I picked up the MBritt today. The workmanship on the cabinet is excellent. Unfortunately, I have an older model that does not have USB connectivity. This is a point of vulnerability. I'm going to contact Dayton to see how to configure the DSP in this unit. I'll post more when I have some answers.
Xitone MBritt - worth it for $400?
- Thread starter LScottK
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paisleywookiee
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What’s the DSP for, the crossover?
deathbyguitar
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This isn't a vulnerability, IMO. If you were to swap the power amp with the newer USB version, the two would sound and function completely differently. The DSP on the old model is for configuring the crossover but also for flattening out the frequency response of the speaker itself.
This tweaking was done by Xitone and not Dayton so they wouldn't have any ability (or willingness) to assist with such a thing.
Long story short, enjoy you new purchase and don't worry about it.
iaresee
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What @deathbyguitar said -- you don't need to contact Dayton. Also, they won't help. They're kind of useless for supporting the older amps TBH.
I just called Dayton to request assistance. You (@deathbyguitar and @iaresee) were both correct. Dayton was not able to provide any information on DSP configuration except for the crossover frequency. The guy I spoke to said that the notes he had indicated that the x-over was set at 3k. He said that he couldn't tell me if 3k was approximate, or on the button. All he said is that the notes said "3k." He told me that the new model has the same footprint, so presumably it is a drop-in replacement. I asked if there was any way to pull the old DSP settings and he said no, because the DSP settings were configured at the factory, and this version of the Dayton plate amp is now discontinued, and the programming notes were not stored anywhere that he knew of. If someone were able to get in touch with Mick Farlow, perhaps he would share the DSP settings (including confirmation of the x-over point).
On the plus side, the guy that I spoke to said that in terms of frequency response and overall performance, the old and new versions of the amps are identical. He told me that the only difference is that the new version offers DSP programming via USB connectivity, as well as BlueTooth pairing between two amps so that Bluetooth audio playback would be in stereo if you have two amps paired via BlueTooth. Other than these two things, the guy said performance would be identical.
He also told me that he did not know of any way to pull DSP specs off of the older version. There is no way to buy a connector that will interface with the DSP module, and even if you could find the connector, he was not aware of what software you could use to pull the old parameters. It sounded like Mick sent Dayton the DSP programming information and then Dayton programmed Mick's settings into the DSP at the factory.
Knowing that the x-over is at 3k is helpful. The DSP settings for each DSP preset may be lost for good, unless this info is in a post somewhere on the internet. I haven't done any searching yet, so I can't say. My recollection is that Mick was very accessible when XiTone was active as a company. Perhaps he posted this info somewhere . . .
I've only done a 5 minute run through on the amp with no preset tweaking. My first impression is that this cab is bass heavy, even flubby sounding. But I did zero preset tweaking, just wanted to make sure that it was functional. It turns out that I had purchased two guitars from this guy in the past, and he was really sick when I picked it up yesterday, so we met on his front porch and I couldn't test it before buying it. Normally I would not buy without testing, but having bought from him on two other occasions, I felt like I could take him at his word. The amp works great. I just have to spend some time getting used to it. Initially, I like my EV PXM-12MP better. But I don't have enough time on the Xitone yet, nor have I compared one against the other. We'll see how things shake out.
I'll post here if I find any additional info on DSP settings.
jay mitchell
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The DSP on the USB model is every bit as programmable as that on the non-USB one. Whether Mick had the capability of using said programmability to successfully optimize the speaker's behavior - given that he was a carpentry hobbyist who built speaker enclosures - is an open question. My money says he didn't, but I might be mistaken (apologies to Billy Gibbons).
While this is correct, an end user has direct access to all the filtering, delay, and limiting capabilities in the USB unit via Dayton's free host software. An end user with sufficient skills and measurement capability could almost certainly improve on Xitone's tweaking. Just sayin'....
deathbyguitar
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For the USB version of the plate amp you're gonna have to pay another 350 and then do more tweaking and then I think it's no longer a great investment.
For 400 bucks, I think OP should keep the unit as is and experiment with different IRs to get the desired sound, maybe some slight EQ tweaks here and there. They're great at sounding units. I have two of them.
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deathbyguitar
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I'm almost 100% positive that the crossover was set to 2k. The reason why I say that is because I had asked him to make the crossover points on my speakers 2500, just so a little bit more of a mid-range could sent to the woofer. Whether or not that made any real difference remains to be seen.
What kind of modeler are you using with this thing? You could probably get around the boominess with a high pass filter in the right place.
Hi Jay,
Thanks for your post. I've already setup the software on one of my computers. The software has a very user friendly interface, so it would be easy to configure DSP values if I had something to plug into the configuration software. As far as tuning goes, I'm not knowledgeable in this area and, while I have a lot of years using musical gear and a decent enough ear for what I like, I'd like to use the DSP to make the cab performance as neutral/flat as possible. Are there options for getting help with tuning the DSP settings to the MBritt cabinet? Perhaps there is some sort of white paper that might provide tuning information and strategies for a novice like me? I wouldn't expect to be able to fine tune like an expert, but would be happy if there were some info that might provide guidance. I have a reference mic, which I purchased to use with DIRAC tuning on my Denon home theater receiver. However, I don't have analysis software to measure how the current DSP has been setup. I understand from your post that you feel an expert could improve on the settings that Mic selected. I live near Seattle, so perhaps there is a company local to Seattle that would perform this sort of analysis and DSP configuration? Probably a bigger spend than is worth the trouble, but, since XiTone is no longer in business, I'm sure there are others who would like to know how to configure the DSP in the newer Dayton amps to maximize performance. Thanks for anything that you could suggest.
Best,
Scott
You may be right about the x-over frequency. I'm just repeating what the Dayton support tech told me over the phone. He was far from confident and would not certify that the notes he had were correct. He just told me what his knowledge base notes said. He told me that this was all he had documented and that he couldn't vouch for whether this is how the x-over frequencies were actually configured prior to sending the amps to XiTone. So, given that you actually talked to Mic about this, I would assume that your numbers are correct rather than the "iffy" info I got from Dayton.
I'm a part of the Fractal universe - FM9 and FM3. I've been using Fractal gear since 2011, so I'm familiar with EQ'ing presets to get the desired results. I just haven't had time to try to dial anything in yet. I'll spend some time dialing in over the next few days.
I like how this cab sounds when comparing my memory of how the FR12 performed. I notice more bass in MBritt, and with that more muscle. I sold my FR12 last fall, so its been long enough that I don't feel confident that I accurately remember how the FR12 sounded in comparison. The EV PXM-12MP seems flatter and doesn't have the flubbiness I'm experiencing with MBritt. However, I've been using "FRFR" of one sort or another since 2011. I have a couple of nice tube amps (Tone King Imperial MkII and Mesa Boogie Lone Star Special - both stock 1x12), and it seems like the MBritt more closely replicates the response of my tube amps than the EV PXM. Once again, I'll have to get out my amps to see if my memory is at all accurate.
iaresee
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Yes, this is where I'm at. Given my old amp does NOT have any programming on it (every "preset" sounds the exact same, the mute preset doesn't work). I'm looking at shelling out $400 just to get an amp that fits in to the space and I can tweak at home over USB.
It's been sitting, gathering dust because I just don't think it's worth the money and effort right now. Maybe I missed my window of opportunity to do this on the "cheap" if I'm being a dipshit and starting a political thread land and Dayton amps go to $1000? Oh well.
