What are the differences between bb and bbl?
The bitrate of the samples is higher of the large, the mini has fixed drum patterns, where the large has changeable patterns. The large has midi the mini does not. the large has a menu where you can activate or deactivate certain features, like intro or outro. The large has the possibility to save settings for each song and a songlist. With the mini you have to change the tempo every time you want to play a new song. Just to name a few differences. If you can spare the money, the large would be a better choice in my opinion. The mini has more limitations and seems to play some kind of intro every time you start it.
Thank you for that concise description, I have the regular BB and my nephew fell in love with my BB this weekend, but the BB is a bit above his pocket book. He is a beginner bass player and it helped to give him some structure in his practicing.
In that case the mini might be a good help, it has enough different patterns to practice with.
A computer with a drum program or a DAW might also be an option.