Best Tube Pre Amp for Mesa D-800+

[Clark W]

Here's the actual post referenced above:

Gotta love @agedhorse, he always steps up to the plate and beyond when it comes to anything he's involved in or has been involved in.

The #1 reason I went with Mesa when I bought my last amp was because of him. I knew Mesa was an awesome product, but I got to pick his brain before spending my money. That was in Oct of 2022 when I got my D-800+, and I've have never been happier with an amp purchase in my 4 decades, off and on, of playing bass.

I couldn't get any Mesa cabs at the time because covid/supply chain issues. He didn't say one bad word about my cab choice, Markbass Traveler 151P cabs. His only concern was that whatever cab I went with, would handle the power the head put out. And I got the feeling he kinda likes 15" speakers. It all worked out and I have never been happier with a rig. I now run the two 115 cabs and two 210 cabs, well when I can get away with it

I will definitely add a TT 800 to my arsenal as well. And I'll blame aged horse for it when I do

 

[amper]

Run it through the FX return - otherwise you're just stacking preamps.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with stacking preamps, and no real reason to avoid doing so, unless there's a noise floor problem.

 

[g-dude]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with stacking preamps, and no real reason to avoid doing so, unless there's a noise floor problem.

Or if you want to get the pure character of one of the preamps in particular.

There's something to be said for stacking, and something to be said for not stacking, but regardless with anything you do it's best to have an idea of what you want to accomplish and then proceed accordingly in an intentional manner.

And of course, sometimes you do need to experiment with alternatives to see if what you want to accomplish is actually the best thing.

 

[amper]

Or if you want to get the pure character of one of the preamps in particular.

Sure, but that's not really a reason to "avoid" stacking preamps, it's just a different sound.

My usual setup these days normally stacks at least two distinct preamps, sometimes as many as five, if you count the boost pedal.

StingRay -> Boss AD-2 Acoustic Preamp -> tc electronic Spark booster -> Boss BB-1X Bass Driver -> Mesa/Boogie Walkabout head

The instrument preamp and amplifier preamp are of course always active, but depending on the song or even the passage, any number of the other three will also be active.

And it sounds great. Might not be the sound someone else is looking for, of course.

 

[mikeswals]

I have a D350 and put a Sushi Box Westinghouse infront, specifically because its not an eq pedal, just a tube signal, and sounds great.
Its their early non-eq pedal... nowdays they have the Space Heater or the More.

 

[Clark W]

I have a D350 and put a Sushi Box Westinghouse infront, specifically because its not an eq pedal, just a tube signal, and sounds great.
Its their early non-eq pedal... nowdays they have the Space Heater or the More.

According to tracking my "More" will be here tomorrow, arrived at my post office an hour ago. The "non EQ/tube signal only" aspect is the main thing that attracted me to that pedal.

 

[g-dude]

Having gotten to play around with my new preamp, I can tell you that it sounds fantastic through the Subway channel of my TT-800.

 

[mikeswals]

According to tracking my "More" will be here tomorrow, arrived at my post office an hour ago. The "non EQ/tube signal only" aspect is the main thing that attracted me to that pedal.

Congrats! I really like the result with mine, but would definitely want to try a More someday... ya know, two tubes in the More must be a little different than just one.

 

[Clark W]

Congrats! I really like the result with mine, but would definitely want to try a More someday... ya know, two tubes in the More must be a little different than just one.

Yes two tubes are probably different from one. Probably why it's called "More"

 

[postrockrocks]

Your D-800 is a very good sounding amp already. Maybe you are just wanting a little 'sag' that you get from tubes. Just add a compressor at the beginning of your chain and you should be alright. Adding another preamp is redundant and takes over the natural sound of your D-800

 

[Clark W]

Your D-800 is a very good sounding amp already. Maybe you are just wanting a little 'sag' that you get from tubes. Just add a compressor at the beginning of your chain and you should be alright.

Yes the D-800+ is a very good sounding amp, but like all Class D amps, it lacks a little oomph in the gain section when compared to solid state amps I've had in the past, and have right now. I have a 500 watt, solid state, GK Goldline that drives harder than my Mesa and it's 800 watts. What the Mesa lacks for in drive though it makes up for in voicing for sure, as well as ease of use, a very low noise floor and just a great amp all around. Whereas the Goldline has plenty of oomph to it, it lacks a very low noise floor, and the voicing is meh. But it can still get the job done. It's just not the ear candy that my Mesa is.

Adding another preamp is redundant and takes over the natural sound of your D-800

But what if that preamp is just tubes and no tone control circuit such as the Sushi Box "More" with nothing more than two tubes and a gain control?

If you play an active bass, you're already stacking a preamp in the bass before your amp's preamp. Now running off of 9 or 18 volt battery powered circuits, the onboard preamp of a bass is not going to be anywhere as drastic as some of the preamp pedals out there.

Hartke actually stacked two, totally separate and controllable preamps, one tube, one solid state, in the HA3500C/5500C model amps. So basically with the Sushi Box More, I'm stacking a tube pre into the digital pre of the Mesa.

Anyway, I spent 3 hours last night with the Sushi Box More running in front of my Mesa D-800+ last night and it provided plenty of oomph without touching the overall voicing/equalization section of the D-800+. I'm sure there's a little coloring added in from the tubes themselves, but there's no tonal circuit being pushed by them before hitting the amp other than the tone circuit coming from my passive basses. There definitely was no "taking over" of the natural sound of the Mesa, although there was some adding to it going on, which is what I was after in the first place. It was like the Mesa sound on steroids.

 

[Jazzdogg]

Yes the D-800+ is a very good sounding amp, but like all Class D amps, it lacks a little oomph in the gain section when compared to solid state amps I've had in the past, and have right now. I have a 500 watt, solid state, GK Goldline that drives harder than my Mesa and it's 800 watts. What the Mesa lacks for in drive though it makes up for in voicing for sure, as well as ease of use, a very low noise floor and just a great amp all around. Whereas the Goldline has plenty of oomph to it, it lacks a very low noise floor, and the voicing is meh. But it can still get the job done. It's just not the ear candy that my Mesa is.


But what if that preamp is just tubes and no tone control circuit such as the Sushi Box "More" with nothing more than two tubes and a gain control?

If you play an active bass, you're already stacking a preamp in the bass before your amp's preamp. Now running off of 9 or 18 volt battery powered circuits, the onboard preamp of a bass is not going to be anywhere as drastic as some of the preamp pedals out there.

Hartke actually stacked two, totally separate and controllable preamps, one tube, one solid state, in the HA3500C/5500C model amps. So basically with the Sushi Box More, I'm stacking a tube pre into the digital pre of the Mesa.

Anyway, I spent 3 hours last night with the Sushi Box More running in front of my Mesa D-800+ last night and it provided plenty of oomph without touching the overall voicing/equalization section of the D-800+. I'm sure there's a little coloring added in from the tubes themselves, but there's no tonal circuit being pushed by them before hitting the amp other than the tone circuit coming from my passive basses. There definitely was no "taking over" of the natural sound of the Mesa, although there was some adding to it going on, which is what I was after in the first place. It was like the Mesa sound on steroids.

I can't pretend to know what "Oomph" means to you, so I have difficulty accepting your conclusion that the D800+ lacks oomph.

 

[Pelagic]

After reading all this, I'm really looking forward to running my Sushibox UA into the d800+ and Subway 115 on Saturday as my first Mesa experience.

 

[Clark W]

After reading all this, I'm really looking forward to running my Sushibox UA into the d800+ and Subway 115 on Saturday as my first Mesa experience.

So my Sushibox More came last week on Thursday. I ran it into my Mesa D-800+/GK NEO IV 212 at rehearsal last Friday night for 3 hours. It was like adding the last piece to a puzzle. That particular pedal has one knob, gain. So very simplistic. But then the D-800+ head, while it has quite a few knobs, to me is pretty straightforward and simple. It's one of the things I love about that amp. The Sushibox More was definitely what I was looking for in adding a little tubeyness to my setup. Definitely a set and forget, leave it on all the time kinda pedal for me. Have rehearsal again tomorrow night, will be running a MXR-85 bass distortion pedal with the More pedal this time around.I've been using that pedal by itself, very sparingly, but with the More pedal I think the MXR will get a little more thickness to it's sound, but probably will still use it sparingly. The MXR, while great at adding a little distortion, just doesn't do well when you crank the distortion up on it IMO.

 

[Pelagic]

So my Sushibox More came last week on Thursday. I ran it into my Mesa D-800+/GK NEO IV 212 at rehearsal last Friday night for 3 hours. It was like adding the last piece to a puzzle. That particular pedal has one knob, gain. So very simplistic. But then the D-800+ head, while it has quite a few knobs, to me is pretty straightforward and simple. It's one of the things I love about that amp. The Sushibox More was definitely what I was looking for in adding a little tubeyness to my setup. Definitely a set and forget, leave it on all the time kinda pedal for me. Have rehearsal again tomorrow night, will be running a MXR-85 bass distortion pedal with the More pedal this time around.I've been using that pedal by itself, very sparingly, but with the More pedal I think the MXR will get a little more thickness to it's sound, but probably will still use it sparingly. The MXR, while great at adding a little distortion, just doesn't do well when you crank the distortion up on it IMO.
View attachment 5443406

I can see you must be fairly refined as you and I both chose the same color for our Sushi!

 

[4Mal]

I would suggest replacing the D-800+ with a TT-800 or WD-800, both of which have tube preamps.

I did what I thought was an upgrade from the D-800+ to the WD-800. Hated it... for me the D-800+ was the sweet spot. I never took the plunge on a TT...

If I were doing it today with an 800+ the Underground Accelerator or Nobelium would be high on my list. An HW Space Heater and Finally and More did not provide the character I was looking for.

A Shaw or an Oracle.. amazing but the form factors... The new Oracle though. Very attractive but... that is such a sideways dodge from the Mesa... may as well just use a power amp.

Radical thought... play further with the Voicing and Deep controls with some HPF and dodge the whole tube preamp thing. The 800+ (and the DI+) are really sophisticated and IMO can take some time to dial in. They don't give up the goods all that easily.