I'm really intrigued by the V4B re-issue and have been reading a lot about it here on Talkbass. My main rig is a Fender Super Bassman through two 212AVs and I'm loving the tone and power of that rig. Moving away from hybrids to an all tube head has been a very, very good move for me. The Mesa Walkabout that I had been using has been collecting dust. I usually carry it with me to gigs as a back-up, but fortunately haven't had to use it. It's a great sounding, high quality head that I like a lot - but I'm finding all tubes is where it's at for me at this point in my life. I really, really like some of the YouTube clips of the V4B and have been thinking of selling the Mesa to a friend who's always had his eye on that head and getting a V4B. That would give me a pretty good set of options - a 300W head and a 100W head through one or both of the 212AV cabs.
The biggest concern is around volume, so curious as to what I should expect there - the last thing I'd want is to gig that head and get drowned out by the band. We play moderately loud blues/southern rock/country (and push into the just plain loud category at times). Most of the time we play without PA support for the bass and about 50%/50% indoor/outdoor gigs with audiences maybe up to 100 people. The Walkabout through my 412s has been plenty in the past, if that tells you anything. I prefer a semi-clean tone for a lot of what we do, but don't mind getting some overdrive in there as we push into more of the rock oriented stuff and volume starts to creep up.
The only other downside is that I still want to carry two amps to the gig, in case I have a problem. The V4B is a bit bigger than the Walkabout in it's head-case and maybe twice as heavy. I don't mind the schlep, typically. Maybe I'll keep the WA and save up for the V4B over time.
Thoughts?
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Yee-Haw!!! Sorry, it's a TX Thing Y'all. Peace, e.
