I brew a Belgian brown ale that is US pale malt-based. For my purposes I don't want the grainy pilsner character and I want a touch more sweetness. My base malt is a mix of vienna, munich and pale though (with special B and black patent). I am trying to create a brown ale that marries some of the Belgian character without turning it into a dubbel or similar beer and I think a pilsner base leans too closely to feeling like a dubbel.
However, if you are more interested in something that is approaching a dubbel then maybe you want to use pilsner instead.
The Belgian pale malt is darker and closer to maris otter than domestic pale malt. It's usually in the 3.5-4 range. Something to keep in mind.