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Darkglass 900 vs Mesa Subway Line

Darkglass 900 V2 vs Mesa Boogie Subway Line

  • Total voters
    29
Spooge

Spooge

Sep 1, 2014
869
1,126
USA
#1
Hey TB, hoping there's some folks out there who have or have had both the Darkglass 900 and one or more of the Mesa Subways to compare the 2 channel options, clean vs dirty, feature sets, and DI sounds. I currently own the 900 V2, I'm interested in the TT800, however open to the WD800 and D800+. For reference, my styles of preferred music to play are rock, hard rock, grunge, modern hard rock. I use Spector basses, mostly play with a pick. I also own a darkglass hyper luminal compressor, Darkglass X7, Darkglass 212 cab. I don't play djent or metal, I run the X7 at low gain for more of a punchy, biting tone, not grindy or clanky if that makes sense. I set the low crossover around 250-300hz and the high crossover at the max (1 or 1.5khz I believe) I've been experimenting running the amp in clean or on the dirty channel, using the X7 as always on. Can't tell a huge difference between the VMT and B3k, although the B3k is more dark and focused maybe, hard to describe.

Would the boogie channel be similar to the VMT channel or B3k without the X7 in front of it. Do you miss the cab sim on the headphones and DI out, since the boogies have a mild sim on the headphone and no sim on the DI? Does the HPF, dampening, eq beat the Darkglass on tone and effect?

Hoping to get some real world insight since traveling to a dealer (if it's in stock even) isn't feasible at this time for exploring sake. I've only found 1 or 2 youtube demos of the TT800, more with the WD800 and D800+, plus youtube isn't much to base on.

Would the WD800 or D800+ be a better fit and keep the X7 for girth/OD or the TT800 be a better potential in your opinion?

Thanks!
 
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#7
I was late posting that I bought the TT. I’ve had it for a few weeks now, sweetwater had them in stock so it was here in 2 days. Part of the reason I went ahead and bought it was because my DG is in the shop fixing a bug where the microtubes channel would stay engaged if the amp was on for awhile. Like it wouldn’t switch back to clean when I pushed the button and wouldn’t change between vmt and b3k. No worries it’s under warranty. But Korgs turn around time is 4-6 weeks. So I figured I’d try out the TT while I wait since sweetwater has a free return window. I find the DG clean and TT clean somewhat similar. Clean, punchy. But the real tube has a little something the DG is missing. The DG dirty can get way dirtier. EQ points are different. HPF on TT is a given bonus point for TT. DG can sim is fun for headphones or recording or going cabless at a gig but the TT DI is better. About all for now, when I get the DG back I’ll set them up and go back and forth.
 
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#9
Which channel are you preferring on the TT?

Can you describe what kind of distortion and how heavy you are looking to get?
 
#10
Just short of breakup. Use a MBD-2 when I want heavier tones. Boogie is great stand alone. Not sure it plays as well as subway with added color/texture. Not saying it needs it either. Just an observation. Seems like most prefer it that way. Boogie stands any itself, subway is ok on its own but is a better palette for added ingredients.
 

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