MXR M80 as slight boost/grit?

[MCS4]

I am looking for a pedal to give a volume boost with moderate distortion to fill the space when my band's guitarists are playing clean/melody/solo parts. The amount of drive does not need to be particularly high, and I prefer a pedal that allows clean/dirty blending or at least does a good job of retaining a full-range bass sound.

I currently use the bass driver on my Boss ME-50B, which is roughly the right idea but I'm looking for a better distortion tone and better fidelity to my clean bass sound.

Currently, I am leaning toward the MXR M80. Does anyone else use the M80 for roughly this purpose?

If the M80's distortion sound fits, it seems ideal due to its added DI, volume, and tone-shaping options. This is a nice bonus because I intend to drop the ME-50B in favor of a pedalboard and it would be nice to have some minimal volume/EQ abilities without a separate pedal.

However, none of this matters if the distortion doesn't sound great for my purposes. Anyone have thoughts? Suggested alternatives are also appreciated.

[Woodsbass]

Shut up and take my money!!!

Here is a thread where Mr. scottfeldstein made some clips that sold me on the M80 distortion.

[cheapbasslovin]

In my opinion the M 80 is excellent for this.

[scottfeldstein]

Yeah, I really am digging mine.

[2milehighspike]

I use mine for exactly that purpose, I was not impressed with the od by itself, but in a live mix it sounds great.

[Gmclachlan]

I agree, not the most amazing distortion, but it works well as a boost with a little grit. The only thing I would add is if you are going to use it with a low blend ratio, that is, the blend knob turned down quite a bit, I am reasonably sure that the color circuit (the scooped EQ curve) is still fully engaged, I don't it is affected by the blend knob. So if you want your tone with just a little grit, you going to get the color switch curve in the bargain. You can use the rotary knob EQ to offset this mostly, but then the clean side without using the color button becomes a little unusable. You might end up liking it with it on anyway. Scottfeldstein might know more about this.

[scottfeldstein]

Yes, the color circuit is automatically engaged in the distortion channel no matter what the switch position. I run mine engaged in both channels, but the mid knob boosted to 9 o'clock to avoid being lost in an overly-scooped EQ. I think it works well. Both channels off for my middy, fingerstyle sound; the EQ channel engaged for a slap EQ that is slightly has the character of the color circuit but the mids bumped; and the distortion channel for full rock-out tone.

[MCS4]

Scott, do you have any experience regarding whether the distortion cuts through in a live setting with the EQ set as you described? Otherwise the concept of boosting the mid to counteract the circuit, and then using the clean channel as a slightly scooped tone option, appeals to me (my primary tone is a middy fingerstyle sound as well).

[jumblemind]

I use the distortion channel as a gritty boost, and I have the EQ controls at noon, except for a boost on the middle. Cuts through in my saturated-guitar/loud drums band mix very well.

[scottfeldstein]

Originally Posted by MCS4

Scott, do you have any experience regarding whether the distortion cuts through in a live setting with the EQ set as you described? Otherwise the concept of boosting the mid to counteract the circuit, and then using the clean channel as a slightly scooped tone option, appeals to me (my primary tone is a middy fingerstyle sound as well).

Unfortunately I haven't had a gig in a while. Been working in the home studio. But for "live" rehearsal it seems to work really well. My guitar player isn't crazy. But we do have a lot of thick synths and hip-hop drums going and I still pretty much dominate the mix. So I anticipate it'll work well this spring when we start playing again.

[MCS4]

Great. Thanks for the help.