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The Official MTD USA Thread

#5,781
hello all, some lovely looking MTD's been showing up here recently :)

I have a question which I'll ask here in the first instance - I guess it might be better suited to the amps and cabs section, but nevertheless is specific to amplifying an MTD bass, so here goes...

Basically, my favourite tone I'm getting out of my MTD is through my Demeter VTBP201S preamp and monitoring through a pair of audio technica ath-m50 headphones. It's a big, clear, warm & punchy. The MTD is a ash/maple/maple wood combo.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I might get that tone from a mini-rig? i.e. without having to have a pre/power amp, and preferably a 2x10 or 2 x 1x12/1x10 cabs.

My current rig is a Markbass F500 into an ACME LowB2, which while sounding good, doesn't, to my ears, sound like the above. Obviously there is no tube in the F500, but I'm wondering if the ACME is too uncoloured a cab to give me what I'm looking for?

Hopefully, someone can chime in with their suggestions...
Thanks!
 
#5,783
bass4worship said:
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I love those inlays, BfW!
 
#5,786
I'll go out on a limb here and guess that your cabinet is the first thing keeping you from getting your sound.

For me, when you say "punch", that's about upper mids. And the Acme is all about big lows. With your existing rig, you could try cutting some lows and boosting in the upper mid region.

For me, the next step would be to look for a different cabinet. I personally like Bergantino's for punch. And maybe back the tweeter down a bit for some warmth.

Hope this helps.


dirtbird said:
hello all, some lovely looking MTD's been showing up here recently :)

I have a question which I'll ask here in the first instance - I guess it might be better suited to the amps and cabs section, but nevertheless is specific to amplifying an MTD bass, so here goes...

Basically, my favourite tone I'm getting out of my MTD is through my Demeter VTBP201S preamp and monitoring through a pair of audio technica ath-m50 headphones. It's a big, clear, warm & punchy. The MTD is a ash/maple/maple wood combo.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I might get that tone from a mini-rig? i.e. without having to have a pre/power amp, and preferably a 2x10 or 2 x 1x12/1x10 cabs.

My current rig is a Markbass F500 into an ACME LowB2, which while sounding good, doesn't, to my ears, sound like the above. Obviously there is no tube in the F500, but I'm wondering if the ACME is too uncoloured a cab to give me what I'm looking for?

Hopefully, someone can chime in with their suggestions...
Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
#5,787
LeonD said:
I'll go out on a limb here and guess that your cabinet is the first thing keeping you from getting your sound.

For me, when you say "punch", that's about upper mids. And the Acme is all about big lows. With your existing rig, you could try cutting some lows and boosting in the upper mid region.

For me, the next step would be to look for a different cabinet. I personally like Bergantino's for punch. And maybe back the tweeter down a bit for some warmth.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

I have a Bergantino HT112ER that gives me the punch and bottom I like. But recently, I played through 2, Aguilar SL112 through an Epifani 501 head and the tone was to die for. A very light weight rig, but the tone was killer.
 
#5,796
Just in case anyone is interested, Bass Exchange has a used 534 (34" scale) with JJ pickups.

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I thought it looked very interesting but based on what I was looking for (a very modern sound), I decided to pass. It could work very well for someone looking for a more traditional sound from a "5" series MTD.

When I asked Mike about it, he remembered the bass saying it was custom made for the bassist in Hobostank.
 
#5,797
LeonD said:
Just in case anyone is interested, Bass Exchange has a used 534 (34" scale) with JJ pickups.

Invalid Link Removed

I thought it looked very interesting but based on what I was looking for (a very modern sound), I decided to pass. It could work very well for someone looking for a more traditional sound from a "5" series MTD.

When I asked Mike about it, he remembered the bass saying it was custom made for the bassist in Hobostank.
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Anyone interested in this bass should probably also check the string spacing on that one if you care to verify it's 19mm. He's made some narrower spaced stuff too. Hard to tell with those pictures.
 
#5,799
LeonD said:
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I got to play this beauty last night (thanks Leon!). It immediately felt like an old friend. It did have a beautiful solo voice, and being strung E-C there was lots to explore in the upper registers. Would love to hear it in a band mix sometime.

I'm mostly familiar with Kingston series 5's, and by comparison the necks on those seem a little bit chunkier than this one was. Is that typical?

/rick
 
#5,800
RickC said:
I'm mostly familiar with Kingston series 5's, and by comparison the necks on those seem a little bit chunkier than this one was. Is that typical?

/rick
Click to expand...

I've only played one or two Kingstons and I can't remember much about how the neck/necks felt other than that I was more comfortable on my 535. Having said that, Mike shapes his U.S. necks by hand so there can be (relatively speaking) considerable differences from neck to neck.
 

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