Just picked up a used Mesa Bass 400+ sportin' JJ outputs. I like it. It's a bit dirty sounding, but I have no doubt I can tame the gain situation. I'm enjoying the flexibility of the preamp (reminds me of a nasty Pultec to be honest) and I also see why few people questioned Mesa's advertised power rating. It has two settings: loud and off. Anyhow, with Mesa discontinuing it, I figured I couldn't pass on a good deal. This one looked lonely. Now it has a plethora of tube brethren and a whole bunch of cats to love it.
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I have joined the Dark Side (well not really)
- Thread starter Psycho Bass Guy
- Start date
Meee-mor-ies....
I missed my Aggie rig so much, I got another!
Me and my(girlfriends) cats have an understanding. They don't mess with my gear, and I don't kick them with my steeltoes.
I missed my Aggie rig so much, I got another!
Me and my(girlfriends) cats have an understanding. They don't mess with my gear, and I don't kick them with my steeltoes.
Good choice! The EQ section can be a little frustrating until you spend some with it, but it's a very solidly-built, suprisingly versatile (for a tube amp) unit. I have JJs in my 400+ also, and I do believe they sound better than any of the other tubes I've tried in this amp.
Brendan
Brendan
With the thread title, I thought you were going to say you bought a solid-state amp!
Asad
I've had solid state amps for longer than I have had tube amps. Unfortunately, like most of my tube amps, the ones I like are not being made on the MI market anymore.
I've had some time to play with it. I swapped the driver 12AX7 for an old Tungsol 12AU7 I had laying around. That tamed alot of the gain and gave a bigger bottom to boot. I basically got headroom by sacrificing gain and the larger current capability of the 12AU7 means that the drive section won't clip on lows as easily. Swapping the 12AU7 in the first stage gave a more subdued tone, but the power section didn't have as much booty and the EQ didn't work right. Swapping the drive tube cleaned up the amp's tone considerably without messing with the tone stack. As a bonus, when I removed the amp's cover, I found a loose GT12AX7 inside. It's a Chinese cheapie, but it was a freebie!
It came from my local Guitar Satan... I mean... Center. Preamp tubes are self-biasing so swapping them doesn't require checking the bias. ( Although messing with the drive stage CAN affect it). I do intend to put it on the 'scope and install bias adjustment controls, but my ears are tuned well enough that I can confidently say that the amp is biased correctly right now.
I did not know that 12AX7's were normally used for driver tubes -- is that what MB usually uses there?
Quick question... I have a Mesa MPulse600 that I like very much. I am clueless about different tubes. I have the stock 'Mesa' tubes (two 12ax7's I believe). If I wanted to swap them out for a smoother, deeper, cleaner tone, what 'brand' or model of 12ax7 would you suggest. I'm not sure I really need to do this, since that amp sounds smoking, and I actually bought it for those situations where I enjoy a little more 'grit and dirt' in my tone, but it might be fun to do a swap and hear the difference, if any.
Thanks... K
Edit: Sorry for the OT post.
Roll back/pull the bass a little more than you normally would and it should stay pretty clean unless you are cranking the master to about 9.
Chef
In Memoriam
Because I'm a moron:
which position is that, and does that effect channel one, two, or both?
It'd be in the same place on my 400, right?
My 400 has an all JJ tube compliment in it currently...
As long as I run "input lower/master higher" my 400 stays relatively clean, as long as I'm not pushing a really jacked up active G&L with massively high output thru it...My G&L El Toro especially will push it into the crunch zone pretty quickly.
which position is that, and does that effect channel one, two, or both?
It'd be in the same place on my 400, right?
My 400 has an all JJ tube compliment in it currently...
As long as I run "input lower/master higher" my 400 stays relatively clean, as long as I'm not pushing a really jacked up active G&L with massively high output thru it...My G&L El Toro especially will push it into the crunch zone pretty quickly.
Tung Sol New Production 12X7s!
http://www.tubedepot.com/ts-12ax7.html
I spent about 4 weeks researching 12AX7s to replace the stock Mesa tubes in my 400+. Tung Sol's gave me everything I was looking for and everything you mentioned KJung. I also tried a Electro Harmonix 12AX7s and they were good too, but I ended up feeling better about the Tung Sols. The stock Mesa's were really bad. I think they were rebranded Sovtek WA's 12AX7s if I remember correctly. The difference was night and day. Were the Tung Sol's twice as good as the Electro Harmonix, given the price? Probably not. I would say the Tung Sol's gave me a little more clean headroom and seemed to be a little more warm and musical sounding. The EH's gave me a little more gain.
Very cool! Thanks. I may just get a couple and do the swap for the heck of it. Thanks again.
K
Chef
In Memoriam
Sure thing. If they were like my stock Mesa's, you'll notice a difference immediately. The Mesa's were thin, much quicker breakup and cardboard sounding in comparison. The Tung-Sols open everything thing up. They gave me more headroom, the break up is much smoother and they are warmer and definitely provide more musical detail. You definitely have the knowlege and ear to make it worth your while. Good luck.
