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Damnation Audio Fan/Appreciation Thread

so educate me everyone: I get the Idea of stacking....I think lol, so this means putting other dirt's before the #mbd so they hit it's circuits harder?

The purpose is not always to hit harder, but to get different affects. Putting a clean signal into a pedal will produce different sounds than an already affected one. The MBD-1 seems to excel at taking an affected signal and making it better. For others, it works magic as the input for another pedal. Hope that helps.
 
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I also think the MBD is great after other drive pedals when you want to fatten them back up or make them thicker. That Depth knob on the MBD can take a real mid or treble-focused drive pedal and make it sound punchy/bassy again. Good stuff.
That's exactly how I've been using it recently. I've been running an EAE Longsword V3 with the boost engaged into the MBD-1, setting the Clean (i.e. Longsword) and Drive at the same levels so you get the best of all worlds - light OD sound from the Longsword plus crazy stacked LS-into-MBD drive.
The extra bonus comes not only from the killer Depth control, but also the LPF on the Clean. So when you kick on the MBD - it gives you that killer extra slam.
When I tried it the other way around, my limited selection of drive pedals were never able to maintain all that tubey low end goodness from the MBD.
 
That's exactly how I've been using it recently. I've been running an EAE Longsword V3 with the boost engaged into the MBD-1, setting the Clean (i.e. Longsword) and Drive at the same levels so you get the best of all worlds - light OD sound from the Longsword plus crazy stacked LS-into-MBD drive.
The extra bonus comes not only from the killer Depth control, but also the LPF on the Clean. So when you kick on the MBD - it gives you that killer extra slam.
When I tried it the other way around, my limited selection of drive pedals were never able to maintain all that tubey low end goodness from the MBD.

Can I get a pic of your board? I'd love to show John.

And the rest of the internet.
 
That's exactly how I've been using it recently. I've been running an EAE Longsword V3 with the boost engaged into the MBD-1, setting the Clean (i.e. Longsword) and Drive at the same levels so you get the best of all worlds - light OD sound from the Longsword plus crazy stacked LS-into-MBD drive.
The extra bonus comes not only from the killer Depth control, but also the LPF on the Clean. So when you kick on the MBD - it gives you that killer extra slam.
When I tried it the other way around, my limited selection of drive pedals were never able to maintain all that tubey low end goodness from the MBD.

Nice. Totally agree with that last part, too. If you push the MBD into a pedal that doesn't retain lows or low-mids, it seems to choke out the strength of the MBD. I like the MBD after at low to medium gain with a fair amount of the clean channel dialed in. It also seems like you can hit the MBD with a significant amount of drive without things getting too insane or overly compressed. Meaning I can set the MBD in a way that sounds great by itself, but it will still take another dirt pedal in stride without crazy volume spikes or overwhelming, muddy low end. I've even hit it with a fuzz pedal, and all it did was give me more punch and fundamental strength. It's kind of mind boggling.
 
That's exactly how I've been using it recently. I've been running an EAE Longsword V3 with the boost engaged into the MBD-1, setting the Clean (i.e. Longsword) and Drive at the same levels so you get the best of all worlds - light OD sound from the Longsword plus crazy stacked LS-into-MBD drive.
The extra bonus comes not only from the killer Depth control, but also the LPF on the Clean. So when you kick on the MBD - it gives you that killer extra slam.
When I tried it the other way around, my limited selection of drive pedals were never able to maintain all that tubey low end goodness from the MBD.

I want a longsword so bad! They sound phenomenal and different. Which is tough to get these days.
 
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So I redid my pedalboard layout last week as I just got an Aguilar Tone Hammer pre. Chain order is MBD-1 > FEA Comp > Aguilar. I like the MBD-1 well enough that I had no real intentions of using the Aguilar AGS circuit much, but yesterday I was messing with very low gain settings on the TH to see how the AGS sounded, and I decided to kick on the MBD as well. It sounded really good, and combined with the TH EQ, there are a lot of usable possibilities that aren't just over the top all the time.

I only spent a few minutes with it and didn't switch the order to see how the TH into the MBD works , but I thought I would give you folks a heads up.
 
I want a longsword so bad! They sound phenomenal and different. Which is tough to get these days.
It's a really wild device! There are tons of different parameters and combos to try with all the clipping options and the way the EQ and gain interacts (it gets bassier as you turn up the drive, wide range in the mids etc) - it took me a bit of time to understand it enough to get the sound I was looking for. It reminded me of the learning curve I went through for the Tone Hammer DI.
I have it set right now for a vintage-ish warm mid/low-forward sound (thinking of a version of Geezer's sound from the first Black Sabbath) - it jives really well with the clang you can get with the MBD. It's really touch sensitive too which is nice. If your main sound has the boost engaged, when you turn it off, it's like you get a second clean channel. The output is ridiculous too - it may be the loudest pedal I have. Also, it definitely doesn't skimp in the low end!
 
It's a really wild device! There are tons of different parameters and combos to try with all the clipping options and the way the EQ and gain interacts (it gets bassier as you turn up the drive, wide range in the mids etc) - it took me a bit of time to understand it enough to get the sound I was looking for. It reminded me of the learning curve I went through for the Tone Hammer DI.
I have it set right now for a vintage-ish warm mid/low-forward sound (thinking of a version of Geezer's sound from the first Black Sabbath) - it jives really well with the clang you can get with the MBD. It's really touch sensitive too which is nice. If your main sound has the boost engaged, when you turn it off, it's like you get a second clean channel. The output is ridiculous too - it may be the loudest pedal I have. Also, it definitely doesn't skimp in the low end!

That's exactly how I was with the MBD when I first got it. I wasn't sure what was happening when I turned knobs. It was almost disappointing. It's because it was unlike any other drive pedal I ever used. The way the controls work and interact. But then I kept messing with it and realized how awesome it was. Then I got it in with the band for the first time and was simply blown away at how good it sounded in a live band mix. No other dirt box like it on the market atm that I know of.

I will say, the DG X7 can get in the same territory but it's a totally different beast gain wise. But it can get that all encompassing, huge low with the dirt added which is super! Plus it's quite a bit more complicated inside I think. They sound wonderful together.
 
I had one of the new Longswords in my 'cart' this weekend and didn't pull the trigger. I want to try one, but I haven't found any good bass demos out there...

Ha, I had one in my "cart" a couple of batches ago and by the time I had put my credit card info in, they were sold out.

Nice. Totally agree with that last part, too. If you push the MBD into a pedal that doesn't retain lows or low-mids, it seems to choke out the strength of the MBD. I like the MBD after at low to medium gain with a fair amount of the clean channel dialed in. It also seems like you can hit the MBD with a significant amount of drive without things getting too insane or overly compressed. Meaning I can set the MBD in a way that sounds great by itself, but it will still take another dirt pedal in stride without crazy volume spikes or overwhelming, muddy low end. I've even hit it with a fuzz pedal, and all it did was give me more punch and fundamental strength. It's kind of mind boggling.

This is exactly how I use my MBD as well. It comes after all the dirts. I've been trying different combos out in the last couple of months and I've settled (for now) on a Beta DLX for clean tone boost and sweetening with the boost side set to extra bottom. Then Ive got an Iron Pig to get that Rat grind for when the occasion calls for it. I'll use the Beta for clean tone and use the MBD for OD and if I need extra oomph, I kick in the boost on the Beta. If Im using the Iron Pig, I leave the regular beta off, but hit the boost side to fatten things up and retain definition, and drive the IP through the MBD. It sounds huge and glorious. Ive tried moving pedals around, but for me, when you put anything after the MBD, the post pedal sucks up all the bottom and presence. If the Beta DLX is my preamp type pedal, the MBD would be my "postamp."
 
I really want a white one with those knobs. Dang man that thing is so sexy. I so wish. I love mine. But I’d love it even more if it was white with those bangin knobs!
Posting this to show one in its natural setting...

54FDD1D9-B73F-48F6-9BE0-4E2024D96671.jpeg
 
Ha, I had one in my "cart" a couple of batches ago and by the time I had put my credit card info in, they were sold out.



This is exactly how I use my MBD as well. It comes after all the dirts. I've been trying different combos out in the last couple of months and I've settled (for now) on a Beta DLX for clean tone boost and sweetening with the boost side set to extra bottom. Then Ive got an Iron Pig to get that Rat grind for when the occasion calls for it. I'll use the Beta for clean tone and use the MBD for OD and if I need extra oomph, I kick in the boost on the Beta. If Im using the Iron Pig, I leave the regular beta off, but hit the boost side to fatten things up and retain definition, and drive the IP through the MBD. It sounds huge and glorious. Ive tried moving pedals around, but for me, when you put anything after the MBD, the post pedal sucks up all the bottom and presence. If the Beta DLX is my preamp type pedal, the MBD would be my "postamp."
Oh man, "postamp" is perfect!
 
I agree with putting things into the mbd1... I have my cog mini 66 so that I impart my bass tone plus a bit of low mid drive... when it hits the mbd1 it then just seems to push the mids a little bit more! Don’t have any audio samples but the only thing I can think of similar is the eqd arrows into the hoof demo they did... just makes it stand out a bit more.