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Damnation Audio Fan/Appreciation Thread

#3,621
gregmon79 said:
Never thought I’d find “It” after about 5 or 6 straight years of OD shopping. I tried a lot and love many. I ended up using a modded pork loin for a while. Then went to the Dunwich ODB. Then I got the MBD. And yeah, echoing the same experience as many here, I have rarely even considered swapping it out as my main OD tone. It’s what I’ve heard in my head for years and couldn’t find in any other pedal. After I tried it at its first and maybe second practice, got it dialed in, that was it. GAS has just about been non existent in the OD realm since.
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I view it just like I did with my octave search that resulted in an Octabvre Mini: I spent plenty of time doing the research, bought something flexible and right at home in what I want to be doing, and now I don't have to worry about it anymore and can spend all my efforts and money on envelope filters.
 
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#3,622
HCF said:
It had been the only constant on my pedalboard for the last 1-2 years.
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For me, there are very few dirt boxes I’ve held onto over the years. The blower box more than likely takes the prize. But even if I were to get an MBD2, the 1 will more than likely never leave my board or possession. It’s just one of those pedals for me. I messed with the neural quad cortex capture feature a little. Tried capturing the MBD. Sounded good. But it’s not as easy as you’d think. For me anyway. But I’m gonna see if I can get a really accurate capture of the MBD. Even than, I’d still keep the MBD on my board. But it would be great to have it in the QC!
 
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#3,623
Stubb said:
I view it just like I did with my octave search that resulted in an Octabvre Mini: I spent plenty of time doing the research, bought something flexible and right at home in what I want to be doing, and now I don't have to worry about it anymore and can spend all my efforts and money on envelope filters.
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Haha sorry to laugh. But I was on that ride for years. Well, you may not be on “the ride”, but I was like that for about 6 years straight. Focused on one effect category till I settled. I’m so happy with my board now, I rarely get GAS’d by anything. The quad cortex of course for me haha but having the MBD, helix and H9 stuff, and my analogue offerings, I felt I had the best of both worlds mixing analogue and digital. I still feel that way. Things may change a little with the intro of the QC into the picture. But we’ll see what time brings.
 
#3,625
SunByrne said:
OK, so based on comments here on TB and listening to many samples on line, I got myself an MBD-2.

Wow, is it ever savage! There's a limit to how much you really get a sense of pedal by listening to samples, because everyone's rig is different. But man, this thing delivers. Wicked pedal...
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Honestly, I absolutely hated all the demo's.. based on them, I couldn't understand why so many people praised it so much..
Grabbed one out of the classifieds for a great deal... I'M NOT DISAPPOINTED ONE BIT!
It's become part of my sound now... I'm debating a second one to run at higher gain
 
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#3,626
These seem to be at about unity with each other. I don't think I ever changed any of the internal settings on the 1. So the only two that really needed changing on the 2 were Tone and Gain.

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#3,628
BklynKen said:
I'm thinking of getting a Broughton HPF. The MBD is my only alway-on effect. Any thoughts on where to place the HPF?
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I have the HPF just after the wireless / clean boost, and in front of the rest. The MBD2 likes it, it seems. Feels more touch-sensitive when I have the HPF on, rather than off. It triggers differently. YMMV of course, but most of us over at the Broughton thread prefer the HPF as soon in the chain as feasible.
 
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#3,629
Sascha Erni said:
I have the HPF just after the wireless / clean boost, and in front of the rest. The MBD2 likes it, it seems. Feels more touch-sensitive when I have the HPF on, rather than off. It triggers differently. YMMV of course, but most of us over at the Broughton thread prefer the HPF as soon in the chain as feasible.
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Interesting. I keep the HPF at the very end of my chain to keep the lower frequencies in check before they hit the amp.

I always thought that if you run the HPF before your dirt section, you can get back all the frequencies to your signal chain that you’re trying to eliminate with the HPF. Basically, it can defeat the purpose of the HPF.

It all comes down to what you want the HPF to do for you. In my application, I want to eliminate the frequencies from my signal that my amp can’t amplify anyway and keep my tone from getting muddy. For this reason, I keep the HPF last in chain. Otherwise, my MBD-2 or other dirt could add the frequencies back to my signal that I’m trying to eliminate, if I run HPF first.

I suppose my application goes out the window if the user wants to use the HPF as a pre-dirt tone shaper.
 
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#3,630
Moody Tuner said:
It all comes down to what you want the HPF to do for you. In my application, I want to eliminate the frequencies from my signal that my amp can’t amplify anyway and keep my tone from getting muddy. For this reason, I keep the HPF last in chain. Otherwise, my MBD-2 or other dirt could add the frequencies back to my signal that I’m trying to eliminate, if I run HPF first.
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That’s the other popular option where to put a HPF. Sort-of for speaker protection / don’t let the speakers work overtime trying to produce frequencies too low to be usable. Or to clean up stuff should one use a pedal which introduces loads of subharmonic content; so you tend to put it towards the very end of your signal chain and probably set a lot lower than some dial in their “in front of everything” HPFs.

I guess most people who got a Broughton RFE or the combined HPF/LPF pedal would also steer towards this option. Having the LPF at the end is nice for simulating tweeter-less output when going direct, rather than sending a full-range signal, so you’d put it just in front of the DI out, and that’s where the HPF will end up, too.

As always, one should experiment with pedal order anyways. I run my compressor as the last pedal in my chain, for example, while most would probably put it first after the tuner and/or envelope filter. But I like how dynamic both the MBD2 and preamp react to my uncompressed signal, so there’s that. :D
 
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#3,631
Sascha Erni said:
That’s the other popular option where to put a HPF. Sort-of for speaker protection / don’t let the speakers work overtime trying to produce frequencies too low to be usable. Or to clean up stuff should one use a pedal which introduces loads of subharmonic content; so you tend to put it towards the very end of your signal chain and probably set a lot lower than some dial in their “in front of everything” HPFs.

I guess most people who got a Broughton RFE or the combined HPF/LPF pedal would also steer towards this option. Having the LPF at the end is nice for simulating tweeter-less output when going direct, rather than sending a full-range signal, so you’d put it just in front of the DI out, and that’s where the HPF will end up, too.

As always, one should experiment with pedal order anyways. I run my compressor as the last pedal in my chain, for example, while most would probably put it first after the tuner and/or envelope filter. But I like how dynamic both the MBD2 and preamp react to my uncompressed signal, so there’s that. :D
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Thank you for this detailed reply. I’m actually eyeing the Messenger, so maybe I’ll have the best of both worlds one day? I can run my standalone HPF before my drives and the Messenger at the end of the chain. Do people generally like the messenger last in chain? It seems like a logic place to start from. I do experiment with pedal chain order and don’t have a dogmatic approach to building a board.

My amp has a built in limiter, so I don’t have to worry about blowing it out for the most part. The HPF is more of a tonal shaping tool, than amp protection.

I keep my compressor and boost in a loop and find that I like them better after my dirt section too, for the reasons you’ve expressed.
 
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#3,632
Before derailing this thread too much … ;)

Moody Tuner said:
Do people generally like the messenger last in chain? It seems like a logic place to start from. I do experiment with pedal chain order and don’t have a dogmatic approach to building a board.
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My impression is most use it at the end of their boards. Josh markets the Messenger as a “Messenger DI”, too, and it’s one of his few pedals that has a plug on its side, so it seems to have been designed as the last stop (or perhaps even only stop) before amp and board. That said, the line level output is instrument level, so it can be incorporated earlier on a board, for example providing one clean DI out (with or without EQ and HPF/LPF; the foot switch per default disables the EQ section) before going into various dirt pedals, ending in a second DI out. Mix dirt and clean at the desk, so to say. Or run them into different amps onstage for a biamp setup.

I’m still contemplating getting one once the next batch drops. Right now, I use an SV-Pre as my preamp, as I like my basic tone slightly dirty. But the Damnation Audio MBD2 has impressed me so much, I’m seriously considering using one for my main base tone, and a second one for add-on distortion, and running the SV-Pre clean after that. Replacing the SV-Pre with a Messenger would make a lot of sense then, as a very clean preamp might be more feasible than running one that’s built to provide an Ampeg-y tone, backed in. Sort-of “let the Messenger provide EQ, filtering and DI, but let one of the MBD2 do their growly magic.”
 
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#3,633
Sascha Erni said:
As always, one should experiment with pedal order anyways. I run my compressor as the last pedal in my chain, for example, while most would probably put it first after the tuner and/or envelope filter.
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All I have to add to this interesting discussion is that experimenting with order is definitely key. I was playing with an octave pedal for a very short time (Mooer Tender Octaver), and where most people say to put one very early in your chain, I ended up liking it much better after my MBD. I was surprised.
 
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#3,634
Sascha Erni said:
Before derailing this thread too much … ;)

I’m still contemplating getting one once the next batch drops. Right now, I use an SV-Pre as my preamp, as I like my basic tone slightly dirty. But the Damnation Audio MBD2 has impressed me so much, I’m seriously considering using one for my main base tone, and a second one for add-on distortion, and running the SV-Pre clean after that. Replacing the SV-Pre with a Messenger would make a lot of sense then, as a very clean preamp might be more feasible than running one that’s built to provide an Ampeg-y tone, backed in. Sort-of “let the Messenger provide EQ, filtering and DI, but let one of the MBD2 do their growly magic.”
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I see the Messenger replacing my HPF and EQ pedal for my end of chain services. The EQ on it could help further shape my MBD2 tone, as needed. I’m still new to the MBD2 and am very much still enamored with what the pedal can do on its own. Either way, it seems Broughton and Damnation Audio play well together. I’m looking forward to further experimentation.
 
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#3,637
Leap of faith time. Second time trying a MBD.
First was 4 years ago, but it was a MBD1 going for a light OD tubesque effect...which was finally found only by pushing my SVT VR.

This time, I am looking for a heavy OD/Tight distortion sound and something tells me this can be it.

Crossing fingers now that I can dodge the customs taxes (these are expensives in EU!)

IMG_20210602_010115.jpg
 

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