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The Official MTD USA Thread

#10,723
Here's my NS Saratoga from last night's Christmas corporate gig. With my trusty Lakland 55-94.


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#10,728
Hey guys, I did something fun recently that I'm really liking the sound of: I "tuned" my 635's stock Bartolini pickups with a couple capacitors to lower the resonant frequency a bit and make a nice little bump at the cutoff point.

I used two .001mfd capacitors in series for a total of .0005mfd capacitance, and wired one pair of these between each pickup's hot and ground before the buffer (that last part is important, because the caps need to interact with the pickup coils). I experimented with values quite a bit but landed on these to cut off just a bit of the super high frequency, way way up high string/fret articulation noise (I'm talking up at like 18 kHz), bringing it down to I'm guessing somewhere closer to 12 or 13 kHz, and probably creating a couple dB of boost at that new knee. For me, this maintains all of the presence and high end brightness (I'm a bright bass guy, I like steel strings, etc), while tailoring the sound to be focused a bit more on a more useful frequency range. And because the caps are hard wired in, without a resistor like a tone pot would have, that nice bump at the lower frequency actually sounds great to my ears - adds presence and aggressiveness.

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#10,729
Combinator said:
Hey guys, I did something fun recently that I'm really liking the sound of: I "tuned" my 635's stock Bartolini pickups with a couple capacitors to lower the resonant frequency a bit and make a nice little bump at the cutoff point.

I used two .001mfd capacitors in series for a total of .0005mfd capacitance, and wired one pair of these between each pickup's hot and ground before the buffer (that last part is important, because the caps need to interact with the pickup coils). I experimented with values quite a bit but landed on these to cut off just a bit of the super high frequency, way way up high string/fret articulation noise (I'm talking up at like 18 kHz), bringing it down to I'm guessing somewhere closer to 12 or 13 kHz, and probably creating a couple dB of boost at that new knee. For me, this maintains all of the presence and high end brightness (I'm a bright bass guy, I like steel strings, etc), while tailoring the sound to be focused a bit more on a more useful frequency range. And because the caps are hard wired in, without a resistor like a tone pot would have, that nice bump at the lower frequency actually sounds great to my ears - adds presence and aggressiveness.

View attachment 2857893
Click to expand...

Any sound clips to demonstrate?
 
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#10,730
DrGroovenstein said:
Any sound clips to demonstrate?
Click to expand...

Sorry Sean, for some reason I didn't get notified by email or Alert of your response! I started to think I had done that thing where you're in a group of people actively conversing and you say something a little weird and kill the conversation ;)

I haven't made sound clips of the bass with these new caps yet, but thankfully I did record reference ones with the stock pickups without caps and with fresh strings when I got the bass. So if I can make new reference clips with new strings in the future, it should make for a pretty accurate comparison. But I don't have immediate plans. I just did a lot of critical listening through my studio monitors and Genzler rig, both which really reproduce that ultra high end airy, piezo-like articulation noise of my bass' stock sound, and played with alligator clips and caps until I found just the right combo that didn't kill the bright and snappy top end, but killed the tiny slice of ultra high sheen that made me feel like the overall sound was a bit messy or distorted with my (probably lacking) technique and percussive, aggressive playing style. Created more focus in a more useful frequency zone is the best way I can put it. To put it in EMG terms, it might have been like changing JX pickups for the original J, or maybe JAX or somewhere in between - they're still very bright and present active pickups with that active extended high end, but with just a little less extension.
 
#10,737
bassgrackle said:
Does anyone else use there MTD 535/635s for rock? I feel like I only see videos of gospel or slap on MTDs. I find it’s got the best tone I’ve ever heard in a rock mix. The bottom is big and full and I can cut the mix when I go up high.
Click to expand...

The wedding/corporate band that I'm in covers some rock, and yes - my 535 slams for it. The standard MTD 535 Bartolini pickups are reverse P soapbars, and if you pan the blend knob a bit towards the front pickup the fingerstyle rock tone is outstanding.
 
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#10,738
vision said:
The wedding/corporate band that I'm in covers some rock, and yes - my 535 slams for it. The standard MTD 535 Bartolini pickups are reverse P soapbars, and if you pan the blend knob a bit towards the front pickup the fingerstyle rock tone is outstanding.
Click to expand...

That’s what I’m taking about. My 535 really kicks it playing rock tunes. But I never see any rock or even finger style demo videos.
 
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