Just posted a semi-review of the B2 Four after using it for almost 3 months.
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I’m very interested in the Zoom b2 Four and mr.crispy’s review is excellent.
Does anybody else have this model? Although this model has many features I like, I have to admit that I had the B1 Four and I returned it because I didn’t like some aspects of the sound and the volume with my headphones was very low. I’m still indecisive between the Boss GT-1 and the Zoom B2 Four.
I’m hoping one of you might be able to help me. I have just purchased a Zoom B3n and plugged it in for the first time, and everything is nice a silent (no noise) until I pluck a string then loads of noise with volume dependent on the signal volume ie. the noise dies away as the plucked note dies away. So here’s what I’ve tried:
- Normal instrument cable into b3n, normal instrument cable out of b3n to amp. Noise
- All effects off. Noise
- One or more effects. Noise
- Either instrument cable used to connect bass direct to amp. Perfect no noise.
- connect direct to headphones. Noise
- connect direct to studio monitors. Noise
I’ve tried to be as methodical as I can. I’m using the power supply that came with it (though if it was power supply related I’d expect noise all the time). I’m not being fussy, the noise is significant and cannot be ignored. The only thing that doesn’t seem to generate the noise is when in tuner mode with the volume on. Then it is quiet, passing the plucked note through with no noise.
Does anyone have any suggestions or do I just take back to the shop?
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I never had this issue with mine.
What is the volume om the Zoom set to? I always had to be very careful when plugging my Zoom B1 Four into my amp. Remember that the Zoom is an amp in itself, so you’re essentially chaining one amp into another one… Dial the volume down on the Zoom and see if that helps.
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Thanks, yes I did play with that to little avail (I had already dialled the volume down on the bass). I have it dialled down to about 30 but have to take it lower with some patches otherwise the instrument volume goes from nothing to everything in the tiniest motion. However I have now found that it is only with some patches that this occurred. Of course they were the first ones I happened to have selected! The worst was the Comp & Drv. I have now created my own with only single effects in them and no problem with them.
Pretty sure it wasn’t volume related at is seemed to sit on the bass sound itself so the louder you pluck the louder it is and as the note volume fades so does the noise. Until with the bass silent the noise was silent too. So that’s why I suspected the b3n as the noise seems to be sitting on top of the signal.
However at the moment I really only want it to get a feel for/learn about various different pedal effects before eventually thinking about buying some. And this seemed an economic way of doing this. Used with restraint it now seems fine! It sort of seems like the more effects that are strung together the more noisy it gets. A little experimentation in the Comp&Drv seems to suggest the DI+ is the main culprit there.
Ah! I wonder if it’s the “drive” effect that you interpreted as “noise” then 
Easy to check: the DI+ effect has a “clean” and “driven” channel that you can enable/disable in the effect settings. Set to “clean”, what you call noise should disappear. If that’s it, I guess overdrive/distortion/fuzz effects aren’t for you 
Not to worry though: you can dial the amount of drive (“noise”) up or down by changing the Gain and Blend settings. See if you find a sound you like better by playing around with the settings. A little bit goes a long way. Oh and by the way: many people here feel that the “drive” category of effects are the worst ones the Zoom units have to offer.
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I’ll have to have a play. It could be that but it was definitely just white noise, quite different to overdrive etc. Though you’re right, I’m not that much into heavy distortion, overdrive. To be honest some of their built in patches were just plain weird and I’d struggle to imagine them in any real music scenario, like the Gremlins one 
It was strange though because I thought I was definitely getting it with all effects turned off, but later realised that some patches have more than three effects and possibly one was turned on but not in the current window of three visible ones so I’d have been unaware anything was turned on.
I guess it will take a while to figure it all out. I have to say the manual is pretty useless for anyone not familiar with the concept of such multi effect boxes. It took a few tedious videos to help me start understanding it.
Not to mention one that I’m sure is a bug. With any of the empty patches that come in the initial set up (and I specifically did a factory reset to check this) there is no add icon and it only appears after you do a delete even though there’s nothing to select to delete! And then the add icon appears. THAT took some figuring and a bit of googling!
Still I’ve only had the one evening playing with it so I’m sure I will get familiar with it after a while. And it’s a good learning process to see what’s available and what I like. To be honest, one of the key things I like is that combined with an active studio monitor it makes a great mini practice set up especially for playing with a mate on acoustic.
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I don’t know that one, but the B1 Four has an “Explosion” preset that’s (probably) equally useless (and ridiculous) 
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Yep the b3n has that as well. Can’t see me using it in a hurry! Or pretty much any of the ‘Syn’ ones to be honest. But that’s alright it has plenty for everyone and would be extraordinary if I wanted to use all it’s effects. To start with (I’m only a beginner anyway) I’ll probably just be using a bit of compressor and maybe a touch of reverb and/or chorus. But there are others I’ll likely fool around with!
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