Check Out the Samples for Our G3 Patch Set!
Our first set of 35 original sounds for harmonica and the Zoom G3 is now available for purchase at this site! For your listening pleasure, we’ve recorded those sounds as we played them, using a Seydel Session Steel harp in the key of Bb and an Audix Fireball mic and a Zoom H4 digital recorder positioned about 6 inches in front of the speaker grill on our Peavey KB2 keyboard amp. No post-recording processing has been applied to these samples, except to normalize the volume levels; this is what the patches sound like, and nothing else.
As per our post on this subject, different mics sound WAY different with an amp modeler, just as they would with a “real” amp. (Check that post out if you want to hear the difference.) We like the Fireball V as an all-around great performer (with less feedback than any other mic we’ve tried, which counts a lot when you’re playing with a loud band), but if you want maximum grind in your tone, which many blues players do, use a mic that grinds! The usual suspects for that purpose include a Green Bullet, a Bottle o’ Blues, or a Shure SM57.
The samples below are laid out in the order in which you encounter them on the G3 with our patch set in it: basic blues and rock, followed by clean sounds, followed by heavily effected sounds that take harmonica to some new places. We think this layout will work well for most players: the bread and butter stuff first, and the crazy cool stuff in your back pocket for when you want to hit a note and see every head in the room turn your way. Of course, if you’d rather lay the patches out in a different order, Zoom’s Edit&Share software makes it easy.
Enjoy! And if you like what you hear, click here to buy!
Amped up Blues and Rock
These patches are designed for everyday blues and rock sounds. Effects, when used, are simple and straightforward.
Basic Bassman
Bassman Spring
Bassman Tape Echo
Bassman Vibrato
Bassman Tremolo
Bassman Phase Shifter
Vibrolux
Vibrolux Vibrato
Deluxe Reverb Vibrato
Bassman CE Chorus
Clean
These patches are built with little or no “amped” tone, and use reverb and delay, along with occasional effects like detune (which produces a tremolo-harp sound) and chorus (for that sweet shimmery sound) to create “acoustic” spaces that range from close-up to cathedral.
Clean Detune Reverb
Clean Reverb
Clean Modulated Delay Reverb
Clean Slapback
Clean Detune Reverb (variation)
CE Chorus HD Reverb
Digital Delay Detune HD Reverb
Slapback
Tenor Sax Harp
Clean Vibrato HD Reverb
Far From Ordinary
Okay, this is where we–and you–get our freak on. These patches are big, tough, and very, very different. We use pitch shifters, auto-wahs, and a variety of filters along with other modulation FX to create huge, otherworldly harp sounds.
Twin Filter Delay
Twin Big Low
Twin Bigger Low
BG Crunch Octave Down Phase Shifter
BG Crunch Octave Down Vibrato
BG Crunch Random Filter Vibrato
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9 Comments
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Love it! And I’m buying it. Thanks so much for putting these together.
Hi – Can all (some) of the patches be used with the Zoom MS-100BT MultiStomp Effects Pedal ?
Thanks
@ Gus: I don’t know. I’s an important question. I’ll check with Zoom tech support. Thanks! RH
@ Gus: not looking good. The MS-100BT only works with iOS devices, and it appears from a look at Zoom’s website that they don’t even offer a librarian application like Edit&Share for it. The MS-100BT and MS-50G are not listed as devices supported by Edit&Share. I sent an inquiry to Zoom, and we’ll see what they say, but right now it seems likely that the answer is no. So there’s no automated way to transfer patches; you’d have to input them parameter by parameter to the MS-100BT.
Bummer…Thanks for checking. Are they compatible if entered manually? Can you post sound samples of the organ patches?
@Gus: I don’t know for sure that they’re compatible; my guess is that they are, since the specs are very similar. The question is whether you could get the patch set into Edit&Share without a Zoom G3 in the picture; I think that’s doable. Then you’d have to read the patch setups from Edit&Share–which works whether or not a G3 is connected, as I’ve just confirmed–and dial in the setups on the MS-100BT. If you want to try it, I’ll offer you a patch set with a full refund in the event that it doesn’t work.
Regarding the “organ patches”–the Zooms at this level don’t offer a rotary speaker effect. They do offer an “organ” effect, which sounds pretty awful in my opinion. Any of the vibrato patches (which include the word “Vibrato” in their name) might be used as a substitute for an organ sound; some of my patches are remarkably convincing in that role. Check out the samples for the patches with Vibrato.
Just found this – last time I looked you were only doing the Digitech stuff.
Been playing a bit of bass – I have the Zoom B3 which is brilliant! Also using the edit & Share software.
Obvious question about compatibility between G3 and B3 – I’m have 2 questions:
Getting the patches in – should be OK but I know the G3 can do 6 at a time while the B3 only does 3.
Also: is the B3 set up with different EQ values from the G3, as its is for bass vs guitar?
Thanks
Paul
@Paul: Paul, I don’t know much about the B3. My guess is that it uses a very different set of amp and FX models from the G3, and I doubt that the G3 patches I created will work well (if at all) in the B3.
@Paul: the B3 is a completely different device from the G3, with an entirely different set of amp models and FX. So you can’t easily translate from one to the other.
My guess is that the B3 is set up so that the FX respond most to signals in the 100hz-1kZ range, which is basically where bass lives. 100 hZ is a little low for harmonica, but harmonica puts out a lot of energy in the 400-600 hZ range, and so the FX in the B3 should in theory at least sound pretty good on an amped harmonica. The preset list looks very interesting, especially if you like electronica.