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Try curmudgeon at gig volume with a little more bass in your preamp than you normally use, and try it in the bloop too!Just got a Loop to go with my Curmudgeon. Thanks to whoever pointed out the one on Reverb the other day!
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.
I played MBD2 live for the first time. It’s a great drive but it pumped up my low end. I had the clean at about 9 o clock and ended up turning the depth knob all the way down (started at 9 o clock). By the end of the gig I turned the pedal volume down a bit to try to reduce the low end boost. I had the shift knob in the up position. This thing can definitely sound massive but that’s not really what I want from my drive. Perhaps I should have turned the clean knob all the way off? Maybe try the lower shift position? This was with my Stingray bass which by itself has a nice tight low end. I haven’t even tried it with my P bass but I figure that one would get even more low end boost.
Honestly, I never really use the depth knob on my MBD2. Only sometimes if I'm playing jazz bass with a pick, putting it to 9 or 10 oclock can have a nice effect on the low end. I would start with the clean blend all the way off and setting the drive/volume so the pedal is roughly in unity gain with it being bypassed. Then adding some clean blend if the tone lacks some "body". The lower shift position is a bit thinner sounding since it cuts some low mids, so in that position I would perhaps add more clean blend.
What are all your settings at? Curious about the tone knob, boost switch, and gain. The tone is a tilt EQ. So if you’re running it below noon, you are boosting stuff below 600 Hz and cutting above that. I use mine with the tone knob typically around 1:00-2:00, dial in gain appropriately for my needs, and then use the clean to bring back that clean fundamental.
Volume ended up being at around 11:00, tone was around 13:00 and gain was around 14:00. Clean was at 9:00, shift switch was up, boost was off and depth was all the way counter clockwise.
That's about where I set my MBD-2 with a passive bass, but I use a bit less gain and volume, with a good bit more clean. I've got a Sterling and running that thing in parallel mode (a la a stingray) is pretty beefy and open on the lows. It's also a hotter output. It sounds punchy, because the EBMM basses are inherently bright through the upper mids/highs. Still, they have some low end oomph already. I would factor that into the equation - you may need to adjust how you're running the stingray's EQ a bit, and possibly roll back the gain/volume on the MBD-2.
Another way to approach it is by starting with the MBD's volume off, and just play with the clean blend itself - kicking the MBD on/off to compare. Then you can get a sense of whether the perceived low end 'pump' is coming from the clean side or how you have the dirty side dialed in. On the other hand, maybe it's just not going to work in your setup...YMMV, etc.
I’ll play around with the settings first for sure. Just gott get to know how the pedal works. Thanks for the good suggestions!
What is your tone like with the pedal off? If you're running a dark amp setting you may need to turn the tone knob up a bit more to balance.
It's a fairly balanced tone with my Stingray. I'm playing through a Gallien Krueger 2001RB + 410RBH so it's not a dark sounding amp at all. I'm a mids guy myself, so I always bump those a bit, keep bass tight and treble not annoying (no tweeter for me at all). I've run through a plethora of drive pedals through this rig, and also had a Wren & Cuff TFR on the board yesterday. Usually it's the muff that gives me big lows, scooped tone, but MBD2 was definitely bumping my low end more than my muff did. Never had that happen with a drive pedal yet, but not all drive pedals are the same obviously. I'll just play around with the settings a bit more.
The MBD is going to have substantially more low end than any legacy-style distortion or fuzz circuit like a muff or a rat or whatever. Those circuits just weren't designed with bass in mind and even when modded for bass players they often aren't going to have the low end of a pedal truly designed from the ground up as a bass distortion that preserves low end. Don't be afraid to run the depth at zero and turn the tone knob up if you want more brightness. For most players depth at minimum is the right place to start and you can turn up depth if you need more low end. Sounds like you're on the right track!
I run my 700RB-II fairly similarly - treble and bass about noon, with high mids 3:00 and low mids 2:00. I am also aiming for a fairly balanced clean tone (drive tones too, but obviously colored). My MDB-2 is set for a heavy and articulate modern distortion tone, with a good deal of bite - but not excessively so. For me, that's volume, gain, clean, and depth all around 10:00 (give or take), and tone at 3:00. Both switches up. I use active Ibanez Soundgears (an SR505 modded with a Bart NTMB preamp and a stock SRX505), and my dirt goals are always to sound like me, but dirty. This accentuates the high mids a bit more than my standard tone and obviously throws a bit of dirt in the mix. The MBD-2 still sounds like me, and the only knob I ever really have to mess with is volume. Sounds odd that you're getting a big bass boost from yours, but I'm sure it can be figured out.
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I've had all three MBDs and never experience a low end boost. More like no low end loss. Sometimes I've wondered if there was too much bass or low and, but I turn off the MBD and it's still there. So it's just my clean tone, dirtier.
Give it a little time. I remember when I got my 1 years back now, I wasn't really feelin it. Even when I first jammed, I wasn't sure. But after about a week maybe, probably less, my ear got tuned to it. It's not like most pedals you've used. That blend and depth alone will really make it sound gnarly as hell. Not in a great way depending on your setup.
I keep the depth totally off/fully CCW. I usually keep the mids switch down. Sounds a little more scooped to me. Then I keep my gain and blend about the same normally, both around 10/11 o'clock. Depth off. I never use the boost on the 2. I personally don't dig it much with my setup and the way it interacts with some of my other pedals in my chain. I should also add that I prefer the 1 over the 2. Its always been easier for me to find my sound in the 1. Still haven't messed with the 3 enough lately. But yeah, keep trying and adjusting. I am hella happy I got past those first few days and held onto it. IF I hadn't, I'm not so sure I'd a revisited it again. And I'd a missed out on my all time fav OD of all time.
But that was just me.....YMMV obviously. Either way though, don't be scared to admit it's not for you. Most of us in this thread sweat the MBD pretty hard. Doesn't mean it's for everyone...
I'll add this - the only time I get a noticeable boost (in the frequencies I don't want it) is when my volume is too high. I pretty much only have to adjust volume these days. As it stands, my settings add a bit of treble and presence, as well as compression. But I still very much sound like myself, which is the biggest thing I look for a in a drive pedal. I want dirty tones that sound distinct from each other, within their own tonal areas (Muff, OD, lower distortion and higher distortion), but also retain my own feel when I play. It's a tough combo to get, but the MBD-2 nails my "lower distortion" needs.
now I want to know what you’ve landed on for higher gain
Yeah I'll definitely play with it some more. I know that shift position down yielded a thinner tone until I introduced some clean, so I'm sure I could fine tune it that way too. I actually really really liked the dirt tone from it though. It just sounded more massive than I expected from it live
Didn't notice it through my audio interface when I tested it for a short while, but things are always different through live rig.Honestly, I've read the whole thread before getting it and some users did comment how they loved how MBD gives a unique low end kick, so maybe that's what I experienced. Either way, it's a fantastic dirt pedal for sure. I just gotta find what will work best for me - as a low gain drive or a medium gain drive.
Yeah I'll definitely play with it some more. I know that shift position down yielded a thinner tone until I introduced some clean, so I'm sure I could fine tune it that way too. I actually really really liked the dirt tone from it though. It just sounded more massive than I expected from it live
Honestly, I've read the whole thread before getting it and some users did comment how they loved how MBD gives a unique low end kick, so maybe that's what I experienced. Either way, it's a fantastic dirt pedal for sure. I just gotta find what will work best for me - as a low gain drive or a medium gain drive.
i have mine as a low deep articulate grind…
I usually play either drop B or drop C and for some reason it’s just perfect with my drop C songs. Those are my settings below and yeah I recall last gig it was pretty much a good “woah” moment when I kicked it on, was running from the DI from my genz Benz shuttle straight to the board and only had fold backs to hear through and I thought it was going to rattle them away!
Maybe my terminology is misleading - I use a LOT of dirt. Typically, I judge "high/low/whatever" gain by how much of my original tone is preserved and the amount of saturation, as well as how much grit I can hear in the signal. Right now, my "high gain" tone would be a Muff, as pretty much the entirety of my bass tone is saturated. Currently, I'm running an ODB (low gain OD), MBD-2 (low gain "smooth" distortion), Volt Thrower (high gain "chunky" distortion), and Pharaoh Supreme (low gain fuzz tones).
To keep it really simple - if I NEED high gain tones, I just plug in one of my many HM-2 variants. But realistically that doesn't happen too often, and I'm currently not using any of them.
