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Mesa/Boogie Official Club Thread...Part #2
- Thread starter lobey
- Start date
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A little old, but I'm just back on the forums after a long hiatus.
I've owned the 400 and the 400+. The Titan V12 slayed both. It had more clean headroom and the overdrive and distortion were both better. It was also a TON lighter. Right now i have a GK combo because I sold everything and it was on sale at GC and sounded great to me. As soon as I get a salaried job (just graduated from college) I can guarantee you I'll be getting a mesa head with a tube preamp and ss power section. For 99 percent of bass players it's much more practical. I admit that I fell for the tube mystique. But after a few weeks with the 400+ afer I sold my v12, I was absolutely missing the v12. All of the sudden I wasn't able to keep up with my guitarist and drummer as easily and it was much harder to get any different tones.
I primarily play a pbass now while when I was going through my mesa stack I was playing a stingray. I can't wait to hear what my MIA p will sound like through a mesa hybrid head.
Different strokes for different folks, as always.
Ok, I'll play. At 45 and a broken neck, back, both feet crushed (1 re-built) and electrocution to my tally, I sold my Mesa fridge RR 1516BE/2-15" set-up and went back to a RR 1-15"/2-10" set with my Mesa 400+. The Goddess smiled on me and delivered a Mesa RR 4-10" with stock Eden speakers, serious old school mojo. I run the 400+ with a Aphex 204 and Behringer model MDX 1200 and a Furman M-8D clearing the way. So, cabinet wise, I have the RR version of jazzyvee's rig and I too have yet to need them all for a single gig. It is nice to be able to taylor your set-up to the room you're in. I have the Mesa Venture as my practice/small gig amp. I found the 2-10" version to be better all around than her 2-12" sister. And batting clean-up, from Santa Rosa, California...my Alembic Elan+ 4.
Visirale said:
I cannot quite agree with this....
I have my 400, and I got a Titan back in Feb. Both will be staying with me as both serve different purposes and I like them. The Titan does sound really good and will provide lots of juice. But the 400 still sounds richer in tone, has more bite, more glassy in the topend. Honestly I don't like the distortion in the Titan, it's to bottomy/fatty/chunky. I still use my Bass Big Muff.
Oh, and as far as weight, it's not a "ton" lighter. The Titan weighs in at 38 lbs, while the 400 is 46 lbs.
I recently scored from GC and on my local CL.
Wife, kids, job take all my time these days, wish the first two got a larger share of that, but I had come to the very painful decision to downsize my Mesa rig from it's monstrous glory. I sold the pair of Diesel 15s awhile back. Then I sold the 400+ when I found an M2000 with footswitch available at a GC in North Carolina for $500 shipped. Got to me in one piece in an SKB rack and it works great. Came with old white label Mesa tubes with an SP12AX7 in the V1. Nice.
Now I'm down to the last pair of big cabs, my Diesel 410s. I couldn't think of what to replace them with. Then I saw a Carbine combo cab without a head for sale and I thought that's what I need. The 4ohm 2x12 would be perfect for the M2000. Unfortuneatly the cab sold before I found a buyer for my cabs. Finally I found a local guy to buy my 410s for $800 cash and used that to buy an M6 Carbine 2x12 combo that happened to pop up. Asking price was $900 but I told him I had $800 in hand right now. We met a few hours later. I got the Carbine combo home, popped out the M6 and dropped in the M2000. I had to Dremel the speaker cover a bit to clear the M2000 rack screw heads which were in different locations than the M6. The M6 rack screws were the four screws in the center while the M2000 has a normal four corner rack spacing. No biggie. Here are the results of my downsizing. Sounds friggin great. It has to be one of the most flexible 2x12s on the planet. It can do anything. Clean, fat, burpy, growly, fuzz, scooped, anything. The 2x12 config really works for me too. It's a smaller package but still has great presence when needed. I like how the 12s break up vs the 10s too. And the best part is it tilts back and it's lighter than a single Diesel 410. Last step is to sell the M6, which is in the classifieds right now.
Wife, kids, job take all my time these days, wish the first two got a larger share of that, but I had come to the very painful decision to downsize my Mesa rig from it's monstrous glory. I sold the pair of Diesel 15s awhile back. Then I sold the 400+ when I found an M2000 with footswitch available at a GC in North Carolina for $500 shipped. Got to me in one piece in an SKB rack and it works great. Came with old white label Mesa tubes with an SP12AX7 in the V1. Nice.
Now I'm down to the last pair of big cabs, my Diesel 410s. I couldn't think of what to replace them with. Then I saw a Carbine combo cab without a head for sale and I thought that's what I need. The 4ohm 2x12 would be perfect for the M2000. Unfortuneatly the cab sold before I found a buyer for my cabs. Finally I found a local guy to buy my 410s for $800 cash and used that to buy an M6 Carbine 2x12 combo that happened to pop up. Asking price was $900 but I told him I had $800 in hand right now. We met a few hours later. I got the Carbine combo home, popped out the M6 and dropped in the M2000. I had to Dremel the speaker cover a bit to clear the M2000 rack screw heads which were in different locations than the M6. The M6 rack screws were the four screws in the center while the M2000 has a normal four corner rack spacing. No biggie. Here are the results of my downsizing. Sounds friggin great. It has to be one of the most flexible 2x12s on the planet. It can do anything. Clean, fat, burpy, growly, fuzz, scooped, anything. The 2x12 config really works for me too. It's a smaller package but still has great presence when needed. I like how the 12s break up vs the 10s too. And the best part is it tilts back and it's lighter than a single Diesel 410. Last step is to sell the M6, which is in the classifieds right now.
Attachments
Remember, this is the site where 1mm can be life or death in string spacing and the bass can be 9 lbs. but 9.3 lbs. brings instant death! To quote John Lennon, " I'm an artist, and if you give me a tuba, I'll bring you something out of it."
Here is My Venture Custom set up
me too How do I get a number?
Oh, that's nice. I like the classic look of the faceplate being slanted combined with the pimpalicious purple velvet. Very nice. Now you need a 410 cabinet to match.
Chef
In Memoriam
I miss mine!!
I gave it to my tech to be fixed. He cannot find the schematics and Mesa doesn't reply our emails asking about it. I must cranck my amp to 7/10 to get a decent volume to play along with my mp3 ... I fear that the mosfets are grilled.
Anyone has the schematics of the M2000? Why don't they answer my emails?!
Thanks Chef, that means a lot coming from you.
I miss mine!!
I gave it to my tech to be fixed. He cannot find the schematics and Mesa doesn't reply our emails asking about it. I must cranck my amp to 7/10 to get a decent volume to play along with my mp3 ... I fear that the mosfets are grilled.
Anyone has the schematics of the M2000? Why don't they answer my emails?!
Not sure why they wouldn't get back to you via email, but you could always do it the old fashioned way and call. Just keep in mind they are half a planet away so you will probably have to call in the wee hours of the night.
Hope you get it fixed. It would be sad to see another of these fantastic amps end up KIA.
That's why I wanted them to reply by email instead of calling them. They have customers all over the world, what about someone that cannot speak english... I'll call them tomorrow.
EDIT: I just get an email from Michael at Mesa factory, he sent me the schematics on pdf (16 pages!!! holy c**)
I fowarded these to my tech and hope he ll do some magic trick to put my mesa ready for gigin'.
If M2000 owners want these schematics, just ask by MP with your email adress and I'll send it to you.
Chef
In Memoriam
I called Mesa and left a message. I explained I am buying a used Walkabout head and would like an RA# so the seller (who is in CA) can ship directly to them for updates and a new, more ventilated top cover, saving 2 unnecessary cross country shipping charges and time (I'm in NY). In response to their question of when is a good time to call me back, I ask for 5-10pm EST. The rep calls me back when I'm not home (2pm EST) and leaves a message saying I should just have the seller call them and arrange it (good luck with that) and that he isn't sure if there's a new top available for the WA (I guess making sure of things like that is someone else's job) and adds a few other irrelevant details I had not asked about.
I call back and ask for someone to call me because my questions were not fully answered......still waiting......a week lost....
Love their product.....detest their service model
Genz Benz has raised the CS bar very high, and Mesa thinks it's a limbo contest
.
I call back and ask for someone to call me because my questions were not fully answered......still waiting......a week lost....
Love their product.....detest their service model
Genz Benz has raised the CS bar very high, and Mesa thinks it's a limbo contest
.
Chef
In Memoriam
Yeah. It kills me. I currently have TBer Smallmouth Bass' Walkabout (which he bought from me last year
) on loan with option to buy and am digging it so thoroughly I am (once again) kicking myself in the butt for having parted with it. Am figuring out where my next WA will come from and had an opportunity to trade for the one in CA as opposed to paying $$ for this one (Smallmouth is totally aware and cool with all of it). When paired with my TC12, this head is pure aural sex
and the box is 4 Ohms and CAN take all the WA will dish without a whimper.....very loud and thick. Best small rig ever for me.- Status
