Pedal noob here.
I went for the Zoom B1x Four mostly for the tuner. It contains a lot of options, although amp and cab sims (and possibly others) cannot be combined up to five in a single module due to hardware limitations. IIRC, @Koldunya complained recently about similar problems with better Zoom products and could explain the issues better.
Probably not the highest quality stuff, but definitely usable to start playing around with effects and your tone. I like the Darkglass and Sansamp preamp clones. The tuner works fine with the low B.
Edit: obviously this was an answer to @JustTim, but used the wrong “reply” button
Depends.
The Zoom is a very inexpensive way to explore all types of pedals and see what you like.
I hated how it was configured. Lots of menus and sub menus. But if your ok with it or leaning an app/program to do all that then it’s a great way to figure out what you like. Buy it used.
I’ve had a few versions of the Zoom, and now have the B3n (which I rarely use). To simplify it, I created a handful of patches containing only the effects I like: chorus, reverb, compressor. The multi-effects processors come with lots of pre-configured patches, which can seem daunting until you realize most of them are overkill or just flat out useless. I never have used the built in tuner, drums, or any of the other extra features.
As @John_E suggested, buy used.
The only pedals I have in play at all times are the Polytune3 tuner and the VTBassDI.
The B1 Four menus sure seems daunting at first. But after a bit of research and experimenting, the lightbulb went on and I was able to create the sims and effects I wanted.
The unit does so many things, it’s amazing.
Is it the best? No. But I honestly don’t need any better. It sure does punch above its weight for the money, though.
Multi-effect like Boss Gt-1B or similar pedals are quite awesome but it definitely requires you to spend some time with it. If you treat it like you are back in the 80’s and received this pedal from the future and all you want to to is to explore every bit of the pedals capability. You’ll find that it’s a marvelous piece of gear. That can do anything and everything you ever wanted.
Sadly, in the days of instant gratification, not many would spend the time to do that. What economy of effort gets in the way.
I actually went to the store to have a look at it first hand. You know, trust but verify sort of thing. And yes, there was a small spot on the back of the neck, though I wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t pointed out to me.
However, we plugged 'er in and… no sound came out of the E and A strings. I wonder what happened between when I played it 2 weeks ago when it arrived and now. Must be a dead or loose connection somewhere.
