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Damnation Audio Fan/Appreciation Thread

#5,441
MBD-3 arrived today, got it straight on the new board and had a little time to check it out. First impressions are , really easy to dial in with a lot of useable range on all the controls!! Playing around with a lightly dirty main tone and kicking the boost on for a heavier tone which seems to work really well! Very impressed by the contoured blend and the depth control, a lot of different tones available using those! Looking forward to playing with it more and especially taking it to practice next week! And as some others have mentioned, it plays beautifully into the OE Super Vintage!
 
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#5,442
Got a Curmudgeon to go with the MBD. It’s pretty outrageous.

IMG_3873.jpeg
 
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#5,445
Worked a deal on a Cioks DC7 from Sweetwater so I could use the mbd2 with my other pedals. Went with the Northern Lights version because well... because. So set up a full board and ended up putting the MBD2 in between the subatomic and the fat drive after all. For me it's the right place sonically. It's now the go to for always on low gain and stacks well with my other two dirt pedals. Adds clarity to the fat drive and meat to the subatomic. Also it works really well with the other effects.

So glad I found this thread and scored "the" pedal I didn't know I needed. :)
pedal board complete 10-31-23.jpg
Starting upper right; wireless down to tuner back up to auto wah over to octave down to subatomic over to mbd2 into fat drive up to chorus down to delay up to cab sim di to amp. Also, strung up a set of the new dual dynamic hybrid's from Dunlop and the MBD2 got me into the grindage zone nicely.
 
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#5,446
gunai said:
Tell me that you're on Talkbass without telling me that you're on Talkbass: A Sonic Research tuner and an MBD. (owned both since 2018 myself)
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Yeah pretty much. At one point I also had an FEA comp and Broughton HPF as well. Still have a H/LPF next to the MDB.

So far I really like the Curmudgeon. Its simple to adjust and the dirt sounds are so over the top. My DA collection grows. Might be something else incoming as well.
 
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#5,447
metron said:
Yeah pretty much. At one point I also had an FEA comp and Broughton HPF as well. Still have a H/LPF next to the MDB.

So far I really like the Curmudgeon. Its simple to adjust and the dirt sounds are so over the top. My DA collection grows. Might be something else incoming as well.
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Guilty with an FEA DE-CL as well.

As for Damnation Audio, I've liked what I heard of every dirt pedal that has been released so far.
It's only my strict minimalism that has me sticking with the lonesome MBD-1, which is practically an always on pedal for me since acquiring it in spring 2018.
 
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#5,449
kleinenenten said:
I've been interested in the Curmudgeon, but don't hear much talk of it. Is it similar to anything else? The demos sound Rat-ish to me, which would be a big plus for my goals. Just haven't seen one in person!
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I just decided to grab one at a good price because I like the MBD so much. They aren’t similar though. I don’t go through pedals often so my experience is limited. It seems to be oriented toward higher gain and is Rattish I suppose but better. Has it’s own thing going on. The lower gain settings result in a chunkier breakup. Higher gain settings accentuate higher frequencies. Depth super saturates. Its cool.
 
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#5,452
I'm not saying anything needs to change - just that Rats have been my go-to mid gain solution lately. A little chunky, little bit in your face, and plenty of gain, but also with a solid low end. Typically, I end up adding a little treble via the tone control (around 1:00-2:00, assuming the typical "more CW = more treble" tone control) on my "Rats" Mind you, my favorite Rats are heavily modified takes on the circuit (Volt Thrower, Tremond, and Bass Mountain), and I'm not exactly sure how much of them is "Rat" and how much is the original parts of the circuit. But the general "vibe" (as you say) of the Curmudgeon sounds similar to a Rat, which has my interest piqued.
 
#5,453
father of fires said:
It’s not a rat but perhaps could be molded into a rat vibe. The clipping circuitry is a custom design but perhaps we could at a rat tone control.

it’s not on the build schedule at the moment cause it wasn’t a very necessary pedal. But I liked it a lot.
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The Curmudgeon is a great circuit, just, admittedly, more niche than the MBD. I really love it within its niche, though.
 
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#5,455
Curmudgeon was gnarly but not “deep” enough…
Problem is I was comparing it to the mbd1, which is just so good at deep articulate grind and I missed that from the curmudgeon. I would have preferred it with a clean blend and didn’t want to use a blender pedal but that’s just my take, etc.
probably not a main issue - I survived for ages without pedals that didn’t have clean blends in them, but feel now I’ve been spoilt by them it’s hard to not have them!
(Proper eqd/ low passed clean blends are the bees knees)
 
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#5,457
theunknowndude said:
Curmudgeon was gnarly but not “deep” enough…
Problem is I was comparing it to the mbd1, which is just so good at deep articulate grind and I missed that from the curmudgeon. I would have preferred it with a clean blend and didn’t want to use a blender pedal but that’s just my take, etc.
probably not a main issue - I survived for ages without pedals that didn’t have clean blends in them, but feel now I’ve been spoilt by them it’s hard to not have them!
(Proper eqd/ low passed clean blends are the bees knees)
Click to expand...

I found this with the curmudgeon too. I liked it but ended up taken off the board and ended up selling. Which I now regret as I have a loop blender (just fixed) Might have to revisit the curmudgeon at some point.

One of the things i liked with it was how on low gain settings it would distort the low notes but keep the higher notes clear. Gave a cool vibe.
 
#5,458
Curmudgeon kicks a$$. I’ve used it as my primary gain device for most shows since I bought it during that sale last year. I also have a small gripe with how tight the low end stays while using it at times, but I use preamp pedals at the end of my chain and sometimes I’ll put it in the dirtfixer or the bloop and it brings the bass back. In a situation like that the curmudgeon is extremely useful. It can tighten up a “loose” overdrive foundation from something placed before/after and turn it into a grindy beast

I also love running it after an octave fuzz, it’s like a little Sunn O)) life combo. I ran it that way for months this year before buying the spite box. The curmudgeon has returned to chunky drivestortion territory on my board
 
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#5,459
I’ve definitely considered the Curmudgeon just for the name :)


I’m contemplating making a rough approximation of the Dirtfixer with my Empress Zoia. I can build in a filtered clean blend (though I’d probably not get the new contour right) and place in the approximate EQ points, though I’d probably get a different Q. I’m sure I’d oversimplify my build and get close but not quite.
 
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#5,460
Just got a Loop to go with my Curmudgeon. Thanks to whoever pointed out the one on Reverb the other day! :D

Now I understand the Loop. I’ve sort of igored it because Ive always been so happy with my MBD. Lately Ive tired of my Darkglass AO. The clean blend on it just doesnt have the mojo of the mbd so I put it up for sale. The loop makes the AO sound like Im not selling it anymore.

The Curmudgeon is new to me but I really like its filthy higher gain character. Could use a little low added in I suppose. The Loop does it’s job well.

At the end of the day, the MBD is still number 1 but the Loop allows other stuff to compete with it for my attention.
 
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