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Mesa 200 Buster club
- Thread starter Stevosimpson
- Start date
You could probably tap the pre-out with a mono-Y cable that had two male ends and one female connector. Had to do this with an amp once when the DI was dead.
Yeah some amps do have the fx loop send as a pre out. Unfortunatley the Busters fx loop doesn't work that way.
Ok. I did some tube swapping. Mesa Select Svetlana Winged C 6L6gc's in the power section, a Tung Sol Gold Pin 12ax7 in V1, and Tung Sol Gold Pin 5751's in V2 and V3. This would be my preferred sound so far with the tubes I have available. Tonally, it sounds great (incredible even) but the amp is still noisy. It is now time to take it to a decent amp guy. Probably shouldn't have splashed out on all those tubes but the way I see it, I have the perfect tubes for it when she's up and running. 
Yup
Yup
Ok. I did some tube swapping. Mesa Select Svetlana Winged C 6L6gc's in the power section, a Tung Sol Gold Pin 12ax7 in V1, and Tung Sol Gold Pin 5751's in V2 and V3. This would be my preferred sound so far with the tubes I have available. Tonally, it sounds great (incredible even) but the amp is still noisy. It is now time to take it to a decent amp guy. Probably shouldn't have splashed out on all those tubes but the way I see it, I have the perfect tubes for it when she's up and running.
I recently took my Wedge combo to a much-more-than decent amp guy. I was fortunate enough to find a superb & experienced, no-BS tech here in Vegas, one who specializes in all-tube audio.
I didn't need to re-tube, he did a thorough cleaning, was all it needed. And now: No static, no hiss, dead-silent and sounds just like new, which always was and is superb.
He did recommend new pre-amp tubes, but they would have cost $40 each. Well worth it IMO, but that was a bad month financially. Maybe soon. I believe they were RCA's he recommended; he did not think much of the stock Mesa 12AX7A's which are the originals, in my rig of...many years now. Plus, that amp has been all over the USA w/me.
Doesn't get too much use now, too much of a PITA to load-in/out, and with my 2-oz Quilter leading the pack, well...
BUT- Every time I switch from "Standby" at home & play- That amp is a true & classic thing of beauty and TONE.
It punches big time and has a very unique and great character all its own. Thank you, Mesa-Boogie.
Oh, yeah, I forgot- Can I be a member??
Sorry, I don't, only that he thought little of what Mesa used, and that he had those particular RCA's in stock.
You can contact him:
Recording Studio, Digital Recording, Audio Recording Studio- Henderson, NV
He's a piece of work (Don't tell him I said that!
) but he is the real-deal and is a true expert. He'll let you know, and I plan to do the swap at some point soon. (I HATE moving that rig around!)I'm not a big tube roller, and have generally been happy with what the builders use as stock in my tube rigs. When I bought the BUSTER, it was the first year they came out. Mine has a low Serial #. It had Svetlana power tubes, which finally gave out in Prescott AZ on the job. Had to play the next night at half-power! I had a new set of power tubes installed at Mesa HWD when I got back home to LA. They used Chinese Mesa branded 6L6GC's
At first- I did not like them, but soon I REALLY dug their output and tone. They're still inside, all lit up, sounding awesome to me.
I told you he's a piece of work.
However- I will vouch for what he says, as I know what he does (and did for me).
I spent a bit of time talking with him, and he's the real thing, despite his seemingly eccentric personality.
I would swear that he told me the 12AX7A's were RCA; maybe he has re-branded them; maybe I heard wrong or misinterpreted.
Personally, I would gladly go with whatever he recommends. The choice is yours. Rather than E-Mail, you might try calling(he's somewhat slow to reply at times).
He's a retired EE, IIRC, he does this as a passion, and can be surly w/customers; he doesn't need or care about the $$.
As a matter of fact, he almost rejected working on my rig, as it was cumbersome to get into his small side workshop and is heavy. In the end, his desire to make audio products perform to the max won out, and he did a fantastic job for me.
Good luck.
Hi Buster Club,
This is a great thread. I've read some of it off and on in the past with my Buster curiosity. Now I'm all-in and working on the whole thing. I'm currently on page 11 and I'm pretty interested in trying out a Buster. The amps I currently own for comparison/reference are a Hartke LH500, GK MB Fusion 500, Mesa D-180, and Mesa D-800+. I am mainly wondering how the Buster compares to the D-800+? I've read quite a bit on how it has more headroom and is cleaner than the D-180, but haven't read much on how it compares to the D-800+? I've been ABing the D-180 cleanish tones to the D-800+ off and on, and I think the D-180 has something going for it that the D-800+ does not. Is this safe to say with the Buster vs the D-800+ as well? The D-180 has some harmonics and round girth of notes that seem to come more easily than the D-800+. I'm not knocking the D-800+ at all, just trying to find strengths with each amp so I can justify owning them all I guess. Will the Buster give me something, that none of my above mentioned amps will not, I guess is the main question?
Thanks
This is a great thread. I've read some of it off and on in the past with my Buster curiosity. Now I'm all-in and working on the whole thing. I'm currently on page 11 and I'm pretty interested in trying out a Buster. The amps I currently own for comparison/reference are a Hartke LH500, GK MB Fusion 500, Mesa D-180, and Mesa D-800+. I am mainly wondering how the Buster compares to the D-800+? I've read quite a bit on how it has more headroom and is cleaner than the D-180, but haven't read much on how it compares to the D-800+? I've been ABing the D-180 cleanish tones to the D-800+ off and on, and I think the D-180 has something going for it that the D-800+ does not. Is this safe to say with the Buster vs the D-800+ as well? The D-180 has some harmonics and round girth of notes that seem to come more easily than the D-800+. I'm not knocking the D-800+ at all, just trying to find strengths with each amp so I can justify owning them all I guess. Will the Buster give me something, that none of my above mentioned amps will not, I guess is the main question?
Thanks
Yeah it’s not gonna sound like the D-800+. Right off the bat your talking tubes vs solid state. The Buster is closer to the D-180 but is cleaner and has more headroom like you mentioned. The rotary EQ is awesome and the mids are fantastic on the Buster. Unlike many amps I’ve ever played. I’ve even had guys who have played the Buster and the newer Strategies say they much preferred the tone of the Buster. Don’t have any personal experience with that but it does make me happy to own two of what I believe are one of the best Mesa bass tube amps ever made.
My buster was a beast when connected to more cabinets (had the 210 wedge combo) but it seemed cleaner than my 400. If I found a good deal on one locally I'd go for it (Mesa tube amp - hello!!) but I would prefer a 400 for the option of using different output tubes and the 'angrier' sound it produces when pushed. I have no desire to go class-D anything at the present time, there just isn't a comparison.
Raz
I found a unicorn!
Browsing Reverb recently, I saw a Mesa 1x15 bass cab for sale that didn't look like the usual options. I took a closer look and it turned out to be a matching cab for a Buster 15 combo, sans tweeter.
It arrived today, and after checking it out (which included cleaning a couple dead bugs out of the interior, whose husks were rattling around) it seems to be in good shape. It sounds great, and has a retractable handle and wheels, which should make it easy to move (weight is less than a Powerhouse, but more than a Subway). I'll be letting my Subway 15 go, but those are still in production and will be plentiful, while this...isn't.
Browsing Reverb recently, I saw a Mesa 1x15 bass cab for sale that didn't look like the usual options. I took a closer look and it turned out to be a matching cab for a Buster 15 combo, sans tweeter.
It arrived today, and after checking it out (which included cleaning a couple dead bugs out of the interior, whose husks were rattling around) it seems to be in good shape. It sounds great, and has a retractable handle and wheels, which should make it easy to move (weight is less than a Powerhouse, but more than a Subway). I'll be letting my Subway 15 go, but those are still in production and will be plentiful, while this...isn't.
scotch
It's not rocket science!
- Nov 12, 2006
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Awesome! I've been searching for one of these forever!
Dude, we're gonna need a pic of the combo on top of the matching cab in all of its glory! You know the rules
Check out post #123 in this thread. When I first got that head new and acquired the cabs (1 with tweeter, 1 with a pencil circle on the baffle), I worked at a Mesa dealer retail store. The rep and I called the production folks and the checked the records. As I recall, the claim was about a dozen extension cabs, and that was it. There was a prototype 2x10 too (cab, not a wedge). The 1x15 combo is bear to move as it is, so I guess most people got a head and some Diesel cabs like in the catalog pictures if they needed more drivers. I don't think the extensions were publicized much at all outside of the Pro Net sales sheet.
Dude, we're gonna need a pic of the combo on top of the matching cab in all of its glory! You know the rules
I’ll see what I can do.
