20 years of playing bass, and I just bought my first non-Mesa amp.

[Benjamin Strange]

I've been lugging Mesa/Boogie amps around for almost 20 years now. In addition to my now-famous Bass Triaxis and Strategy 500 rig, I've owned the M-2000, Buster, Walkabout, and many of their tube power amps and cabs (including guitar amps!). I love, love, love my Mesa amps, but my life has led me in a peculiar direction and I needed something small, powerful, and lightweight - something that Mesa just doesn't do just yet. So, in a moment of weakness, I picked this up:



It feels a little weird owning something that doesn't have the Mesa name on it, and playing something without tubes is just... strange. But! It's super lightweight, and it's loud. Tone was of minimal concern. My reasoning was this: I needed something for small to medium gigs that I can carry in a single trip, and I couldn't spend much money (this is 1/5 the price of the smallest Mesa combo). This fit the bill.

You know how when you get a new piece of gear home and you play with it for hours on end? That didn't happen here - I pulled it out of the box, made sure it worked, and then stuck it in a corner to await my next gig. Weird, huh?

My Bass Triaxis is essentially retired from touring, after about 15 years on the road and in the studio. It will remain the cornerstone of my sound, and I will never part with it. But the drunks at the bar don't care how awesome my bass rig is - they just want to dance, get drunk, and screw. So I guess I'm reluctantly a GK guy now... or at least until Mesa finally decides to make a D class amp.

[two fingers]

Cool. What is it? (model)

[B-string]

What a glowing review . BTW it isn't class D that makes light weight, it is SMPS that save the most weight.
Which model is it you bought?

[Benjamin Strange]

Oh yeah - it's a MB-112II. Heh... I had to walk over to look at the amp to see what it was I bought.

What's SMPS?

[B-string]

Switch Mode Power Supply. Much, much smaller (and lighter) power transformer than a line frequency power supply.
Should do very nicely and if you need more the MBP powered cab can be added from the "chain out" in any flavor you desire http://www.gallien-krueger.com/produ...ered-cabinets/

[Baird6869]

Originally Posted by B-string

What a glowing review .

+1.

[MuthaFunk]

Originally Posted by B-string

What a glowing review . ...

LOL! You guys kill me!

[B-string]

Originally Posted by MuthaFunk

LOL! You guys kill me!

I do my part to keep some degree of humor

[Webtroll]

Bass Triaxis??

[Benjamin Strange]

Originally Posted by Webtroll

Bass Triaxis??

It's the one on the bottom.

[rapidfirerob]

Thanks for the link. Now I can see where the knobs are on the thing. Adding a second cab underneath, like the photo on the GK site would give you a killer rig.

[ChuckTrucks]

Holy crap that's the first Bass Triaxis Ive seen!!!

I just bought a GK MB112II and the 1x12 powered enclosure to match it.

I too needed something for small bar gigs that I can carry in the extended cab of my truck. The amp and the cab fit perfectly behind both seats. The setup has a nice amount of volume and low end while still maintaining a small footprint. It has exceeded my expectations. The 1x12 by itself is very good but adding the bottom cab just makes it a lot better. I didn't want to end up overworking the amp to play with drums so the powered cab made a ton of sense.

I didn't want to throw a ton of money at a small setup so I figured around $700 for a 2x12 setup that I will use 2-3 times a month will be fine as long as we dont lose our gigs or the equipment dies.

[Benjamin Strange]

Originally Posted by ChuckTrucks

Holy crap that's the first Bass Triaxis Ive seen!!!

It's the only one you'll see. Mine is the only prototype made (true, they modded a few for a handful of people, but this is an actual prototype for a production run that never happened).

[Carl Hillman]

I've been using a SWR Basic Black for 20? years now, and I've finally sprung for the Walkabout Scout 1X12.

When I bought the SWR, I was under the gun time-wise. I needed an amp right away and didn't have time to shop around. I was forced to get something from the limited selection at one of the local Guitar Centers. (Also, at the time, I probably couldn't have afforded a Mesa.)

I'm still learning how to voice the EQ for optimal sound on electric and upright, but this thing puts out a remarkable amount of sound for such a small amp.

It looks to be the perfect thing for gigs in which I have to play both basses. The SWR was too big and flabby for the acoustic, and my Acoustic Image didn't have enough balls and presence for the electric.

It was expensive, but it may just be the last amp I ever buy.

[Vandy]

Originally Posted by Carl Hillman

. . . It was expensive, but it may just be the last amp I ever buy.

What?
And, you call yourself a bass player . . .

[Blankandson]

[quote=B-string;13435333]Switch Mode Power Supply. Much, much smaller (and lighter) power transformer than a line frequency power supply.


The power supply is used almost exclusively in ham radio these days. I traded a Kenwood (48 pounds) for an Icom radio (3 pounds) a few years ago. Both are 100 watts. The lighter rig difference is the light weight power supply.

[corinpills]

I'll keep an eye on your big tube Mesa amps if you like, just out of the goodness of my heart.