father of fires
Commercial User
If I have a demo rig for events which consisted of just an MBD and Bass Power Distorter, what other pedals should I include to show how well they stack or play nice with others?
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I used my MBD2 (so I guess it would not be different with the 3) as a dirty boost before a large amount of dirts and it always kills it (a little bit of depht helps to bring back some lows and the tone control shapes the attack to taste). Tried with Sunn T (Coda Black Hole), Rats (VT, Cat Tail, Blower Box...), Spite Box...
Something popular like a B3k and a VT bass DI at the end.
I don't think were putting competing products on our demo board 
Folks at pedal demo events tend to be confused by the infrastructure stuff that just lets them hear the gear in headphones. I have been asked "and what is this" about a Strymon Iridium and headphone distribution more times than I can remember.
Folks at pedal demo events tend to be confused by the infrastructure stuff that just lets them hear the gear in headphones. I have been asked "and what is this" about a Strymon Iridium and headphone distribution more times than I can remember.
We have a single up. I'm using my MBD here. The full album will be up in November to coincide with the vinyl availability. MBD on all of it, with a cranked MBD-1 on the last song. Hope you enjoy!
Very groovy tune. Nice bass line and killer tone. Love child of the Stones, Bowie and the Hives perhaps? Dig it.
I don't think were putting competing products on our demo board
Folks at pedal demo events tend to be confused by the infrastructure stuff that just lets them hear the gear in headphones. I have been asked "and what is this" about a Strymon Iridium and headphone distribution more times than I can remember.
I think one of the best things about the MBD is hearing the differences between 'MBD'ing your other dirt pedals' vs 'dirt pedal'ing your MBD'. A way to do this without competition pedals on the board is to have 2 MBDs where one is dialed in full dirty (no LP clean blend) and the other is dialed in more subtle/moderate gain with a healthy amount of the clean blend dialed up. If you do this with a flip-flop/switcher pedal, you could quickly demo what it sounds like pushing a more traditional dirt sound with an MBD as well as what it does to a more traditional dirt sound when you feed it into the beefy MBD. The latter (to my ears) is unmatched in terms of ability to enhance already-great dirt sound.
A modulation pedal (phase or flange) is also a regularly used combo. The MBD circuit lighting up a BF-2 or PH-2 is always nice, and I doubt you'd get people asking you for more info on a staple Boss mod pedal...
father of fires
Commercial User
We have a cab sims and headphone amps already. I was thinking maybe a phaser for fun and a reverb for ambiance. Maybe a boost pedal if we're feeling spicy. I do enjoy the discussion though. Darkglass will be at our next event so people will be able to compare them pretty closely.
I think the surprising thing is how many people show up at pedal demos that don't seem to be familiar with pedals or what they do. Its baffling but it happens. You'll have to explain almost everything on the board in detail to someone. There is a "what is this > do you make it > oh what is it for then?" line of questioning that happens a LOT.
We used to have an elaborate board with a switching box that allowed the user to select between the unfixed sound of a dirtfixed pedal and the fixed sound and some people thought that box that said FIXED and NOT FIXED was the thing that was making the difference and asked to buy it. I think those products are just plain tough to demonstrate to people who aren't already looking for exactly what they do. Demoing MBD and BPD is easy. Demoing Dirtfixer for someone who isn't deep in the world of bass pedals requires explaining studio recording concepts and the shortcomings of many pedals in some depth before they can even play a note and we can explain the controls.
TLDR - Marketing hard and doing it as a performance on the fly for hours at a time is harder
father of fires
Commercial User
Which is why I'm leaning for dirt only pedals at events. Until I invent a intuitive blend pedal. Even the Bloop was hard to explain unless you had tons of background in the lore of blended effects.
First few Bloops I sent out people wanted to return them for not doing anything. They didn't understand that had to have a pedal in the effects loop.
Lets not mention folks who think the Dirtfixer was only for Rat pedals.
First few Bloops I sent out people wanted to return them for not doing anything. They didn't understand that had to have a pedal in the effects loop.
Lets not mention folks who think the Dirtfixer was only for Rat pedals.
This one is just made to work with the Metal Zone?
I don't think were putting competing products on our demo board
Well, if you want to show how well they stack then I think a Spite Box, BIG, or Retro Bass Distortion in front would be a good idea. In my experience, most bassists are more interested in how dirt stacks with dirt than how it stacks with modulation or time-based effects. I'm not saying this is a good thing--I myself always have a phaser on my boards--but it is a reality.
But since you mention phaser, reverb, and boost (which of course the BIG brings to the table), I recommend:
- Phaser: Chase Bliss Wombtone Billy Strings signature analog phaser: it sounds better than all other phasers I've tried
- Reverb: Iron Ether Nimbus SE or Broughton Audio Resound V2: both are compact, good sounding reverbs on bass (if you want to go wild, there's always the Chase Bliss CXM 1978 lol)
- Boost: I'm assuming you want a dirty or heavily colored boost since you already have a nice clean boost in the MBD which you could always stack into the BPD. There are plenty of options out there, but this feels like something that could be fun and easy to build: a special, one-off Damnation Audio dirty boost unique to in-person demos.
My take on what to pair with any dirt is pretty much always envelope filter, phaser, or flanger. Octave down before dirt is always fun too.
No, the boost in the MBD does not operate independently.
