Going back to an old friend - Mesa M6

[kbakerde]

Giving something a try. A couple years ago I had a pretty killer rig, M6 Carbine paired with a couple fEARful cabinets, a 15/6 made from a Speaker Hardware kit and a 12/6 Cube I made totally myself from plans. I thought it was a great sound. Really muscular, very clean though perhaps always a touch too clean. Sounded great and full through the fEARful's. So the band I was in ended, badly. I wanted a change, try something new, get a new sound. You know, an excuse for trying a whole bunch of crap.

I settled on another old friend, the Bassman 135. All tube, round warm, great sound. But with a couple very notable exceptions I feel the Bassman never took pedals well, while overdrives and distortions were always crushing on the Mesa. Especially with one of my bands which is an off kilter 3 piece let's me do a lot of cool effect things.

So, found a Mesa M6 Carbine used for $699 on Guitar Center, fair price I feel, and I am having it shipped to my local GC for pickup. All goes well, I'll be using that head this Friday at my next gig. Should be fun. New Old gear always is!

 

[shoot-r]

Congrats on the M-6!

I spent several years trying to jump on the "micro amp" bandwagon....didn't workout at all.
A friend lent me his old M-6 when my most recent micro try was on the fritz.
I absolutely LOVED the M-6 sound and feel.
I managed to talk him out of his M-6.
That M-6 has impressed my ears so much I now have two of them!

Let us know how the gig went with the M-6.

 

[lomo]

IME Carbine>>>15/6=SLAM!

 

[kbakerde]

Congrats on the M-6!

I spent several years trying to jump on the "micro amp" bandwagon....didn't workout at all.
A friend lent me his old M-6 when my most recent micro try was on the fritz.
I absolutely LOVED the M-6 sound and feel.
I managed to talk him out of his M-6.
That M-6 has impressed my ears so much I now have two of them!

Let us know how the gig went with the M-6.

So weird thing happened. The M6 just cut out mid song. No idea why. I basically unplugged everything including the fuse. Plugged everything back in and it worked. Happened just at the end of song 3. Extra funny thing, last couple months I had to excuse myself a few times from rehearsal for a work call scheduled with Asia. While I was gone, the rest of the guys started jamming to Femme Fatale by Velvet Underground. So the band started into that, unplanned from the set. Just about the time I would come in on that song the amp kicked to life again!! So I slung the bass back on and picked up where I left off.

Always sucks, but having happened to me before, it didn't fluster me too badly.

The tone was really awesome, of course. I have never really been able to get into Micro D amps. Closest thing to a really light amp I've liked was my time playing my GK 400 RB-IV through an old Warwick 6x10. Solid state amps like the Mesa, or the Hartke LH500 while not light, are deemed lighter than the comparable tube heads, notably the nearly 100 lbs SVT. So I did a weight comparison. I picked up a Gator 3U rack bag for the Mesa. Once I put it together I weighed it, and it came in at 35 lbs. Not a feather by any stretch, but doable. So I weighed my Bassman, and it came in at only 45 lbs. Which surprised me, it's always been a pain to move. I think mainly cause it has the one top handle.

Not sure what I will do though. The Mesa might be going back, the Bassman is truly just the amp for the sound I need. And there really isn't much more than that.

 

[kbakerde]

IME Carbine>>>15/6=SLAM!

When I felt like being a jerk, I'd stack my M6 with my 15/6+12/6 Cube stack for completely unnecessary volume.

 

[dbddlr]

If you don't have a Mesa M6 or M9 now you better get one fast. I just say an email from Mesahollywood.com that they have officially discontinued the M series amps and the Walkabout. They now only offer the Subway D800, a the Tube series amps now. Such a shame, i love my M6 2x12 Combo, I understand the appeal of the micro heads but nothing sounds like a tube hybrid lead sled.

 

[agedhorse]

If you don't have a Mesa M6 or M9 now you better get one fast. I just say an email from Mesahollywood.com that they have officially discontinued the M series amps and the Walkabout. They now only offer the Subway D800, a the Tube series amps now. Such a shame, i love my M6 2x12 Combo, I understand the appeal of the micro heads but nothing sounds like a tube hybrid lead sled.

Before jumping off a ledge, there are still plenty of Walkabouts throughout the system and a good number of M6/M9 as well. Just because Hollywood doesn't have them in stock doesn't mean that they aren't out there. There are also plenty of used ones available (even some here on the TB classifieds, plus 18 M6/M9 on ebay alone) and a robust used market for a limited interest product will always slow new unit sales.

 

[two fingers]

Before jumping off a ledge, there are still plenty of Walkabouts throughout the system and a good number of M6/M9 as well. Just because Hollywood doesn't have them in stock doesn't mean that they aren't out there. There are also plenty of used ones available (even some here on the TB classifieds, plus 18 M6/M9 on ebay alone) and a robust used market for a limited interest product will always slow new unit sales.

Always a good inside scoop.

Hey you guys have my Walkabout there at the shop. Sent it in last week.

Another thing to consider OP is sending it back to Mesa for a good freshening up. Can't wait to get mine back. Just call the customer service number on the Web site and they'll talk you right through it. Supposedly just a couple weeks turn around time. It'll be nice to have that piece of mind knowing that the factory guys have given it the once over.

If you get a chance @agedhorse swing by the shop and pet my amp. Maybe some MOJO will rub off on it.

 

[shoot-r]

So weird thing happened. The M6 just cut out mid song. No idea why. I basically unplugged everything including the fuse. Plugged everything back in and it worked. Happened just at the end of song 3. Extra funny thing, last couple months I had to excuse myself a few times from rehearsal for a work call scheduled with Asia. While I was gone, the rest of the guys started jamming to Femme Fatale by Velvet Underground. So the band started into that, unplanned from the set. Just about the time I would come in on that song the amp kicked to life again!! So I slung the bass back on and picked up where I left off.

Both my M-6's we're used when I got them.
When I got my second used one it was showing possible reliability issues and I wanted to make sure it was in as new condition internally as possible.
Sent it into Mesa for a checkup and up-grade.
Mesa C.S. was great, they had the head repaired when they said it would be and at the price they told me it would be.
It sounds as good as new and has been absolutely cold stone reliable.
I'd suggest your contacting Mesa C.S., tell them what's happening, follow what they recommend.
It maybe nothing more than your pre-amp tube going bad....

If you don't have a Mesa M6 or M9 now you better get one fast. I just say an email from Mesahollywood.com that they have officially discontinued the M series amps and the Walkabout. They now only offer the Subway D800, a the Tube series amps now. Such a shame, i love my M6 2x12 Combo, I understand the appeal of the micro heads but nothing sounds like a tube hybrid lead sled.

I've already floated the idea of Mesa's next offering in the Subway series be a Subway "M-6" voiced class d head.
(Another Mesa head is probably the only manufacturers head that would sway my ears away from my M-6's.)

Maybe if we, the M-6 fan boys, ask Agedhorse reallllly nicely, Mesa might consider it.

 

[agedhorse]

Always a good inside scoop.

Hey you guys have my Walkabout there at the shop. Sent it in last week.

If you get a chance @agedhorse swing by the shop and pet my amp. Maybe some MOJO will rub off on it.

Or I just might auction it off to the highest TB bidder, I hear they are getting scarce these days

 

[sstillwell]

I may not play it much since I got my D-800+, but you'll get my M6 when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.