Alternatives to Zoom B3? Suggestions please.

[philw]

I've been using a Zoom B3 for a while now and there's no doubt that it does what it says on the tin and offers huge variety of options, but I've never been totally convinced about the quality of its effects. They all seem a bit hard and crunchy somehow with very little in the way of subtlety. So, what alternatives are there that perhaps major of effect quality rather than effect quantity (and no I don't really fancy a pedal board populated by loads of individual stomp boxes).

Suggestions please....

Ta
Phil

[Skybone]

I suppose the question is do you want effects or effects AND amp modelling?

If it's just effects, there's a few to choose from, BOSS GT-B's have a good reputation, as do the ME-B's, the Line6 M series are well thought of too. If you can stretch your budget, the HXFX will be well worth investing in.

If you're after effects AND amp modelling, then you could consider the Helix, Headrush or the AxeFX, though they are big bucks just now, so potentially out of the budget. There's the HX Stomp and the Headrush Gigboard, which will give you all of the processing power of their high end siblings, but limited connectivity. If you're willing to drop back a generation, then the Line6 HD500x is well worth a look (run one myself - big fan). Yes, there are compromises, "only" 5 amp models if you buy the HD Bass pack (essential), and only a handful of cab models, and the effects are more guitar oriented, but they are really good and sound great. Second hand, you can pick up one in really good condition for around £250. The Boss GT10-B is worth looking at too (never used one, so can't comment). Both the HD & the GT10-B will give you plenty of effects to play with, as well as having a built in expression pedal. There are also the Tech21 Bass FlyRig's, which have a SansAmp plus a few effects, inc. a Compressor.

I'm running the HD into the Effects Return of my amp, bypassing the preamp. Works for me.

Edited August 22, 2019 by Skybone

[tauzero]

There's always the Zoom B3n.

[philw]

Thanks both. Is the Zoom B3n considered that much better than the B3?

[Grangur]

The B3n isn't better, but its different. @Al Krow did a comparison some time back.

[tauzero]

I think it's also a bit better - uses the next iteration of the DSP. Also allows longer effects chains, so you can have a HPF and compressor at one end and an amp sim at the other, and three switchable effects in the middle. Also easier to switch between patches. It does lose the DI and the battery power, and you need to use a third party patch editor (ToneLib).

I've also got an HD500 which I got ridiculously cheaply but I have yet to experiment properly with that. Powerful but enormous.

[LukeFRC]

Having owned them both: 

The Zoom B3n sounds better, esp the amp and cab models. It does this at the cost of having no DI out and having an interface that requires a fair bit of tap dancing sometimes. 

I wasn't enjoying the tap-dancing, and for me at least I seemed to be hitting the input stage a bit hard sometimes so I just today took delivery of a lovely new secondhand HX stomp which sounds lovely. 

[dave_bass5]

I had the B3, have the B3n and also the B1on and B1-Four (not really a fan of zoom stuff :-).

The B1-Four has been my main home practice box since getting it. The quality of sims and effects are on a par with the B3n, and both a bit smoother and cleaner sounding than the B3 and B1on. More noticeable when using headphones.

Having recently got a Helix Stomp the first thing that i noticed was how much more 'real' everything sounded. Im not talking about how close to the real thing they sound, but that everything was cleaner and with more depth to it. The rigs sound more like a real rig rather than something that will pass for one in a mix if that makes sense. Even in headphones there is a nice punch to the rig sim's, and a definite improvement in quality with the effects.

[philw]

On 27/08/2019 at 22:51, LukeFRC said:

Having owned them both: 

The Zoom B3n sounds better, esp the amp and cab models. It does this at the cost of having no DI out and having an interface that requires a fair bit of tap dancing sometimes. 

I wasn't enjoying the tap-dancing, and for me at least I seemed to be hitting the input stage a bit hard sometimes so I just today took delivery of a lovely new secondhand HX stomp which sounds lovely. 

Why on earth would they delete the DI out on the B3n? I use it all the time on my B3 for gigs where I just rely on fold back for monitoring. Doh!

Looks like the HX Stomp is worth a look. Shame it's not cheap.

P

[LukeFRC]

8 minutes ago, philw said:

Why on earth would they delete the DI out on the B3n? I use it all the time on my B3 for gigs where I just rely on fold back for monitoring. Doh!

Looks like the HX Stomp is worth a look. Shame it's not cheap.

P

Price point maybe? Who knows. The B3 is a “better” unit in most ways but the sound quality. 

Go and have a play on the helix in a shop etc - the big ones sound the same as the stomp - see if you can hear the difference and if the price difference is enough for you... it all depends what you use it for. 

[dave_bass5]

I feel the B3n is the better box for live use, other than lack of DI of course. What i really missed was battery operated though.

[dave_bass5]

One good thing about the Stomp that might not be obvious is you can hook up a cheap (like £10 on Amazon) two way foot switch, which gives you 5 foot switches, all configurable. You can even assign more than one action to each foot switch. This makes it a lot easier to use live. Particularly useful for controlling different aspects of an effect. Ill be using the extra two switches to turn on and off the B7K sim, with the second switch turning on and off the distortion part. Very cool IMO.

Edited August 29, 2019 by dave_bass5