I think I figured out the bass rig!

[Taylor Crawford]

TLR - Boss LS-2 pedal made everything work together!! Have your distortion cake and eat it too!!

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Hey y’all!

I’ll keep the context short, as I’m only posting to share my epiphany!

Life happens and dreams are put on hold to be a grown up but recently a couple friends and I are finally in a position to jam and write material regularly! We’ve decided the best way to focus our efforts is to release a EP of our hardest hitters. So! This is where I tell you that I am a lifelong guitarist blah blah blah, I decided to pick up bass earnest and ride!

Tone wise, I wanted a crunchy, unclean, heavy, and punchy sound but retain the clarity and authority of the deep bass. Did a lot of research here on TB and went through a few pieces of gear at a high clip to get at least some experience meshing my bass vision while discovering our sound. I struggled for a while with how to put together something that would keep up with the boys and I think the dust has settled!

• Mesa Boogie Big Block 750. Running at 550 watts with the 4ohm cabinet
• Darkglass DG212 (dude, the tweeter makes ALL the difference)
• Bass>Tuner>Overdrive pedal>amplifier input
• FX Loop send>Boss LS-2 main input>LS-2 main output>delay>FX return
• 2nd output from tuner>graphic EQ>Chorus>Phaser>Boss LS-2 “Loop B” input. Nothing from output
• Boss LS-2 Loop A has nothing going in or out of the pedal

The MB BB 750 has two channels switchable via footswitch, as well as a tuner mute function. Volume controls for each channel are independent but share the EQ. I typically play on the OD channel but if I’m trying to show someone a lick or something I’ll switch over to the clean channel, OD pedal is engaged 95% of the time.

I’ve basically use three main tones, all of which can be used with the chorus, phaser, or delay;

1. Heavy distortion - OD channel w dirt pedal
2. Medium gain - clean channel w dirt pedal
3. Clean - clean channel, no dirt

TO MY MAIN POINT!! I am using the amplifier's Overdrive channel and EQ to dial in the dirt, string, pick sound and midrange while taking out most of the low end! The low end, some midrange, and a touch of 2-4K is sculpted, right off the bass, with the graphic EQ via the tuner’s 2nd output and fed into the chorus and phaser (since these FX sound like doodoo with the distortion). This basically gives me two tones, one of which we’ll call the locked in clean tone that comes off the tuner’s 2nd output, and the switchable heavy-midgain-clean tone from the amplifier and gain-based pedal side!

Mix these two tones together with the Boss LS-2 and you get the clarity of the unadulterated distortion AND the heft and body of the clean bass mixed to taste. A touch of chorus on that clean lane with the heavy distortion is a thing of beauty!

This success is all thanks to the Boss LS-2. Since there is nothing plugged into the I/O of the LS-2s Loop A, that knob controls the amount of “Amplifier Sound,” whether that’s the OD channel, clean channel, any pedal that his the preamp too. The knob for Loop B is what folds in the “locked-in” clean tone from the tuners 2nd output.

Last adjustment is made to the tweeter but that’s been set at about 20% for a while. Makes the distortion sparkle without being an ice pick to the ears.

Anyways, thanks for reading! I hope this is at least a little interesting for the other tone tweakers out there and maybe even helpful! There’s a few pictures attached too

 

[Wasnex]

The BB750 is a serious amp, congrats!

I own the BB750's big brother, the Titan.

My understanding is the Titan uses the same channel as the BB750, but it has two sets of controls. It's a channel switcher so two tubes are always in the circuit, and toggling the channel switch determines which set of controls is active. Engaging the OD circuit on the active channel brings two more tubes and associated controls into the signal path.

If you are curious, the OD circuit in these amps is supposedly based on the Mesa Bottle Rocket. To my ears, the circuit has a baked in voice. It boosts the mids and cuts the lows and highs a bit. This is a mixed blessing IMHO.

Some have complained that the BB750 does not have enough power, but I think the trick is you need to run it at 4 or 2 ohms into efficient cabs. One potential advantage of the BB750 over the Titan: My understanding is the BB750 is even more tubey than the Titan, which some believe is due to the smaller output section.

As far as dialing in a nice Tubey sound and feel. I like to engage the OD circuit and then dial up the gain so the OD circuit is just on the edge of breaking up when you pluck hard.

 

[Taylor Crawford]

The BB750 is a serious amp, congrats!

I own the BB750's big brother, the Titan.

My understanding is the Titan uses the same channel as the BB750, but it has two sets of controls. It's a channel switcher so two tubes are always in the circuit, and toggling the channel switch determines which set of controls is active. Engaging the OD circuit on the active channel brings two more tubes and associated controls into the signal path.

If you are curious, the OD circuit in these amps is supposedly based on the Mesa Bottle Rocket. To my ears, the circuit has a baked in voice. It boosts the mids and cuts the lows and highs a bit. This is a mixed blessing IMHO.

Some have complained that the BB750 does not have enough power, but I think the trick is you need to run it at 4 or 2 ohms into efficient cabs. One potential advantage of the BB750 over the Titan: My understanding is the BB750 is even more tubey than the Titan, which some believe is due to the smaller output section.

As far as dialing in a nice Tubey sound and feel. I like to engage the OD circuit and then dial up the gain so the OD circuit is just on the edge of breaking up when you pluck hard.

Right on! Tbh I was hoping you’d reply, you and aged horse seem to be supreme experts. Thanks for the input!!

So let me ask you this, is it normal for the Master Volume to have no effect when the OD circuit is engaged? I assumed that the master volume would control over all amplitude and the OD volume would be like a mix knob. Right now the master volume has no effect whatsoever when I have the OD engaged.

When I got the amp I didn’t really understand what I was doing, I just knew it was a good deal from a friend of a friend and you can’t go wrong with any Mesa product (I’ve owned a Dual Rectifier since high school).

 

[Wasnex]

It's been a while since I played a BB750, but I believe the controls function the same as the Titan, although the order of the controls on the front panel is a bit different.

My understanding is the Master should be active all the time. The Overdrive and OD Master should only be active when OD is engaged.

The channels are laid out a bit different on the Titan. Both OD controls are grouped together on the left of the channels. Which I think is more consistent with the actual signal path. See diagrams at bottom of post.

When I select OD, both controls on the left are active. I believe the OD Level, is the same as your OD Master. Also I believe this control feeds the Gain control in the next section. Gain is always active on the selected channel.

The Titan has a Master on each channel, and also a grand master labeled "Output." The channel Master is active only for the selected channel. The Output control is always active.

This is from the BB750 OM

If the amp is not working properly, you have to decide whether to return it or get it repaired. Give Mesa a call. These days, you usually have to leave a message and they get back to you.

AFAIK here is the clean signal path:

and here is the OD signal path

I would confirm these diagrams with Mesa.

 

[Taylor Crawford]

I appreciate the write up. I actually dropped it off at an authorized repair shop for a different issue here in Dallas yesterday, but giving Mesa a call would still probably be a good idea. That way I could let them know there’s more than one thing wrong!

I like to have a great deal of saturation so being able to mix it with the clean is essential.