Sooo is the Zoom B3 a cheap multi-effects bargain, then?

Описание: After watching the recent Resident Advisor interview with the brilliant Skee Mask, my ears perked up when he recommended the Zoom B3 bass multi-FX as a great affordable box for drum processing. Given how cheap they are and being the magpie I am, I got one to see for myself, and this video records my first raw first experiences of firing it up, first experiments of effects in combination and seeing what kinds of things it can do to a Roland TR-8. It's not a comprehensive demo alas, but then that would be a LONG video, given the sheer amount this can do...

Skee Mask is a wicked producer (and high class gear hoarder) so unsurprisingly, it turns out that he's very much on to something. Even on paper, despite its age, the B3 remains bonkers in terms of specs - it actually has 99 different algorithms and 12 amp sim/cab models, and you have three slots to place any combination of them in. The algorithms are crazy in variation and cover nearly every effect type I can think of short of granular or spectral. Instead of shared screen you get on many multi-fx pedals you actually have three discrete screens which show the algorithms like they are truly separate devices. Of course the joy here is in stacking/compounding effects, which with the right combos is transformative.

It also has a looper! Crazy. I see prices hovering around £100/£120 on ebay. I got this on Facebook marketplace where there are a few good well used ones floating about for closer to £60. I got this for £50 as it was missing a knob, it's quite beat up/well loved, but that's fine by me.

After playing more I found you can indeed assign an expression pedal to control a value in the algorithm, you can easily swap algorithm position and try out different orders in a split second (just hit 'TOTAL' to access extra features like these), you can also reverse the flow so it feeds from left to right instead of right to left. It's great.

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▶︎ Compro LP by Skee Mask: https://iliantape.bandcamp.com/album/...
▶︎ Skee Mask's Bandcamp: https://skeemask.bandcamp.com/
▶︎ The ‪@ResidentAdvisor‬ vid that that inspired this was:    • Skee Mask Breaks Down His Studio Essentials  

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CHAPTERS
00:00 Lord Skee Mask Hath Spake
1:48 What is the B3/Power Probs
3:21 First Blood: Hall Reverb, The Screens
4:30 Spring Reverb, Tape Echo
6:03 AIR Chorus
7:00 Comp+Dist, AWah+Dist!
9:40 Pitch Shift & Graphic EQ
12:24 Moog Style AutoFilter
13:12 Z-Syn Bass & Muff & Cry
15:07 Z-Organ
16:00 Stepping Filters
17:30 Zingy Short Delays
19:13 Memory Man Style BBD + SVT Amp
21:00 Multitap Delay
22:10 H910 Style Pitch Delay, Slicer, Phaser
25:25 Stereo Chorus on the end
26:30 Was Skee Mask right?