Damnation Audio Fan/Appreciation Thread

[Erithon]

The dealer page is much easier to navigate now. Great work, Jeff!
(And the demo is nicely filmed and edited. Definitely professional looking, as Dave said.)

 

[Kindness]

Our good friend Simon has the (perhaps) long-awaited pro-quality MBD demo out today

This is exceptionally well done.

 

[deff]

This is exceptionally well done.

Yeah whoever Simon is, he did a great job, plus really cool song with other instruments to show how it works in the mix. That is actually an exceptional demo.

 

[whoismarykelly]

We met Simon at an event in Chicago after knowing him through another group for a couple years and it was great to work our table next to him all day. Great producer and engineer and the kind of guy that knows how to get good sounds out of his tools.

He has a podcast where he interviews builders and other folks called No Gods No Master Volumes

 

[BklynKen]

We met Simon at an event in Chicago after knowing him through another group for a couple years and it was great to work our table next to him all day. Great producer and engineer and the kind of guy that knows how to get good sounds out of his tools.

He has a podcast where he interviews builders and other folks called No Gods No Master Volumes

Finally just got to watch this. Very good demo. Any chance we'll see a Hondo Felder demo/review? I love his stuff.

 

[Stellvia]

Took the MBD3 to its first rehearsal/jam today (3 piece + vocals, prog rock/pop) and it sounded great! We’re using in ears and the guitarist has one of the small Headrush digital boards. Had the MBD set for a nice grindy tone and kicked in the boost for a heavier drive. It cut through nicely but also blended well with the guitar! Very happy!!

 

[gregmon79]

View attachment 5247950 Took the MBD3 to its first rehearsal/jam today (3 piece + vocals, prog rock/pop) and it sounded great! We’re using in ears and the guitarist has one of the small Headrush digital boards. Had the MBD set for a nice grindy tone and kicked in the boost for a heavier drive. It cut through nicely but also blended well with the guitar! Very happy!!

GREAT board man. Super kudos!

 

[kazuhank]

So happy to get my mitts back on one of these. I love the Dirt Fixer AND missed this guy’s small footprint for a cramped board that could use its size and simplicity.

 

[BklynKen]

View attachment 5248618
So happy to get my mitts back on one of these. I love the Dirt Fixer AND missed this guy’s small footprint for a cramped board that could use its size and simplicity.

Nice! Plus I love that old logo.

 

[kranahan]

There's a Bloop and Curmudgeon in the classifieds. N/A

 

[father of fires]

There's a Bloop and Curmudgeon in the classifieds. N/A

 

[monsterthompson]

I was playing around with pedals last night and I was getting into fairly similar territory with my MBD3 and my 3 Knob Cthulhu from Magic/Dunwich. The MBD definitely provided more low end with the blend (and without). I wasn’t expecting there to be much similarity so I was a bit surprised. Anyone else here have similar A/B comparisons with surprises?

 

[kleinenenten]

I was playing around with pedals last night and I was getting into fairly similar territory with my MBD3 and my 3 Knob Cthulhu from Magic/Dunwich. The MBD definitely provided more low end with the blend (and without). I wasn’t expecting there to be much similarity so I was a bit surprised. Anyone else here have similar A/B comparisons with surprises?

On bass, not really. But I found on guitar that I could get a nearly identical tone to my FatMetal pedal with a Musket Fuzz. I was rather surprised.

 

[220_Hz]

I was playing around with pedals last night and I was getting into fairly similar territory with my MBD3 and my 3 Knob Cthulhu from Magic/Dunwich. The MBD definitely provided more low end with the blend (and without). I wasn’t expecting there to be much similarity so I was a bit surprised. Anyone else here have similar A/B comparisons with surprises?

I was surprised at how similar the curmudgeon was to a tone bypassed muff when the gain is maxed. I used to have a TB’d muff clone with only a volume knob, the curmudgeon gave me a really similar feel but with less noise and more clarity

 

[beer&bass]

Looking to pick up the MBD v3 if I can squeeze it in my board. Anyone know the dimensions? I’ve searched and possibly overlooked. Thanks.

 

[Zanshin_]

3.7 in x 4.7 in (1590BB I think)

You can do it!

 

[Bassique]

Can someone who owns both the MBD 2 and MBD 3, provide insight why the latter is better (if its better). And if its suited better for heavier music with the countoured blend and all? Would appreciate it

 

[Erithon]

Can someone who owns both the MBD 2 and MBD 3, provide insight why the latter is better (if its better). And if its suited better for heavier music with the countoured blend and all? Would appreciate it

No one but you can decide if the MBD is "better" for you, in either a heavier music context or more generally. But I can break down the differences for you. Before I do, be sure to read @Grahams Groove's detailed review of the MBD. It has some comparisons with the MBD-2 and also a lot of it applies to the MBD-2 since they are different iterations of the same pedal.

1. The obvious stuff: the MBD comes in a 1590BB enclosure and the MBD-2 in a 125B enclosure. If you care about alternative finishes, there are different offerings: the MBD has a limited run of etched finishes while the MBD-2 has special runs of Hammertone Blue and Black.
2. I personally think the clipping voice is a hair different and I prefer that of the MBD (what you call the MBD 3) to that of the MBD-2. That might be because (I think) the MBD is lower-gain by default since it has the boost to make up additional gain.
3. The MBD-2 has no boost. The MBD boost 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.
4. Another difference is the mid shift switch on the MBD-2 (300Hz with -10dB vs 600Hz with -6dB) is entirely gone from the MBD so in that sense the MBD-2 actually has more EQ options.
5. The bypass relay is changed so the MBD starts off by default. The MBD-2 starts on by default. I always hated that, but Jeff was willing to mod that for folks if you shipped him the pedal. Also: "MBD2 used a relay bypass with a momentary switch which had no click. MBD (the new design) uses a high quality mechanical 3PDT which has a 1kg plunger force which is about as 'soft' as a mechanical switch can get."
6. The biggest difference, however, 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. For more on the contour blend, I'll quote things Dave, one of the builders, has written in this very thread:

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.

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.

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. Its a lot of extra parts and complexity but to us its 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.

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.

 

[Bassique]

No one but you can decide if the MBD is "better" for you, in either a heavier music context or more generally. But I can break down the differences for you. Before I do, be sure to read @Grahams Groove's detailed review of the MBD. It has some comparisons with the MBD-2 and also a lot of it applies to the MBD-2 since they are different iterations of the same pedal.

1. The obvious stuff: the MBD comes in a 1590BB enclosure and the MBD-2 in a 125B enclosure. If you care about alternative finishes, there are different offerings: the MBD has a limited run of etched finishes while the MBD-2 has special runs of Hammertone Blue and Black.
2. I personally think the clipping voice is a hair different and I prefer that of the MBD (what you call the MBD 3) to that of the MBD-2. That might be because (I think) the MBD is lower-gain by default since it has the boost to make up additional gain.
3. The MBD-2 has no boost. The MBD boost 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.
4. Another difference is the mid shift switch on the MBD-2 (300Hz with -10dB vs 600Hz with -6dB) is entirely gone from the MBD so in that sense the MBD-2 actually has more EQ options.
5. The bypass relay is changed so the MBD starts off by default. The MBD-2 starts on by default. I always hated that, but Jeff was willing to mod that for folks if you shipped him the pedal. Also: "MBD2 used a relay bypass with a momentary switch which had no click. MBD (the new design) uses a high quality mechanical 3PDT which has a 1kg plunger force which is about as 'soft' as a mechanical switch can get."
6. The biggest difference, however, 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. For more on the contour blend, I'll quote things Dave, one of the builders, has written in this very thread:

Thanks alot! that's a ton of useful info. I think the MBD's boost option is particularly interesting, especially since it has its own footswitch.

 

[Erithon]

Thanks alot! that's a ton of useful info. I think the MBD's boost option is particularly interesting, especially since it has its own footswitch.

The boost is very useful, that's for sure! But I wouldn't call it interesting because it's not doing anything unusual. (Compare it to, say, the flexible pre-/post-drive boost of the Free The Tone Black Vehicle). Now interesting is exactly how I'd describe the contoured blend: there Jeff and Dave have designed something no one else has. That's a real contribution to pedal engineering.