Zoom effects processors

Gear
141

Speaking of overdrive, I figured out how to get a relatively decent overdriven and distorted tone out of the SCR-DI. It sounds sort of like an overdriven Ampeg, and you really need to dump the volume out and raise the volume in to get it. Over all pretty unsatisfactory. Still, here it is for comparison:

for comparison, here’s the same riff with using the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi model on the Zoom:

which I think sounds substantially better for distortion (though the Big Muff is not exactly an overdrive per se). The Ampeg sounds better for overdriven bass tone though. Makes me want to buy a real Big Muff to compare :slight_smile:

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142

Oh , man. I’m really digging that sound in the ‘muff small print’ recording. :+1:

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143

All hail the Big Muff :slight_smile:

It sounds even cooler if you throw a chorus in after it (check this at 2:40 in):

I’ve loved the sound of every Electro-Harmonix product I have ever heard. Especially the Big Muff and the Bass Clone. I think the Zoom does a reasonable job of modeling both but I will probably end up owning both of those at some point.

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144

the Big Muff (I have an old russian one) is more a fuzzy distorsion (almost sounding like a fuzz but it’s technically a distorsion circuitry) than an overdrive, it’s a bit different. the Tone circuitry on the Big Muff is pretty strange and brings a lot of phase issues. but yeah this thing can sound pretty good if it’s well used :slight_smile:

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145

Nice! The Russian ones are spendy.

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146

the green russian ones are expensive but mine is a black one, much cheaper. but it still sounds better than the USA ones in my opinion, and the green russian ones sounds absolutly fantastic (I had to repair a green one for a friend, and the EHX importer for France was a good friend of mine at the time so he used to lend me a USA one, and so I had the opportunity to compare the 3 versions in real life, with my guitars and amps).

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147

I hear it can be hard to find parts for the green ones. They do look and sound awesome though.

As for drive vs distortion, if I want additional drive I will probably just get the BDI-21. You did the midrange mod to yours, right?

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148

Here we go :slight_smile:

https://soundcloud.com/user-113696293/muff-clone-small-print/s-nQZJA

The Zoom models for both those pedals are pretty good.

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149

Ooooh. Damn. That is good stuff.

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150

Thanks! That’s with my B3n but the B1four should be easy to make a patch that sounds identical and the B1on will be just as good too.

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151

yes but it is not the standard midrange mod, I added two pots to control the contour/mid-notch. it’s very experimental but I could find a cleaner and more useable mod with a pot if it could be useful.

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152

The standard mod looks pretty easy, the nice thing is it is so cheap that if you mess up it isn’t the end of the world :slight_smile:

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153

yes it’s easy but the BDI21 is built with surface-mounted components so it requires some precision

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154

I’m out of practice too, it’s been a good eight years since I did any soldering. I would actually probably leave it unmodded (i.e. the same as the original BDDI, with no mids control) but it’s nice to know the option is there.

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155

it sounds good unmodded but yeah there is this very pronounced notch. the other option would be to boost the mids with an EQ in front of the BDI21.

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156

Well, I have just bought a Zoom BFX708 multi FX processor of ebay for £25

Anyone got one of these?

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157

That’s one of their old ones. They had a reputation for being noisy - curious how it sounds :slight_smile:

I recommend the B1on or B1four.

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158

For the sake of £25 it is worth a punt.
I don’t think it has a looper so I will still be getting the newer one.
I am gonna pop into my local guitar shop this morning to see what they have

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159

For sure! If nothing else it will be interesting to compare a 20 year old model with the current ones. Digital signal processing has come a long way.

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160

I’m bringing this thread back to life…

I’m curious: All you Zoomers out there, which effect do you default to on your Zoom when just practicing or noodling around with bass lines?

For me, it’s “JacoBass”. For some reason, my tape wound strings seem to play the best with that effect.

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