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Mesa 200 Buster club

#101
Just took my new Buster to Mesa Hollywood for a tune up and once over by the tech. As I walked in I heard "is that a Buster? Where did you get that?"
:D
I went back home and started playing through my Monique; I miss Buster already.
 
#102
stonetazz said:
View attachment 360304View attachment 360306
Here's a few more pics. I had a question about my Buster. My amp overdrives at about 3/4 volume and I was wanting to get more clean headroom. I have some Tung Sol reissues in the preamp section and some Mesa 6L6 GCs in the power section. Is there maybe a problem with my preamp tubes? It is a very nice OD tone, but it seems like if wants to start breaking up early.
Click to expand...

I've seen a number of rehoused Busters, and I think that is one of the nicest ones.
 
#103
Sign me up. I have had a few Buster head/combos through the years since they came out, and I have never been let down. The set up that I currently have is a Buster head and two of the actual Buster extention cabinets, which are really difficult to find. I spoke to a rep. from Mesa and he stated they only made 10 or 12 of them. They are just 15's, no horns, but they have circles drawn on the baffles as if they should/could be drilled out for them. I saw another one of these cabs that did have the horn and the attenuator like the combo's, so who knows...

Besides the gold grills I had Mesa make for me, I had the head modded to run on 6550 tubes. That really opened up the headroom tremendously with no shortage of clean power. There is a hidden bias switch if I want to revert to 6L6's, but I don't see that happening. I pretty much run it straight with a Demeter Compulator and the Thunderbird. I have a set of Tuki covers for all three pieces for transport, but they are proudly battle scarred from years of shows. Once in awhile I've thought about a Bass 400+, or the new Prodigy, but the Buster is just too cool to give up.

If you have a Buster 1x15 combo, I have a gold grill and Tuki cover in the classified section for sale.

Buster-TBird.jpg
 
#106
I am fairly sure it came out in 2002 and ran until maybe '05 or '06. The thing I remember the most was some pamplet that Mesa put out that showed a picture of a Buster 2x10 combo amp that looked exactly like the 1x15 combo - not the 2x10 wedge. I always wondered if that 2x10 was a prototype that actually existed somewhere....
 
#107
Hi Guys,

I just recently had a guy in Fresno, custom build a cabinet to my specs. I was a little apprehensive but figured what the hell, for a 150.00 it was worth a try. It actually came out pretty good, I think I may have been too exacting with my measurements, because I really had to push the head to get it in the case. It's unfinished and has no holes drilled, but it comes sanded, ready for finishing. What do you guys think? I am not sure what color stain to use for it. I was thinking a see through white finish.
 

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#110
I especially like the 'wave' to the grain on the face plate!

If you're willing to do some more sanding, using dark grain filler will make the grain 'pop' underneath a light transparent finish.

For example - this is a bass I built and finished myself. It's ash, so you're grain won't be quite as pronounced - but I think you can get close with a less 'creamy' transparent color. I used dark walnut grain filler smeared over the entire surface. Let dry & lightly sand. Repeat this about 3 or 4 times. Then finish sand, use some 'sanding sealer' (very thin layer), finish sand again, apply your tint and then topcoat with a hard clear protective layer.

sennbass2.jpg


I also sprayed a white ivory 'halo' on my edges, but I would skip that on your head cabinet.
 
#114
Calexia13 said:
Hi Guys,

I just recently had a guy in Fresno, custom build a cabinet to my specs. I was a little apprehensive but figured what the hell, for a 150.00 it was worth a try. It actually came out pretty good, I think I may have been too exacting with my measurements, because I really had to push the head to get it in the case. It's unfinished and has no holes drilled, but it comes sanded, ready for finishing. What do you guys think? I am not sure what color stain to use for it. I was thinking a see through white finish.
Click to expand...

Same, depends on the cab. Not knowing that, I could see a deep maroon stain that would set off the grain, and some clear on top. And a red jewel light. I forgot what they came with, I changed mine to purple along time ago, haha.
 
#115
That's a good suggestion Scotch! I am going to look into it, right now I am too lazy to get into staining and sanding. Your bass came out great.

Right now I am pairing it with a red carpet bag end s15d, and if I start gigging I will probably pick up another bagend to have the 2/15 rig. I did have some wine taurus tolex left over from when I did my walkabout, but the measurements inside the head cabinet are too exact and leave no room for the tolex.

I will post again to show you guys what I decided to do.

Regards,

Ed
 
#120
Right; so, I'm eyeballing a buster for sale; look up the owners manual on line, and find this:

"Although it is possible to use 2 x 4 ohm cabinets with BUSTER by connecting each of them to the 4 ohm outputs, power will be reduced and the bold authority present with the proper impedance match will be compromised. This mismatch will also put excessive loading on the transformer which will produce additional heat, thus tube life may be shortened"

So; this seems like the Walkabout:
2 ohm load not recommended, but not prohibited either.
I've run the Walkabout (all three versions) at 2 ohms, excessively, and hard, and noticed no change in tone, and no downside in any way.

Has anyone done this to their Buster? Does the Buster have a fan, like the 400(+)?
because, it's my understanding with tube amps; either the transformer supports a 2 ohm load, or, it doesn't.

Any one?
 

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