Zoom B2.1U

This is a homework unit. If you expect to slap this down on stage right out of the box and get grooving, you will be disappointed. With this unit, you need to sit down like a student and learn. A little self-education never hurt anyone. That being said, the first time I did this, time flew by, and I was pestering my wife with the headphones constantly, saying "Listen to this!"

Once you understand the basic theory of how it works, this is unit is very easy to use and tweak in very little time.

Two things: Don't EVER lose the manual,

and having an LCD display a little more complex than the 2-digit LED probably wouldn't have changed the price that much, and would have made it easier to use.

I use an economy rig. I can't afford fancy boutique/vintage gear. I can't afford a dozen little steel boxes to line up on the stage in front of me. I play a Yamaha BB615 through a Yorkville(Traynor) 400w through 4x10s. I'm happy with my rig. My band is doing a lot of Tool, so I wanted to invest in a flanger, OD, wah and whammy, to name a few. I can't afford to buy these individually, so I shopped around to look at ALL the MFX out there.

As far as sound quality goes, this is the bees knees for the price you pay. I have spent the last month or so coming up with a wide palette of patches to fit the variety of music my band performs. I can go from vintage tones to modern to far out very easily to fit the song at hand. During/After each practise, I go home and give a teak here and there. By the time I get to a gig, I am ready to rawk!

I would recommend that you spend some time output gain matching, though. Some patches sound great at home through headphones, but when you get them on stage you realize they are louder/quieter than others. Consistency is key.

I have experienced very little hum/noise originating with this box. No, I wouldn't use every single effect/amp in this thing, but these MFX are sold to EVERYONE, not just me/you.

I have had NO problems thus far, and would use it without a backup rig quite happily.

I have not had to deal with anyone in this area yet, and I hope I never do. ;) That said, the Samson website is a little silly to navigate. That's a general observation, no added charge.

Of all the MFX I looked at, this was the best. Let's face it, beyond a bit of buzz, most MFX sound similar. If you really want the real thing, you will get the real thing.

What makes this stand out against other units for me is diversity of connectivity. I can go 1/4" out to my amp AND XLR out to the PA. I can use USB into my laptop to lay down groove ideas into CUBASE. NO other unit has that at this price. It came with the AC plug. It's the little things. It has a ground/lift and a pre/post.

Basically, this unit has the most bang for your buck. If you are looking for something that requires no thought or homework, look elsewhere. If you are a snooty, judgy audiophile, then look elsewhere. If you live on a budget and need an economic solution to your diverse efx needs with plenty of features, THIS IS IT!

i've never had an MFX before, but when i read the manual and understood the main algorhythm of it's work, the rest was easy

i wouldn't use this thing alone, i've bought it for the effects such as chorus, wow, etc and as for me, they are good enough, but the overall sound is a bit empty so i plug it into my Dunlop MXR bass DI+ and this magic stuff makes everything sounds right. i think, the combo emulation here has only drive function so you should't hope to get 11 amps in one box. i play Ibanez SRX355 - it had an active tembrblock but it was noisy so i've cut it off and now had just two series humbuckers with almost no noise

well it's body seemes strong enough and i don't affraid that something could broke

didn't deal with them

i think the effects are mostly not bad but i wouldn't use it without my DI. usb port useless for me, otherwise, would be better if it had a phantom power ability. of course, if i could load my own drum patterns into this by usb.... in common, i thing it's a good stuff for it's money, it's small enough to take for sessions in a bass bag and it have a possibility to variate the sound colours which is important for me - i play bass about ten years in differrent styles- new wave,ska, punk, alternative, and i need some new colour of sound that can move me farther

the manual comes like in 8 languages, it is reaally easy to understand how the B2.1U works, but trying to edit the patches without the manual is almost imposible.

damn! it sounds awesome! the other bass Effects I ever used were also from Zoom (607 and 506II) this thing blows them. Also the ammount of effects available are huge (in comparission with the 607) and the possibilities are almost ilimited. I cant say anything about the amp emulations, I have never used a REAL amp/cabinet but they sound good to me, and I have only used this ZOOM through my headphones.

its made of metal, , I think it will handle the pressure ;)

brand new, no problems yet

I been playing since 2002. I play everything i get to learn and I think is a great buy (I paid U$183 brand new) even if you are a newbie on bass or an intermediate player, I think it would even be good for a Pro, I still have to check it to learn how to use it completely

Not the easiset pedal to get a grip of, you have to take some time to dial in a good tone. Many of the presets are quite good-others are complete rubbish. It becomes 2nd nature after awhile and the time you put in is well worth the effort. Great tones/sounds can be produced with this pedal! No bs!

Excellant sound quality overall, amazingly quiet. The znr noise reduction feature does a great job if you dial in a crazy sound in keeping out hum, hiss, static, etc. The standard effects Chorus, Flanger,Tremolo are good enough that I don't bring my dedicated stomp boxes on gigs anymore. The unit has passable compression/limiter features. Auto wah is excellant, Harmonized pitch shifter is excellant, all of the delays (standard, tape echo, ping-pong are excellant) The stereo chorus is the best I have ever heard from a mfx unit. Just started to mess around with the loop solo feature cause I had to get the Fs01 footswitch to engage it but from what I have produced so far it is a lot of fun and destined to be used often. The expression pedal can be used to engage an effect, mix the dry/effect signal in a certain combination, for volume swells, or as a good ole fashion vox wah pedal effect(so so sweep, but it gets the job done when you need a wah and is highly musical) 6 band eq or parametric (I prefer the band eg), chromatic tuner, bright led display. It has a ton more features too. Drum machine, record to computer, you can use headphones with it (aahhhh I love that feature) I did not even discuss the amp modeling and several of the effects. In summary most of the effects sound reall really good, some of them sound downright great, and err the synth effects make me want to vomit.

Can and do gig with this thing without a backup. DI is great to go straight to PA. Having the zoom has made my sansamp superfluous, the zoom's amp modeling of the sansamp is great and it has a ton more features. Solid metal build-Zoom did a great job in making this, a real step up from their previous gear. Can be powered in 3 different ways via usb cord (included), batteries (approx 4-6 hours worth) or via the included power pack (nice touch!)

Methinks I won't need CS the build is so good. You get a 10 for that alone zoom!

Players from all styles will finding something useful in this pedal. It helps me to be creative and make & record music. The bundled cubase software is very barebones and difficult to use IMO-you have to go through like 9 prompts to set it up to record something and even then you cannot export the files to Itunes or other devices to burn cd's (at least in my experience). I ditched the cubase as of late for Audacity (which is free and available online) and I haven't looked back, so much easier to record now and burn cd's of my music, plus you can add tracks from your drummer and guitarist but I digress....

....I highly endorse this pedal for a number of reasons, the price, the sounds, the creativity factor, the features. It is a great pedal and destined to become a MFX classic. This is how you make a mfx pedal. I have had it for over a year and have really gone over its features and I am continually finding something new or combining effects in new ways. I gig with it, I record with it, I practice with it: The Zoom B2.1U A perfect 10 in my book

Ok, first of all, the only way I find "easy" to get a good sound out of this device is by chosing the closest from the pre-programmed patches and work it fron there on. Starting from zero has proven tedious to me. Editing patches is easy, even without consulting the manual. Parameter are rather intuitive, but a nicer display whould definitely be great. Never had a problem with Zoom manuals. For me, keeping them short is a good thing from Zoom. ALL the info you need is in these few pages. There's no uncovered aspects. Even the one thing some reviewers complain about the lower volume of the Drive module can easily be corrected (both its mix and output volume are in the ZNR/Mix module). That's also in the manual ;)

Ok, a little background here. My current amp consists of a SansAmp RBI (from chich my signal goes to PA) chained to a para-EQ and a compressor (only for onstage sound). MY sound is in the RBI in my rack. But sometimes my band travels by plane and then I cannot take my amp with me, so MY sound stays home (I only take my multieffects -an old Boss ME-8B-). My intention is to have my sound and my multieffects together in one device and use any amp as just a power amp (will eventually discard the RBI when using my own amp).

So here comes the sound quality. Amp emulation doesn't seem too faithful to originals (the SansAmp emulation being one of them). Even some models are pointless emulation-wise, as Hartke or Trace Elliot, as they're rather versatile amps. I think emulation makes sense for sort of "one trick pony" equipment, but not for amps that have such a varied palette of tones. Anyway, even though it doesn't seem to emulate the original equipment faithfully, you can still get your tone because the variety of tones you can achieve is HUGE. I found a very similar tone to my RBI's settings with the "Tube Pre" emulation on the B2.1u and it works great (still working on it to polish it a little). And there are two important advantages I noticed here: 1) Even with mix at 100% wet, the amp models don't disguise your bass' tone as much as, for instance, my RBI does and 2) It's WAY MORE QUIET than my RBI (not the most quiet piece of gear, I have to point out).

The B2.1u isn't noisy at all unless you dial in real nonsenses. Even the Compressor didn't sound noisy to me, reason being it can't be used musically past "half-way" settings and therefore, moderation keeps it quiet.

The effects are reasonably good except for the synths. I'll keep my ME-8B forever because of this (and it has survived a GT-6B for the same reason), it has the best T-Wah and synths ever on a multieffects, period (ask Stuart Zender about it). The auto-wah and reso-filter are reasonably ok for live use, but the synths are rather bad unless you mask them amongst lots of dry signal. But then it's usability is still moderate as it's in the same module as the Drive section so you cannot use it if you're using this unit as a preamp as I intend to do.

At the moment I'm using the B2.1u directly into a para-EQ, a compressor and a power amp.

It looks solid and it's heavy enough, but time will tell... Anyway, I'll rate this based on my experience with other Zoom gear I own.

As far as I am concerned, Zoom has always answered my e-mails and they have LOTS of information available online, which is a great thing to have BEFORE you buy something. Top notch service. And I'm comparing to WAY bigger guys whose customer service sucks big time, like Boss, who don't answer a single e-mail, nor have manuals online (and the ones you could eventually get come as PDFs but protected so you cannot print them -shitty service, shitty policies and shitty bass gear apart from the ME8B-).

My main gig is an intense working ska-punk/ska-core band. We literally trave the world every year. I've played bass for 20 years. I mostly play a MusicMan StingRay 5 bass and occasionally a Fernandes Gravity Deluxe V bass. The only downsides I found is the poor display and the useless synths. It definitely IS transparent sounding and doesn't suck tone at all. I haven't dealt with such features as the USB interface so I cannot coment on that. Great value, high wuality on a budget.

The EQ labelling gets tricky with the small display. Things like 120bpm being ".20" suck when a 3 digit display would cost so little...

But its not hard to do, just frustrating.

My mate has a home made "Bass Balls" type autofilter - comparing analog to digital has meant that I no longer use the zoom for gigs (i bought it for the filtering and it sounded great in the shop. The synth presets also don't sound as lush as the real thing. Having said that the extreme effects aren't as good as I expected, they might suit you as the harmonizer type patches do sound authentically digital/aliased.

Sounds cool in the effects loop of organs etc and as a send effect. The input has no metering but seems to handle most signals fine which is cool. Having the pedal is less cool than you might imagine e.g. the drive mix balance isn't very easy to control musically. Having an LFO in the MOD section would help....

WELL DONE ZOOM. Mine gets dropped and kicked all the time. If you had to hit someone with a guitar fx, this would cause some damage

No contact... ASIO drivers were easy to find on the website although no updates since March 2006.

I wish it had LFO to map like you can the pedal.

I wish you could set minimum and maximum pedal values to kick in a little bit of whatever instead of all or nothing e.g. Set up a smooth 5th to 7th pitch change on the pedal.

Doesn't sound as good as the gear it models, but has presets and is NEARLY as good. How can you model a HARTKE cab? Surely its just a convolution device.

The USB audio side works great though and it is CHEAP and TOUGH...

The Zoom is my friend, not my lover

This unit is very user friendly, but the fact that there is no screen telling you what you are fiddling with can sometimes be a bit annoying.
You need to refer to the instruction manual, which is clear enough

I got seduced by the G9.2tt for guitar, and I thought I'd buy the bass version, which is the G9.
The sounds are really good, and so are the effects. Some of them are unusable, but the main ones Chorus, tremolo, disto overdrive etc are good.
I use it with an Aria IGB50 or an Ibanez EDA900.
The equalizer is really good and very responsive, and it allows you to reach an incrdeible panel of tones.

I personally only use that. I gig with it, I carry it around with my bass all the time!
It has never failed me. I am not a pro, so I don't care if this looks amateurish. At the end of the day, your audience is not looking at your gear... And even if they are, what matters most is the music you play...

I had a few trouble with one of the switch that was not responsive, but I guess that is due to dust, and blowing hard on it was enough to solve the problem.

Patch changing is almost instant, and that is great. The delay in changing patches was a big drawback for Zoom products, but they seem to have sorted that out, now.

I didn't have to deal with them regarding a problem.

I would recommend this unit. I find it easy to use, easy to program, and it sounds great.
Although, I wish Zoom released a multi effect that would be a bit more user friendly, with banks and a screen when programming.
The 2 digit screen helps, but sometimes, you have no idea what you are fiddling with, which is a shame.
I hope they'll release a B7.1u or something like that.

you are gonna have to read and re-read the manual but onece you do it will make sence.

I am using a Carvin B800 head and a RL4x10 cab. the synth effects are horrendous non usable. The never seem to do the same thing twice. the wah is good although the pedal is not spring loaded. there is no sustain on the amp models they decay way too fast.

looks like ot would last for a while but I woud never use it on stage, this is not pro gear not by a long shot.

this a toy it is about the same as the plastic one ot replaced. seperate pedals is so far the only way to get what I want. that are a lne6 or a korg. folks on a budget do not waste your time. save your icash and get a line6 Boss gt6 or ME5b or a korg toneworks

Very easy to use. Simple patch editing, simple manual. Usable straight out of the box.

-I like the simulated MXR patch for the distortion, and since I can mix the balance of original and effected signal, I can still keep that low tone.
-The synth fx is rather disappointing... it didn't respond fast enough for me
-The envelope filter is a standard one.. not too fancy but usable in some of my songs
-The amp simulations are nice, especially the SVT, SWR, Hartke and Trace Eliott.
-It's a very quiet unit, but when I connect it to the laptop via USB, suddenly the noise is there... don't know what cause d it...
-I'm using a custom-made P bass. I edit my own patches with a headphone

Sturdy enough, I'd gig with it without any backup

I play many different musical styles in 3 different bands, and this unit suits my need well. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one if this one is lost. I really recommend this unit for those who had a tight budget, but in a dire need of a good quality bass multi fx unit. I bought it for Rp. 1.200.000 new (approx. US$120)

"Good sound" is fairly subjective, so what I think is good others may not. Given the wide variety of the default patches in this unit, there should be something there to please everyone. So, getting a sound you like is easy right off the bat. Getting a sound you're happy to use outside of the bedroom may take a little longer.

Editing patches isn't too bad. The trouble is the tiny 2x7 segment display. Learning the hieroglyphics so you can tweak this thing is a bit of a pain. Thankfully the manual has a decent list of all the patches, and provided you have it on hand when you're learning the unit it's not too hard. It's a shame though that it can't be a bit more intuitive.

My unit shipped with a list of the factory patches, so seems that the previous reviewers concerns have been addressed.

Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty straight forward and fast to edit. It's super easy to use once it's all programmed up.

I'm using this mainly as a USB audio device. I run Ableton Live for most of what I do, but have also used it with Audition. I have tried it with a EBMM Stingray, a Warwick Corvette and a Fender Telecaster thus far, all with good results. Yes, even the guitar sounded good once I'd sorted out a patch for it!

It's a little noisy on extreme settings as you would expect, but the ZNR noise reduction circuit does a very nice job of gating the noise. The effects are pretty good for this type of unit. Some aren't as extreme as I'd like them to be, but I'm into extreme effects so that's not unusual.

Mostly I plug headphones directly into the unit. The one thing that would've been really nice was a headphone volume control, but you can't have everything. There's no need to flick a switch to change modes between instrument output and headphone output, so if I want to plug into my amp I just pull out the 'phones and plug in a guitar cable. Very clever.

A lot of the factory patches are modeled after famous players like Pino Paladino, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, Flea, Jaco etc. They're sort of ok, the Marcus Miller patch is pretty cool, and some of the others are ok but some just miss the mark by a long way. The Tony Levin modeled patch is modeled after his early King Crimson days, I would have preferred the Peter Gabriel era patch!

I wouldn't say any of the effects are bad, but some leave a bit to be desired. Like, the tremolo is functional and sounds ok I guess, but it's limited in it's rate range and LFO curve shapes. The compressor isn't fully tweakable, only giving you two controls. Nothing out of the ordinary for these types of devices, but a little disappointing all the same.

The drum machine sounds ok and is easy to use. Shame that there's only 40 patterns, and 5 of those are metronomes! Could have done with more options there. Still, it's handy for those quick ideas.

It feels stronger than it looks. Maybe that's just because some of us are conditioned into thinking that Zoom stuff is flimsy. This one is quite heavy, feels really solid, and the exp. pedal doesn't feel like it's going to break on you. All the buttons feel sturdy, the encoders and rotary switch seem of high quality... all around it's really well put together - looking from the outside that is!

I don't plan to go poking around inside, but one would assume that it's pretty schmicko inside as well.

I don't plan to gig with this unit, so I can't really say how it would stand up to that kind of abuse. For what I use it for it should last forever!

I do like the fact that you can power it in three ways, via USB, via a wall wart or via batteries. That could be a life saver at a gig! (Well, maybe not the USB part...)

Never dealt with them. The website seems pretty good though.

It suits just about any style, but it's maybe not marketing itself to the country and western fraternity! If it got nicked I wouldn't automatically go out and buy the same thing - but it's quite possible that the same thing that appealed to me this time would appeal again; That is to say that it's just about the cheapest USB audio device I've encountered that retains features useful for guitar-like instruments, and it's specifically for bassists which is even better!

I love the simplicity of use with in a DAW application. It worked straight out of the box with the standard windows codec and driver. (ASIO driver available too.) The headphone/instrument socket is handy in that you can quickly and easily swap between monitoring modes.

I hate the display. Surely a two line LCD wouldn't have been that much more difficult to implement.

Comparing it with other USB audio devices you just can't go past the price. If you want value for money, simplicity and some added value, then this is the USB audio device to go for. There are cheaper units, but they're not designed to deal with instrument inputs and they don't contain any added benefits. You can justify the full cost of this unit just on the USB interface and the Cubase SE software. So, add to that an effects unit with a built in exp pedal and drum machine and you've got a winner.

So it's not perfect, but for that price who cares?! It definitely helps me create music, that and Ableton combined have made a dramatic impact on how I write and jam, and at a pinch it will help us record a demo in the near future.

I think Zoom are missing the opportunity here to really plug the USB capability. To me this is the winning feature of the device and yet in languishes at the bottom of the web page. Shame they couldn't get in on the deal with Ableton like Line 6 did with their ToneCore line, but Cubase is not a bad compromise.

This is Zoom's newest amp/cab modeling and effects processor for bass guitar. It's fairly easy to get a good sound out of it, although as with most effects processors, the majority of the presets are a bit over-the-top. You can get some great tones by creating your own presets however. Editing is fairly easy once you get the hang of it (there are "hints" printed at each knob, but you still have to pretty much remember what each knob actually does based on what parameter you're editing...once you've learned this, then the hints become useful.) The manual isn't great, but it's sufficient. You have to use your ears to see how the sound changes as you turn knobs, which is what you should be doing anyway. The firmware is burned onto a read-only chip, so there is no upgrade possible to this device. Not as many parameters are tweakable as I would prefer, but it's still plenty sufficient to get some great tones out of it.

I'm using a Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray5, Conklin GT-5, G&L L-2500 Tribute, Dean Edge 5 fretless, and BSX ST-4 electric upright. These into go one of the following: an SWR SM-900 and Bergantino HT-322 cab, a Nemesis NC-200 combo, direct into my church's large PA and monitoring system, or direct into a digital recorder.

With 24 bit 96KHz sampling, the AD and DA conversion is as accurate as current studio recording gear. This pedal is very quiet

I have mostly used SWR bass amplification gear, and I think the SWR model is extremely accurate...the "tone" knob even functions as the aural enhancer when using the SWR model and to me it sounds very authentic. The Ampeg model is also very accurate...the Ampeg overdrive sounds very authentic, although it's not as touch-sensitive as a real SVT head nor one of the Sansamp BDDI's. Those are the two models that I use consistently, the other's sound fine but I can't comment on how authentic they are.

In my opinion, the compressor model built into this guy is very musical. Compressors generally are either completely transparent, somewhat quirky but very musical, or somewhat quirky and not very musical. In this case, I think the compressor is somewhat quirky but VERY musical...the middle settings really accentuate finger-picking dynamics. I really like this compressor algorithm. There's also a limiter model that sounds more like a very transparent compressor.

The effects are good, but not the absolute best I've ever heard. The chorus sounds good and fairly creamy...this is the bass effect I used most often. The Ampeg over-drive is very warm and punchy (not buzzy), and it sounds good to my ears.

The EQ section is rather good...you can choose between a 6-band graphic EQ or 2 bands of fully parametric EQ (or mix the two). I'd really like to see them add a high and low shelving plus two semi-parametric bands (which would use the exact same number of knobs), but perhaps we'll see that in a future release.

Not that currently this is the only floor-type bass modeler/effect processor that has an XLR output (in addition to 1/4" output) AND a ground-lift switch. This is perfect for going straight into the PA at church (no amps on stage). The Boss GT-6B has two XLR-outs but no ground lift switch...as far as I know, no other bass floor processors have XLR outs. Both the XLR out and the 1/4" out are very quiet. The only noise that I can detect at all is barely audible hiss from the compressor, and that is effectively eliminated by the noise gate when not playing (it's inaudible when you are playing). This is definitely quiet enough to record with.

I've had this gadget about a month or so, but...construction seems very sturdy, foot switches are metal and solid...I can't imagine it breaking unless you throw it around the room. I will use it in church without a backup.

Zoom is distributed in the US by Samson. Samson customer service isn't great, but it isn't terrible. If you need a repair to it, I would expect that you'd have to send the pedal to them and wait 4-8 weeks to get it back repaired or replaced. That said, I really wouldn't expect anything to break on it unless you really abuse it.

I have played rock, metal, funk, and currently do contemporary Christian music. I've played bass guitar for about 15 years. If it were stolen or lost, I'd definitely buy another one. Zoom's previous bass processors were more like toys than tools...this one however is very much a useful and high-quality tool. It's small, light, uses very little power, is sturdy, sounds good, and has a quiet XLR out...perfect for using in church or other venues where you go direct into a PA.

The features and sound this pedal offers are certainly more than sufficient for most people. I would really like to see Zoom introduce a larger, more capable, and more tweakable model that is comparable to their G7.1tu for guitar...a B7.1u for bass guitar. If you read this, please email Zoom at info@zoom.co.jp and ask them to create a create a B7.1u for bass guitar. They are generally fairly responsive to input from the users of their products...if enough people ask (indicating enough demand for a product), they'll create it.

I'm not a big effects user. I purchased the B2.1u primarily because it 's DI capability allows me to go places where I can just plug into a sound system without having to lug along my amp. I was, however, attracted to the amp modeling and the de-fretting feature - I am not "wowed" by either but pleasantly satisfied.

Editing patches isn't difficult, but it wasn't as intuitive as I expected it to be thanks in part to a manual that could undoubtedly be better. However, once I figured out what the manual was trying to tell me, it was amazingly simple... and FUN!

What I would like to have seen as part of the manual is a page listing all the factory patches and their locations. It's difficult with some of the patches to tell exactly what effect your listening to - particularly in the amp models.

I'm using a Cort Curbow 5 upgraded with a Bartolini MK5 pickup and Aguilar OBP3 electronics.

There are some effects right out of the box that are a just too noisy to use - typically accompanied by and electronic buzz. Without running through the 2B.1u, my bass is dead silent, so I'm confident the buzzing is coming from the pedal.

Again, I'm not a big effects person, so many, if not most, of the pre-set effects are fairly useless to me. I suppose if I played with a lot of distortion and such they might be useful, but I prefer a purer sound. I'm sure the longer I own this unit I'll be able to create my own arsenal of effects that fit my style. I just wish there was a way to back them up and manage them on a computer since this thing does have a USB connection and is designed to work with a computer.

I did play around with some settings and came up with my own patch that gives me an effect that almost sounds like a clarinet playing in unison along with my bass. Very cool, as I can use the expression pedal to mix the two from having all bass to having no bass and only "clarinet" effect. I could envision me using this patch sometime as a jazzy Weather Report style duetinterlude sort of thing during a band break. It probably wouldn't impress the jazz purists that might be listening, but it would certainly take people by surprise.

I have tried the B2.1u with my Roland keyboard amp and my Ampeg bass amp and a Fender Bassman amp. However, my preference is to use studio quality headphones when tweaking patches as I feel doing so helps make my tweaks more universally acceptable. I really like the fact that I can take the B2.1u, my bass and my headphones out on my porch and spend some time creating new patches, modifying old ones and jamming along with the internal drum machine.

The sounds are pretty flexible (once you get the hang of how to modify and save your settings) and of usable quality. I'm not sure how well some would work in running direct to a recording console via USB since there are some factory pre-sets that have a rather annoying buzz. However, I'm sure once I spend more time with it and identify which effects are notorious for creating buzz I'll be able to tweak them to an acceptable level.

I suspect I'll be able to depend on the 2B.1u if I handle it with reasonable care. It seems to be well built and there's nothing cheap feeling about it.

I haven't had to deal with customer support for this unit. I was, however, curious to hear some of the effects prior to purchasing it since none of my local dealers carry them yet. I contacted Sales via their web site and was given a link to Zoom's site in Japan where they had some sound clips to listen to.

I play contemporary Christian rock, funk, praise & worship, etc. I have been playing since 1975. I own an amazing top of the line 1980 Vantage Performer bass guitar, a Tacoma DM10, a custom shop Tacoma EKK19C-E3, a 1984 Ovation Custom Legend, a Samick FA2 electric guitar, a Roland Fantom X6 keyboard, and various other instruments.

If this device were lost or stolen I would probably replace it.

My favorite features are the DI, the fact that I can use it in place of my amp and that I can hook up headphones and sit on my porch and get creative.