MXR M85 Bass distortion as an OD? Or keep looking?

[JimmyM]

Very nice! Are you using a pick or fingerstyle on those clips. I'm sure I'll hear them even better when I get home and listen through my PC's Bose speakers.
I too am interested in that pedal. I had the old MXR DI/Dist but it died a few years ago.

Fingerstyle. I just threw that together very quickly because I thought too much was being played up about its heavy sounds and not enough about its light sounds and a couple people wanted demos of it.

 

[slyjoe]

And I appreciated it Jimmy - made me get one.

Fingerstyle. I just threw that together very quickly because I thought too much was being played up about its heavy sounds and not enough about its light sounds and a couple people wanted demos of it.

 

[DavC]

I know you've made up your mind .... but ....

Barbershop( had 1 ) ... Valve Drive ... TC Spark ( hopefully have one to try tomorrow ) ... Maxon BD10 ( had 1 ) ... Sparkle Drive MOD ( had 1 ) ... FullTone 500 ( had 1 ) ... FatBoost 3 ... Wampler Dual Fusion ( have 1 now , used on gtr thus far )...
various Real Tubes ( had some ) .... plus many more I can't remember at the moment ...

seems like most FET or JFET circuits might do a better job acting like a warm low gain tube without the spikes and noise that most Op-Amp circuits have ..?!?? YMMV ..! real tubes pushed with the proper voltage are fun ....

 

[TheCouchBassist]

I'd be all over one, too, if I didn't just have a friend custom build me something which is almost exactly the same as the M85. Great little unit!

Jimmy, once again to the rescue with big bass tones

Boy, those tones sounded a tad "mid-scooped" to me.......just messing with JimmyM.

 

[40Hz]

You might want to consider a Caitlinbread SFT. It does a lot more than "doom" - but if you like Ampeg SVT flavored sound as well as distortion, this pedal will give it to you.



Gets a pretty decent B-15 Motown tube vibe out of modern super-clean amps too.



Might be worth a look.

For the record, I'm a big Caitlinbread fan. I have several of their pedals.

 

[LowEndWooly]

I do really like the SFT, but the prospect of having a clean blend is a pretty high priority, for me. I've got an envelope filter, octave and a fuzz all with clean blend and wanted to add an OD with one, as well. I know some people think clean blends are pointless, but I've gotten a lot of use out of them.

 

[mpdd]

aggro - rat tail (no diodes)
low to medium - dark driving
both are by fuzzrocious

 

[40Hz]

I do really like the SFT, but the prospect of having a clean blend is a pretty high priority, for me. I've got an envelope filter, octave and a fuzz all with clean blend and wanted to add an OD with one, as well. I know some people think clean blends are pointless, but I've gotten a lot of use out of them.

Well that's good! Because I have absolutely no idea what a "clean blend" is. But maybe I know it by a different term. Is there a video or something you can point me to?

By clean blend do you mean it splits the input and then mixes the clean signal with the processed one like most of the better tremelo and vibrato boxes do?

You could always just split your signal into parallel channels and use a mixer to mix the clean source plus each effect send in whatever ratio you like.

 

[LowEndWooly]

You could always just split your signal into parallel channels and use a mixer to mix the clean source plus each effect send in whatever ratio you like.

See.. that get's a little confusing for me. I'd rather have the most simple set up, and the pedals that are available now do plenty for me.

When I say clean blend, I refer to the ability to adjust the volume of the clean tone into the pedal vs. the wet signal.. I don't know how it works, but it does. So, you can have full out FX volume or full out clean, or 50/50 or anything between.

 

[40Hz]

See.. that get's a little confusing for me. I'd rather have the most simple set up, and the pedals that are available now do plenty for me.

When I say clean blend, I refer to the ability to adjust the volume of the clean tone into the pedal vs. the wet signal.. I don't know how it works, but it does. So, you can have full out FX volume or full out clean, or 50/50 or anything between.

Ok. Gotcha. That's what I thought you meant. So any pedal with a wet/dry ratio control. I'd guess true bypass is also mandatory?

 

[LowEndWooly]

You guessed correct!

 

[Buzz E]

Different mellow settings on the MXR Bass Distortion. Precision with EMG Geezer Butler P run through Ampeg SCR-DI for its 5k highs rolloff and A-Designs REDDI. All sounds recorded 100% wet.

1. Clean
2. LED Mode 1 --- slight grind
3. LED Mode 2 --- a little more grind
4. Silicon Mode 1 --- slight grind
5. Silicon Mode 2 --- a little more grind
6. Silicon Mode 3 --- not mellow at all but fun!

So it is very capable of doing what you are asking.

Not really interested in the pedal, but you just sold me on the Geezers...! I've been on the fence about those for a while. Thank you sir!

 

[JimmyM]

Not really interested in the pedal, but you just sold me on the Geezers...! I've been on the fence about those for a while. Thank you sir!

Yep, great pickup. So good that even though I no longer have an EMG deal, I still use the pickup

 

[JimmyM]

I do really like the SFT, but the prospect of having a clean blend is a pretty high priority, for me. I've got an envelope filter, octave and a fuzz all with clean blend and wanted to add an OD with one, as well. I know some people think clean blends are pointless, but I've gotten a lot of use out of them.

I can't say I ever thought they were pointless, but I always preferred overdrives that at least gave you the choice to use them without a clean blend. The M85 does, but I've been using it with a blend because it makes it easier to adjust on the fly during a show, and I still haven't settled into one single role with it so I end up adjusting it during the course of a show.

 

[Plectrum72]

Check out some of the reviews of the TC Spark. I love it for low gain. It has wet/dry ratio and bypass. Took a chance on it on another TBers recommendation and it turned out to be just what I was looking for.

 

[mmbongo]

Check out some of the reviews of the TC Spark. I love it for low gain. It has wet/dry ratio and bypass. Took a chance on it on another TBers recommendation and it turned out to be just what I was looking for.

This. The Spark is such a criminally underrated low gain od/clean boost/dirty boost/eq pedal.

 

[airfrank]

The MXR doesn't have a clean blend, it's confusing with it's labeling. It's like some one designed the box art and some one disconnected designed the circuit. It's got an EQ which can't fully by turned off and is controlled by the clean knob. As a result it's not particularly transparent and always imparts a certain sound. It's grit is OK but nothing amazing and turning the gain down doesn't take the signal to clean, there is always a level of grit. Get a Blueberry or Wampler Euphoria....they are far more intuitive, interactive and sound better too. They are in the same price point too. The Wampler is a 4 knob OD that actually works how you would expect a 4 knob OD to work. Where as the MXR has a clean knob which isn't a clean blend but a pointless EQ which doesn't sound great, isn't that useful and can't be fully dialled out.
The best and only Use I use my MXR Bass OD for is to sit between my MXR octaver and Filter. It seems most happy to do that, but for other OD duties...there are so many better pedals out there.

MXR pedals are generally a cut above the norm, except their dirt pedals.They mostly seem slightly under par compared to other brands. I prefer an OCD over this box any day....even at the OCD's lighter settings.

Replacing the drive pot with a no load pot might allow a softer overdrive. Just a thought.

 

[Allegrus]

It can work, but it won't give you much ability to finesse your sound if you do.

 

[Feral Feline]

What's with all the zombie thread resurrections lately?

I've got nothin' against it, always good to have new info presented on any topic... but as an observation... lots of Wakeful DeadThreads of late (pun intended)