Zoom 506 Bass Effects

Plug it in and off you go. It's easy to use. Use the manual for editing your own patches. I recommend to do so cause if you own a good amp just use the separate effects separated. Otherwise you'll have a lot of noise and feedback goin on. The manual explains anything you need in a very logical order.

I use it with a Trace Elliot AH200 and a Torque 4*10 cabinet. On stage with a second Hartke 4*10 cabinet. Must say take care off the feedback. The ?problem with this device: I sounds so terrible digital. This causes me only to use it for special effects and things like that. The sound of the amp itself is much to good. I cant get the sound of my favourite artists but I dont need to. The best effect to me is the fuzz. Octaver also is pretty cool.

Its reliable. But use an adapter.

I play metal and other heavy stuff in a band. You shouldn't use the pedal for recording cause it shits up the whole sound. But on a gig for special effect can be very nice. If it would broke I'd certainly bought a better device. I don't know any but I'm sure there are things (more expensive) that sound much better.

I wish the effects were more extreme. They are too simple. Like the octaver If you detune a low B to A, it just plays an octave higher or you hear/feel nothing. Specially chorus, delay, flanger and wahwah could be more editible.

Easy to use. Easy editing,although some effects cannot be used together. The built-in tuner is not really useable(not that accurate),I use an Inellitouch tuner instead. The manual is basic.
It explains everything that you need to know.

I am using an 8 string Chapman stick bass(SB8)with switchable mono/stereo output.Active EMG pickups. I have the 4 Bass strings going into a Tech21 Bass Compactor and then into a Boss Ph2 phaser. The 4 high strings go into the 506. Gallien-Krueger 700RB amp,1x15 (400 watt cab). The sound of this unit is great for the stick. The noise reduction is a must though.(set it on 9). The flange is o.k.(a little dull),chorus (there are 2 diff.),is not that hot. The distortions I actually like. The Fuzz set on about 5 or 6 adds a nice warm sounding distortion. The compression/limiter is average,kinda' noisy. The wah is useless to me. The delay is good set above 5,anything under is not noticeable. The room reverb is terrible (very "chattery"),The hall reverb is okay (still a little chattery though). On a regular bass guitar this box would probably sound bad. But on the stick,which has a very sharp attack, the effects add a lot.

I would use it without a backup. I keep it out of the way and it's fine. You don't need to stomp the hell out of pedals to get them to work.

Haven't dealt with them.

I play hard rock/pop(into P.Gabriel,King Crimson,Van Halen).If it were lost or stolen, I would probably try some other brand. Something with more options/editing features. The 506 is a little too limited. I chose this one because of it's price. For the price and for the stick it is great. Don't know about a reg. bass though.

I'm giving this effects processor a 6 because it isn't hard to find a good effect in its data base, but extremley difficult to work with its programming options. I've used it more with my guitar than with my bass, but that is only because not many effects are needed if you are a bass player.

The sound quality is not too shabby on this pedal. I use it with a Peavey Fury II bass and a Dan Markely 15 watt practice amp, along with a Peavey TKO 50 watt amp. The best effect is probably the distortion along with fuzz. The only effect that sounds really bad is the auto wah.

This is a very dependable processor but it eats 9 volt batteries like there is no tomarrow, so my advice would be to get the adapter that Zoom makes for its pedals. If your playing a gig, don't even try using batteries, they'll be dead in 15 minutes.

Haven't had any problems with it.

Overall, this isn't a bad processor, though I doubt I would get it again since you don't need all of the 24 programmable effects on bass. It compares very well with one of the DOD multi-effects bass processors, I just wish that it was easier to program. I'd say if you really want to get bass effects, go with a Dunlop Crybaby Bass Wah.

WIthinb liek 1 hour, i had it set up and was creating my own patches. If you look through the manual while you are doing it, you shouldn't hve any problem. The manual explains everything very well. But, this until cannot be upgraded.

I am using a Fender presion bass with a gorilla 40 watt amp, and it sounds great. There is no added noise, and when on bypassit sounds like it is coming from the bass.Most of the factory preset suck tough. You can get sounds like most artists, while still being able to craet your own creative sound. The delay is awesome, the fuzz is good if you can change the gain, the synth isn't very good. Good for its cost.

I can depend on it. It is relaible as long as you take care of it. If you look at a lot of the other reviews that saw it sucks, its mostly becasue people didn't take care of the pedal. Yes, its plastic, but that doesn't mean its crappy. I would gig without a back up.

I play all kinds of alterative...rock and punk. You can matchg the sounds of artist with effort. I have been play electtic bass for 2 years now, stand up for four, and this was a good buy for anyone. Not too expensve, will last if you take care of it, has good effects if you work for them. If lost or stolen, i would probably go with another piece of equipment, but just one that was more expensive and more veristile. I wouldn't reccommed using this to write music, rather pu it in at the end, but it adds nice effects to creativre music.

very easy to use and quick to pick up

very nice sound quality for the price

its built with plastic, but that doesn't matter, so is a glock, so its all good

never dealt with em

its a very good multieffects pedal for anyone just starting out or and experienced bass player. the price makes it even more nice. as of 6-3-00 they are selling for $79 on the musiciansfriend website, www.musiciansfriend.com, if you wanting one go buy it there its the cheapest you'll find it brand new. in guitar shops they charge around $150 which is way to high.

Very easy...buttons edit buttons are too small...

ok if plugged in to small ibanez 25w amp but in soundblaster64(i make computer music) not enough...Fuzz kicks azz

I have dropped it couple times and its still as a new...But its plastic...

Fuzz is excelent when i play grindcore...and i get more from
my bad amp....

As far as ease of use it's fairly simple to edit but it is very deceitful. The reviews claim you can combine up to eight effects at once ( I belive) and that's a total exageration. You pick the effect you want and it gives you opitions on teaking the parameters you can't for instance: Combine A1 Flager with A2 Bass distortion . At least not with the sound you should. As far as dependable, it's not. I had for a couple months and the pedal reaction is shitty. Yoy step on it and it doesn't switch patches. And the display has a crack from a cable that I dropped on it. The display is very thing plastic, like that of a cheap watch. STAY AWAY FROM ZOOM. FOR 135 DOLLARS YOU CAN BUY A FEW GOOD PEDALS. SUCH AS: Well for those of you who play guitar also like myself. I recomend the danelectro line of chorus and drive. Allthough it would be nice to have a board I'm woring on it.

The sounds aren't bad they just sound very cheap. If you're trying to get a certain sound that you've heard from a cd or some group that you want to imitate, then this isn't what you want. The sounds are in their own world. They have no effect really. It's not good. I mean the flage for instance is weak, I perfer alesis flange.

Absoloutley not. Of course if you want to play longer than a few hours you have to fork over another ten to fifteen bucks for an ac adapter. Which is true with most brands successfully pissing me off.
Bank/patch access is hard I literaly have to jump on the damn thing to make it lock effect. I don't use it any more by the way it sits next to my danelectro fabtone and feels rejected like it should. AVOID ZOOM AT ALL COSTS. IT'S OVER-RATED AND HIGH PRICED.

N/A

Well I listened to a lot of tool and smashing pumpkins at the time and tried to imitate Justin, Paul, and D'arcy. The pedal was good enough for me as beginner but I started to relize that it started to suck.

Definitly have to study the manual to opperate this puppy, but it's not hard to get the hang of it. Outputs, inputs, nobs, and buttons are all labeled clearly(after exactly what they do) unlike DOD's newest line of pedals.

This processor is loaded with distortions, chorus, flanger, phasers, synths, , and any combo of any effect. The prob with this.... to make this affordable they cut corners and made all of the sounds over produce and ridgid sounding. Nothing sounds natural.

This thing broke at a gig because of the thin plastic casing, and the input/output jacks aren't even bolt on the case! They are just floting in a space... so if something fall on you cord while its pluged into your board in puts all the presure on the circuit board causeing it to break. This is exactly what happened to me.

My pedal was still under warrenty when this happened, and I contacted Samson( the comp. that makes ZOOM), and got an authorazation. After a month or so I recieved it back with out being fixed and a note that sayed that it couldn't be fix because of unessesary damage or something to that effect. If you read the fine print it your warrenty you'll find this clause that states just that, to protect them. I even asked if I could just by the circiut board(its so cheaply made my sis could figure this out) so I could replace it and they didn't offer anything like that.

I play metal, jazz, rock, pretty much anything that I like. Don't buy this pedal, even you beginners out there that want hella effects, save your money of the real thing.

It is very easy to use and to understand after reading the manual. Editing is also very easy and if you spend some time you can come up with some crazy sounds.

I play it through a yamaha RBX-260 4 string and a fender BXR-25 watt amp. With this setup it adds really nicely into the guitars and drums.
I use mostly distortion as I play SPEED METAL. I also slap but the Yamaha is not a great slap bass anyway. The fuzz distrtion with flange is my main effect, with a clean bright sound in the solo bass areas.

As long as you have an adaptor it is very reliable. Its my first pedal and I am very happy with it. Since I dont use to many effects I cant tell you how it would hold up compared to the stomp boxes. All in all its very reliable.

I play spped metal and as I said it adds nicely in with the guitars and drums with the setup I have. If it were stolen I would probably upgrade. But for now I am happy with it. If you mess with it you can get the sound you want out of it. The factory presets aint the best but if you work off of them you will get some great effects.

For everyone who bitches about batteries being bad in this....

Go dig around in your closet and find your old nintendo (regular not super), unplug the ac adapter from it and plug it into your 506.

Problem solved-cheaper than buying batteries or buying the zoom adapter.