New Zoom Multi FX: Zoom B6

[petetexas]

Thanks jimfist , a lot easier than my way .

[petetexas]

I use a Gibson Les Paul Tribute and a 1997 Epiphone Ravoli , going through the B6 now ( input 1 LP input 2 Ravoli )  , into a Messa D800 and two MarkBass 2x10 cabs .

Any suggestions how you would set up to use say different amps for each bass, different chorus , flanger , tremolo and auto wah for each bass , effectivly having two completely different set ups that Icould select by just pressing input select button ?

Pete

[stewblack]

On 05/03/2022 at 13:56, rhysyjob said:

Ok excuse the uneducated question. But does the b6 do

parallel processing? 

No but it's not much of an issue, most of the effects allow a clean blend.

[stewblack]

On 05/03/2022 at 13:42, Woodinblack said:

Obviously the B6 is much bigger than the B3 / b3n / HXFX - I can't find a picture of any of them side by side to get an idea how much bigger. Anyone have one?

 

[Woodinblack]

Well, that is good enough for me, as I have an HX FX and a B3n.

Quite a bit bigger than all of them then

 

[JohnDaBass]

9 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Quite a bit bigger than all of them then

 

Ooh Sailor  😗🙄

[CJPJ]

Randomly, I've just gone back to the HX Effects having cycled through all of the HX Stomp, HX Effects, Zoom MS-60B, Zoom MS-70CDR and Zoom B6 in the last 6 months. I think this is the one that worked best for me in terms of usability, form factor and overall access to sounds.

[petetexas]

Looks like my Laney Digbeth Bass Preamp and Zoom MS60B  will be going up for sale , cos I`m loving this B6 .

 

Taking a while to sort things out , but with the help from you guys , recon I`m getting there .

 

There is such a lot of quality in this pedal , the sounds are superb , and the layout is well thought out .

[jimfist]

One thing Zoom needs to add for an amp model: the Gallien-Krueger! It hasn't been part of the line-up since they introduced the B3n. Hellooooo?

5 hours ago, petetexas said:

There is such a lot of quality in this pedal , the sounds are superb , and the layout is well thought out .

I was pleasantly surprised at how good the amp modeling sounded and responded compared to the B3n. Improved, no doubt. 

The pedal is pretty easy to navigate, though it's not as quick to tweak on-the-fly as the B3 or B3n. I'm OK with that.

I went through the MS-60B in favor of the B3, and then the B3n, and prefer the quality of the B6 over all of them hands-down.

Starting with the B3n, Zoom seems to have dropped the idea of quantity indulgence in favor of a limited, but better quality, core models for preamps/amps/cabs/drives.

Those looking for bang-for-buck still tend toward the B3/MS-60B, but IMHO the quality suffered for it. Improved quality comes at a price.

[jimfist]

One thing I'd like to see with GuitarLab software editor, at the Editor Page, for the virtual knob control area to be re-sizeable within the editor.

I have a 2-in-1 laptop with touch screen, which allows you to use finger gestures to edit parameters on the effects.

The problem is that the virtual knobs are pretty small and it's fiddly to control with with fingers. Making their footprint scalable (bigger) would help a lot.

Or, if you touch+hold an effect, it zooms in on that slot's parameters.

Another addition or alternative would be to allow numeric input for a parameter value (touch+hold highlights the parameter value, etc.).

 

Since the app for Bluetooth is only developed for iPhone/iPad, one could theoretically use a cheap Windows 10 tablet to control the B6 via usb.

Though not as ideal as wireless, it would still be a reasonable option.

I would use my old iPad/iPhone except that the bluetooth app requires iOS 13 or newer, and mine are OS 9. No idea if they'll even take OS 13, but I'll look into it.

Even so, a USB connected tablet would be handy even if for the simple task of manually changing banks quickly without doing the riverdance on the B6.

[MoJoKe]

If anyone wants to see the B6 pedal and other Zoom bass pedals, its going to be on the Zoom stand at the Liverpool Bass and Guitar show in a couple of weeks! I'll be helping the MSL guys with Markbass and Zoom, so come and say hi!

[stewblack]

Set mine up as a preamp today into a power amp which has a crossover built in. Very nice Trace Elliot emulation. 

[Al Krow]

Just curious guys: does the B6 function as a signal boosting pre-amp in the same way as we get on our amps or is it purely a tone shaping pre-amp?

[stewblack]

On 27/03/2022 at 10:11, Al Krow said:

Just curious guys: does the B6 function as a signal boosting pre-amp in the same way as we get on our amps or is it purely a tone shaping pre-amp?

Well, it definitely boosted my signal. Tell me how to carry out a definitive test and I'll do it.

EDIT

I realise I won't have the necessary equipment to do anything scientific, so I downloaded a decibel meter app and chose an amp/cab combo, set all tone to zero and volume/gain to half way.

There was a 10 decibel increase according to my probably not very accurate app.

But really it could be louder it could be quieter.

Setting it up how I like it to sound and it increased by just shy of 20 dB.

Edited March 28, 2022 by stewblack

[petetexas]

Recon I`ve read this somewhere here , but cant seem to find it ............ is there a pitch shifter in the box , where It will down tune my bass to Eb ?

 

Had a look , but cannot seem to find anything .

 

Pete

[Tripehound]

Bass Direct advertising these at £280... over £100 less than Andertons!

[bartelby]

22 minutes ago, Tripehound said:

Bass Direct advertising these at £280... over £100 less than Andertons!

 

That's a typo. They can't correct it until Monday. It's £380...

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by bartelby

[stewblack]

On 30/03/2022 at 12:16, petetexas said:

Recon I`ve read this somewhere here , but cant seem to find it ............ is there a pitch shifter in the box , where It will down tune my bass to Eb ?

 

Had a look , but cannot seem to find anything .

 

Pete

Yes! BaMnPitch it's called. It's a doozy.

[Tripehound]

2 hours ago, bartelby said:

 

That's a typo. They can't correct it until Monday. It's £380...

 

You know that old saying about if it's too good to be true it probably isn't? It wasn't.

[jimfist]

On 30/03/2022 at 07:16, petetexas said:

Recon I`ve read this somewhere here , but cant seem to find it ............ is there a pitch shifter in the box , where It will down tune my bass to Eb ?

 

Had a look , but cannot seem to find anything .

 

Pete

 

Yes, the Bass Mono Pitch effect is where you'd want to start, as @stewblack previously mentioned.

I just spent some time mucking around with a semitone drop (to Eb from standard tuning) and here are my thoughts:

• there is significant tonal coloration of the shifted tone, as well as a bit of latency 'lag'
• personally, I think the shifted tones only sound reasonable with a LOT of high end pulled-out (low pass filter at 1kHz+/-). Think in terms of old school R&B/Motown. Sounds with a lot of high end tend to accentuate the sonic artifacts, which I find terribly distracting. 
• In the context of a mix, the shifted tone (as treated above) wouldn't likely stand out in a negative way in a live mix, though it would under the scrutiny of a recording session
• I would only consider using this as an option to an alt-tuned bass IF the musical style for the bass tone made it acceptable. No popping/slapping, no gritty metal with prominent top-end attack.
• For perspective, I've rejected some other pitch shifters that are considered to be much, much better, and for the same reasons. Granted, the gap has closed recently and I've not tried any of the newer/updated multi-fx to see how they fare.
• Example shifted patch I created: BaMnPitch > Low EQ (HPF at 140Hz) > OptComp > Bass DRV preamp (amp sim) > High EQ (LPF at 1.0kHz)

Good luck with it. Using the pitch shift to drop to Eb tuning might be able to work for you, but IMO is of limited use, unfortunately. Good news is that it certainly can be made to work....depending.....

Edited April 2, 2022 by jimfist

[Al Krow]

40 minutes ago, jimfist said:

 

Yes, the Bass Mono Pitch effect is where you'd want to start, as @stewblack previously mentioned.

I just spent some time mucking around with a semitone drop (to Eb from standard tuning) and here are my thoughts:

• there is significant tonal coloration of the shifted tone, as well as a bit of latency 'lag'
• personally, I think the shifted tones only sound reasonable with a LOT of high end pulled-out (low pass filter at 1kHz+/-). Think in terms of old school R&B/Motown. Sounds with a lot of high end tend to accentuate the sonic artifacts, which I find terribly distracting. 
• In the context of a mix, the shifted tone (as treated above) wouldn't likely stand out in a negative way in a live mix, though it would under the scrutiny of a recording session
• I would only consider using this as an option to an alt-tuned bass IF the musical style for the bass tone made it acceptable. No popping/slapping, no gritty metal with prominent top-end attack.
• For perspective, I've rejected some other pitch shifters that are considered to be much, much better, and for the same reasons. Granted, the gap has closed recently and I've not tried any of the newer/updated multi-fx to see how they fare.
• Example shifted patch I created: BaMnPitch > Low EQ (HPF at 140Hz) > OptComp > Bass DRV preamp (amp sim) > High EQ (LPF at 1.0kHz)

Good luck with it. Using the pitch shift to drop to Eb tuning might be able to work for you, but IMO is of limited use, unfortunately. Good news is that it certainly can be made to work....depending.....

 

Jim - I was finding pretty much the same with the B1-4 (which I'm guessing maybe worse if the B6 is a genuinely better sounding pedal): Zoom B1-4 & B3N - Effects patch ideas and tips - Page 11 - Effects - Basschat

 

But I actually similarly preferred to use my cheap-as-chips B1-4 over a Digitech drop.

 

What decent pitch shifters have you come across on your travels and which ones did you reject?

[jimfist]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

 

Jim - I was finding pretty much the same with the B1-4 (which I'm guessing maybe worse if the B6 is a genuinely better sounding pedal): Zoom B1-4 & B3N - Effects patch ideas and tips - Page 11 - Effects - Basschat

 

But I actually similarly preferred to use my cheap-as-chips B1-4 over a Digitech drop.

 

What decent pitch shifters have you come across on your travels and which ones did you reject?

EHX Pitchfork and AxeFxII are what I tried using quite a few years ago.  I'd say that those, at the time, were a little better than the B6 is now.

I don't expect perfection out of a pitch shift for bass, but I do need to be able to cover a full range of tones without major distraction or compromise.

The B6 shift down simply has too much warble on the attack and noticeable sonic weirdness in the high end. Might be fine for distorted 6 string, though.

I've read that the Quad Cortex does shifting for bass well...at least for 1/2 step down to Eb tuning.

The QC still does interest me for that alone - assuming the hype is true about quality shifting - but I'm waiting for it to mature a bit, all supply chain issues aside.

Edited April 2, 2022 by jimfist

[Al Krow]

Yup at QC prices, you'd hope it could manage to do a half decent pitch shift! 

[stewblack]

I've gigged with it using one of the pitch shift options and it was absolutely fine

[jimfist]

On 03/04/2022 at 09:09, stewblack said:

I've gigged with it using one of the pitch shift options and it was absolutely fine

 

This is a very subjective thing, no doubt. 

I'm aware of plenty of players who are using various drop-shifting effects and find them perfectly acceptable, using pedals that I've rejected for that purpose, again, based on my personal taste.

As mentioned before, I've rejected pitch shifting (as an alternative to plugging in a second drop-tuned bass) from gear that costs 2x, 3x, 4x more than the B6, including dedicated pitch shifters, so not to worry.

Others may agree or disagree, which is always going to be the case (YMMV). 

 

Let's put it this way: if the B6 actually did live up to my ideal expectations for drop-tune pitch shifting, it would light the bass world on fire for that feature alone. IMO that's just unrealistic.

Thus, I'm not suggesting that this diminishes the value of the B6 overall as a multi-fx modeler. I'm simply lumping it in with pretty much every other pitch shifter I've ever tried for this purpose.

 

I do, in fact, find the pitch shifting to be fine within a limited scope (round tones with little top end and soft attack).

Unfortunately, I rarely find myself working exclusively within a limited scope of tones that also require drop tuning.

Others may tonally live exactly in this place, so they might be perfectly happy.

 

If I find some time, I may post some links to audio clips that tell the story of what I hear.

Edited April 4, 2022 by jimfist