Damnation Audio Fan/Appreciation Thread

[Fuzzbass]

Reiner Amplification. @father of fires and @Fuzzbass probably know a lot more than me. I think Fuzz even has a one-off Reiner amplifier.

It's one of those pedals I never got to try in my quest for eternal clank with fuzz around the edges. My Oxford has won out over every pedal I've tried so far, but it doesn't have bottom like the MBD-1. (But it also sounds very clanky and thick)

Yeah, I own some Reiner Amplification gear: two hybrid amps with all-tube front-ends (but not his latest, the Saturn V); Gasoline overdrive pedal, pair of hybrid reflex 1x12 cabs, one sealed 2x12 cab. And I used to own his 1U all-tube rack preamp.

Anyway: MBD1 and Gasoline do sound great together! The Gasoline helps focus the mids, will add punch and presence, but as silky said, it won't deliver the same level of clank/sizzle of pedals such as Oxford, B7K, DP3X, X7 (it wasn't designed to).

 

[FaithNoMan]

Yeah, I own some Reiner Amplification gear: two hybrid amps with all-tube front-ends (but not his latest, the Saturn V); Gasoline overdrive pedal, pair of hybrid reflex 1x12 cabs, one sealed 2x12 cab. And I used to own his 1U all-tube rack preamp.

Anyway: MBD1 and Gasoline do sound great together! The Gasoline helps focus the mids, will add punch and presence, but as silky said, it won't deliver the same level of clank/sizzle of pedals such as Oxford, B7K, DP3X, X7 (it wasn't designed to).

Definitely a harmonically-rich yet thick combo

 

[lesclaypoolsob]

How does the MBD sound with a Ric? Would it pair well with the YYZ Gedal?

Thanks

 

[silky smoove]

Ah, I see. What I was talking about is amp-like as well. But that amp happens to be an old Peavey MarkIII/MarkIV

That’s a fairly distinct amp voicing

 

[donahue]

How does the MBD sound with a Ric? Would it pair well with the YYZ Gedal?

Thanks

Sounds awesome with a Ric. Better than awesome. Use that combo weekly.

 

[lesclaypoolsob]

Sounds awesome with a Ric. Better than awesome. Use that combo weekly.

Thanks, I didn't need much of a nudge but that helped! CME is running 10 % off of the MBD-2 on Reverb, FYI, for anyone interested.

 

[TodaysTomSawyer]

I'm curious to hear impressions of the MBD2, especially from those who have experience with the MBD-1... My ears keep tricking me into thinking the MBD2 has subtle improvements. I've A/B'ed with the MBD-1 and the only real difference I found was that my go-to settings varied a bit from the big box, mainly with the Gain. The sweet spots are there but sound slightly thicker and/or more refined

 

[Peaveylover]

Did the MBD2's ship yesterday? I never got a tracking #.

 

[BklynKen]

I'm curious to hear impressions of the MBD2, especially from those who have experience with the MBD-1... My ears keep tricking me into thinking the MBD2 has subtle improvements. I've A/B'ed with the MBD-1 and the only real difference I found was that my go-to settings varied a bit from the big box, mainly with the Gain. The sweet spots are there but sound slightly thicker and/or more refined

My guess is that the adjustable internal trim pots in the MBD-1 affect the whole gain range, where the MBD-2 is presumably hard-coded in that respect, so you'd get the same results if you matched the MBD-1's trim pot to whatever the MBD-2 is set at.

 

[jumbo_steelie]

Sounds awesome with a Ric. Better than awesome. Use that combo weekly.

My Ric loves the MBD. Like really loves it....

 

[FaithNoMan]

This may be the dumbest question I ask all day, but I noticed what Jeff said in the description of his loop blender as it can add clarity in a mix. So if I used my Oxford to get both more punch and bottom I could make it have less bass at the pedal, and push more lowpass through the Bloop? Before I modded my OXford for more topend, I used the YYZ in a sort-of similar manner, running the top-end of the YYZ with very little OD(it's coming from the Ox out front) and lessening the lows while pushing the high-mids harder on the YYZ's OD side, then leaning more heavily on the "clean low" Geddy-Eq'd side.

Now I just use the YYZ to add bottom - and it’s sort of a convoluted process(compared to just a separate clean lowpassed signal), and it still seems to add a little more YYZ flavor than I'd like(I prefer the Ox's tone by itself.)

So yeah, I guess I'm also looking for an excuse to get that Bypass Looper. I just had one person told me it messed with the clank of his bass, but I also think it might have been the way he used it. The design, however simple, intrigues me.

What do you guys think?

 

[BunchyMutt]

So if I used my Oxford to get both more punch and bottom I could make it have less bass at the pedal, and push more lowpass through the Bloop?

Are you essentially asking if you could run the Oxford with less bass, but add bass + mids by putting it in the Bloop? If so, yes.

I just had one person told me it messed with the clank of his bass, but I also think it might have been the way he used it.

I've been experimenting with the Bloop and trying to get it to work in my main chain in a chase for some extra clarity. While it did do that, running distortion pedals in the Bloop, at the level that I wanted (so that it pushed preamp pedals further down the chain in ways that I wanted), did change the character of the distortion in ways that ultimately made me abandon using the Bloop in my—for lack of a better word, djenty—project. Turning down the levels of pedals in the Bloop got better, but lost the 'pushed' feel I like.

Your mileage may vary because I know we have very different distorted tone goals and use very different pedals, though I will say I (a) also push the top end quite a lot like you do, and (b) run a disgustingly convoluted chain.

 

[FaithNoMan]

Thanks a lot, @GentProvocateur. I think that was good enough to push me over the edge.

And I don’t necessarily need to cut lows on the Ox to cut through - esp after eliminating the hicut circuit but it’s nice to experiment. It could definitely benefit from the Bypass Loop though, and utility pedals are always invaluable.

The MBD-1 almost stayed with me. At the time it was that vs the Alpha-Omega for me, and the AO barely won out bc of its’ aggression. Well, I never thought it would happen but the modded Ox sent the Alpha-Omega packing as well. All three are really excellent overdrives though, and we all have different tone goals.

Time to hop back on the Damnation bandwagon again!

 

[BunchyMutt]

Thanks a lot, @GentProvocateur. I think that was good enough to push me over the edge.

And I don’t necessarily need to cut lows on the Ox to cut through - esp after eliminating the hicut circuit but it’s nice to experiment. It could definitely benefit from the Bypass Loop though, and utility pedals are always invaluable.

The MBD-1 almost stayed with me. At the time it was that vs the Alpha-Omega for me, and the AO barely won out bc of its’ aggression. Well, I never thought it would happen but the modded Ox sent the Alpha-Omega packing as well. All three are really excellent overdrives though, and we all have different tone goals.

Time to hop back on the Damnation bandwagon again!

I forgot to add that I do use the bloop in two different contexts (other than the one described above) and it IS great for adding clarity (and heaviness) to other distortion pedals. There are times when I've considered selling it but it's just so versatile with it's patching options and whatnot that I think it's valuable to have on hand

 

[WorktheWood]

My blue MBD-2 arrived yesterday. It sounds fantastic and looks cool. It has a little more hiss than some of the other pedals I have but I wouldn't consider it noisy or to be a problem. The low gain OD sounds great, very amp like, and the heavier distortion sounds huge. I'm not likely to use the heavy distortion in any of my projects but it's nice to have if I need it. This is a great pedal, I'm glad I bought it.

 

[BklynKen]

My blue MBD-2 arrived yesterday. It sounds fantastic and looks cool. It has a little more hiss than some of the other pedals I have but I wouldn't considerate noisy or to be a problem. The low gain OD sounds great, very amp like, and the heavier distortion sounds huge. I'm not likely to use the heavy distortion in any of my projects but it's nice to have if I need it. This is a great pedal, I'm glad I bought it.

Great to hear it worked out for you!

 

[joel the bass player]

MBD-2 is out for delivery today. Hope I can time it with my lunch break and I can run home and plug it in!

 

[joel the bass player]

Back from lunch, USPS tracking is full of lies. I'll have to wait till tonight to get my paws on it. The excitement builds!

 

[Robertron]

Back from lunch, USPS tracking is full of lies. I'll have to wait till tonight to get my paws on it. The excitement builds!

Man that is the worst feeling. You know it will be worth the wait though!

 

[ObsessiveArcher]

MBD-2 in hand! Anyone here use stacked MBD's or seperately live with different settings? Otherwise, I think my oxblood MBD-1 will be going up in the TB classifieds shortly.

I'm really digging having the Bloop fed Han-Taun into the MBD-1. I recently experimented using the Gasoline again live with my current band. It sent me too far out into fuzz territority and I got buried. I could try fiddling with the knobs more during practice. I like the bedroom tones I get with the Gasoline. Maybe I could experiment with it during recording and see how it falls in the mix there? Decisions, decisions...