There is not a lot of range to get slight grind in silicon mode. Once you get past 9:00, it starts getting heavy very fast. LED mode gives you a little more range for slight grind.
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New mxr bass distortion!
- Thread starter Patchbass
- Start date
Mine arrived today and I was having so much fun test driving it that I almost missed an appointment. This is a great distortion pedal with lots of useable tones and it sounds good with other dirt stacked in front of it. It kicked my tuner off the Mini. Kudos to Ryan & MXR!
Dammit, Mike, I though you love me anyways. Oh well...sorry for the delay, this one covers it all. As an added bonus, it further proves why I hate actives with dirt. lol
That is quite a variety of tones you can get from one pedal. I'm pumped for mine to arrive.
Yeah, the American Standard Jaguar has an active/passive switch and an 18 volt preamp.
I actually prefer it with the P pickup alone in the Jag. Come to think of it, that's usually how I run my Jag.
Is it OK if I love on this pedal a little more or are you all sick of hearing it? Good.
I went totally nuts with it tonight. Probably had a different sound every time I kicked it on, just going for the gusto and putting through the acid test. There's literally not a bad sound on it. I used it on a lot of songs where I usually use a clean sound just because I can, and it was perfect every time. It put just enough of itself in the mix to where you could tell it was on for the mild stuff, and when I cranked it to fuzz, it had this big bottom end with a fuzz that wouldn't fall out of the mix at all. And yes, I listened in the PA as it was a small room and we did a lot of wacky stuff on the dance floor. And it turns out that as long as you have the blend knob up halfway and don't go too overboard with the dirt and wet levels, you absolutely can totally go from mild to full on fuzz with the dials and not screw the mix. Our soundman hates distortion on bass but loved how it sounded tonight.
I also think I finally found a good envelope filter sound out of my Boss SYB-3 that doesn't sound like a duck or a wobblling sheet of aluminum. Took forever. So tonight was a good night until the guitarist lost it at me because I knocked into a table during loadout and a stray cup of coffee spilled and got on his guitar case. He gets all mad and starts yelling at me. Dude plays $200 guitars and carries them in a hardshell case and he's going to lose it over some coffee getting on the case? Dude, go see a shrink.
I went totally nuts with it tonight. Probably had a different sound every time I kicked it on, just going for the gusto and putting through the acid test. There's literally not a bad sound on it. I used it on a lot of songs where I usually use a clean sound just because I can, and it was perfect every time. It put just enough of itself in the mix to where you could tell it was on for the mild stuff, and when I cranked it to fuzz, it had this big bottom end with a fuzz that wouldn't fall out of the mix at all. And yes, I listened in the PA as it was a small room and we did a lot of wacky stuff on the dance floor. And it turns out that as long as you have the blend knob up halfway and don't go too overboard with the dirt and wet levels, you absolutely can totally go from mild to full on fuzz with the dials and not screw the mix. Our soundman hates distortion on bass but loved how it sounded tonight.
I also think I finally found a good envelope filter sound out of my Boss SYB-3 that doesn't sound like a duck or a wobblling sheet of aluminum. Took forever. So tonight was a good night until the guitarist lost it at me because I knocked into a table during loadout and a stray cup of coffee spilled and got on his guitar case. He gets all mad and starts yelling at me. Dude plays $200 guitars and carries them in a hardshell case and he's going to lose it over some coffee getting on the case? Dude, go see a shrink.
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Nice. Once the M85 is available in Germany (and provided I like it) my drive-section will look the same.
I will never understand why musicians get angry over little bumps, scratches and spills. As long as the pickups and neck are not affected who cares. Gear is meant to be used, not sit at home on the wall. Especially crazy because they are only $200.
Got this a few days ago, wanted to really crank it and spend some time with it before I gave my review. Unfortunately I haven't gotten a chance to use it in a live band scenario yet but I have a good feeling about it, mainly because of the separate wet/dry controls. I dont think I could use a dist/od/fuzz pedal without the two now that I've tried this. Keeps your tone and low end intact and lets you dial just the right amount of distortion. I like the really aggressive tones it can produce but I'm absolutely in love with the subtle overdrive I can get with it using just a slight amount of wet tone, cranking the distortion and keeping the tone pretty rolled back and mellow. I like the fat tone of led mode more for getting really fuzzy but the more aggressive tone of silicon mode is great for getting just a slight drive that still stands out and is noticeable. Very pleased so far! I've had pretty good results using it with their envelope filter too!
Also, jimmyM i wanted to ask if youve noticed a a difference in tone with led mode once you adjusted the internal trim pot. I would prefer led mode to be closer in volume to silicon but if not if it changes the original tonal characteristics of that mode, even slightly.
I thought it sounded pretty much the same when you crank down the LED trimpot. I haven't made any comparison recordings and really analyzed it so I can't tell you if it's exactly the same, but it sounds like it to me.
Just tried one! That is THE distortion pedal especially if you're into heavier music styles, but I can see anybody find a use of this pedal no matter what they play. I tried and liked the Ryan's version before as my guitar player has one, so it was not a surprise that I'd love the mxr bd.
I was lucky to compare this to Heavy Electronics EL Oso (another pedal that I wanted to try). Not sure if it's based on the same circuitry (maybe somebody can confirm), but to me it sounded like it is as they sounded kind of simmilar when the mxr bd was in silicon mode. I found the mxr bd more flexible as it has two clipping options, and the tone knob. Also, the clean blend was somehow more usable on the mxr. Now I gotta get one
I was lucky to compare this to Heavy Electronics EL Oso (another pedal that I wanted to try). Not sure if it's based on the same circuitry (maybe somebody can confirm), but to me it sounded like it is as they sounded kind of simmilar when the mxr bd was in silicon mode. I found the mxr bd more flexible as it has two clipping options, and the tone knob. Also, the clean blend was somehow more usable on the mxr. Now I gotta get one
Yep. Pretty much unity for dry is noon and then you can pretty much have your way with the other knobs, at least to a very wide extent.
