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The Official MTD USA Thread
- Thread starter johnpaulbass
- Start date
I agree.
It is really not that expensive for what it is.
I would buy it in a second.... If I liked the body shape.
I agree.
It is really not that expensive for what it is.
I would buy it in a second.... If I liked the body shape.
Yeah, Mike should definitely stick to making double cutaways.
One of my band's videos's is currently a contender in a competition. Of course, it would be lovely if some of my fellow MTD lovers voted for itD) but the reason I'm posting it here is that the recording was made with my old ash/walnut/ash/maple 535. The bass was recorded direct and the track might be interesting for anyone who wants to hear that particular wood combo "in the mix". The growly nature of the bass' tone is especially evident towards the end of the track.
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Okay, I voted. And uh... Spammed my friends about it.
I received my 434-24 last Thursday and have some comments/questions about the electronics.
The first thing I noticed is the output of the bass is very low. Probably the lowest out of all my basses. Opening the control cover, I noticed the gain is turned all the way down (which explains the low output).
Reading the suggested tone settings that come with the bass, Mike recommends boosting or cutting eq to "10". On all my other basses, many times turning an eq knob all the way up or down would result in an unusable tone. On this bass, all the setting are useable.
The next thing I tried was setting the gain up 50%. While this made the output louder, it now made the settings with the tone knobs on "10" unusable. The eq now behaved similar to my other basses.
The above leads me to believe that while the gain has an impact on the output, it also has a (major) impact on the eq.
Mike also said thew frequencies are interactive. It's leads me to believe there are a whole lot of different tones in this preamp. I'd also love to see a review of an MTD done in the Bass Gear style with all the gain and frequency charts.
So, am I off base here or is this similar to others experiences with MTD basses?
And going with the "no pic, no bass" rule, here's my MTD. (Sorry for the poor quality. As soon as I got it, I had to hit the road for work. So it's an iPhone photo in a hotel room.)
The first thing I noticed is the output of the bass is very low. Probably the lowest out of all my basses. Opening the control cover, I noticed the gain is turned all the way down (which explains the low output).
Reading the suggested tone settings that come with the bass, Mike recommends boosting or cutting eq to "10". On all my other basses, many times turning an eq knob all the way up or down would result in an unusable tone. On this bass, all the setting are useable.
The next thing I tried was setting the gain up 50%. While this made the output louder, it now made the settings with the tone knobs on "10" unusable. The eq now behaved similar to my other basses.
The above leads me to believe that while the gain has an impact on the output, it also has a (major) impact on the eq.
Mike also said thew frequencies are interactive. It's leads me to believe there are a whole lot of different tones in this preamp. I'd also love to see a review of an MTD done in the Bass Gear style with all the gain and frequency charts.
So, am I off base here or is this similar to others experiences with MTD basses?
And going with the "no pic, no bass" rule, here's my MTD. (Sorry for the poor quality. As soon as I got it, I had to hit the road for work. So it's an iPhone photo in a hotel room.)
First, beautiful bass!!!!
Second, that gain thing is real common. I also set all my USA MTDs to about mid-way and it really makes the bass come alive (as well as gain matching my other stuff, which initially was the main reason I did it too).
Third, I love Mike, but have never agreed with his EQ suggestions in those cover letters.
So leave that gain set about mid-way, and only use as much EQ as you need, which at least IME, has NEVER been to max any of out.
I'll echo Vic on this one. Mike is a world-class luthier but he's not a bassist! I was a little surprised the first time I looked at his tone-shaping suggestions on his cover letter. One thing about the MTD Bart electronics - they impact the overall volume considerably. So if you do find yourself boosting or cutting a lot you might want to also adjust your volume pot accordingly. Having said that, I absolutely love the electronics in my MTDs. The only thing I miss is not having an active/passive switch.
I received my 434-24 last Thursday and have some comments/questions about the electronics.
Congratulations on your stunning 434-24! Is yours maple/ebony neck with a makore body? If yes, the only difference between our 434 will just be the top and finish
I always adjust the trim pot by boosting it slightly to match the volume with my other basses. I guess if you leave the preamp gain all the way down it is just about as loud as a passive bass.
As for the onboard EQ, most of the cases, I leave them all flat and go from there a MTD already sounds perfect with flat settings. In extremely rare cases I will need to boost a tiny little bit bass and/or mid to feel the "presence," but that only happened once or twice.
Enjoy your bass! now I can't wait to see mine...
Congratulations on your stunning 434-24! Is yours maple/ebony neck with a makore body? If yes, the only difference between our 434 will just be the top and finish
Enjoy your bass! now I can't wait to see mine...
Mine is maple/ebony neck with a makore body. Does yours have a burl top and blueburst finish? I saw one there like that.
I asked Mike about that. He said when they were designing the preamp, they agonized about adding a passive setting. In the end he decided not to because the pickups were so low output, he thought they would be nearly unusable without the preamp.
Thanks for all the input and kind words guys.
I also always thought his eq setting recommendations were crazy and I never tried them.
Lately, I've been playing in very crappy sounding venues. Just terrible. That's where I learned to love the P bass. It just worked and that's all I've been using. When I was at Mike's shop checking out the bass, he actually set it to one of his crazy eq settings. And it didn't sound too bad. Kind of like my P bass actually.
When I got home, I played with eq some more. And also with the gain. What I found is that with the gain up 50%, I could get amazing modern tone but couldn't get the more vintage sound. When I backed the gain down, I then could get the vintage sound but the modern tone went away.
I'm sure the gain is affecting the eq. I'm actually considering drilling a small hole in the cover to change the gain on the fly. I'm hearing the gain affect the tone of the bass that much. And this makes for probably the most versatile bass I've owned.
I'm sure the natural sound the each instrument affects how the eq is used. This particular bass has a very focused sound and tight low end. (And in the name of accuracy, I'm not just turning knobs to 10. But I am using the eq more on this bass than any other I've owned.)
Thanks again for your input.
I had a Lull with a Bart preamp that had a small hole in the cover. It was a nice option to not have to pull the cover off to make the change.
I actually leave my MTD between 33-50% up on the gain. Its a good mix for me.
I have owned 3 MTD's, and my AG 5, is the best MTD I have ever owned or played. I can't put it down. It sounds good regardless of the rig I play it through. And as far as the gain, it is set at the lowest setting, and I can't set the gain on my amps past 11:00 before it starts clipping.
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Not as unusable as an MTD with a dead battery!
+1 The unusual 'active pickups' in the MTD preclude the option of passive performance. You could bypass the secondary preamp of course (the standard on-board), but you still would have buffering and all the other stuff that results from an active circuit in the pickups themselves.
And +1 to the above discussion of EQ settings. Please, Mike, take two minutes on the word processor and delete those ridiculous EQ setting suggestions!
+1.
When i started playing atound with my 535 as per those settings..... That is a couple hours of my life I won't get back.
While I'm not in the Club yet (my scheduled completion is in July
), I tend to use the onboard EQ minimally as well. That being said, Andrew Gouche is probably one of the most noted MTD Endorsers (as well as Norm Stockton) and I heard the he just SLAMS all the EQ knobs on his bass all to 10. I remember thinking how odd that was.A few years ago I had sent an email to Adam Nitti asking him about the great tone he got on his Balance CD. He told me that a lot of what I was hearing was his Stingray and not his Curbow. When I asked about his settings, I think he said something like "Bass flat, Considerable Mid Boost, and cutting Highs" Never thought anyone would EQ a Stingray like that... BUT.. it worked. Actually recently I've been straying from the idea of keeping everything close to flat and trying interesting things at venues like boosting only the mid knob, actually rolling OFF highs during slap passages, or even CUTTING bass.
Surprisingly on some instruments, those tweaks did interesting things to the sound that I liked. I learned to just trust my ears and forget about the Stigma that all Soundguys prefer flat, un-eq'd bass for their mix. I think at the end of the day, they just want a signal that sits well and is tasteful... and that could be just your bridge pickup solo'd with the Bass and Mids completely Maxed and your Treble Completely off... it really just depends on the context.
I rarely if ever take at advice from anybody as to where to set my EQ. I start off with everything flat, and tweak until I hear what I want. Wherever the EQ points are when I am done, is irrelevant, as long as it sounds good to me.While I'm not in the Club yet (my scheduled completion is in July
A few years ago I had sent an email to Adam Nitti asking him about the great tone he got on his Balance CD. He told me that a lot of what I was hearing was his Stingray and not his Curbow. When I asked about his settings, I think he said something like "Bass flat, Considerable Mid Boost, and cutting Highs" Never thought anyone would EQ a Stingray like that... BUT.. it worked. Actually recently I've been straying from the idea of keeping everything close to flat and trying interesting things at venues like boosting only the mid knob, actually rolling OFF highs during slap passages, or even CUTTING bass.
Surprisingly on some instruments, those tweaks did interesting things to the sound that I liked. I learned to just trust my ears and forget about the Stigma that all Soundguys prefer flat, un-eq'd bass for their mix. I think at the end of the day, they just want a signal that sits well and is tasteful... and that could be just your bridge pickup solo'd with the Bass and Mids completely Maxed and your Treble Completely off... it really just depends on the context.
I like to think that I'm the best judge of my EQ settings but sometimes what I'm hearing right in front of my amp is not what the people in the audience (or the FOH guy if there is one) are hearing. But I know what you mean, it's usually better to use your ears than some preconceived notion of where the position marker on your EQ pots should be pointing. Having said that, I've never had a sound guy complain about the EQ settings I've chosen on my 535s. If anything I get compliments about how easy the bass is to mix.
