Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread 8

[lomo]

I have been through a gaggle of cabs with my WA. 3 12s will do it for me-loud enough for a medium bar without PA and only minimal peach fuzz on the tone. A 410 will also be fine, but 2 12s just does not get me the clean headroom I like. We are on the loud side. IMO the WA is an honest 300 watts but if you want it completely clean you're probably getting less.

[RickenBoogie]

Regarding the WA @ 300 watts vs the SVT @ 300 watts, remember, both are rated at how much CLEAN power. The thing about the SVT, many players push those SVT's into a grindy distortion, so they're well beyond the 300 watt mark. Otherwise, a watt is a watt.

[Jim C]

Aside from owning them I thought the comparison would be helpful.
They both run out of clean tone at about the same SPL when tested with the same cabinet.

[lomo]

Yeah, I guess a watt is a watt and the WA gives a real 300. I run my gain at about 1 o'clock which (with my basses, mostly passive) gives some peach fuzz but is still short of where the B string becomes useless and wildly different from the other 4 in terms of OD.

[rodl2005]

A -hopefully- quick question for us Walkabout owners....
As I'm a total dunce in regards to electronics,
Does anyone know if the US Walkabout model can easily be converted to 240v ? Obviously my tech would do the deed.. they're few & far between here :-/

[BillyB_from_LZ]

Originally Posted by rodl2005

A -hopefully- quick question for us Walkabout owners....
As I'm a total dunce in regards to electronics,
Does anyone know if the US Walkabout model can easily be converted to 240v ? Obviously my tech would do the deed.. they're few & far between here :-/

If I recall correctly, the power transformer only has one primary winding (rated 120 Vac, 60 Hz), so you'd need a new power transformer.

[BillyB_from_LZ]

Originally Posted by slick_tu

Couldn't quit swing a new one and still keep my SVT-VR; then I found this from a guy locally. Mint (an unused backup amp) and still under warranty for a year or so. As someone suggested earlier, I put in a JJ ECC83 for the preamp and a JJ ECC803 for the driver. Very pleased with the sound. It sounds great with the SVT-210AV's; I havent had a chance to try it with my Berg NV610 yet.




.

It looks like your amp is sitting on a little platform that has feet to fit in the cups on the SVT210AV cabinet. That's a neat idea. Did you make it?

[BillyB_from_LZ]

Originally Posted by ccouch7

...
Went to GC today and all they had was one floor model Walkabout that was pretty beat/scratched up
it sounded excellent to me but they wouldn't come down a dime on the price.
...

I'm told that in order to drop the price on any new Mesa Boogie gear, the dealer has to submit the serial number and a really good reason to Mesa Boogie for their blessing.

[jro]

After playing through my 12" Scout + Radiator cab I honestly wonder just how loud you guys play? Hope you wear earplugs on stage

I had a Roland setup with a powered cab before my Walkabout. Would the tone be the same if you ran a powered cab with a signal from the xlr out? GK makes powered cabs now too - I think.

Or maybe tell your guitar players to turn down a little?

Originally Posted by Chef

As close as I can get to that is two Baer ML112's.
Giggable for me, but, into the dirty zone. For me.
YMMV

[Chef]

Read closer

It can get loud enough...just not clean enough, for me.

ymmv, of course.


Originally Posted by Chef View Post
As close as I can get to that is two Baer ML112's.
Giggable for me, but, into the dirty zone. For me.
YMMV

[rodl2005]

Originally Posted by BillyB_from_LZ

If I recall correctly, the power transformer only has one primary winding (rated 120 Vac, 60 Hz), so you'd need a new power transformer.

Ahh, ok. Thanx

[slick_tu]

Originally Posted by BillyB_from_LZ

It looks like your amp is sitting on a little platform that has feet to fit in the cups on the SVT210AV cabinet. That's a neat idea. Did you make it?

Yes, thanks. I found a 12" wide board (usually they're a little less from milling; this was exactly 12") at Loews who cut it to 12x12 for me; painted it; and installed some rubber feet from Parts Express. To get the feet in the right place, I took the feet off the Micro-VR and made a little template from the holes.

Originally Posted by BillyB_from_LZ

I'm told that in order to drop the price on any new Mesa Boogie gear, the dealer has to submit the serial number and a really good reason to Mesa Boogie for their blessing.

Was it discounting that got GC in trouble with Mesa a few years ago, causing them to lose the product line for a while?



.

[wateroftyne]

Hello WA gang!

I do most of my gigs with a single Berg HS210 - I never struggle for volume.

I like the idea of picking the 12 up... just for a change.

Could anyone out there with experience of the HS210 and the HT112 give me an idea of how they would compare tonally, and would the single driver in the 12 really limit the WA at 8ohm, or is it still a giggable setup?

I play rootsy rocky country soul, with flat-strung Ps and Js.

Thanks!

[lomo]

I haven't played either cab, but I suspect the best thing about the 12 might just be playing the 210/112 stack together ;-)

The 12 is probably excursion-limited around 125 watts so the WA should be a good match. I doubt it will take full WA output without some compression, however.

Originally Posted by wateroftyne

Hello WA gang!

I do most of my gigs with a single Berg HS210 - I never struggle for volume.

I like the idea of picking the 12 up... just for a change.

Could anyone out there with experience of the HS210 and the HT112 give me an idea of how they would compare tonally, and would the single driver in the 12 really limit the WA at 8ohm, or is it still a giggable setup?

I play rootsy rocky country soul, with flat-strung Ps and Js.

Thanks!

[gillento]

Originally Posted by slick_tu

...As someone suggested earlier, I put in a JJ ECC83 for the preamp and a JJ ECC803 for the driver. Very pleased with the sound. ....


.

Curious: what does this do to the already deliciuos sound?

[slick_tu]

Originally Posted by gillento

Curious: what does this do to the already deliciuos sound?

It was in a separate thread about WA tubes that a poster said (of the JJ's), "I like a thick dirty tubey sound, with plenty of bite and warmth." Since I already had a new ECC83s sitting around I bought an ECC803s, tried them, and found it was all of those things. YMMV, of course. Mine had a Mesa Chinese and a Mesa Russian in it.

.

[wateroftyne]

Thanks, lomo!

Any more input, anyone?

[Chef]

If you're getting by with a single 210 now, and not pushing it, I'd reckon that the 112 would work for you.

[Wes Whitmore]

I think a single 10 is a db or two less than a comparable 12 at the same ohm load. Doubling the cone area and halving the ohm load is supposed to be good for 6db gain. I think you will have to try it.
Wes

[wateroftyne]

Cheers, all. It turns out the HT112 for sale that I was looking at isn't an ER, which has killed the GAS.

I still like the idea of the 112, for a different flavour - a little more 'round' and a little less 'bark'...