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The Official MTD USA Thread

#10,282
Plaz said:
I'm stoked to be the happy new owner of this fine specimen:
u35O8BW.jpg
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Beautiful! What are the specs?
 
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#10,283
kevk said:
Beautiful! What are the specs?
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Thanks!

Myrtle Burl "10" top over tulipwood with wenge/wenge.

Can be very bright and snappy but also capable of great warmth when tamed. Nice articulate clear mids when eq'd to accentuate them, but also a great modern scooped slappy sound when left near flat.

So comfortable to play, though I'm still training my muscle memory for the 19mm spacing. For 5-er work I've mostly been playing a Modulus Q5 with 17mm spacing at the bridge, so my right hand especially is still adjusting. Such a different response on the MTD. I can really hear the wood of the MTD in its tone, in contrast to the tone from the composite neck of the Q5, which is awesome, tight, and powerful, but generally much more sterile. I already find the neck shape of the 535 to be much more ergonomic to my particular hand geometry... I'd get some discomfort after playing a lot of quick, stretching fingerings on the Q5, but I'm not feeling any strain at all with the 535, even though they're both 35" scale basses.
 
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#10,285
johnbkim93 said:
Do you think that the alder/maple/rosewood combo would get lost in the mix in a huge concert easier than other combos?
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Hey, I just wanted to say the alder/maple/rosewood would give you an even warm response. It would sound much like Norm Stockton's saragota, but much warmer due to the rosewood fretboard. The ash will have more punch and growl after, and to many ears it may sound "lighter" or "brighter" than alder.

In terms of "cutting" through the mix, ash would be better in my opinion. You have much more control over the "brightness" of the bass via eq, but not with an alder body, unless you pair it with a maple board. Alder sounds more traditional and even warm in some aspects compared to Ash, and this will give you less versatility in terms of controlling how much you "cut" through the mix. Basically, you can't get an alder to cut more, unless by engaging the preamp. Ash however will give you the ability to not adjust the pre too much and yet cut all you want. Like I stated before, you can always reduce if too much is an issue, but you cannot get more out of alder unless using the preamp, which will color the tone a little. I prefer to have more than less ability in terms of basses I buy. Versatility is key in terms of live performance.

I hope this helps.
 
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#10,287
OK...Now I have had a week to play with it. So, I will give my thoughts on my new 535-24. As expected..."typical" top not work from Mike Tobias. Fit and finish are flawless, playability is over the top. Tonally, the monkeypod body is very similar to walnut to my ears. And it even kinda looks like it. B string is killer and the bass is solid all the way up and down the neck. Action is super low...I even had to bring it up a little for my playing. On a side note, Mike offers a gig bag again. It's a custom version of the Protec Contego with the MTD logo on it. Early versions of the Contego were too short for some of the basses with a longer headstock...Like a Saratoga. I am happy about this option. The hard cases are great and all. But, with every MTD I have owned...I took the bass out of the hard case, put the hard case in a closet and never touched it again. Mike was finally happy with a bag design again and has gone with the Contego. Anyway, on to some updated pictures beyond the bench shot I posted last week.

535monkeypod-1_zps1qylf9li.jpg

535monkeypod-9-5_zpsxrkravf5.jpg

535monkeypod-3-2_zpslxxz5dw1.jpg
535monkeypod-15-11_zpsszxyw5si.jpg

535monkeypod-1_zps1qylf9li.jpg
 
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#10,288
Here's a snippet of a track I recorded last month in the studio with my 535. I'm posting because it's a pretty good example of hos the passive tone control sounds on an MTD. My bass has a Red Narra top on an ash body, and an ash neck with roasted BEM board. Standard 535 pickups, but the preamp is a custom version of the regular MTD Bart preamp with passive tone control added. On this tune I had the EQ all flat but the passive tone rolled back somewhere between 25-50%.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

79A5C39D-B5AC-4355-B5A4-6D9DC9045BA0_zpsacl7syux.jpg
 
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#10,289
vision said:
Here's a snippet of a track I recorded last month in the studio with my 535. I'm posting because it's a pretty good example of hos the passive tone control sounds on an MTD. My bass has a Red Narra top on an ash body, and an ash neck with roasted BEM board. Standard 535 pickups, but the preamp is a custom version of the regular MTD Bart preamp with passive tone control added. On this tune I had the EQ all flat but the passive tone rolled back somewhere between 25-50%.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

79A5C39D-B5AC-4355-B5A4-6D9DC9045BA0_zpsacl7syux.jpg
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Holy cow! Fantastic tone, and even better playing!
 
#10,292
vision said:
Here's a snippet of a track I recorded last month in the studio with my 535. I'm posting because it's a pretty good example of hos the passive tone control sounds on an MTD. My bass has a Red Narra top on an ash body, and an ash neck with roasted BEM board. Standard 535 pickups, but the preamp is a custom version of the regular MTD Bart preamp with passive tone control added. On this tune I had the EQ all flat but the passive tone rolled back somewhere between 25-50%.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

Wicked playing Vision, love the tone! Do my ears deceive me or is that bassline a take from Dre's Chronic 2000 album featuring Mary J Blige? Sick rendition if it is, I dig!
 
#10,293
rodneyat said:
OK...Now I have had a week to play with it. So, I will give my thoughts on my new 535-24. As expected..."typical" top not work from Mike Tobias. Fit and finish are flawless, playability is over the top. Tonally, the monkeypod body is very similar to walnut to my ears. And it even kinda looks like it. B string is killer and the bass is solid all the way up and down the neck. Action is super low...I even had to bring it up a little for my playing. On a side note, Mike offers a gig bag again. It's a custom version of the Protec Contego with the MTD logo on it. Early versions of the Contego were too short for some of the basses with a longer headstock...Like a Saratoga. I am happy about this option. The hard cases are great and all. But, with every MTD I have owned...I took the bass out of the hard case, put the hard case in a closet and never touched it again. Mike was finally happy with a bag design again and has gone with the Contego. Anyway, on to some updated pictures beyond the bench shot I posted last week.
535monkeypod-1_zps1qylf9li.jpg
Click to expand...

Gorgeous! Congrats!
 
#10,295
blen dem said:
Wicked playing Vision, love the tone! Do my ears deceive me or is that bassline a take from Dre's Chronic 2000 album featuring Mary J Blige? Sick rendition if it is, I dig!
Click to expand...

Not consciously - but the producer for the track had a synth bass part on it that I duplicated pretty closely, so he may have gotten it from that record. Thanks!
 
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#10,297
blen dem said:
I like your version better When you get a chance peep "The Message" featuring Mary J Blige, cool tune w/great lyrics/message... Any more clips of that beast? Sounds really good...
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Here's another clip - a full tune from another studio session. It's a rough mix so the bass is pretty up in the mix and will give you an even better idea of the raw tone of my MTD. I think I had the passive treble rolled back even more on this one.

 
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#10,298
vision said:
Here's another clip - a full tune from another studio session. It's a rough mix so the bass is pretty up in the mix and will give you an even better idea of the raw tone of my MTD. I think I had the passive treble rolled back even more on this one.

Click to expand...

Fantastic playing (and tone) on both clips, Jason! Gosh, I wish I'd remembered to have Mike spec a passive tone control on my recent 534 Red Narra bass... I find myself rolling the treble off a bit for most of what I do, and you lose a little top end clarity doing that. That ptc nicely rolls the bright edge off, without sacrificing a very defined top end. :)
 
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#10,299
kevk said:
That ptc nicely rolls the bright edge off, without sacrificing a very defined top end. :)
Click to expand...

Thank you! And yeah, that's exactly it - especially in the studio I can tame the brightness without losing definition or even some zing when I dig in with my fingers.

The other almost magical effect of the passive tone is as a remedy for dead strings. My hands sweat a lot so my strings might go dead during a long gig. But I can boost the treble all the way, which would typically be really harsh, and roll back the passive treble to get a tone very close to the flat EQ tone with fresh strings.
 
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