MxR
M84 BASS
FUZZ DELUXE
BY JORDAN WAGNER
When I first started playing bass, I was enamored with bands that
made the instrument sound like a wrecking
ball. Watching bassists who played massive-sounding power chords just enthralled me.
It seemed to add a musical element that I
hadn’t really noticed before as a guitarist,
and it gave me a new appreciation for the
importance of bass. Alas, when playing with
my first distortions and fuzzes, I seemed to
be lost in a sea of noise when the rest of the
band kicked in—an issue that has plagued
many bassists for decades. It hasn’t helped
that available options for bassists have
always been in shorter supply than for guitarists. Fortunately, the folks at Jim Dunlop
have taken a stab at helping bassists get over
this hurdle with the new MXR M84 Bass
Fuzz Deluxe, a pedal that possesses more
than enough all-encompassing fuzz to make
even the most jaded stoner-rock fan blush.
to hear audio clips of the pedal at
premierguitar.com/apr2012
CLICKHere…
conventional blend control. One of the
downsides of a blend circuit is that the wet
signal tends to lose some of its kick in lower
settings. The M84’s fuzz and tone knobs
adjust the amount and tonal sweep of the
fuzz. Other than that, the rest of its features
are pretty standard MXR fare—an option
for a 9V battery or power supply, a bright
LED, and the company’s true-hardwire
bypass circuit. The Bass Fuzz Deluxe’s
power draw of 11 mA is pretty low, so players who prefer to drive the fuzz with batteries can breathe a sigh of relief—a 9V should
last a good while.
of the MXR line. As noted in the manual,
the rust-hued box was inspired by a rare
vintage fuzz that’s been modified for the
lower registers of a bass. And while the
company doesn’t name names, I have some
ideas after spending time with the pedal.
The idea behind this circuit modification
was to emulate the sound you get when
playing through two amps—one clean and
the other dirty. To accomplish this, Dunlop
packed in separate volume controls for
the dry and wet signals instead of a more
mondo Generator
Ambassadors of heavily distorted low end
should rejoice. The Bass Fuzz Deluxe is here
to satiate your need for stoner-rock goodness. It packs quite a kick for fuzz tones
in the vein of Scott Reeder (Kyuss), Nick
Oliveri (Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age),
and Brad Davis (Fu Manchu), but it’s also
tight and versatile enough for muscular,
defined tones à la Tool’s Justin Chancellor.
With a late-’80s USA Kramer Striker
bass, a 300-watt Verellen Meat Smoke
amplifier, and the Bass Fuzz Deluxe’s wet
tone set at 100 percent, I was walloped
Fuzzy around the edges
Housed in the familiar MXR enclosure
we’ve known for decades, the all-analog
Bass Fuzz Deluxe is just as sturdy as the rest
Separate
wet and
dry level
controls
Overall, the pedal
had a very smooth,
organic tone and
an absolutely mam-
moth amount of
low frequencies that
shook the walls of
my practice space.
True hardwired
bypass
