For trade is my Damnation Audio MOSFET Bass Death of the Universe. This is the highly limited and etched edition of the Damnation Audio MOSFET Bass Distortion or MBD. (The etched edition has a different official name with the same abbreviation as the standard version... this is Jeff's (and Dave's?) sense of humor. And it is excellent.) To get this I had to travel to Chicago for the Boutique Pedal Showcase and buy it in-person.
More Photos Here
Overview of Features
@Grahams Groove wrote a detailed review of the MBD in the Damnation Audio thread so rather than repeat that, I'll unpack some of the MBD's features.
Unlike the MBD-1 and MBD-2, the new MBD (this one) has boost and a contoured blend. It also features some smaller changes. For example, the MBD-2 used a relay bypass with a momentary switch which had no click. The new MBD employs a high quality mechanical 3PDT which has a 1kg plunger force for a soft mechanical switch.
Boost
Let's talk about the boost: it spans the range of the internal pre-gain trim on the MBD-1 up through the 20dB boost on the MBD-2, but is variable to allow for flexibility with gain staging. For example, I like to set the un-boosted sound for light growl and warmth and then hit the boost to get full distortion. But you can also set the un-boosted sound for full drive and then engage the boost to take it over the top for high gain while retaining clarity. Moving from a bypassed MBD to an engaged MBD to a boosted MBD gives you access to three levels of drive with your feet.
Contour Blend
The other big feature is the blend. The MBD-1 and MBD-2 have a low-passed blend, a stacked passive LPF that aggressively rolls off frequencies above 1kHZ. Same with the old Damnation Audio Bloop. The MBD has a "contoured" blend, same with the new Damnation Audio Dirt Fixer. The Damnation Contour is more complex, performing multiple frequency adjustments at the same time to help the clean blend sit more nicely in the mix with improved clarity aka to ensure the dry and wet signals blend together as a cohesive tone rather than sound like two parallel signals. Specifically, the Contour is an active circuit that boosts low end, slightly cuts muddy low mid frequencies, and rolls off high end above 1kHz in the clean/blend/dry signal path of what's going into the pedal signal.
To quote Dave (one of the builders): "The MBD-2 circuit is an approximation of a studio parallel clean path. The Damnation Contour is a more accurate rendition of all the EQ that clean path would get in a typical recording scenario" and later "Low passing is really the first step in what you might do in a parallel blend setup in a studio. It does a lot of the work to make tones mesh. After the low pass the engineer might clean up some trouble frequencies that cloud the mix and boost a little low in that dry signal to really make it deliver the goods. Thats more along the lines of what the Damnation Contour does."
Two additional builder quotes on the new blend circuit:
TRADES: I can do +/- cash as needed. You can hit me up with non-listed trade offers, but I've secured all my unicorns and my boards are full so I'll almost certainly decline. Please note that my preferences are for boutique builds, fun colors or graphics, 125B enclosures with top jacks, and tube drives.
CONDITION: I have images of all sides of each item uploaded at the above link. The MBD is in Mint condition (the areas of thinner paint on the sides and bottom were how it came and are characteristic of all etched MBDs). Includes the original box (which is signed by Jeff of Damnation Audio), black cloth, and manual.
More Photos Here
Overview of Features
@Grahams Groove wrote a detailed review of the MBD in the Damnation Audio thread so rather than repeat that, I'll unpack some of the MBD's features.
Unlike the MBD-1 and MBD-2, the new MBD (this one) has boost and a contoured blend. It also features some smaller changes. For example, the MBD-2 used a relay bypass with a momentary switch which had no click. The new MBD employs a high quality mechanical 3PDT which has a 1kg plunger force for a soft mechanical switch.
Boost
Let's talk about the boost: it spans the range of the internal pre-gain trim on the MBD-1 up through the 20dB boost on the MBD-2, but is variable to allow for flexibility with gain staging. For example, I like to set the un-boosted sound for light growl and warmth and then hit the boost to get full distortion. But you can also set the un-boosted sound for full drive and then engage the boost to take it over the top for high gain while retaining clarity. Moving from a bypassed MBD to an engaged MBD to a boosted MBD gives you access to three levels of drive with your feet.
Contour Blend
The other big feature is the blend. The MBD-1 and MBD-2 have a low-passed blend, a stacked passive LPF that aggressively rolls off frequencies above 1kHZ. Same with the old Damnation Audio Bloop. The MBD has a "contoured" blend, same with the new Damnation Audio Dirt Fixer. The Damnation Contour is more complex, performing multiple frequency adjustments at the same time to help the clean blend sit more nicely in the mix with improved clarity aka to ensure the dry and wet signals blend together as a cohesive tone rather than sound like two parallel signals. Specifically, the Contour is an active circuit that boosts low end, slightly cuts muddy low mid frequencies, and rolls off high end above 1kHz in the clean/blend/dry signal path of what's going into the pedal signal.
To quote Dave (one of the builders): "The MBD-2 circuit is an approximation of a studio parallel clean path. The Damnation Contour is a more accurate rendition of all the EQ that clean path would get in a typical recording scenario" and later "Low passing is really the first step in what you might do in a parallel blend setup in a studio. It does a lot of the work to make tones mesh. After the low pass the engineer might clean up some trouble frequencies that cloud the mix and boost a little low in that dry signal to really make it deliver the goods. Thats more along the lines of what the Damnation Contour does."
Two additional builder quotes on the new blend circuit:
Quote 1: "IMO 'hearing the difference' would probably be that you don't even notice there is a blend. It just sounds like one unified tone. The contour circuit is designed to reduce everything about a clean blend that stands out in a way that doesn't serve the mix. It's a lot of extra parts and complexity but to us it's worth it as an evolution of the clean blend. Everything is iterative in the end. It takes us a long time to settle on designs because Damnation products tend to be extremely complex. The new version of the MBD has ~5 times as many parts as a typical distortion pedal to cover all the little bits and pieces we wanted."
Quote 2: "The entire point of the clean blend on a Damnation pedal is that it is not full range because a full range blend does nothing to retain low end as is so often claimed. When you take a clean DI in a studio session that track never makes it to the mix without having a ton of treble content rolled off, and perhaps low end boosted. And then depending on the rest of the mix you might alter the midrange. We built that set of tweaks into the Damnation Contour and we like it more than the old low pass filter so that's what we use now. MBD-2 is still a great pedal and works for tons of folks. MBD and the Damnation Contour are just the result of us never being satisfied and relentlessly pursuing the ideal bass tone in our heads."
TRADES: I can do +/- cash as needed. You can hit me up with non-listed trade offers, but I've secured all my unicorns and my boards are full so I'll almost certainly decline. Please note that my preferences are for boutique builds, fun colors or graphics, 125B enclosures with top jacks, and tube drives.
CONDITION: I have images of all sides of each item uploaded at the above link. The MBD is in Mint condition (the areas of thinner paint on the sides and bottom were how it came and are characteristic of all etched MBDs). Includes the original box (which is signed by Jeff of Damnation Audio), black cloth, and manual.
