MXR M80 Bass DI Plus

I have gigged the MXR M80 DI in a variety of settings and scenarios: straight into front of house PA using regular onstage monitors, as a preamp into a Laney poweramp, as a distortion/eq into a Ampeg PF500 amp, straight into recording desk and a few more I can't remember..

I use it with a regular boss power supply, or occasionally with phantom power, but I have never used a battery.

This DI has never failed me, and is always with me on gigs as a backup. It has a very rugged design, and has withstood general handling and even a few nasty drops.

The distortion is really nice, with the blend control ensuring that you don't lose out on the low end - a problem quite common with bass distortion pedals.

It would be nice to have a parametric eq control on the mids, instead of the "colour" setting which I rarely, if ever, use.

The parallel output is a nice touch, allowing you to send your signal to the desk or PA and to also take another line out for headphones or similar monitoring.

The noise gate is quite good, filtering out unwanted artifacts whilst not playing (in between songs for example)

Overall, the MXR M80 DI is a great preamp and DI. Great value for money!

The value of this box for me is simply the color button. The boost in lows and highs that it provides makes all of my basses sound full and interact better with overdrives, thats why I dont use it as DI but as a preamp at the beginning of my chain.

Some people dont like the distortion, but if you lower the gain and set the blend below 9 o'clock it will give you a nice grit, and if you use the box early in the chain like me, then you can experiment with a bit of dirt before some other effects, like a comp for example.

The only downside, the size, its a bit tricky to accommodate in some boards

Since I got this thingy, all my other pedals are retired. I play punk rock music, mostly I use a pick but from time to time I use my fingers and this proved great in both applications. Also, it saved the day when I arrived to a festival gig and found out that the bass amp that was promised wasn't there - I simply plugged through this DI directly in the PA and the sound was perfect.
Sturdy, rugged casing is very reassuring, this looks like it will last forever. And if I ever manage to destroy it, I will purchase a new one, without a second thought.
So to summarize, great sound for a relatively small price - all pros, no cons.

Great DI box, I use this exclusively for all my gigs. I use it with a Boss Tuner and send one signal from the DI to my amp, which I use as a monitor, and other other to the desk.

Activating the 'color' button really brings my bass to life, adjusting the Bass/Mid/Treble to suit means you can get a variety of tones out of the box. In large rooms I typically boost the Mid to about 2 o'clock, cut the Treble to 10/11 o'clock and leave the bass at 12 o'clock. I can then adjust my bass amp to compensate if I'm not happy with the on stage sound.

Phantom power can also be sent to the MXR from the desk which is very useful.

I don't use the distortion much but you can use it as a second channel without distortion by turning the distortion 'blend' completely down, could be useful for some volume amplification if you are slapping or tapping.

I've used one in the studio more times than I can count, but never owned one, it was always bassists bringing them in and swearing by them. I finally decided to buy an M80 when my Laney RB4 died. It was a bit depressing replacing a big 160 watt bass amp with a tiny metal box, but I am glad I did.

Simply put, the MXR M80 Bass DI Plus, is amazing. It sounds fantastic, and it's palette of bass tones is vast. Whether you want a massive boomy low end, or a scratchy mid and top focused bass sound, the M80 delivers it.

It's feature set is impressive. It has a colour switch which adds a rich thickness to the low end of the bass tones, a seperate distortion channel which can be mixed in (and also sounds great!), a noise gate, and 3 outputs!

If you're interested in buying a bass preamp / DI, look no further.

I invested considerable time into deciding on a preamp. Basically, the decision was between this and the Sansamp. In the end, I decided to take a gamble and purchase this (having not actually tried it out) and I couldn't be any happier.

The MXR M80 has been a staple on my pedal board for quite some time now, and I do not see that changing any time soon. The range of tones readily available are great: the Mid control is particularly useful for me, and is a major reason why I decided against the Sansamp. The distortion channel does take some time to get used to - at first, I found it difficult to get a nice distorted tone and now tend to use it more as a bit of a dirty boost when required.

Sure, there are plenty of other fantastic preamp pedals in the market but, for me, the MXR is affordable, robust and does exactly what you want and more.