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MTD 535 tonal differences

tbone0813

tbone0813

The faithless say farewell when the road darkens.
Aug 6, 2005
1,799
40
Grand Prairie, TX.
#1
I'm looking at 2 MTD basses. One is a 535 with an ash body, buckeye burl top, and a wenge neck & board. The other is a tulipwood body with a myrtle burl top, and a wenge neck & board. I can't play them side-by-side so it's hard for me to make a comparison so if anyone can somewhat describe what the tonal differences are I would appreciate it.
 
#2
The different tops will have no impact. If the ash is lightweight, it will sound very, very similar to the tulipwood bass. If the ash is heavier, it will have more low end punch and presence, and I would highly recommend it!

The wenge tone is very strong, and if both body woods are of approximately equal weight, those two basses should sound similar. If the ash bass weighs a pound or two more, I'd go for that one in a minute!!!!

IMO and IME.
 
#3
With MTD the top is so thin that I would agree that it would not have an impact on the tone. Therefore, determine the body wood and go by the general characteristics of that wood and whatever the fretboard is made of. However, I don't adhere to (top wood concept) this as a rule. On other basses such as Roscoes the top wood accounts for 1/3 of the total thickness of the body so in this case I believe it "must" have some impact on the tone. :bassist:
 
#4
T-MOST said:
With MTD the top is so thin that I would agree that it would not have an impact on the tone. Therefore, determine the body wood and go by the general characteristics of that wood and whatever the fretboard is made of. However, I don't adhere to (top wood concept) this as a rule. On other basses such as Roscoes the top wood accounts for 1/3 of the total thickness of the body so in this case I believe it "must" have some impact on the tone. :bassist:
Click to expand...

I had to come back today just to comment on this post. I've heard people say this a number of times that the MTD top is thin. I don't know what MTD's you guys are seeing, but the tops on both the MTD's I've owned have been anywhere from 1/4 to 1/3 the total of the body of the bass. I have no comment on whether it makes any difference in tone or not, as I just don't know and nobody has proven it to me one way or the other.
 
#6
T-MOST said:
Every MTD that I have come across seems to have a thin top wood. No way does it appear to make up a 1/3 of the body and 1/4 would be the max. Thats just the way it appears to my eyes. :hmm:
Click to expand...

I don't mean to start a flame war over this. I've owned a Roscoe SKB3006 and while I'll admit that there seems to be more of a top to body ratio than most MTD's, I would by no means say that an MTD top is thin. I'll happily take a picture of my bass from the side to show you what I mean. My 635 has a top that is closer to a 1/4 of full body.
 
#7
Not the best picture, but it will give you an idea:

MTD635Sideshot.jpg
 
#8
Not for nothing but whats the big deal "if " MTD tops are thin? How does that automatically imply something negative? Perhaps Mike T makes the tops "thinner" so that they are purely asthetic and to insure that the tone isn't colored or affected by the top wood. The point hardly needs to be "proved". It was just my opinion.
 
#9
T-MOST said:
Not for nothing but whats the big deal "if " MTD tops are thin? How does that automatically imply something negative? Perhaps Mike T makes the tops "thinner" so that they are purely asthetic and to insure that the tone isn't colored or affected by the top wood. The point hardly needs to be "proved". It was just my opinion.
Click to expand...

I never meant to suggest it was a negative. I was just stating that in my experience, the tops on my MTD's haven't been thin. Now, the tops on the MTD Kingston Z basses are very thin, and are there purely for aesthetic purposes, as are a lot of other basses. I just haven't run across that myself on an MTD USA bass, and find it odd that this is at least the third time here that I've read somebody say the tops are thin.

Again, the last thing I want to do is start a flame war over who has a thicker top, and whether or not the top has anything to do with the tone. That just isn't what I'm trying to put into words.
 
#12
Great discussion guys. This is what TalkBass is all about. I own a couple of 535's and have played a lot of them. They seem to each have their own personal sound. I have not played two of them that sound just alike. I agree that the top wood is much less important to the sound as it is to the looks.

The body wood makes a big difference. If the ash body is Swamp Ash (and it most likely is) I would prefer that over the Tulip wood. Mike could speak to this for sure but I generally dont believe that he uses Northern Ash for his bass bodies. That is the harder denser ash. He usually uses swamp ash for the ash bodies, and I like it. It seems to have more of that "Growl" sound that I like when I solo. But that is just m personal preference.

Tulip wood has a pretty balanced an sweet sound, but it is pretty laid back in the mix. One of my bands is a nine piece I have to use something a little more agressive to cut through the mix. Swamp Ash is a pretty smooth sound but it growls enough to let the bass come up from in the mix with enough note definition. The previous comments about the Wenge neck are right on. They have a lot of tonality and good vertones and note definition. Good luck. Cant go wrng with a 535.
 
#13
:hmm: I would think that the ash MTD might have a bit more attack. I haven't owned or even played an ash MTD but based on the ash bodied Roscoe, Elrick & F-basses that I've owned I would expect a bit more attack in the tone.

I owned two MTD's (535 and 635) with tulipwood bodies that had drastically different sounds due to the neck/FB woods.
The 535 had a wenge neck & finger board and had very harsh highs & was pretty aggresive sounding. Not my thing.:rollno:

The 635 had a maple neck & rosewood FB and was capable of much smoother highs and warmer lows. Very expressive sounding bass.:)

Bottom line, I was quite surprised how different both tulipwood basses sounded by varying the neck/FB woods.

With that in mind, if I was looking to checkout different MTD sounds to determine what I preferred I'd focus more on variation of sound due to using different neck & FB woods.

It's hard to say how much the top affects the tone of the MTD. The make up of exotic tops vary so much (amount of figuring, spalting, burl ...) that it would be hard to say whether the myrtle top or the buckeye burl top would bring more tonally to the mix.
 
#15
The ash body will have a bit more edge in the mix, either live or recorded. The Tulipwood will be a bit smoother and scooped or compressed. I love the tone of Norm Stocktons Tulipwood Wenge/Wenge. Not just him playing it but I had a chance to play it at a local store he did a clinic at! KJung nailed it in his post. I own his old Ash bodied 535 Wenge/Wenge and it is a flat out AWSOME bass. I feel I get all the warmth and sizzle of the Tulipwood with more low end punch of Ash. It's my baby, my main bass. Guys just love its tone, in my bands, sound men..etc.
 
#16
I posted in this thread, but I didn't comment on the tone from my MTD's wood cominations. My 635 has mahogany body, burl maple top, maple neck, and rosewood fretboard. The tone of this bass is very balanced, almost piano like in clarity. It is capable of sweet highs, and deep strong lows. Stringing it up with MTD stainless steel strings, I love to dig in a bit and this bass starts to snarl. It gets a very nice finger style tone this way. Not overly aggressive and cutting like some other wood combos, but I would describe it almost to a modern jazz bass like tone when digging in. The slap tone is fully and punchy as well. The tone of this bass with these woods is almost what I would call a "median" tone for MTD basses. It isn't quite as sharp and aggressive like an all ash bass would be, but isn't quite as mellow as a tulipwood or alder MTD. Nobody would hear my particular bass and say "oh, that's an MTD". That's fine with me, as that isn't really what I'm going for. I was looking for a bass that can cover a very wide range of music styles, and I find this wood combo on my 635 to be very versatile.
 
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