MXR M-80 Bass DI Distortion Pedal

[sk8inbassist17]

I am about the write a review on the MXR M-80 Bass DI Distortion pedal.

http://jimdunlop.com/products/electronics/mxr/products/m80.html

Cost---$134.99 USA

Sound:

-Preamp--10/10

There is a 3 band equilizer on this pedal. It is a great way to get the distortion your looking for. I run it with a Boss GEB-7 Bass Graphic Equilizer and its just a way for me to make and even better distortion tone.

-Distortion--10/10

This distortion sounds great. Having the preamp and the Boss eq its sounds even better. I have gotten just the way i like it. Actually I got it to sound almost like Timmy C but not exactly like him.

-Noise Gate--10/10

Having the Noise gate is one reason this cost as much as it does. The noise gate gut down on feedback and hum on my amp about 85%. That helps when using distortion.

I run this through a 4 and 5 sting fender bass--->Jim Dunlop 105Q bass wah--->MXR M-80--->Boss ODB-3---->Boss GEB-7--->Boss TU-2----->Fender Rumble 100.

Thats all i need exept for maybe and octaver. Since this MXR is good i might get the MXR M-88 bass octaver.

Value:

-Overall--10/10


For me this was worth every penny. It sounds amazing, has noise gate, preamp and distortion. Oh I almost for got to mention the parallel output.
You can hook another amp into the parallel output but i must warn you it adds alot of hum and feedback.

I highly recomend this pedal for anyone looking for a good distortion.

Thats my review.

[Jabawanga]

I have this pedal as well but I don't think I'd rate it 10/10. It's a great pedal for the money but not perfect.

[theosd]

It's an awesome pedal, no doubt... here it in action [URL=http://www.myspace.com/gummybabies]here![/url]

I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to beef up their tone OR get a dist. pedal. This is great for both. Awesome for rehearsals, too, you can go straight into the pa and still get a killer tone.

[d-1]

Nice review man, thats a pretty nice pedel

[Worrpigs]

kinda hard to take a review seriously when you give it 10's all the way across.

[sk8inbassist17]

Originally Posted by Worrpigs

kinda hard to take a review seriously when you give it 10's all the way across.

i guess i gave everything tens because im comparing it to the boss ds-1.

i had bad feedback and other problems with the ds-1

thats why i like the m-80 so much its made for bass and it doesnt give feedback.

[edgebass5]

I've got one waiting for me when I get back home tomorrow. I'm going to use it for a couple of recording sessions where I wanted a more modern tone than my Fender TBP-1 can deliver. I'll post a review to follow up yours, and I can almost guarantee that I won't be giving it 10/10, simply because I don't believe ANY product should legitimately receive that rating.

[theosd]

It's pretty close to 10/10 for me, and that tone I've achieved with it certainly jusitifies spending £175 (they're difficult to get over in england).

It surprises me that you've not mentioned the 'colour' button on this pedal - by far one of the best factors of it. A click of this button will refine your mids and give a nicely rounded tone.

The fact that there are so many (high class) features to this pedal certainly make 10/10 a believable rating, and as a distortion and semi-EQ pedal, it certainly lives up to any expectations you might have.

[darrell]

Originally Posted by sk8inbassist17

i guess i gave everything tens because im comparing it to the boss ds-1.

i had bad feedback and other problems with the ds-1

thats why i like the m-80 so much its made for bass and it doesnt give feedback.

Maybe because the DS-1 is meant for electric guitar?

[sk8inbassist17]

Originally Posted by darrell

Maybe because the DS-1 is meant for electric guitar?

yea i know but when i bought it people said it was ok on bass but i just sucks all bass out of it.

[edgebass5]

MXR M-80 Bass DI+

Manufacturer: Jim Dunlop

Features: 4.5/5
Very feature loaded for such a small device. One instrument input, one affected output (post), one unaffected output (pre), one XLR/DI output, phantom/ground, color switch, noise gate on/off switch, line or battery power supply, on/off switch (preamp), on/off switch (distortion), clean volume, distortion volume, blend, noise gate trigger, distortion gain, bass, mid and treble. Couple of things I don't like thus far. The input jacks are not smooth at all. They go in fine until the end and then its a good little push to secure them. While this may lead to more secure cables, I think the Sansamp BDDI did a much better job of allowing secure cables and a smooth input. This thing is also slightly bigger in all directions than the BDDI and weighs just a touch more. Not a big deal, but it was worth mentioning. The battery compartment door on the back is a bit cheesey in my opinion. Its a simple plastic plate with a clip. While this will allow for a faster battery change, I think a metal plate with a couple of machine screws really would have been the way to go. I've read reports on TB of people having to replace that plastic plate constantly because its simply not strong enough. Can be powered by phantom power equipped boards, a single 9V battery or a power adapter (not included).

Sound (preamp): 4/5
Okay, this thing is pretty versatile and the number of sounds you can get out of it are pretty impressive. I still think there are more sounds available from the Sansamp Bass Driver DI+ even despite its lack of a mid control. Now, even though its not quite as versatile as the Sansamp Bass Driver DI+ I think its actually more useable. There is noticeably less "clank" in the 1khz region than the Sansamp BDDI unit and the amount of signal noise is far less as well. One thing of note, this thing sounds very aggressive all the time. Also, despite having 3 active EQ bands, they don't alter the tone a whole lot, it feels like they have only about +/- 5db on each channel, maybe less. This can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your perspective. Okay, the color switch on this thing is a bit tricky. When I was using it at my house I put the color switch on and immediately thought "Wow, that sounds pretty flippin' good." However, when I took the unit to band practice, using the color switch only buried me more deeply in the mix. Essentially all the color switch does is engage a preset "smiley face" EQ curve. Theosd said that it will "refine your mids". Simply not true, unless by refine he means cut. The color switch essentially turns your rig into a "nu-metal machine". Cool if that's what you want, but don't expect to cut through very well in a dense mix.

Sound (DI): ?/5
Okay, just like my review of the BDDI I'll give this portion a "variable" rating. If you want an ultra-transparent signal to hit the board, this unit is not for you. Even with the unit disengaged it puts a noticeable coloration on your tone that simply can not be remedied. If you want the sound of this unit to get to the board it will do the job just fine. Although, I think the DI on the BDDI worked a bit better, so in that regard I'll give this unit a 4/5. The reason I didn't give it a 5 is that the DI is a bit noisey whether you're using the phantom power or not.

Sound (distortion): 2/5
Okay, the BDDI does overdrive, this thing does distortion. I found it almost completely unuseable for what I play and really quite annoying to be honest. Whereas the BDDI could add grit or grind to your tone, this thing adds buzzsaw fuzz and distortion. I can find no use for that sort of tone at all. One thing of note, when you engage the distortion channel, the color option, whether its engaged or not by the switch will turn on. There's no way to bypass this. What's silly about that is that typically a smiley face EQ (the primary function of the color switch) will bury you deeper in a mix. Now, adding distortion to your tone in a mix where there are distorted guitars will also bury you in a mix. In other words, if you want to use this for distortion in a metal/rock project, don't expect to cut through, or even be heard at all. Pretty silly of them to combine those functions. The distortion function has 4 controls: on/off, distortion volume, distortion blend (how much is mixed in with the clean signal) and distortion gain. The noise gate only operates on the distortion channel and has absolutely no effect on the clean channel. It has 2 control options: on/off, and noise gate trigger (sets the minimum noise threshold for the noise gate to operate under). Fortunately, even at extreme settings this is a very quiet unit, so the noise gate doesn't have to work very hard. Also, a clever little bit by Jim Dunlop was to make the noise gate only block out the distortion channel. This allows your clean tone to still have all of its sustain as opposed to your entire signal being truncated by the gate. Definitely a smart move there.

Portability: 5/5
A complete non-issue, the device is very small, and very light.

Reliability: 4.5/5
This thing is built like a tank. Heavy gauge metal casing (not plastic), heavy-duty on/off switch that will resist many stomps, however the cheap plastic battery compartment keeps me from giving it a 4.5 out of 5.

Overall: 4/5
I'm giving this thing the same overall rating as I gave the Sansamp BDDI. While it has fewer tones available than the Sansamp I think it has more useable ones. Unfortunately I found the distortion completely unuseable and doubt that I will ever even turn it on except to just screw around at home. Definitely a good unit and I will definitely recommend it in the future.

[Jabawanga]

I agree with edge for the most part regarding the distortion. However, blending in a tad bit of distortion gives me the kind of tone I like when playing with my band - dirty, aggressive and even somewhat "growly." I tap the strings with the pads of my fingers when I play with my band to give my tone a percussive as well as punchy tone and this pedal works perfectly for me. Great review edge.

[1-D]

Nice review and I want that pedel!!