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The Official MTD USA Thread

#7,561
TapyTap said:
Thanks for providing more insight. It seems that I lean more towards the Ash or Maple side of things for a bass body.
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I only ever had one bass with a maple body. It was a Warwick Streamer Stage I and I found it to be too brittle sounding in the upper mids and highs. I don't know whether or not the body had much to do with that but I haven't been inspired to go the maple body route since.
 
#7,562
antontanzil said:
In my experience I heard that quite a lot, and I myself once think like that, mostly it's when people play them for the first time ever, and compare it with a more 'traditional' bass.

But it actually not the low end that is lacking, it's the rest of the frequency that stands out and can be heard much much more compare to ANY other Bass out there, and as the human ear hears the mids and highs more at close proximity (like standing or sitting next/in front of an amp), so when people try MTDs for the first time, that 'hi-fi' sound stands out IMO.

I myself thought that my former MTD needs some low boost, that's why most of the time I boost my lows and low mids on my onboard EQ, coz that's what I want to hear from my monitor and my amp, but one day my sound guy told me that he loved my MTD's sound coz he just left everything flat, and cut the low EQ on the board a little. That's new information for me, since then I never boost my Low Eq again, I set it flat and only boost the low mid around 25%, boost the lows only on my amp and my sound guy literally set everything flat on his end, he's one happy sound guy for sure, and when I sold that MTD to fund my custom build, he was unhappy and always asks when is my new one coming :D
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This is funny: I had a sound check this afternoon and for the first time the sound guy asked if I could turn the bass down on my onboard preamp (I was playing my alder/maple/maple/rosewood 535 with the EQ set flat save for a very slight bump at 500Hz). I hesitated for a minute and then he said, "Oh, it's okay - leave it as it is".
 
#7,567
Hey guys.

I just traded my way to my first MTD USA. Very nice bass, and definitely a departure from my Fenders and Alleva.

I do have a question though. What pickup height does Mike set this up with? This is one of the old ones, where the pickups a active.

Right now the bridge PU is somewhat higher than the Neck PU. Is this how he would do it?
 
#7,568
BiigM said:
Hey guys.

Right now the bridge PU is somewhat higher than the Neck PU. Is this how he would do it?
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In short: it's normal.

The ideal configuration is to match the volumes across all strings (by making both pickups slightly tilt in a way that they're lower at the B/E string end and higher at the G string end) and between the two pickups – since there's always "smaller" string vibration towards the bridge, the bridge PU has to be higher than the neck one to make up the volume.

These will make sure you won't hear a sudden jump (or boost) in volume when you pan from the neck to bridge pickup or vice versa. :smug:
 
#7,569
Thanks :-)

I was more after the string of PU height. Some guys like it close, some farther away. Too close and we get that weird fasing sound from magnetic pull.

So do you know if Mike T has a standard height?

carlis said:
In short: it's normal.

The ideal configuration is to match the volumes across all strings (by making both pickups slightly tilt in a way that they're lower at the B/E string end and higher at the G string end) and between the two pickups – since there's always "smaller" string vibration towards the bridge, the bridge PU has to be higher than the neck one to make up the volume.

These will make sure you won't hear a sudden jump (or boost) in volume when you pan from the neck to bridge pickup or vice versa. :smug:
Click to expand...
 
#7,570
Mike has a video on his web site where he talks about setting up his basses. It mentions pickup height. I'm not sure if your pickups fall into that range but it'd be a good starting point.

For an exact answer, he should be back from NAMM this week. I'd drop him an email and see what he says.

And here's a link to the video: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#7,573
Hi guys.

Thought i would post some pics of the MTD I traded my way to.
This is my first MTD, and so far I'm impressed. Sounds very nice when playing along with tracks in my studio.
But I'm a firm believer in that it's what happens on the gig that counts. Since I got it I've been reading up on some of the previous MTD threads, and it seems that some opinions say that wedge necks is not always the best on big PA's which is the setup for many of my gigs.
Maybe the maple board will help?

Also, i would like to give the finish some wax but I don't know what butchers wax is called in Denmark where i live. if anyone knows where to buy it online in Europe somewhere, please let me know.

anyway here are the pics. Sorry for the Iphone quality:-)
 

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#7,575
BiigM said:
Also, i would like to give the finish some wax but I don't know what butchers wax is called in Denmark where i live. if anyone knows where to buy it online in Europe somewhere, please let me know.
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Beautiful bass!

On the wax, ONLY do that if you want it to also become more glossy. Its finish will tend to gloss up some with wear, but I prefer the satin finish overall, so I've just cleaned mine from time to time. I'm not interested in changing it to the sort of pseudo gloss finish it will become if you use that wax.

Keep in mind that the wax thing is OPTIONAL. The finish on the bass is highly durable and will protect the wood just fine without using anything. IMHO, you don't even need to use any polish. Just clean it with a damp rag, or, if absolutely needed, a very very mild cleanser (like if something gets spilled on it that water won't take care of fully), and dry it off.

FYI.
 
#7,576
BiigM said:
Hi guys.

Thought i would post some pics of the MTD I traded my way to.
This is my first MTD, and so far I'm impressed. Sounds very nice when playing along with tracks in my studio.
But I'm a firm believer in that it's what happens on the gig that counts. Since I got it I've been reading up on some of the previous MTD threads, and it seems that some opinions say that wedge necks is not always the best on big PA's which is the setup for many of my gigs.
Maybe the maple board will help?

Also, i would like to give the finish some wax but I don't know what butchers wax is called in Denmark where i live. if anyone knows where to buy it online in Europe somewhere, please let me know.

anyway here are the pics. Sorry for the Iphone quality:-)
Click to expand...

Unique looking MTD you have there! You shouldn't have any worries with the wenge neck. One of my main 535s has a wenge neck and board and it works great on gigs. I've played it in all kinds of rooms (not to mention some outdoor gigs) from small clubs to hangar-sized venues that would accomodate thousands. Never had a problem. I personally wouldn't match a wenge neck with a maple board but I'm generally not a huge maple fan. Anyway, all my talk doesn't mean a thing next to your experiences with the bass. No matter what a given wood combo is "supposed" to sound like the proof is in the pudding.
 

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