Still active only I'm afraid, but the passive tone works beautifully
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The Official MTD USA Thread
- Thread starter johnpaulbass
- Start date
Still active only I'm afraid, but the passive tone works beautifully
vision
It's all about the groove!
- Feb 25, 2005
- 3,988
- 618
- 47
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: MTD Basses, La Bella Strings, and 64 Audio IEMs
Thanks Tom! No active/passive option...as far as I know the Bart pickups he uses are fully active so the pre can't be run passive.
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,942
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
Yeah, I didn't think those pickups liked being run in passive mode. But I am sure that this bass kicks all kinds of booty, and adding the passive tone control option is very cool.
vision
It's all about the groove!
- Feb 25, 2005
- 3,988
- 618
- 47
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: MTD Basses, La Bella Strings, and 64 Audio IEMs
Yeah, I didn't think those pickups liked being run in passive mode. But I am sure that this bass kicks all kinds of booty, and adding the passive tone control option is very cool.
Yep! The passive tone control rolls off the treble in a totally different way from the active treble boost/cut knob. I'm playing around with it now, and finding that boosting the active treble a bit and rolling back the passive tone sounds great - bright but not harsh at all. I used to do that on my Sadowsky as well.
Yeah, I didn't think those pickups liked being run in passive mode. But I am sure that this bass kicks all kinds of booty, and adding the passive tone control option is very cool.
It makes the world of a difference, especially when you have aggressive combos like mine and jasons. It rounds it out like the treble never could
vision
It's all about the groove!
- Feb 25, 2005
- 3,988
- 618
- 47
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: MTD Basses, La Bella Strings, and 64 Audio IEMs
I really like the roasted maple board so far. I still haven't played it through my rig at home, been too busy at work. But last night I played it at a church service where we all use in ears and no amps on stage, and it sounded great.
The roasted maple seems to fit Mike's description exactly - it's like a broken in, warmer version of maple. Still very bright, but some of the harshness from a regular maple board has been tamed.
The roasted maple seems to fit Mike's description exactly - it's like a broken in, warmer version of maple. Still very bright, but some of the harshness from a regular maple board has been tamed.
+1 for the GigBlade, given your height!
I just picked up the new Fusion Urban gig bag thru Amazon. [I also own the M80 Double and a Contego...and previously owned a Mono Vertigo and Mono bass sleeve.] I got this one because it's always bothered me using Mono's with MTDs, because of the bottom strap pin. Cool feature of the Fusion is the ability to shape the inner pad to any bass shape. It's all Velcro on the bottom, with a fairly dense pad that can still be shaped. I stored my MTD for a few days upright in there, and the inner pad didn't compressed much at all. The outside material seems extremely durable, though I still prefer Mono's exterior material. It also has a good amount of storage.
I really like it so far for my MTDs, and with the double padding, they seem very well protected in this bag. However, my 34" 4+1 headstock jazz bass has minimal clearance length with the extra pad in there...but definitely still workable.
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I love it when the universe points you in a direction. You just can’t say no.
A few months ago, I was trying to sell a bass that I wasn’t playing much. It wasn’t moving so I opened it up for trades. Right about that time, my iTunes shuffled up a few solo Norm Stockton songs. He’s got my absolute, favorite solo bass tone. While I’ve owned a few MTD’s, its never been with the Norm Stockton woods, poplar/myrtle/wenge/wenge. I was thinking I should try one some day.
And it was right at this time that an MTD in the Norm blend came up for sale. To make it even better, I’m not a 35” scale person. This bass was a 534-21! And the deal was done.
A couple of points:
1. The wood does make a difference! This is my fourth MTD and none of the first three even come close to the tones this bass makes. As Mike puts it, this is the recipe for the quintessential MTD tone.
2. While it is in the fingers, this bass gets me a lot closer to Norm’s tone than my passive, alder/rosewood P bass. It's currently strung with DR Hi Beams E - C.
3. If I was to order this bass new, the only thing I would have changed would be to have 24 frets. I'm not a slapper and would rather have the three extra frets. That said, after playing this for a few months, I'm liking the 21 frets. I'm finding that when I play near the fingerboard, I'm further away from the bridge that with 24 frets. This is giving me more of a deeper, fuller tone than I've ever experienced with my other MTD's.
4. While I'm loving this bass's solo tone, I’m looking forward to playing it on a gig to see how well it cuts thru. I’m thinking with the eq I have on my amp, I should be able to do it.
5. Finally for me, there is just something that resonates with MTD’s. I’ve owned lots of fine instruments. They’ve all been good instruments more than capable on gigs. But there's something about the feel, tone and playability that's sets MTD's apart.
And here’s the bass:
A few months ago, I was trying to sell a bass that I wasn’t playing much. It wasn’t moving so I opened it up for trades. Right about that time, my iTunes shuffled up a few solo Norm Stockton songs. He’s got my absolute, favorite solo bass tone. While I’ve owned a few MTD’s, its never been with the Norm Stockton woods, poplar/myrtle/wenge/wenge. I was thinking I should try one some day.
And it was right at this time that an MTD in the Norm blend came up for sale. To make it even better, I’m not a 35” scale person. This bass was a 534-21! And the deal was done.
A couple of points:
1. The wood does make a difference! This is my fourth MTD and none of the first three even come close to the tones this bass makes. As Mike puts it, this is the recipe for the quintessential MTD tone.
2. While it is in the fingers, this bass gets me a lot closer to Norm’s tone than my passive, alder/rosewood P bass.
It's currently strung with DR Hi Beams E - C.3. If I was to order this bass new, the only thing I would have changed would be to have 24 frets. I'm not a slapper and would rather have the three extra frets. That said, after playing this for a few months, I'm liking the 21 frets. I'm finding that when I play near the fingerboard, I'm further away from the bridge that with 24 frets. This is giving me more of a deeper, fuller tone than I've ever experienced with my other MTD's.
4. While I'm loving this bass's solo tone, I’m looking forward to playing it on a gig to see how well it cuts thru. I’m thinking with the eq I have on my amp, I should be able to do it.
5. Finally for me, there is just something that resonates with MTD’s. I’ve owned lots of fine instruments. They’ve all been good instruments more than capable on gigs. But there's something about the feel, tone and playability that's sets MTD's apart.
And here’s the bass:
Don't forget...page 75 is time to post pics of your MTDs....!...it'll be great to see all the pics...old and new...!
vision
It's all about the groove!
- Feb 25, 2005
- 3,988
- 618
- 47
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: MTD Basses, La Bella Strings, and 64 Audio IEMs
Thanks! He really hit the nail on the head with that top for me. I wanted something that was subtle and not too crazy in terms of different color burls and figures, but would still have an exotic look and be "different".
Where is everyone keeping the internal gain setting on your MTD preamps? I still have mine in the lowest position which is how Mike sent it from the shop, but I know some players adjust that setting.
Where is everyone keeping the internal gain setting on your MTD preamps? I still have mine in the lowest position which is how Mike sent it from the shop, but I know some players adjust that setting.
Same here. The gain is so hot with the gain at minimum and with a little bit of EQ that I'm down to 9 o clock on my TecAmp gain. Can't imagine pushing it even higher...
Hey all, just joined the club by trading for this bad boy (#2515) in the Classifieds:
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It's been through a few hands in its short life, but I think it's finally found a home - I'm in LOVE!
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It's been through a few hands in its short life, but I think it's finally found a home - I'm in LOVE!
That's what's up...!.. Are you going to put the MTD guts back in it...?="Bollenator, post: 17195418, member: 170545"]Hey all, just joined the club by trading for this bad boy (#2515) in the Classifieds:
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It's been through a few hands in its short life, but I think it's finally found a home - I'm in LOVE!
It's good to know I have that in my back pocket, but honestly, I'm digging the current sound. It needs some fresh strings, which should liven it up a little, but I'm not in a rush to replace the innards. That's probably tantamount to sacrilege in this thread, huh?
