A question for all you Walter Woods experts: what's the difference between the WW MI 200-8 model Electracoustic and the "regular" Electracoustic (no model #)?
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Double Bass All Things Walter Woods
- Thread starter statsc
- Start date
The power section. Amps with MI-series power amps and Electracoustic preamps were transitional models.
Thanks KFS; knew you’d have the answer! Are you aware of any qualitative difference between these two amps?
I never owned one of the final iterations, but have the impression that the later amps sound less “tubey.” The original design was brilliant and unique, especially considering the components Walter had to work with. If anybody else achieved rat-killing volume with a 100W bass head I’m unaware of it.
I’ve been playing around recently with the WW “magic knob.” It seems to have a subtle but very noticeable effect. Heard to describe, but seems to increase the “presence” (for lack of a better word) of the sound, but not like a traditional “presence” knob which seems to me to affect mostly the midrange. This seems to affect the sound across all frequency ranges. Sometimes it’s too much, sometimes just enough. Maybe “depth” is a better word to describe it.
Anyone else have experience with this?
Anyone else have experience with this?
I use the Post Gain “magic knob” only for bass guitar.
What happens when you don’t have anything plugged into the return is that it adds a low mid boost for some reason. I've never tried plugging something into the return to hear if the knob still resulted in a mid boost.
Here’s the cryptic manual excerpt:
So what happens when it’s below 6? Inquiring minds want to know
It’s not the only mystery control on my WW. There’s the Balance knob that can tilt the EQ for more bass and less treble or vice versa. Notice he suggests setting it at 1:00, in other woods, a minor bass cut and minor treble boost…if the EQ knobs are not at 12:00.
I have used similar controls on other amps but it works regardless of how the EQ is set. When I want to use it, I make a small bass boost and a small treble cut (one tick each) and then adjust the balance to taste. I’d love to see the circuit diagram for that. Better yet, set up an oscilloscope and measure it!
The pre-Electroacoustic models also had the “+ o -“ switches for the bass and treble EQ. The manual says that plus adds “10” and minus cuts “10”, but it doesn't specify ten of what. Decibels? It’s certainly audible as the sudden boost and cut are massive. Perhaps in the EA models he left it out because other players were as confused about it as I was
No. It adds sparkle magic I lack the words to describe, and I’m a poet.
Can anyone think of a reason why it would inadvisable to connect my WW Electracoustic MI 200-8 Green Light stereo amp to an 8 ohm load on a one channel and a 4 ohm load (two 8 ohm speakers plugged together) on the other channel? On the bottom of the amp it says: “ CH.1 Top, CH.2 Bot. 8 ohm Min. Bridged. 4 ohm Min./Ch. This would be when the amp is run in stereo, NOT bridged.
Never had one, but isn’t it:
8 Ohms min., bridged: 4 Ohms min.?
That makes more sense to me than what you wrote and shows either two right ohms loads (one on each channel) or a single 4 Ohms load bridged.
So I think it is not possible to connect three 8 Ohms loads in parallel distributed to both channels.
And I heard that some Woods types died when they were used bridged. So better don’t try that.
8 Ohms min., bridged: 4 Ohms min.?
That makes more sense to me than what you wrote and shows either two right ohms loads (one on each channel) or a single 4 Ohms load bridged.
So I think it is not possible to connect three 8 Ohms loads in parallel distributed to both channels.
And I heard that some Woods types died when they were used bridged. So better don’t try that.
No, for WW stereo amps it’s 8 ohms when bridged. All Woods amps whether mono or stereo handle 4 ohm loads otherwise.
That would be very strange. Amps that are designed to be bridgeable typically double the minimum required impedance when bridged. Speaking generally rather than about Woods' amps specifically (I've never used nor owned one), if a stereo amp is designed to operate into 4 ohms minimum per channel, it will have an 8 ohm minimum when bridged.
Right; it’s NOT a good idea to run a WW bridged into 4 ohms, despite what Walter’s literature says (ask me how I know!)!
You are right, I mixed it up since I never ever used a stereo amp bridged and Ivwaa a bit tired when I wrote that.
Sorry for that and thanks for the correction.
But using three 8 Ohms speakers, bridged or in parallel is still not an option. Using two 8 Ohms in series (!) would be possible but less loud than a single 8 Ohms speaker. I doubt the OP wants that.
Two in parallel on one channel, the third on the other channel. That’s a great reason to use a stereo amp.
This is the DB subforum, but as a doubler I’ve used my mono green light with two cabinets when I need it really loud, mainly for bass guitar but a few times for DB. See my avatar, that’s the Hatch Shell in Boston…WW and Bergantino behind me with a second cab on the other side of the stage. The first time I played there, the provided backline was an SVT. This sounded better, was just as loud and I had headroom to turn up if needed (it wasn’t).
Theoretically, then, one could use as many as 4 8-ohm cabs with a WW stereo amp; 2 8-ohm speakers plugged into each other (equals 4 ohms) in each channel, right?
