• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Damnation Audio Fan/Appreciation Thread

#1,521
gregmon79 said:
I know when I first got mine, I eagerly plugged it in, started playing....I wasn't overwhelmed with awesomeness. I wasn't sure what to think about it. I thought it was too dark for my tastes. But then once I started messing with it and I learned what did what and how it was doing it, it pretty much blew me away. Then I got it in with a band and I was even way more impressed. I've never played a pedal like since or yet. To me it's one pedal that does live up to the hype and it's also one that delivers on many fronts.

The one and only thing I wish it had more of, controllable gain. You can get quite a bit of gain with the depth knob but at that point, for me, it's starts getting too wooly and unrefined. That could work really well for some though. But for me, the MBD is my all time fav go-to as of today. I've simply never played or heard a sweeter OD for my tastes and wants. Now that I have an EAE Longsword, I'm so set. Between the LS and MBD, I can almost just have those 2 and be happy. The boost side of the LS is friggen awesome. It's like the MBD is the OD, LS sans boost is my dist and the LS with added boost is a fuzz just about. Soooooo gggooooooooo.....drooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrooldrool
Click to expand...
I really want to pick up a V3 Model Fet and run the MBD into the Par Drive into the MF.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TodaysTomSawyer, Matt Dean, gregmon79 and 1 other person
#1,522
gregmon79 said:
You can get quite a bit of gain with the depth knob but at that point, for me, it's starts getting too wooly and unrefined.
Click to expand...
My initial thought turned out to be a misunderstanding. I thought the depth knob at full was allowing all of your signals low end into the distortion. Instead it appears to be a low end boost feeding the distortion circuit (which the manual clearly states and I just misread). When I dialed it back to about 11 o'clock everything felt nice and fat but still controlled and punchy. Depending on the gig I could see keeping it at about that 11 o'clock position, or maybe all the way off if I want something brighter and more grindy. Very versatile.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ObsessiveArcher and Fuzzbass
#1,523
Just ordered an MBD-1 yesterday, based on all the lovely reviews here on Talkbass. Super excited!! I have lots of dirt options with Fuzzrocious (GS, CT, Demon, MOTH, Baby Furnace) and Darkglass (AOU, Duality), but I loved the sounds I've heard with the MBD-1. Recently started using a second pedalboard to fit everything. Is this a sickness that can only be cured with a distorted bass?

Thanks to Jeff and big shout out to those who have provided detailed reviews. Lots of info on these threads. Cheers!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ba55Man1ac, ObsessiveArcher, TodaysTomSawyer and 3 others
#1,525
silky smoove said:
My initial thought turned out to be a misunderstanding. I thought the depth knob at full was allowing all of your signals low end into the distortion. Instead it appears to be a low end boost feeding the distortion circuit (which the manual clearly states and I just misread). When I dialed it back to about 11 o'clock everything felt nice and fat but still controlled and punchy. Depending on the gig I could see keeping it at about that 11 o'clock position, or maybe all the way off if I want something brighter and more grindy. Very versatile.
Click to expand...

That's how I keep my depth, fully CCW. I keep my drive about 11 or so, tone around 1 or 2, switch down and blend and output to the room. I love how it's grindy and punchy and clear yet it still adds tons of full and bloomy low end. And the drive sounds so natural. It's like syrup coating my signal with Damnation goodnesseessess
 
  • Like
Reactions: ObsessiveArcher
#1,526
gregmon79 said:
That's how I keep my depth, fully CCW. I keep my drive about 11 or so, tone around 1 or 2, switch down and blend and output to the room. I love how it's grindy and punchy and clear yet it still adds tons of full and bloomy low end. And the drive sounds so natural. It's like syrup coating my signal with Damnation goodnesseessess
Click to expand...
That's very close to how I set mine, but I also dialed my gain trim pot down (and switch up), so the distortion is barely there, but everything sounds bigger and more alive.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gregmon79
#1,527
Just sent mine back for the light always on fix. When I get it back I'll have to check the trim pot out. I'm so close to the sound I wanted and think a trim pot tweak might do it. I was messing around with it all week. Man there are a lot of tones in this thing. I might have to flip some other great pedals I got (Grizzly, fifth gear). I have a Free The Tone Bass Blaster 2 I found cheap coming, with that and the MBD-1 might be it for me.

Who uses the MBD-1 as there medium distortion rather than mild OD? Curious on your settings, and bass (active, passive)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Fuzzbass and gregmon79
#1,528
smeet said:
That's very close to how I set mine, but I also dialed my gain trim pot down (and switch up), so the distortion is barely there, but everything sounds bigger and more alive.
Click to expand...

Dude, it suits a Jazz bass so well. It adds what is normally lacking in a Jazz, the low mids and a little beef. And it still retains, even adds a little in the right spots, high end. It just fills it out so well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Maxfenderbass
#1,529
Funkdified said:
Just sent mine back for the light always on fix. When I get it back I'll have to check the trim pot out. I'm so close to the sound I wanted and think a trim pot tweak might do it. I was messing around with it all week. Man there are a lot of tones in this thing. I might have to flip some other great pedals I got (Grizzly, fifth gear). I have a Free The Tone Bass Blaster 2 I found cheap coming, with that and the MBD-1 might be it for me.

Who uses the MBD-1 as there medium distortion rather than mild OD? Curious on your settings, and bass (active, passive)
Click to expand...

I don’t use mine for OD.

Here’s my usual MBD-1 settings
E5B10BDA-E23C-428A-BE15-1F946CA6D452.jpeg


I use the L2K, it has MFD pickups and has an option to activate the preamp or go passive.
 
  • Like
Reactions: metron, ObsessiveArcher, TodaysTomSawyer and 3 others
#1,532
gregmon79 said:
Dude, it suits a Jazz bass so well. It adds what is normally lacking in a Jazz, the low mids and a little beef. And it still retains, even adds a little in the right spots, high end. It just fills it out so well.
Click to expand...

And how is your new Geddy?
 
  • Like
Reactions: gregmon79
#1,533
Maxfenderbass said:
That is pretty much exactly how I run mine
Click to expand...

Me three (or four, I've lost count). I get a decent amount of dirt from that setting with an active bass. Yet another great thing about the MBD is that it's so easy to dial in the right amount of OD, from barely-there to heavy. We've probably all had pedals where some knobs were only usable within a narrow range and a small tweak could take you from too little to too much. Lots of wiggle room with each knob on the MBD, and I find that this is true for my passives as well as my actives (though my passives are all P-style; none have low output).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ba55Man1ac, XXL, Maxfenderbass and 1 other person
#1,536
andrew said:
And how is your new Geddy?
Click to expand...

Oh man I really dig it. It was a little foreign at first. This is my first Jazz bass. I've had a VMJ for a couple years but I put a P neck on it so the neck was very different for me. But I've played it a ton the last few days and I have to say I'm really bonding with it. The more I play it the more I hear how good the Dimarzio Model J pups in it are. And it's cool to actually have a blend spectrum whereas any PJ I have is weak. It's like you turn the bridge pup back 10% and it's all neck. The Geddy has a real nice range of blend so there is quite a lot of depth to them. A lot of power too. AND it's dead quiet. That was a huge added bonus.
 
  • Like
Reactions: donahue and Maxfenderbass
#1,537
gregmon79 said:
Oh man I really dig it. It was a little foreign at first. This is my first Jazz bass. I've had a VMJ for a couple years but I put a P neck on it so the neck was very different for me. But I've played it a ton the last few days and I have to say I'm really bonding with it. The more I play it the more I hear how good the Dimarzio Model J pups in it are. And it's cool to actually have a blend spectrum whereas any PJ I have is weak. It's like you turn the bridge pup back 10% and it's all neck. The Geddy has a real nice range of blend so there is quite a lot of depth to them. A lot of power too. AND it's dead quiet. That was a huge added bonus.
Click to expand...

The reason why its quiet is because Model j's are hum cancelling. I have one in a pj bass
 
  • Like
Reactions: gregmon79
#1,538
Funkdified said:
The reason why its quiet is because Model j's are hum cancelling. I have one in a pj bass
Click to expand...

I've had hum cancelling pups in a bass before and I've never played one that was as quiet as say an active P is. But it's probably because I just haven't played a ton of basses.

I have high hopes I can swap this bass out with my ATK for band work. I still love my ATK but it would be nice to mix it up a little. I've played that ATK in bands for 20 years so it'll be nice to change it up. I know I won't get some of the same aspects in the Jazz as the ATK, but it sounds to me like it'll be somewhere close to where I want it to be.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back