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Any difference in sound between Mesa D-350 and D-800?

#61
pcake said:
as some of you know, my husband (guitar player) and i met while i was looking for new people to jam with or form a band back in 1998. we're super supportive and involved with each other's gear, have suggestions and are generally very involved with each others music. he also does all our setups and mods. we buy each other guitars, basses, pedals, strings, edrums, accessories.

when i was looking at the mesa D-350, ariex said "do you need that?", i said "i don't need it, but i really want it", and - music gear enabler that he is, he said "you should buy that". so i did, and i'm still sooo happy with it.
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It's pretty rare, I think, for significant others to understand the GAS this musical interest creates. You are fortunate you are both players!
 
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#62
dbase said:
What is the power that wives hold over us bass players. My wife knows nothing about bass amps and yet when I suggest buying another piece of gear that I THINK I need, she steadfastly says NO right off the bat without even having a discussion. jeez. ;) Yet if she wants to buy bling, I have no problem with that.. I have the Mesa 115 but wanted a 2x15 cab because I thought it would be louder and because it has wheels and can be rolled around without using a dolly. She says NO all the time. I can get an audience with the Pope eaiser than her allowing me to buy another Mesa cab. <color me henpecked>
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Just never leave the receipt on the kitchen table... like I did..
 
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#65
I have the inverse question to what most people usually ask about these amps. Semi-hijack but I think it's relevant to the OP.

I play at home mostly with a drum machine playing through old bass amps and multiple guitars playing loops through their own amps. It's not super loud but not quiet, probably around 90 decibels or so on average, maybe lower maybe higher depending on how hard I'm jamming out. The 4 guitar amps I use range from 10-20 watt tube amps that are not dimed by any means. I currently only have a GK MB112-II, which I love, but I do jam with friends and plan to start doing that more and the GK doesn't really cut it with some loud drums and guitars playing in a loud room. It's a really nice amp for the basement, but lacks the lows I'm looking for in a band setting.

I am seriously eyeballing the Subway amps, and I understand the 350 is loud, and if I use it with a 2x12, it will be very loud. However, I really would love the benefit of both the deep and the bright switches, leading me to the 800+. I would also like this to be a forever amp that I can use any time, including when I'm eventually a rock star playing at MSG. Would the 800+ volume be just completely bonkers and too loud to be doing the basement loop jams by myself with the drum machine? I'd like to be able to use the new amp in the way I play the vast majority of the time, by myself with drum and guitar loops going.
 
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#67
agedhorse said:
If you want both the Deep and Bright switches, the D-800+ would be the only option.
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My experience with top line amps vs lower line guitar amps is that higher quality amps sound the same with level at 1 that they do with level at 10, which isn't usually true with my cheap guitar amps.

400w into a Mesa Subway 1x15 with the volume turned down probably wouldn't be too loud to just play at my house, but would be plenty loud to play with a band with the volume turned up, right? Always with the option of getting even louder with a second cabinet.
 
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#68
BooshBass said:
My experience with top line amps vs lower line guitar amps is that higher quality amps sound the same with level at 1 that they do with level at 10, which isn't usually true with my cheap guitar amps.

400w into a Mesa Subway 1x15 with the volume turned down probably wouldn't be too loud to just play at my house, but would be plenty loud to play with a band with the volume turned up, right? Always with the option of getting even louder with a second cabinet.
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Both amp's performance is the same throughout the entire range of usable volume. It's purely a question of maximum volume and feature set.
 
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#69
BooshBass said:
My experience with top line amps vs lower line guitar amps is that higher quality amps sound the same with level at 1 that they do with level at 10, which isn't usually true with my cheap guitar amps.

400w into a Mesa Subway 1x15 with the volume turned down probably wouldn't be too loud to just play at my house, but would be plenty loud to play with a band with the volume turned up, right? Always with the option of getting even louder with a second cabinet.
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I doubt there's an amp on this planet that sounds the same at 1 and 10. :rollno:
 
#70
agedhorse said:
Both amp's performance is the same throughout the entire range of usable volume. It's purely a question of maximum volume and feature set.
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Sorry I've never had a big boy bass amp. You basically mean the 800+ can be played as quietly as the 350 with the same tone, but the 350 cannot get as loud as the 800+. So it's more a matter of how loud it can get, not whether it can be played quietly, and I could play 800+ as quietly as the 350, so I should probably go with the 800+ if I can swing the funds.
 
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#72
BooshBass said:
Sorry I've never had a big boy bass amp. You basically mean the 800+ can be played as quietly as the 350 with the same tone, but the 350 cannot get as loud as the 800+. So it's more a matter of how loud it can get, not whether it can be played quietly, and I could play 800+ as quietly as the 350, so I should probably go with the 800+ if I can swing the funds.
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Correct.
 
#73
BooshBass said:
My experience with top line amps vs lower line guitar amps is that higher quality amps sound the same with level at 1 that they do with level at 10, which isn't usually true with my cheap guitar amps.

400w into a Mesa Subway 1x15 with the volume turned down probably wouldn't be too loud to just play at my house, but would be plenty loud to play with a band with the volume turned up, right? Always with the option of getting even louder with a second cabinet.
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For what it's worth my D-350 -> GK 115 setup is very loud at home. Sounds great in the band. At home, I play a Fender Rumble 40 combo with a Tech 21 Para Driver out front. It's much more manageable.
 
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#75
Gervais Cote said:
I have the D350 with two GK Neo 1x12 and and never get lost with any big bass drum or crazy drummer hitting it hard :

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Uncanny pic! I’m actually searching to make a decision between the D350 and the Traynor 200. I don’t need the extra volume but I’m also thinking just to match the head to my cab and get the 350. But once cry once as it were.

Thoughts between the two?
 
#76
nonohmic said:
Uncanny pic! I’m actually searching to make a decision between the D350 and the Traynor 200. I don’t need the extra volume but I’m also thinking just to match the head to my cab and get the 350. But once cry once as it were.

Thoughts between the two?
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The Traynor 200 seems to be voiced for rock IMO. The sound is transparent, no color added but a tad aggressive and very punchy.

The D350 is more detailed but the low notes are not as articulate as the Traynor and that’s the reason I got rid of it at the end. The Mesa is softer on the ear and is a good fit with all styles of music and basses, more of a jack of all trades amp.

After many tests, I kept the Traynor 200 as a backup and replaced the Mesa D350 with a Traynor SB 500H. I wanted that powerful rock tone with its articulate bass that goes deeper and the 500 is up to the task. The bass of the Mesa sounded flabby compared to the Traynor amps.

I play a p bass 90% of the time so it might be different for you.
 
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#77
Gervais Cote said:
The Traynor 200 seems to be voiced for rock IMO. The sound is transparent, no color added but a tad aggressive and very punchy.

The D350 is more detailed but the low notes are not as articulate as the Traynor and that’s the reason I got rid of it at the end. The Mesa is softer on the ear and is a good fit with all styles of music and basses, more of a jack of all trades amp.

After many tests, I kept the Traynor 200 as a backup and replaced the Mesa D350 with a Traynor SB 500H. I wanted that powerful rock tone with its articulate bass that goes deeper and the 500 is up to the task. The bass of the Mesa sounded flabby compared to the Traynor amps.

I play a p bass 90% of the time so it might be different for you.
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Super helpful. Thanks. I think I'll go for the Traynor.

I have a GK Fusion MB500 which is great at higher volume, but it's not behaving at bedroom levels. So I could keep that for louder stuff, then go for the Traynor for practice but still keep the punchiness.
 
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#78
Gervais Cote said:
The Traynor 200 seems to be voiced for rock IMO. The sound is transparent, no color added but a tad aggressive and very punchy.
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Not sure how you can equate being "voiced for rock" and then say "the sound is transparent, no color added" and "aggressive"?

The voicing for a rock tone (the amp is voiced and does have considerable color added which is why it has a rock oriented tone) is what you find appealing, the D-350 is less voiced (with the voicing control fully CCW) and simply doesn't have the "rock tone" that you were looking for.

My point is that the inherent voicings, color, texture, aggression are different by intent. That's why I think it's important to try both to determine which works best for your own personal tastes (which you did).

 
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