Guest Review – MXR M80 bass DI+ by Donny Silva

The following is a guest review by Donny Silva. If you are interested in writing a guest review, please contact me!

My Name is Donny Silva. I play bass in a band called Defy Tolerance. We are a rock band out of Phoenix, AZ. I play Spector basses and Gallien Krueger amps/cabs.

www.defytolerance.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Defy-Tolerance/102358636468140
www.facebook.com/roskotheworshiprocker

Coming from being a guitarist I wanted to use effects. I really wanted to “grunge” up my tone. I soon bought the MXR M80 bass DI+. Here are the features from their website:

– Distortion channel with gain, volume, and blend controls
– Color button
– 3-band EQ
– Phantom power
– 1/4″ and XLR outs
– Parallel output jack

I will keep this simple. The EQ is great. Even though it is only Bass, Mid, Treble, you can get a lot of tone out of this pedal. There is a separate volume control for each channel and a “color” button. This “color” button enables a preset scoop. I think it has a traditional Ampeg tone to it, real middy.

The EQ transfers to the distortion channel when engaged. This is possibly the only downfall of this pedal. The distortion channel has a gate and a blend knob. The gate is nice, you can set the trigger point with a trigger knob. The gain is a little harsh on this pedal. It is very gritty. But what makes it very versatile is the blend knob. This will blend in the distorted signal with the clean signal. I drive the gain at about 2 o’clock and have my blend knob at 7 o’clock. I get a very clear grit to my tone.

There also is a Phantom/Ground button. This is a great feature if you have phantom power from a mixing board.

As a bass player you it is nice to be able to send a direct signal to the front of house engineers. With this pedal you can send the FOH guys your tone and also send the signal to your amp. There is a third “parallel output” . I imagine this is most useful to send to a tuner.

I am loving this pedal, It can really liven up a cheap practice amp or give a great live tone for any performance. I highly recommend it.