The "Official" MTD USA Thread (Part 8)

[bass12]

Originally Posted by LeonD

I asked Mike about that. He said when they were designing the preamp, they agonized about adding a passive setting. In the end he decided not to because the pickups were so low output, he thought they would be nearly unusable without the preamp.

Not as unusable as an MTD with a dead battery!

[KJung]

Originally Posted by bass12

Not as unusable as an MTD with a dead battery!

+1 The unusual 'active pickups' in the MTD preclude the option of passive performance. You could bypass the secondary preamp of course (the standard on-board), but you still would have buffering and all the other stuff that results from an active circuit in the pickups themselves.

And +1 to the above discussion of EQ settings. Please, Mike, take two minutes on the word processor and delete those ridiculous EQ setting suggestions!

[pauliebass]

^+1

[Baird6869]

Originally Posted by KJung

And +1 to the above discussion of EQ settings. Please, Mike, take two minutes on the word processor and delete those ridiculous EQ setting suggestions!

+1.

When i started playing atound with my 535 as per those settings..... That is a couple hours of my life I won't get back.

[blueacid4l]

Originally Posted by KJung

+1 The unusual 'active pickups' in the MTD preclude the option of passive performance. You could bypass the secondary preamp of course (the standard on-board), but you still would have buffering and all the other stuff that results from an active circuit in the pickups themselves.

And +1 to the above discussion of EQ settings. Please, Mike, take two minutes on the word processor and delete those ridiculous EQ setting suggestions!

While I'm not in the Club yet (my scheduled completion is in July ), I tend to use the onboard EQ minimally as well. That being said, Andrew Gouche is probably one of the most noted MTD Endorsers (as well as Norm Stockton) and I heard the he just SLAMS all the EQ knobs on his bass all to 10. I remember thinking how odd that was.

A few years ago I had sent an email to Adam Nitti asking him about the great tone he got on his Balance CD. He told me that a lot of what I was hearing was his Stingray and not his Curbow. When I asked about his settings, I think he said something like "Bass flat, Considerable Mid Boost, and cutting Highs" Never thought anyone would EQ a Stingray like that... BUT.. it worked. Actually recently I've been straying from the idea of keeping everything close to flat and trying interesting things at venues like boosting only the mid knob, actually rolling OFF highs during slap passages, or even CUTTING bass.

Surprisingly on some instruments, those tweaks did interesting things to the sound that I liked. I learned to just trust my ears and forget about the Stigma that all Soundguys prefer flat, un-eq'd bass for their mix. I think at the end of the day, they just want a signal that sits well and is tasteful... and that could be just your bridge pickup solo'd with the Bass and Mids completely Maxed and your Treble Completely off... it really just depends on the context.

[Virgil]

Originally Posted by blueacid4l

While I'm not in the Club yet (my scheduled completion is in July ), I tend to use the onboard EQ minimally as well. That being said, Andrew Gouche is probably one of the most noted MTD Endorsers (as well as Norm Stockton) and I heard the he just SLAMS all the EQ knobs on his bass all to 10. I remember thinking how odd that was.

A few years ago I had sent an email to Adam Nitti asking him about the great tone he got on his Balance CD. He told me that a lot of what I was hearing was his Stingray and not his Curbow. When I asked about his settings, I think he said something like "Bass flat, Considerable Mid Boost, and cutting Highs" Never thought anyone would EQ a Stingray like that... BUT.. it worked. Actually recently I've been straying from the idea of keeping everything close to flat and trying interesting things at venues like boosting only the mid knob, actually rolling OFF highs during slap passages, or even CUTTING bass.

Surprisingly on some instruments, those tweaks did interesting things to the sound that I liked. I learned to just trust my ears and forget about the Stigma that all Soundguys prefer flat, un-eq'd bass for their mix. I think at the end of the day, they just want a signal that sits well and is tasteful... and that could be just your bridge pickup solo'd with the Bass and Mids completely Maxed and your Treble Completely off... it really just depends on the context.

I rarely if ever take at advice from anybody as to where to set my EQ. I start off with everything flat, and tweak until I hear what I want. Wherever the EQ points are when I am done, is irrelevant, as long as it sounds good to me.

[bass12]

Originally Posted by Virgil

I rarely if ever take at advice from anybody as to where to set my EQ. I start off with everything flat, and tweak until I hear what I want. Wherever the EQ points are when I am done, is irrelevant, as long as it sounds good to me.

I like to think that I'm the best judge of my EQ settings but sometimes what I'm hearing right in front of my amp is not what the people in the audience (or the FOH guy if there is one) are hearing. But I know what you mean, it's usually better to use your ears than some preconceived notion of where the position marker on your EQ pots should be pointing. Having said that, I've never had a sound guy complain about the EQ settings I've chosen on my 535s. If anything I get compliments about how easy the bass is to mix.

[Hot Pocket]

[Baird6869]

Nice! Nice! Nice!...... and Nice!

Originally Posted by Hot Pocket

[rodneyat]

Originally Posted by Hot Pocket

So you picked up the steal on the 735 on ebay. Nice score.

[metallutca]

Who's going to NAMM? Do post pics from MTD booth!

[bass12]

HotPocket, I see you ended up with my old ebony-topped 535.

[LeonD]

About nine months ago, I had a bass I really liked the tone of but it was a six string and I really wanted a four. When I priced out what a four would cost from that company, it put me in the same range as a new USA MTD.

I've owned two MTD's in the past (one of them being the nicest sounding bass I've recorded). The problem was both had too many strings, the wrong number of frets and the wrong scale length. This would be my chance to get the perfect bass for me; a four string, 24 fret, 34 inch MTD (or a 434-24). I search for used but couldn't find one. That's when the call went out to Glenn at Austin Bass Traders. Great guy to work with. Between Glenn and Mike, we arrived at my perfect bass.

This was the first bass I have ever ordered where I didn't specify the wood. Instead, I specified the tone. I asked for three things: 1. a tight low end; not boomy 2. articulate; when I play chords, every note is distinct 3. slight high mid boost to cut in a mix.

Based on the above, the recommendation was a makore body, maple or makore top, maple neck and maple or ebony fretboard. In the end I went with a makore body, maple top, maple neck and ebony fretboard. I had the chance to go to Mike's shop and pick from about ten makore and maple tops.

When ordered, Mike said the bass would be done early January. I picked it up on January 10. An active workshop is a tough place to critically listen to a bass but I did compared it to another MTD that Mike just finished. Two very different sounds. The other bass sounded very wide down low while mine was very direct and focused.

Last Saturday was my first gig with the bass. Tough location. It's restaurant/pub with barely enough room to sit and play; I was literally eight inches from my cabinet and it was pointing away from me. The gig was a duo with a singer/acoustic guitar (with loops) going thru a PA and I was going thru a GK MB800 and Bergantino AE112.

Mike and Glenn delivered in spades. This bass completely exceeded all my expectations. For 2012, I've been using a P bass to cut thru on gigs like this. The MTD cut even better then my P4. My bass settings on the bass were highs - flat, mids - 50% boost (on low or mid frequency), bass - cut 50% and pickup pan - 75/25% favoring the bridge pickup. (All the tone controls on the amp were flat and the tweeter on the cab was at 25%.) This was a full sound that cut thru no matter what the guitar/vocals were doing. And it was very easy to dial in or out whatever frequencies needed to be changed.

Granted the honeymoon is still on but this bass just works. No regrets at all on any step of the process.


















And finally, the 434-24 on the gig.

[bass12]

Congratulations, Leon - beautiful bass!

[blen dem]

Very nice bass ya got there Leon, congrats!

[antontanzil]

That's just nice that you get what you want tonally, and quite a unique on-board EQ setting (at least for me) I must say, I never cut the Bass on my on board EQ, but if it works on an actual gig, that will break all the 'MTDs has no low end push' paradigm that most people say (which I never agree with).

And your review made me even more impatient waiting for my 535-21 due to finish next month (suppose to be December, but delayed due to Sandy, Mike got sick, etc). Mine will have a Makore body and a Maple fingerboard. Funny thing is I never really ask Mike about how the bass will sound like, and I believe that this is MAYBE the first time he put together a Makore body with a wenge neck-maple board so he cannot tell for sure also, but what he said was 'that will be a nice combo'.

I'm picking up our fellow TBer Widjajar's new bass tomorrow, he'll post the pics, reviews, etc. I can't believe I'm as excited as he is All I can say is the Bass is suppose to be a 2013 NAMM Bass, but I 'stole' it from Mike at the last minutes before he shipped it to California. And the fact that he let me do that is an amazing example of Mike Tobias being one of the nicest and greatest Builder in the world EVER...

[Vic]

Originally Posted by metallutca

Who's going to NAMM? Do post pics from MTD booth!

We will.

[Vic]

Leon... GREAT bass!!!

[TapyTap]

That does seem like a great bass!

I'm wondering how similar the Makore body would be to a Maple body in the tone department.

[davidon]

Hi all.. I'm in with this 535-24. Tulipwood body, maple burl top and maple/honduran rosewood neck & fretboard. Plus david king's custom knobs. This is the lightest compare to all the MTDs i've tried before. Awesome tone!