices for selecting Q value and gain I was able to have the 5 stacked 1 band parametric equalizers replace the 5 2 band parametric bass equalizers that I previously had set up on my Zoom MS-70CDR (1dB gain intervals and only 0.5 - 1- 2 - 4- 8 - 16 as selectable Q value), and even with a better and clearer end result.

Meaning that I with the more specific controls I could cut down the bands used to dial in my desired tone from 10 to just 5 bands and still get a better overall result out of it.

 

Edited November 28, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[No. 8 Wire]

40 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

there's a thread about it, that's how I found out anyway

 

I take it that's just for the B1on series pedals?

[Baloney Balderdash]

5 minutes ago, No. 8 Wire said:

I take it that's just for the B1on series pedals?

Only works for the B1(X)on, G1(X)on, as well as the multi stomp pedals (MS-50G, MS-60B and MS-70CDR), as in the previous generation Zoom digital multi effects, yes.

Non the less a great tool.

Edited November 28, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[No. 8 Wire]

17 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

I bought the Zoom G1 Four, as it got a few more modulation models, and I believe a few more reverb and delay models as well, compared to the B1 Four.

I noticed that as well.  Then again I already have a few options for those on my board, when I'm done travelling, so I probably shouldn't get greedy.

[Woodinblack]

I got a B1-Four yesterday, but only got a chance to try it out last night. or at least I would have but I coudn't, I thought maybe it was the lead. It works fine on headphones but couldn't use it with my amp due to a wall of noise.

Tried it first thing this morning, and using my upstairs setup, which is bass -> effect -> BAM200 ->speaker using my shuker and OMG, it is a wall of hiss, sounds like the treble is turned up and then it has a treble boost on top of that. DId a global reset on it, it is a bit quieter, but still not in any way useable, switched back to the B3n, as next to noise free as you can get (this is using the B3ns power lead). Tried the B1-Four with internal batteries, still nothing.

Tried it with my Short scale talman bass on the wall (passive) and it isn't that hissy, ie, a little bit but would be lost in any mix.

Is there some 'hiss like mad if someone plugs in an active bass' setting? All bar two of my basses are active and that isn't changing.

There doesn't appear to be any hiss when it is on headphones.

[dave_bass5]

Doesn’t sound right at all. Obviously you can go over the top with the settings, but ive never found it problematic with normal settings, even with my Sire V7. 

[nilebodgers]

Which patch is selected? Some of the stock ones are really noisy, especially the ones with distortion or FX (I think patch 40 is the basic SVT which would be a good starting point).

[Woodinblack]

This was all patches including blank.

So I did a factory reset, still the same. I then took the batteries out, so I could test it in the same way back to back with the B3N, then I plugged it all in again, negligable noise, tried it with the shuker, nothing bad. put the batteries back in, tried it on battery only, still quiet. Plugged it back in, still quiet.

So now it seems fine - like it had got some messed up treble setting which now seems to have cleared out. Will test it more tonight.

[dave_bass5]

6 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

So now it seems fine - like it had got some messed up treble setting which now seems to have cleared out. Will test it more tonight.

Seems strange that the headphone out was fine though. Probably (hopefully) a one off. 

[Al Krow]

That's very weird Woody - does sound like something peculiar to your unit. Dunno - could it possibly be a build up of some static that has now been discharged?

If you listen very very carefully there is an "electronic noise sitting below the effect" which is just about discernible with some patches, which @ped pointed out a couple of years back but it's pretty subtle and nothing like the noise you're describing.

Fingers crossed, it's hopefully now sorted.