VT Bass or MXR M-80

[singlemalt]

I've had a few of these boxes pass through my hands. The Sans Amp para driver, Xotic RC-2 bass booster, and a couple others that I can't remember. The MXR M80 has been the box that outlasted them all. Never leave home without it. The main on off switch broke, so I wired it to "on" all the time, since I never turned it off anyway. (it would have been and easy fix, but I didn't feel like hunting down a new switch.)

What I like: the clean channel preamp and color button preset eq, the tone controls, and most of all the phantom power option. With the board powering the box, there's no more dead or dying batteries, and this box sound terrible when the 9 volt battery power starts to fade. It's a great di, and it can save you when you meet crappy backline gear, or your amp decides to crap out.

I've even made peace with the dirt side, but I use it for very slight color and grit, not big over drive. The color button that scoops the clean side to a preset eq kicks in automatically when the dirt side is on. No choice about it and that's a bummer. Once you really get into the dirt side the sound gets pretty thin.

The MXR covers a lot of ground, it's a keeper. You might add something else to get more usable dirt range.

Nice job Matt!

Matt, nice job demoing the MXR and the other pedals! That colour button does a great job. I've held on to the Bass wah as well

For big nasty fuzz I'd use an old guitar pedal, the Big Muff.

Half the fun of TB is buying and selling and trading pedals.

[sevdog]

I have both and use both. VERY different sounding pedals.

It's not like comparing two chorus pedals or two delay pedals or something. They don't do the same thing.

[topo morto]

Rusty box.

[scottfeldstein]

I'd want to have both the VT Bass and the M80. One for retro rock tones and one for a decent DI and some serious chainsaw distortion.

I bet it sounds cool when you send the VT-enhanced signal to the M80's distortion channel...

[DonBorelli]

Originally Posted by RCCollins

justin meldal-johnson does

Source?

I remember him saying that he is NOT a big fan of the MXR M-80.

[wshines1892]

Guys, it's obvious his budget is around $100 if he's looking at a VT or an M80. I dig it that the B3K may indeed be sweet, but it's pointless to + something if the OP can't afford it.

On topic, I've been looking at the M80 myself. If you want a pre and distortion it's the obvious answer. The Vt can get gritty, but I wouldn't use it for distortion. Plus, the M80 has the direct out, a clean blend for the distortion and has the distortion on a separate footswitch. Also it doesn't seem to scoop quite so much as the Sansamp without you wanting it to.

[VanillaThundah]

Originally Posted by LSMFT6

. . . except for the tone of having the speaker sim off, which makes the pedal sound much better IMO

Yeah, but the regular pedal can't be powered via phantom power, doesn't have an effects loop, and lacks a dry out in case you want to send a clean signal to the board via 1/4" or run it as a tuner out and have the VT tone on your rig. Options are nice, which is why I like the VT deluxe, more of them

[LSMFT6]

Originally Posted by wshines1892

The Vt can get gritty, but I wouldn't use it for distortion.

I do

I've not found a better (i.e., more tweakable) bass distortion that doesn't get fuzzed-out when you start getting into higher gain territories. And FWIW, i think the VT has a lot more tonal control than the M80, mostly due to that darn Color button.

Would a clean blend on the VT be nice? Hell yeah, but in my experience with the M80, i couldn't get the preamp side and distortion side to each sound good with the same knob settings. Having a separate footswitch for each is nice, but not if you have to bend down and change your settings whenever you kick one of them on or off.

I liked the M80's distortion channel, but losing ALL my mids with it on just isn't going to work, especially when the VT's works so well and there's the Character knob to really hone things in.

[AndyLES]

Like I said in one of the other 3.5 million MXR M-80 threads, I think the midscoop is overstated. Don't like it? Just crank the mid control.

[LSMFT6]

Originally Posted by VanillaThundah

Yeah, but the regular pedal can't be powered via phantom power, doesn't have an effects loop, and lacks a dry out in case you want to send a clean signal to the board via 1/4" or run it as a tuner out and have the VT tone on your rig. Options are nice, which is why I like the VT deluxe, more of them

Very true, but most of those features are things the average guy would want in a DI, not necessarily a dedicated distortion pedal (like the OP and myself).

Would i use a clean blend and effects loop (and maybe a preset or three if i had the option of the speaker sim button) on my VT if those were available? In a heartbeat. But all those other features and the rather bulky size of the Deluxe just don't work for my setup.

I wish Tech 21 (along with most other pedal companies) would have some kind of raffle where an average guy would get his own signature custom version of a pedal

[LSMFT6]

Originally Posted by AndyLES

Like I said in one of the other 3.5 million MXR M-80 threads, I think the midscoop is overstated. Don't like it? Just crank the mid control.

From my experience, cranking it all the way up only gets you to the "flat" level, at best. Even then it still sounds a little scooped. And then when you switch the distortion side off, your mids are boosted way too much.
Why they made the Color switch "always on" for the distortion channel, i will never understand.

[scottfeldstein]

Yeah, it's another one of those "oh, you don't like it? Use teh BLEND knob to remove it."

ಠ_ಠ

[LSMFT6]

Yep. Imagine though how good it would sound if you didn't need to blend your clean signal back in to compensate.

[AndyLES]

And again, I'm befuddled by people so obsessed with midrange. I like it; it's important to have SOME. But like I said in another thread, the snare, lead vocal, and guitar live there too, and there's only so much space in that frequency range.

It also depends on your circumstances - my Pbass pickup is VERY midrangey and benefits from the cut. If yours is not, then it does not. Don't go by what someone tell you (OMG IT CUTS MIDS!!!!!) and instead judge it yourself with your OWN EARS. If it works for you, great. If not, use something else and move on already. There's almost literally thousands of OD options out there.

[AndyLES]

Originally Posted by LSMFT6

Yep. Imagine though how good it would sound if you didn't need to blend your clean signal back in to compensate.

Clipping often cuts low frequencies by its very nature. This is why nearly every bass-friendly OD has some sort of blend control.

[Road Bull]

Originally Posted by scottfeldstein

I'd want to have both the VT Bass and the M80. One for retro rock tones and one for a decent DI and some serious chainsaw distortion.

I bet it sounds cool when you send the VT-enhanced signal to the M80's distortion channel...

It does. I have been playing around with this since I received my B3K. I have been getting close to getting a Darkglass tone out of my VT and MXR M 80. All nice flavors.

[nikki271027]

that's a mxr m80 video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huc_bdPmIFA
i like the rich bottom.

can VT bass do that?

[LSMFT6]

Originally Posted by AndyLES

And again, I'm befuddled by people so obsessed with midrange. I like it; it's important to have SOME. But like I said in another thread, the snare, lead vocal, and guitar live there too, and there's only so much space in that frequency range.

What i meant is that mids are a defining character in bass tone. How that part of the spectrum is shaped determines the majority of what makes your sound distinct, and that's why i take issue with a pedal that reshapes your mids so drastically. The OP asked for opinions and this is mine - if i had known this about the M80 i never would have bought it in the first place. Just trying to make sure the OP can make an educated decision.

It also depends on your circumstances - my Pbass pickup is VERY midrangey and benefits from the cut . . . Don't go by what someone tell you (OMG IT CUTS MIDS!!!!!)

True, you should make up your own mind, but forums like this are a great place to gather info from people who've owned the pedal you're interested in. Now that we've established that the M80's distortion does have a significant mid-scoop despite having a mids control, hopefully anyone who sees this from now on can determine whether or not that's something that they would like.

[scottfeldstein]

Yes, mids are always the key to getting tone A, tone B and tone C--whatever they are, they are different from each other probably in the midrange. An effect pedal that had one, set way to have your mids is kind of a limiting thing. This is a major beef against the BDDI for some people. It gets tone A just right...but there is no tone B or C because the mids can't really change.

They can in this pedal, though. The color button can go on or off in the clean channel. Plus there's a mid knob. It's true that it's always on in the distortion channel, but you do have a blend knob and you still have the mid knob to compensate if you want to do that.

[Zoa]

I have owned both, and the VT wins hands down for me. While the VT doesn't do full-on distortion as well as the M-80, it gets pretty darn close, if you're willing to spend some time fiddling with the character and drive knobs. But, the VT does everything from clean to moderately distorted much better than the M-80.

Plus, the VT is just a better-designed, more versatile pedal. No ever-present mid-scoop, no annoying imbalances (i:e: Colorbuttongate) and a huge amount of tonal variation.

The VT does come with two caveats: 1) You have to like the classic Ampeg set of tones, and 2) You HAVE to have the patience and time to figure out how it works. The controls interact so much, and are so sensitive, that it takes a while to get a hang of and get what you want. Once you do, though, you're golden. Pedal of the future.