After 50 years of playing guitar in various groups ( yeah! Half a century, I’m old😬) I switched to bass and I’m loving it! I bought the Zoom because I needed a tuner, a compressor and some chorus. Now I’m really getting into it. The drum machine is great for practice, the amp sims are very good and chaining the effects gets you very close to a lot of bass sounds if you play in a covers band. It looks cheap and nasty, it IS cheap but certainly NOT nasty. I keep discovering new things. Fantastic.
On Octaver, Chorus and Phaser the Zoom does a surprisingly good job and is pretty close to the pedals although the Sound on especially the chorus is s bit warmer and fuller on the pedals. On OD/Fuzz/Distortion there's a bigger difference. Besides the effects tested here, the Zoom has some very good amp simulations, especially it's Ampeg SVT and SWR emulations are really good. At a price around 100 Euros the Zoom offers exceptional value for money and is great as a budget friendly start. However it's biggest weakness is that it has not got true bypass and eats a surprisingly large amount of signal in bypass mode. To me so much that it is unacceptable for live situations, but again at this price tag it is unbeatable.
I also really like the SVT emulation on the Zoom. I don't think I'd use it for serious recordings, but I think it would completely pass in a live situation and definitely for practice.
As a ZOOM mfx pedal user for decades, I still find it odd how so many like to put ZOOM pedals down, even now when ZOOM pedals have come such a long way. It's almost like they just like to put ZOOM down cause it's the "routine" thing to do. It also amazes me how in this day and age where people claim they want to sound so different from anyone else, they all really strive to sound the same by using the same gear time and time again and any gear that deviates from that is automatically downplayed, criticized or ignored. This goes for basses and amps as well. Instead of people buying the instruments they like and accepting their sounds and tones for what they are, they will for example, buy an Ibanez, a Yamaha or a Gibson only to take it home and make it sound like a Fender, just cause X player used a Fender on some recording long ago. I mean, what ever happened to creativity and trying to achieve something good with what one has? Again, with ZOOM pedals, this video is proof that you can get sounds and tones that are nearly identical to analog pedals - *_and that's using "out of the box" settings without actually tweaking the effects to really sound as identical as possible._* If the tweaks had been made, it would be a very different story and yet, even then, there would be those bedroom Beethoven's that will STILL put it down "just cause". Seems more and more like those that like to criticize and put ZOOM down do so just to keep their egos and pride from getting wounded and will flaunt their expensive analog pedals as a way to justify their flawed views, overpaid purchases and their stilted and false belief that nothing good can ever come from budget gear.
I'm a bit confused. Aren't all the effects in the Zoom supposed to to approach the the sound of already existing pedals/rack units? Aren't they trying to give you exactly the same thing that has been done so many times before? I do understand that you think it's better to accept what you've got than chasing tones of other people. I just think that the main purpose of pedals like the Zoom is to do exactly that: Give you all those effects your heroes use so you can play their songs. In the end it's the player who decides if he wants to use effects to replicate the sounds of other people or to come up with own ideas. It's possible with whatever pedals you are using. Some more boutique like pedals might give you more options to manipulate different parameters, but that does not mean you could not be creative with single effects. Sometimes it can be great to combine effects in the wrong order or use them for something they were not designed for... I think it's great that Zoom provides us with small pedals that give us a lot of different effects for pretty low prices. However, the quality of the effects is OK, but not great. Especially the drive sounds are relatively flat sounding. I would say you get what you pay for and that's a fair deal.
@@johanneschristopherstahle3395 I get what you are saying and you do raise some good points. Yes, ZOOM will try to give people sounds that try to emulate those of famous musicians cause they know a lot of people are going to want that. That's just them doing good business and trying to give their customers what they want. My issue is with those people that buy things like multi FX pedals and then never really venture into seeing what those products can really do. So many times, I see videos of people just unboxing the unit, plugging it in, fumbling around looking for a patch that emulates the sound of some musician they like and when it doesn't quite live up to their expectations, they proceed to criticize and trash the unit to their viewers who in turn, will reply with comments like, _"Oh! You just saved me some money cause I was gonna buy this thing but, you said it was "garbage" so, I'll keep looking"._ All this while never really going in to see how to tweak the settings, find other patches they might like to use or create their own patches to sound as they want them to, during the video. You mention explorng things like manipulating parameters and signal chain order and that is exactly what many people don't ever really bother to explore when they review a lot of products, especially budget ones. A lot of people will buy expensive high end, name brand flagship or boutique effects and take all the time in the world to proplerly tweak the settngs and customize things to suit their taste. Still, when they buy a budget brand unit, they will rarely go into the inner workings of that unit other than a quick scan and/or some minor playing with the settings. *_Many don't even bother reading the instruction manual sometimes, for crying out loud._* Then, when they don't quckly get the sound they are looking for or they find navigating the menus difficult, they quickly give up and just criticize the unit when, in reality, it's their own impatience, ignorance, laziness or just flat out prejudice against budget gear that prevents them from getting the sounds they seek. Last, you call into question the quality of ZOOM's products but I mean if, super high end quality is what a person is looking for... then why would they be shopping at the ZOOM "tier" of products? That makes no sense to me. Personally, I think the quality of ZOOM pedals is pretty good and it's come a *LONG* way from what they used to be 2-3 (or more) decades ago. Still, someone who is looking for the absolute "best" in sound emulation, specs and features and yet looking at ZOOM products and expecting boutique or high end, name brand results is asinine. To me, that's like a person shopping for a sports car at their local "mom & pop" dealership and then complaining that the simple, everyday stock cars they are looking at don't meet or match the latest Ferrari, Lambo, Porsche, BMW etc. etc. super sports car performance specs. If a person wants those type of specs in FX pedals, why on Earth would they be looking at things like ZOOM pedals? You are absolutely right - _"you get what you pay for"_ - *_BUT,_* people's expectations should be *_WITHIN REASON,_* based on cost and each respective brand's wares.
@@johanneschristopherstahle3395 I replied to you once before, explaining all my points in detail but, for some reason, UA-cam ghosted my comment so, I'll give you a very edited version this time. I agree with some of your points such as ZOOM giving people sounds they seek right out of the box. That's just good business and giving customers what they want. Nothing wrong with that. I'm referring to people who buy budget gear and then criticize it cause it didn't meet their overblown expectations. I've seen people who review budget gear but, who don't even read the instructions or bother to learn the in's and out's of the settings and then proceed to tear the product apart with negative criticsm when they don't get the desired results. They don't even give themselves the proper time to fully explore the product before they're already trashing it. Their viewers then go on to accept those lopsided criticisms and spread misinformation and the same lopsided criticisms elsewhere. Last, you mentioned and question ZOOM's quality which is fair enough but, my counter to that is - if a person is looking for super high end emulation and the "best" possibe features, specs and quality - then they probably shouldn't be looking at ZOOM products in the first place. Like you said, you do get what you pay for but, people's expecations should also be WITHIN REASON. Looking at budget gear and expecting the same level of performance or quality as gear costing hundreds, if not thousands more, is unreasonable and irrational.
I just loved the comparison, many can only buy the B1 Four and it's very interesting to know how close we can get with it to a real pedal. Great job man! I'll give more value to my Zoom...
Very good comparison. Well done. I love my Zoom B1Four for home recording. I can dial in any sound I want with just the presets. They are well organized and give you a lot of options. And the amp presets are fantastic. For the price, you can't beat it.
Perhaps a bit of opinion bias trying to justify the outlay for individual pedals for very little difference in sound going on here in the comments. Having played live for a couple of decades I can say with absolute certainty that audiences either don't care or can't tell the difference between a £70 digital multi-fx pedal and a £2000 rig/pedal board. The only effect I'd consider using an analogue pedal for live is distortion/overdrive/fuzz. I modded an old Boss guitar pedal for bass and to give asymmetrical clipping a few years ago, but I rarely if ever use these effects anyway. I don't even use an amp on stage these days - I instead DI the output of my pedal straight to the mixing desk and listen back through stage monitors. Much less clutter, less fuss, less carrying, and much easier to get a good sound balance both on stage and FOH. For recording, there's plenty of great VST plugins that are amazing. Never thought I'd say this, but individual analogue pedals and amps are probably defunct now (as far as I'm concerned at least).
The only thing I've noticed is that some analog pedals have a dry signal blended with the modulated one. This sound great but you have to get a more expensive multieffects to get that. Some of the effect were very close though. I'm gonna get one soon.
The single pedals have much clearer sound to me. But the zoom is not that bad. Maybe with little settings and tweaks, this zoom pedal could be even better.
I'm even only using zoom ms series for the amp simulator and the cabsim..for drive and distortion i'm using pedal..and yes, zoom is great for the price..using SVT simulator mix with bassman cabsim sounds great for clean and drive sound
So does it mean I can use an OD/Distn pedal like Darkglass into the Zoom MS or B1X for other effects and amp+cab sim? If I need a compressor before the Darkglass, I need a compressor pedal?
Got the B1Four. IMHO the effects are good enough for exterimenting and "having everything on a tight budget". But I got quite frustrated with my sound, constantly trying to dial in other settings to fix it during session. This is not a problem with the effects, but the pedal itself. It eats away a lot of detail, openness and dynamics and also doesn't have a true bypass (so you can't just use it occasionally and have it turned off otherwise). This is why it has to leave the signal chain again and will be replaced with good analoge pedals.
Zoom b4 gives a artificial sound in distortion and synth sounds. Other than that, it didn't seem like much difference to me. Zoom b4 has done a good job in terms of price and performance.
Octave e chorus dão conta com tranquilidade ✅ Phaser e driver da pra gosto, mas falta frequências, porém da pra usar tranquilo! Wah-Wah achei meio embolado com as frequências pouco definidas
Hi guys I just got the Zoom B1x4 and some of the distortions don't work properly, does that have to with the amplifier because it's older and in not good shape or. What is your opinion?
I have the B1four but I always find it easier to use individual pedals to dial in the tone. I guess it's mostly a problem with the interface and not the unit itself.
for a bass effects worth less than $100, it's definitely good...I mean the pedals are great sounding as ever, but I'm no Pro...so the Zoom B1 will suffice!
i think that this comparison is very useful but it would have been more useful a comparison between the new B6 and analog pedals.... that said, analog has better sound in my opinion, mostly in distorced notes
Well add some keys a vocalist and maybe some backing tracks into the mix and the differences are going to be minimal. To clarify my point of view: Most of the time it comes down to the experience, the knowledge and the technical skills of the user (player). I've seen/heard very expensive gear sound like s$%t in the hands of idiots and awesome tones coming from an 20 year old PodXt programmed and played by a master. I have to say that the Zoom sounds pretty nice especially considering the low price. Remember: Price and value don't always go hand in hand.
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Great idea, nice comparisons!
After 50 years of playing guitar in various groups ( yeah! Half a century, I’m old😬) I switched to bass and I’m loving it! I bought the Zoom because I needed a tuner, a compressor and some chorus. Now I’m really getting into it. The drum machine is great for practice, the amp sims are very good and chaining the effects gets you very close to a lot of bass sounds if you play in a covers band. It looks cheap and nasty, it IS cheap but certainly NOT nasty. I keep discovering new things. Fantastic.
Great comparison video. The pedals sound warmer and more full to me but the Zoom holds its own and comes pretty darn close and budget friendly.
I ordered mine a week ago. Cant wait!!!! Sounds great
On Octaver, Chorus and Phaser the Zoom does a surprisingly good job and is pretty close to the pedals although the Sound on especially the chorus is s bit warmer and fuller on the pedals. On OD/Fuzz/Distortion there's a bigger difference. Besides the effects tested here, the Zoom has some very good amp simulations, especially it's Ampeg SVT and SWR emulations are really good. At a price around 100 Euros the Zoom offers exceptional value for money and is great as a budget friendly start. However it's biggest weakness is that it has not got true bypass and eats a surprisingly large amount of signal in bypass mode. To me so much that it is unacceptable for live situations, but again at this price tag it is unbeatable.
I also really like the SVT emulation on the Zoom. I don't think I'd use it for serious recordings, but I think it would completely pass in a live situation and definitely for practice.
I think a simple EQ after the drives would enable more tone shaping..
turning = TBP
I'll admit that I actually like the fuzz a bit more on the Zoom, but yes, the difference is bigger!
As a ZOOM mfx pedal user for decades, I still find it odd how so many like to put ZOOM pedals down, even now when ZOOM pedals have come such a long way. It's almost like they just like to put ZOOM down cause it's the "routine" thing to do.
It also amazes me how in this day and age where people claim they want to sound so different from anyone else, they all really strive to sound the same by using the same gear time and time again and any gear that deviates from that is automatically downplayed, criticized or ignored.
This goes for basses and amps as well. Instead of people buying the instruments they like and accepting their sounds and tones for what they are, they will for example, buy an Ibanez, a Yamaha or a Gibson only to take it home and make it sound like a Fender, just cause X player used a Fender on some recording long ago. I mean, what ever happened to creativity and trying to achieve something good with what one has?
Again, with ZOOM pedals, this video is proof that you can get sounds and tones that are nearly identical to analog pedals - *_and that's using "out of the box" settings without actually tweaking the effects to really sound as identical as possible._* If the tweaks had been made, it would be a very different story and yet, even then, there would be those bedroom Beethoven's that will STILL put it down "just cause".
Seems more and more like those that like to criticize and put ZOOM down do so just to keep their egos and pride from getting wounded and will flaunt their expensive analog pedals as a way to justify their flawed views, overpaid purchases and their stilted and false belief that nothing good can ever come from budget gear.
I was expecting "fools - I never used a Zoom!". I am doing Zoom mods and hacking on my channel.
I'm a bit confused. Aren't all the effects in the Zoom supposed to to approach the the sound of already existing pedals/rack units? Aren't they trying to give you exactly the same thing that has been done so many times before?
I do understand that you think it's better to accept what you've got than chasing tones of other people. I just think that the main purpose of pedals like the Zoom is to do exactly that: Give you all those effects your heroes use so you can play their songs.
In the end it's the player who decides if he wants to use effects to replicate the sounds of other people or to come up with own ideas. It's possible with whatever pedals you are using. Some more boutique like pedals might give you more options to manipulate different parameters, but that does not mean you could not be creative with single effects. Sometimes it can be great to combine effects in the wrong order or use them for something they were not designed for...
I think it's great that Zoom provides us with small pedals that give us a lot of different effects for pretty low prices. However, the quality of the effects is OK, but not great. Especially the drive sounds are relatively flat sounding. I would say you get what you pay for and that's a fair deal.
@@johanneschristopherstahle3395 I get what you are saying and you do raise some good points. Yes, ZOOM will try to give people sounds that try to emulate those of famous musicians cause they know a lot of people are going to want that. That's just them doing good business and trying to give their customers what they want.
My issue is with those people that buy things like multi FX pedals and then never really venture into seeing what those products can really do. So many times, I see videos of people just unboxing the unit, plugging it in, fumbling around looking for a patch that emulates the sound of some musician they like and when it doesn't quite live up to their expectations, they proceed to criticize and trash the unit to their viewers who in turn, will reply with comments like, _"Oh! You just saved me some money cause I was gonna buy this thing but, you said it was "garbage" so, I'll keep looking"._
All this while never really going in to see how to tweak the settings, find other patches they might like to use or create their own patches to sound as they want them to, during the video. You mention explorng things like manipulating parameters and signal chain order and that is exactly what many people don't ever really bother to explore when they review a lot of products, especially budget ones.
A lot of people will buy expensive high end, name brand flagship or boutique effects and take all the time in the world to proplerly tweak the settngs and customize things to suit their taste. Still, when they buy a budget brand unit, they will rarely go into the inner workings of that unit other than a quick scan and/or some minor playing with the settings. *_Many don't even bother reading the instruction manual sometimes, for crying out loud._* Then, when they don't quckly get the sound they are looking for or they find navigating the menus difficult, they quickly give up and just criticize the unit when, in reality, it's their own impatience, ignorance, laziness or just flat out prejudice against budget gear that prevents them from getting the sounds they seek.
Last, you call into question the quality of ZOOM's products but I mean if, super high end quality is what a person is looking for... then why would they be shopping at the ZOOM "tier" of products? That makes no sense to me. Personally, I think the quality of ZOOM pedals is pretty good and it's come a *LONG* way from what they used to be 2-3 (or more) decades ago. Still, someone who is looking for the absolute "best" in sound emulation, specs and features and yet looking at ZOOM products and expecting boutique or high end, name brand results is asinine.
To me, that's like a person shopping for a sports car at their local "mom & pop" dealership and then complaining that the simple, everyday stock cars they are looking at don't meet or match the latest Ferrari, Lambo, Porsche, BMW etc. etc. super sports car performance specs. If a person wants those type of specs in FX pedals, why on Earth would they be looking at things like ZOOM pedals? You are absolutely right - _"you get what you pay for"_ - *_BUT,_* people's expectations should be *_WITHIN REASON,_* based on cost and each respective brand's wares.
@@johanneschristopherstahle3395 I replied to you once before, explaining all my points in detail but, for some reason, UA-cam ghosted my comment so, I'll give you a very edited version this time.
I agree with some of your points such as ZOOM giving people sounds they seek right out of the box. That's just good business and giving customers what they want. Nothing wrong with that. I'm referring to people who buy budget gear and then criticize it cause it didn't meet their overblown expectations.
I've seen people who review budget gear but, who don't even read the instructions or bother to learn the in's and out's of the settings and then proceed to tear the product apart with negative criticsm when they don't get the desired results. They don't even give themselves the proper time to fully explore the product before they're already trashing it. Their viewers then go on to accept those lopsided criticisms and spread misinformation and the same lopsided criticisms elsewhere.
Last, you mentioned and question ZOOM's quality which is fair enough but, my counter to that is - if a person is looking for super high end emulation and the "best" possibe features, specs and quality - then they probably shouldn't be looking at ZOOM products in the first place. Like you said, you do get what you pay for but, people's expecations should also be WITHIN REASON. Looking at budget gear and expecting the same level of performance or quality as gear costing hundreds, if not thousands more, is unreasonable and irrational.
The B1 costs roughly as much as one of those pedals, and some of the pedals cost 2-3x more. Think about that… 😮
And with some tweeking, you can get it sounding pretty darn close to those pedals.
That LDP Pedal sounds amazing!
I just loved the comparison, many can only buy the B1 Four and it's very interesting to know how close we can get with it to a real pedal. Great job man! I'll give more value to my Zoom...
Very good comparison. Well done. I love my Zoom B1Four for home recording. I can dial in any sound I want with just the presets. They are well organized and give you a lot of options. And the amp presets are fantastic. For the price, you can't beat it.
Really useful comparison - thanks!
The B1 sounds like it's missing bass frequencies which is a pretty essential omission!
I went in to most of the presets and added some bass and lowered a little treble. Sounds much better now to my ears.
@@sasquarez55Did you do it on global EQ or you added something else?
Wicked! Love the channel! I have a B1 Four and you have inspired me! Cheers from Vermont! -Brent
Perhaps a bit of opinion bias trying to justify the outlay for individual pedals for very little difference in sound going on here in the comments. Having played live for a couple of decades I can say with absolute certainty that audiences either don't care or can't tell the difference between a £70 digital multi-fx pedal and a £2000 rig/pedal board. The only effect I'd consider using an analogue pedal for live is distortion/overdrive/fuzz. I modded an old Boss guitar pedal for bass and to give asymmetrical clipping a few years ago, but I rarely if ever use these effects anyway. I don't even use an amp on stage these days - I instead DI the output of my pedal straight to the mixing desk and listen back through stage monitors. Much less clutter, less fuss, less carrying, and much easier to get a good sound balance both on stage and FOH. For recording, there's plenty of great VST plugins that are amazing. Never thought I'd say this, but individual analogue pedals and amps are probably defunct now (as far as I'm concerned at least).
The only thing I've noticed is that some analog pedals have a dry signal blended with the modulated one. This sound great but you have to get a more expensive multieffects to get that. Some of the effect were very close though. I'm gonna get one soon.
The single pedals have much clearer sound to me. But the zoom is not that bad. Maybe with little settings and tweaks, this zoom pedal could be even better.
if it were possible, I would like to see a comparison with the amplitube 5, for example
I'm even only using zoom ms series for the amp simulator and the cabsim..for drive and distortion i'm using pedal..and yes, zoom is great for the price..using SVT simulator mix with bassman cabsim sounds great for clean and drive sound
So does it mean I can use an OD/Distn pedal like Darkglass into the Zoom MS or B1X for other effects and amp+cab sim? If I need a compressor before the Darkglass, I need a compressor pedal?
@@KrishnanR26 of course you can
Zoom did an amazing job for ex that ebs pedal costs almost 3 Times the price of the B1
Great comparison!!!!
how is the synth bass tracking for faster playing? i have the zoom ms60b and the synth patches are useless for fast playing..
Are the effects better in the b6 and the new b2 four if so this could make more sense.
Podrías poner el preset de cada sonido en el pedal zoom? Para imitar esos sonidos,gracias
Dicen al inicio que no tocaron los presets originales.
A veces solo usaron una fraction de patch.
Got the B1Four. IMHO the effects are good enough for exterimenting and "having everything on a tight budget". But I got quite frustrated with my sound, constantly trying to dial in other settings to fix it during session. This is not a problem with the effects, but the pedal itself. It eats away a lot of detail, openness and dynamics and also doesn't have a true bypass (so you can't just use it occasionally and have it turned off otherwise). This is why it has to leave the signal chain again and will be replaced with good analoge pedals.
Zoom b4 gives a artificial sound in distortion and synth sounds. Other than that, it didn't seem like much difference to me. Zoom b4 has done a good job in terms of price and performance.
Octave e chorus dão conta com tranquilidade ✅
Phaser e driver da pra gosto, mas falta frequências, porém da pra usar tranquilo!
Wah-Wah achei meio embolado com as frequências pouco definidas
can I connect this straight to PA Mixer?
for the price, shut-up and take my money. This zoom rules.
Hi guys I just got the Zoom B1x4 and some of the distortions don't work properly, does that have to with the amplifier because it's older and in not good shape or. What is your opinion?
Wider sound stage with the pedals and they sound more natural and alive. Forgot how good those EBS pedals are.
sounds fine to me.
what if your amp number 1 is there no number 2 and so on how do I get them back
Who else been sleeping on the b1four 😎
Does this work for acoustic guitar too? Can I play clean sound with it? Or is g1x the right choice?
g1
Looks like you’ve forgotten to patch the single pedals together. That’s all done for you with the Zoom.
For that price i'll go with the Zoom, and you don't have to carry 20 pedals for a gig 🙂
Swissarmyknife. Especially interresting for jaming at home.
Theres a big diference between EQ. The Zoom EQ sounds flat, but the pedals has more mids, that makes them sound better with more presence.
Knobs above can change that.
@@stephenhookings1985 Yes, I bought it. It sounds pretty amazing + so many things you can do with it.
Analogue, independent are much better, of course....Just one of them could buy 2 zoom units.....LoL
I can’t say I cringed at any of the Zoom effects. Some were quite close in comparison…
I have the B1four but I always find it easier to use individual pedals to dial in the tone. I guess it's mostly a problem with the interface and not the unit itself.
If you have the money I’d say go with the individual pedals. Zoom sounds ok but not as good IMO.
for a bass effects worth less than $100, it's definitely good...I mean the pedals are great sounding as ever, but I'm no Pro...so the Zoom B1 will suffice!
a much reduced bandwidth and resolution from the b1x
i think that this comparison is very useful but it would have been more useful a comparison between the new B6 and analog pedals....
that said, analog has better sound in my opinion, mostly in distorced notes
Check out the sounds of the new B6 here: ua-cam.com/video/igFV0DCWxwI/v-deo.html
Zoom chorus not good, Fuzz Zoom sucks, Filters it has its own quality. Still Zoom usable
Well add some keys a vocalist and maybe some backing tracks into the mix and the differences are going to be minimal.
To clarify my point of view:
Most of the time it comes down to the experience, the knowledge and the technical skills of the user (player).
I've seen/heard very expensive gear sound like s$%t in the hands of idiots and awesome tones coming from an 20 year old PodXt programmed and played by a master.
I have to say that the Zoom sounds pretty nice especially considering the low price.
Remember: Price and value don't always go hand in hand.
The pedals win hands down. The Zoom sounds like a digital video game from the 80s. 🤣
Most of the zoom fx sounds terrible in comparison.
i got this pedal the only one i use is 17 jaco bass