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My Dirt Bender - Another Jounal

#121
News from Damnation Audio: The MBD-2 is here. That is, the stupid thing with DHL happened again.
The DHL Mail-people are not allowed to do cash transactions because of Covid restrictions.
The parcel has the customs fee that needs to be paid before being handed to the customer.
So they drive to my house, log a failed attempt and put a post card into my letter box.
I can fetch it from the post office tomorrow.
That means I'll have tonight to play around some more with the Underground Accelerator in the dirt position to get more accustomed to it and tomorrow is an NPD again.
 
#123
sunbeast said:
I also totally missed it despite seeing the title many times since you posted
Click to expand...


Did I say that was an accident? No no!
Jounal is actually a neologism.
It derives from the French word "jou" which means "to play" and the French word "nal" which means "end".
Obviously meaning that I'm willing to see this through to the end, not shying away from the cost, ready to throw away my hard earned cash and my rare moments of spare time.
 
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#124
IMG-20220318-WA0002.jpg

This morning, I freed this little guy from the post office.

I turned everything at noon, plugged it in, played a bit, loved it.
Tweaked the knobs, hated it.
Tweaked some more, hated it even more.
Went back to noon, and tried to understand the interaction of the controls. I've set it now with tone and deep dimed, shift in the upper position, gain in the lower, which sounded sweet again.
It certainly is a pedal with a sonic range. Lots of tones in there, but the higher gain tones sounded too artificial.
Unlucky me, I had to rush off to work (to sit on my ass and wait on people), so a first impression is all I could manage.
 
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#125
IMG-20220318-WA0004.jpg


Now that there are four pedals, I've strapped them on my cioks powered Nano and patched this block into the dirt pedal slot of my board - much easier to compare them that way.

It dawned on me: The cake is a lie!


From left to right:
I like the UA because it has that organic tube breakup (most likely because that breakup is done by a tube).
Apart from that, it also has the most potent EQ section. When you set it to a mild breakup and push the treble a bit, you can play chords for hours.

I like the BETA DLX because it has so many options, plus it is the only pedal of the bunch that can actually push mids. You get two gain stages in one pedal and in the no clipping diodes setting the drive is so mild on the ear that you can use lots of it.

I like the Barbershop because it sounds very natural. It is a super simple pedal, easy to set and the sound is spot on, hard to go wrong here.

I like the MBD-2 because it is beefy. Even at mild settings, playing it feels a bit like listening to a big V8 engine idling. This thing can roar with a deafening sound, but currently, it chooses not to.

Each of these pedals brings something to the table that is unique. Each of these pedals can do a little trick the others can not do.
I can sit and listen to the finer nuances of each for a long time without being bored.


If I went ahead and kept adding pedals, I fear all of them will be sorted in only two piles:

1. The reject pile. For those that offer a weakness I cannot abide.

2. The good pile. Full of drive pedals that do a beautiful job, something that resonates with my playing and adds something to the equation.
 
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#127
el murdoque said:
View attachment 4625599
This morning, I freed this little guy from the post office.

I turned everything at noon, plugged it in, played a bit, loved it.
Tweaked the knobs, hated it.
Tweaked some more, hated it even more.
Went back to noon, and tried to understand the interaction of the controls. I've set it now with tone and deep dimed, shift in the upper position, gain in the lower, which sounded sweet again.
It certainly is a pedal with a sonic range. Lots of tones in there, but the higher gain tones sounded too artificial.
Unlucky me, I had to rush off to work (to sit on my ass and wait on people), so a first impression is all I could manage.
Click to expand...

Not sure if mbd1 settings are similar but I have mine as basically a round the clock version…
Clean at 9
Volume at 11
Tone at 12
Gain at 1
Depth at 3
Can’t remember of shift is up or down but it’s kinda scooped… just gets a beefy thick grind that is yet articulate… works well for most my drop c songs my band plays
 
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#128
If you’re anything like me you’ll do a terrific job all making all your drives sound about the same. By this I mean- when doing a shoot out, like you are, one tends to make their adjustments until things sound ‘right’.

Of course some will have their own specific nuances baked in to their sound. Those nuances end up being the deciding factor. In the end you might end up with multiple drives that could all serve you well.
 
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#129
el murdoque said:
Went back to noon, and tried to understand the interaction of the controls. I've set it now with tone and deep dimed, shift in the upper position, gain in the lower, which sounded sweet again.
Click to expand...

Fwiw with these depth and tone settings you are cranking all the possible low end into the circuit with the depth and then cutting all the low end back out of the circuit later in the chain with the tone control, which is blending a high pass and low pass filter. It can be easier to run the tone control at noon and the depth all the way off to start. If you don't have enough low end, then turn up the depth control a bit. If you don't have enough high end, then turn up the treble a bit.
 
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#130
el murdoque said:
View attachment 4625599
This morning, I freed this little guy from the post office.

I turned everything at noon, plugged it in, played a bit, loved it.
Tweaked the knobs, hated it.
Tweaked some more, hated it even more.
Went back to noon, and tried to understand the interaction of the controls. I've set it now with tone and deep dimed, shift in the upper position, gain in the lower, which sounded sweet again.
It certainly is a pedal with a sonic range. Lots of tones in there, but the higher gain tones sounded too artificial.
Unlucky me, I had to rush off to work (to sit on my ass and wait on people), so a first impression is all I could manage.
Click to expand...
Understanding the controls, exactly what they're doing, and how they interact is key to getting the most out of the MBD.

The tone control is not your normal LPF. It's a tilt-style, which cuts highs and boosts lows when turning counterclockwise, and the opposite when turning clockwise.
The shift switch changes the center frequency of the tone control. Up is 600hz with a 6db cut (least amount of scoop)
And down is centered at 300hz with a 10db cut (more scoop)
The depth only affects the distortion channel, boosting the lows with a corner frequency of around 700hz.
The clean is low passed with a corner frequency of 1K hz.

The way I approach mine, is to set my core tone with the clean side.
Then on the distortion side, with the depth typically off, I turn the tone up, gain to taste, and bring up the volume to bring my highs back.
That way, I get my lows and mids with the clean side, and my highs from the distortion side.
Thick low end, and crunchy top end.
 
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#131
Right. Thanks for the heads up on the MBD-2!

When I started out, I was under the impression that tone controls mostly work like this. Center=neutral, left more bass/less treble and right more treble/less bass. Then I somehow bought a bunch of pedals where the tone control is just a passive treble blend and got so used to that that I treated the MBD like this out of sheer habit.
I've downloaded the manual now and realize this pedal works quite differently, which is a much welcomed change. I'm playing around with it right now and it's a lot of fun.
There are some settings in there which could easily make it an always on pedal, even with next to no audible drive it adds some personality to the sound.
 
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#133
With the new signal path, I have one dirt pedal up front (the MBD-2) and one pedal after compression (the UA).
This setup here is more than I have asked for.
The MBD-2 gets me thick booty and a sizzle on top that can be set from super subtle to very grindy.
The Underground Accelerator is set to massively boost the treble (of which there is not much) which gives me more definition and has that creamy organic drive sound that makes chords float in the room, especially in combo with reverb.
I'll have to do some measuring, but I fear that the Lucydreamer will not fit into the position of the MBD-2 with the side mounted Jacks - it'll also be awkward to use with the two foot switches that would come close to other important switches. I think I will cancel my order for the Lucydreamer and focus on finding a SS/BS Mini with top mounted jacks.
 
#136
bassbrad said:
@el murdoque don't forget that there are some potent fuzz options in the C4 as well, I use both my C4 and Spectrum as additional stages. Still trying to create a replacement for the BDPG with my SA pedals. It looks like I will be running a side car of fuzz pedals whichever board I go with.
Click to expand...

I've somehow never gotten along well with fuzzes, apart from their use in synth sounds.
I DID try, though. I'd still want to have a Devi Ever / Dwarfcraft Silver Rose to play around with, but I keep failing to find a real life use for the sounds I create with heavy fuzz.
 
#138
el murdoque said:
I've somehow never gotten along well with fuzzes, apart from their use in synth sounds.
I DID try, though. I'd still want to have a Devi Ever / Dwarfcraft Silver Rose to play around with, but I keep failing to find a real life use for the sounds I create with heavy fuzz.
Click to expand...
I’m pretty similar in that regard… had a hiero bead v1 fuzz that I sold and the dg duality that I kept but not in the board… both far too outrageous for anything I could use it for except for with a filter for synth sweeps…for general use in my band playing though could never fit it in..
 
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#139
theunknowndude said:
I’m pretty similar in that regard… had a hiero bead v1 fuzz that I sold and the dg duality that I kept but not in the board… both far too outrageous for anything I could use it for except for with a filter for synth sweeps…for general use in my band playing though could never fit it in..
Click to expand...

I have a Big Muff on my windowsill in the dining room because the SO likes it as a decorative element,
and a OBNE Haunt in my closet because that thing is not only versatile, but also brutal. It can go from wooly sound to spluttering gated mayhem and has a clean blend to keep it under control.
I dearly love the Haunt, but I've yet to find a use for it. The only time that I played that fuzz to an audience was in a synth signal chain (compressor, octaver, Haunt, envelope filter), but I got rid of that 4-pedals-plus-one-looper-to-get-one-sound-I-use-briefly-in-two-songs setup and bought a C4.
The Haunt stayed, though - haunting me to find another use for it.
 
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