Customer Reviews

Zoom B1X Bass Multi Effects Pedal with Expression Pedal

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This pedal far exceeds all of my expectations. While this pedal isn't as sturdy (the B1 is hard plastic and the B2 is metal) as the B2X by zoom, the price more than makes up for it (Almost half the price of the B2). You absolutely cannot get a better value than this from any other multi-FX units. The best thing about this pedal is that it has great response time. With any multi unit you come across, you will have problems with slow switching between patches. I have had a few bass processors from the Zoom 707, Korg, and Digitech. None of these can hold a candle to the B1s speed. I did own the B2 and it is even faster. The distortions of this unit are the best. Usually the distortions for bass are muddy or too trebly but with this unit you can mix in your original clean signal in with the dirty. One of the cool things that I have discovered is that if you leave the know on the mix selection you can turn off the mix and go straight clean instantaneously. This is very useful in the that you don't have to setup multiple clean patches or try to hit both button to shut it off! The other function such as wah, phaser, and Chorus are very nice and quite useable. The rest such as pitch shifter, octave, and synth are just for novelty and I can't image why anyone would want that. You can sound like a cello with this thing though and that is very cool. The drum machine is a great feature that helps you with your timing and practicing. The foot pedal is a must and is super useful and well worth the extra 20 dollars when choosing between the B1 and the B1x. Zoom is the master of all Multi-fx processors so don't bother with anything else.

This is a great pedal, whether you are a new player or a seasoned vet. Unlike most pedals in this price range it keeps a full set of the original presets in a user accessible ROM, so you can tweak to your hearts content without risk of losing a favorite patch. Built in tuner is always handy, the drum machine, while nothing I would want to record with is a nice touch for when you can't get together with your band.

It will take you awhile to learn the various functions, especially if you are coming from the traditional multi pedal setup, but it is worth your time. really easy to dial in great sounds for both 4 and 5 string basses, just an all around great pedal. Oh and you can assign the volume pedal to be just about anything you desire, from volume to distortion level to phase sweep and can be completely different from patch to patch. If you need great sounds in an easy to tote around package look no further, here is your new baby!

Oh as an addition: My favored amp had to go to the shop for a month as it needed some caps replaced. All I had in the meantime was an old junker solid state Casino and the mixing board. Thanks to the Zoom even with this far less than optimal setup I was able to get clean tones good enough to do some recording and live gigs! It really is a steal for the price, reliable, clean sounding, just an all around great pedal for any bassist.

When i bought this pedal i didn't know what to expect ive never used a pedal before so it was new to me. So when it showed up i was pretty clueless on how to use it but after about a day of messin around you figure it out. The tuner is insanly helpfull, and the drum machine is good...basic but good. I would recomend this to anyone who plays bass. There are alot of effects on this. Alot of them you probably wont use, but the Auto Wah and Distorcion and others are very good. The actual pedal is good its worth the extra $20. Its good for about any genre of music. It is plastic but its pretty sturday and the foot switches are nice too. The preset patches are nice too they have ones for Geezer Butler of Black Sabath and Flea From RHCP and even Victor Wooten. I would say buy it if you are serious about playing bass and you want to explore new sounds.

In short, this pedal is a great value for the few good tones that it does offer. It won't work a miracle for you if your bass doesn't sound good to begin with, but it may give you some versatility that would only otherwise come from owning thousands and thousands of dollars worth of amplifiers and cabinets. The fact that you are reading this review for a pedal in this price range means you just need to buy it, because this is the best value for the price.

However, the longer summary of this pedal is that the majority of the sounds that come from this unit are unusable: They are overboard in one way or the other. They are either crazily distorted or exaggerated effects only useful as a novelty (NOT musical). In my opinion, the small group of clean and basic amp models (makes up roughly 20% of all the pre-programmed models) are well worth the price though. They are pretty accurate without adding too much to the tone, and they have the ability to be altered in a wide variety of ways if you are willing to read the manual (e.g. compression, drive, chorus, etc.). They may be cheap imitations of SVTs, SWRs, Bassmans, and Hartkes; but they are all available in this pedal at a mere fraction of the cost of even one of those things...

Now, as I mentioned earlier, if your bass is garbage, this pedal won't be enough to make it sound magical. (But then again, if your gear is garbage, I don't suppose it can hurt you either...) Just have reasonable expectations: If you play a bad guitar through a great amp, it will not somehow be greater than the sum of the parts. I have played this pedal with my bass guitars, and it is transparent enough to reproduce the natural sound of the guitar.

As for the expression pedal, it is very cheaply engineered. The whole setup is plastic on a metal chassis, but the pedal is too sensitive to be used for volume. It can be used for things like compression, wah, modulation, etc.; but not perfectly. I guess that's why a good expression pedal is so expensive...

In summary, buy the B1 over the B1x. At this price range, you'll get some great amp models that are pretty well done. The expression pedal and overkill effects (alien sound effects? Really?) are the only things that are cheapo on this.

This piece is BEAST!!! Great sounds!!! Drum machine for practicing with(no need to wait for the drummer to arrive, set up, sound check, etc...) Loving it!!! Great companion to my Rogue Violin Bass. Mimicks Jaco's sound and others! Pigs flying around my house! Awesome!!Thanks!!!

This is a good effects pedal for $69. Good preset patches for distortion and even for funk. I like the bass amp models best. You can find a sound for most songs with this pedal.

This is a capable pedal with many immediately useable patches. I have not spent much time customing the patches but there seems to be enough capability in this unit to improve and adjust to your taste. Considering the relatively low price/performance ratio, this feature-rich decent quality pedal is a great buy for the musician hobbiest.

definitely good for the price. A lot of effects, it boosts the amps power.

I just received the Zoom B1X. I quickly drove to church to mess with it. The drum machine is very adequate and easy to use. I ran through a couple of new songs and the drum beats help immensely. Many of the bass presets are very serviceable. The others, I just had a lot of fun with. I love how the pedal affects the primary effect of the preset chain. The sound is clean, no hiss from any of the presets...I played with all of them. There is a sheet listing the presets and explaining the reasoning, very cool. I used the manual to figure out how to adjust the drums, and for various tweaks. I will probably need to have the manual handy for a bit, but it is not complicated. I'm very happy so far, and hope it holds up. I use an Ibanez bass, and Behringer BX1800 amp. Don't let low prices fool you on name brands like Zoom or Behringer. I also love my amp. Very clean and rich sounding compared to amps I have tried from Fender, Acoustic, and SWR (which have disappointed me, though they were older models).