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Mr. Black Bass OD

#2
I snagged one when he had them for $99 after Thanksgiving. Although I hated my Thunderclaw after a couple weeks and generally stayed away from Mr Black after that, I have to say that the Bass OD is one damn fine pedal. Extremely full, rich and juicy tone which as advertised, sounds very natural. It has really none of the baked in tone of say a B3K (which I also own, love and have chained after the Mr Black Bass OD).

Also, the Black OD is probably the best OD (that I currently own in a very large arsenal of OD's) for stacking with other pedals. Any pedal I have that comes after it sounds better for it, especially my B3K and Dungeon Master. It fills out the sounds of those pedals in a very organic and full way.

The only gripe, if you could call it that (which I don't) is that it is pretty low gain. Even with the drive knob up all the way, it has barely a fraction of the gain on tap of all my other OD's.

Overall, I am very glad I own it, and look forward to hopefully watching the value of the pedal rise over time, as opposed to so many of my other pedals that I can't even seem to give away when I try to sell them. I notice someone on Reverb is selling theirs for over $200 bucks, which I find rather offensive at this stage of the game because they probably bought a bunch at $99 with the intent to resell them.
 
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#3
Just got an email from Mr Black that a few Bass OD's are available again. Apparently there were a few order cancellations. To those who want a very juicy yet natural and uncolored tone, I highly suggest one of these. Pretty low gain, but the beef up to your sound is well worth the price.
 
#4
I just ordered one... not the screaming deal you got, but I do like the sound of it's character, so I thought I'd pick one up before Jack runs out.

Regarding it's gain structure, I actually prefer and find that a lower gain structure is more useful for the kinds of music I play.
 
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#5
Matt Dean said:
I just ordered one... not the screaming deal you got, but I do like the sound of it's character, so I thought I'd pick one up before Jack runs out.

Regarding it's gain structure, I find that a lower gain structure is more useful for the kinds of music I play.
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Cool man. Then I think you'll really like/love it. At least I hope so. It's very touch sensitive, even with the gain at low. I actually found it sounded best with the drive knob at about 9-10 o clock. Headroom for days and breaks up beautifully according to your dynamics. This is all coming from someone who vowed never to buy a Mr Black pedal again. For now, it's the only OD on my board. I just love the natural juicy big tone this one imparts. This pedal actually changed my whole approach to OD/Distortion (for the time being). What it did was make me realize that just a little uncolored crunch goes a longer way for my style than say my Dungeon Master, which is amazing, but super over-the-top. Basically it relegated most of my other pedals to the "recording studio only" pile.
 
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#8
I just ord one last night. I'm pretty excited for it. This just may (or may not haha) be the OD I've been hunting for for over 6 months now. I sure hope so!!! Because I'm tired of the indecisive OD games I've been playing that whole time.
 
#9
gregmon79 said:
I just ord one last night. I'm pretty excited for it. This just may (or may not haha) be the OD I've been hunting for for over 6 months now. I sure hope so!!! Because I'm tired of the indecisive OD games I've been playing that whole time.
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just don't expect very high gain Monman. If you cut the bass knob to zero and dime the gain knob it gets a little hairier, but then you lose the bass. I was very surprised with how low gain this pedal is, but also very surprised at how muscular and fat it is overall. This is coming from a former Mr. Black hater. It is my first in the chain pedal. It also stacks extremely well with anything coming after it. The Black Bass OD is probably a future classic and I'm glad I snagged one at $99 becuase it's worth every penny at $179. Only 50 made too, which is a big plus for resale value.
 
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#10
MGR said:
just don't expect very high gain Monman. If you cut the bass knob to zero and dime the gain knob it gets a little hairier, but then you lose the bass. I was very surprised with how low gain this pedal is, but also very surprised at how muscular and fat it is overall. This is coming from a former Mr. Black hater. It is my first in the chain pedal. It also stacks extremely well with anything coming after it. The Black Bass OD is probably a future classic and I'm glad I snagged one at $99 becuase it's worth every penny at $179. Only 50 made too, which is a big plus for resale value.
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Well, it is an "OD" pedal after all. So I'm not expecting a lot of gain. I want low gain/grit. I've got other pedals to cover dist and fuzz. I need an OD.

I had someone comment on the fact that he lost a lot of low end though. He actually said he sold it pretty quickly because Of this in fact. That sorta freaks me out a little. So you saying that it's "muscular and fat" makes me feel a little better. I guess I'll find out. I know this much, if there isn't enough low end to satisfy, I may shoot a message to mr black about it. I mean, come on, it's a BASS OD. I am going to be pretty upset if this bass OD isn't very friendly to the low end. Kinda misses the point! Haha
 
#11
gregmon79 said:
Well, it is an "OD" pedal after all. So I'm not expecting a lot of gain. I want low gain/grit. I've got other pedals to cover dist and fuzz. I need an OD.

I had someone comment on the fact that he lost a lot of low end though. He actually said he sold it pretty quickly because Of this in fact. That sorta freaks me out a little. So you saying that it's "muscular and fat" makes me feel a little better. I guess I'll find out. I know this much, if there isn't enough low end to satisfy, I may shoot a message to mr black about it. I mean, come on, it's a BASS OD. I am going to be pretty upset if this bass OD isn't very friendly to the low end. Kinda misses the point! Haha
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Cool, yes it's most definitely an OD so I'm glad you're not expecting high gain. And to be fair to the other guy who said it cuts lows, I did find I have to crank the bass knob to about 95% to match the output of bass from my clean signal, but the bass knob is so sensitive that at full %100 I find it adds a ton of bass and can easily rattle walls. I don't forsee a problem on that end and am surprised the other person sold it for that reason. I can't say for sure they just didn't give it a chance, but I just don't see how it cuts lows. As you so aptly said, it's a bass OD after all.
 
#12
MGR said:
Cool, yes it's most definitely an OD so I'm glad you're not expecting high gain. And to be fair to the other guy who said it cuts lows, I did find I have to crank the bass knob to about 95% to match the output of bass from my clean signal, but the bass knob is so sensitive that at full %100 I find it adds a ton of bass and can easily rattle walls. I don't forsee a problem on that end and am surprised the other person sold it for that reason. I can't say for sure they just didn't give it a chance, but I just don't see how it cuts lows. As you so aptly said, it's a bass OD after all.
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This is comforting. I have the DOD gunslinger and I REALLY like it. But you have to crank the bass on it as well to fill out the bottom end. Which I don't mind because it does indeed fill it out. Big time. So as long as it can go to just a little too much to even on the end of the bass dial, I'll be happy.

I still think it's sorta odd they didn't make it more bass friendly. I mean, I haven't even played one yet and I've heard a report that the low end ain't that great on it. But again, it's extremely relative to each bassist and his own setup. So I don't knock the player or the builder for feeling/building the way they do. It's simply going to be different for everyone.
 
#13
gregmon79 said:
This is comforting. I have the DOD gunslinger and I REALLY like it. But you have to crank the bass on it as well to fill out the bottom end. Which I don't mind because it does indeed fill it out. Big time. So as long as it can go to just a little too much to even on the end of the bass dial, I'll be happy.

I still think it's sorta odd they didn't make it more bass friendly. I mean, I haven't even played one yet and I've heard a report that the low end ain't that great on it. But again, it's extremely relative to each bassist and his own setup. So I don't knock the player or the builder for feeling/building the way they do. It's simply going to be different for everyone.
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Cool. I'll try to hit up a couple demos for you later on with the emphasis on the bass knob. It definitely needs to be cranked, but it in no way (at least on my bass) pulls lows. I used to have a Thunderclaw and it was a mistake to buy because that pedal definitely cut lows. The Black Bass OD seems to have a similar character to the Thunderclaw, but with extra bass. Personally, I love the Bass OD, but as you rightly said, everyone's setup is different. Check back in a few hours for a demo on this thread. I'll use my American P bass with GZR's because that bass is bassier than my Jazz. Should be easier to discern what is going on.
 
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#14
gregmon79 said:
This is comforting. I have the DOD gunslinger and I REALLY like it. But you have to crank the bass on it as well to fill out the bottom end. Which I don't mind because it does indeed fill it out. Big time. So as long as it can go to just a little too much to even on the end of the bass dial, I'll be happy.

I still think it's sorta odd they didn't make it more bass friendly. I mean, I haven't even played one yet and I've heard a report that the low end ain't that great on it. But again, it's extremely relative to each bassist and his own setup. So I don't knock the player or the builder for feeling/building the way they do. It's simply going to be different for everyone.
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Ok, I was able to do a simple test for you. Just playing the open E string all the way thru. Check comments in track to see exactly where knob is. The picture with the track is the exact knob setup you hear. Only change was where bass knob was.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#15
I'm the guy who tried the Black LTD OD and thought it cut a certain notch of low end. I must confess that I am habitually searching for the "perfect" OD. And I do have a Broughton Azure Drive and a Low Blow working they're way to me, so that factored in to my decision to sell the pedal. FWIW, I'm using a Mesa D800, which produces a ton of lows and lower mids and when I used the Mr. Black pedal, it removed a lot of it until I cranked the bass control to a spot between 3:00 and dimmed.

That's a good demo you did MGR... but I still think that there is a notch of missing low even dimmed.
 
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#16
Matt Dean said:
I'm the guy who tried the Black LTD OD and thought it cut a certain notch of low end. I must confess that I am habitually searching for the "perfect" OD. And I do have a Broughton Azure Drive and a Low Blow working they're way to me, so that factored in to my decision to sell the pedal. FWIW, I'm using a Mesa D800, which produces a ton of lows and lower mids and when I used the Mr. Black pedal, it removed a lot of it until I cranked the bass control to a spot between 3:00 and dimmed.

That's a good demo you did MGR... but I still think that there is a notch of missing low even dimmed.
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Cool. Yes, the bass knob only comes alive from about 3 o clock on, with it's biggest effect at almost 100%. After really listening, I can hear a slight cut too, but it's not enough for me to sell the pedal since I love its overall juicyness.
 
#18
Matt Dean said:
Setting aside my issue with how it handles the low end, I do like it's gain structure.
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Far be it from me to tell you how to handle your $, but IF you haven't sold it already, I think you should keep it strictly for its rarity alone. Especially if you snagged one at $99 during the black friday sale. Once it's sold out, it is definitely possible it will increase in value in the next few years.
 
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#20
All this cutting lows talk is one thing. I really don't think it'll be an issue for me. The flavor is what I'm gonna be after. I'll know pretty quick if it's "the one" for me. I did pay the price for it. But if it works out, it could be awesome. I'll find out soon I guess. I was gonna go after a bearfoot BBBOD originally. But then the mr black caught my ear and I totally bit when I saw "only 3 left!!" Haha
 

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