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Mesa/Boogie Titan V12 megathread!

#701
baxter_x said:
You seem to partially confirm what I stated above.
Click to expand...

o_O It seems you and Dalmasn have the opposite experience. His amp got beefier with the updates, but your updated amp is less beefy. I have never heard anything to suggest the Titan updates reduce power. For reliability I would suggest using the updated amp for gigs, but I understand the sound has to be there. Any chance you will swap the tubes to see if that solves the riddle?

I know the final solution for the M9 update involved reducing the power from 900 to 600 watts but that is a different animal. From what I understand they tried to develop a fix for the original output section, but could not totally resolve the problem. Eventually they swapped in the output section from the M6 and called it day. I didn't notice any significant change in the feel or sound of my M9 when it returned from being serviced. It still feels like it has infinite power reserves...the power is down less the 2db, so no surprise.
 
#703
Wasnex said:
o_O It seems you and Dalmasn have the opposite experience. His amp got beefier with the updates, but your updated amp is less beefy. I have never heard anything to suggest the Titan updates reduce power. For reliability I would suggest using the updated amp for gigs, but I understand the sound has to be there. Any chance you will swap the tubes to see if that solves the riddle?
Click to expand...
You're right, I misread. Or read a bit too fast.
I'll try to swap tubes to check if they are involved in this difference in sound as the black one is like new. I'm pretty sure it hasn't been played.
That will be a nice test. I'm pretty busy these days but I keep you in touch.
 
#706
baxter_x said:
The design of an amp.... The biggest secret for me, right after women.
There must be a reason why Mesa chose such a design....
Click to expand...

It's also why we stay clear of the "woman secret"... WAY too complicated.
 
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#707
s
baxter_x said:
The design of an amp.... The biggest secret for me, right after women.
There must be a reason why Mesa chose such a design....
Click to expand...

Designers optimize the impedance of circuits for their intended purpose. The DI is optimized to feed a mic input and the Slave Out is optimized to push another amp.

As you suggested earlier, I believe you would run the Slave Out from the controlling Titan to the Effects Return of the slaved Titan. The manual doesn't specify levels for the Effects Loop, but it does say "The EFFECTS LOOP IS optimized for professional quality rack mount processors." I believe this is usually interpreted to mean the signal is +4dbu line level.

The Titan DI can be switched between pre and post, so you can either get the unaltered sound of your bass, or the signal taken at the end of the preamp. You do not need an additional DI.

The Slave Out is is taken after the power amp. If you want to run this signal into a mic level input you need a DI.
 
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#709
baxter_x said:
Yes, but a passive DI right?
I the end, it seems to me that any amplifier is just a matter of level and impedance (to make it quick though)
Click to expand...

Yes, @agedhorse horse recommended a passive DI with the Slave Out because it provides better impedance matching and lower noise as described in post 700. If you truly want to understand why, you will need to take some electronic engineering courses.
 
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#710
Wasnex said:
Any chance you will swap the tubes to see if that solves the riddle?
Click to expand...
That's what I just did and I ended up with a strange but pleasant result: They now both sound exactly the same....
It might be me, they now both sound like the silver one that I thought sounded slightly better.

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#711
baxter_x said:
That's what I just did and I ended up with a strange but pleasant result: They now both sound exactly the same....
It might be me, they now both sound like the silver one that I thought sounded slightly better.
Click to expand...

Perhaps the tubes just needed to be reseated. I have to reseat the 12DW7s in my CTM300 approximately every six months. The sound becomes weak and distorted. Remove and replace V1 and V2 a couple of times and everything goes back to normal.

Note: The stock tubes are JJs, which tend to have small pins. Often it is possible to tension the tubes sockets to accommodate different pin sizes. The tube sockets used in this amp appear to be high quality, but it does not appear they can be tensioned. I will eventually roll in some NOS tubes with larger pins and I expect this will eliminate the need to reseat the tubes.
 
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#713
I'm currently on a sound residence to really improve our sound onstage and I did a little test with our sound engineer: A blind test with two DI and a microphone in front of the cab.
The DIs were a NEVE RNDI, the Titan DI and a microphone in front of the cab (Ampeg 810). While I could immediately guess the recording with the mic, both DIs were 99% the same. I could confirm what many say about the Titan DI, ut's a high end one.
 
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#715
baxter_x said:
I'm currently on a sound residence to really improve our sound onstage and I did a little test with our sound engineer: A blind test with two DI and a microphone in front of the cab.
The DIs were a NEVE RNDI, the Titan DI and a microphone in front of the cab (Ampeg 810). While I could immediately guess the recording with the mic, both DIs were 99% the same. I could confirm what many say about the Titan DI, ut's a high end one.
Click to expand...

Which option is more to your liking: Pre DI, Post DI, Mic? Is one option distinctly better, or is it matter of choosing the preferred compromise?

What practices are being implementing to improve the sound?
 
#716
Wasnex said:
Which option is more to your liking: Pre DI, Post DI, Mic? Is one option distinctly better, or is it matter of choosing the preferred compromise?

What practices are being implementing to improve the sound?
Click to expand...
To my liking the DIs were the best. The sound was way more refined and clear. Post DI was better to me as I could really here my tone in the recording. Post was pretty much like the microphone, maybe slightly more defined. To me, in the end, it's up to you to choose if you really care about your tone or not and what are your expectations.
 
#718
baxter_x said:
When I shot a mail a Mesa, they told me if the amp has never failed before it would most likely never fail in the future so the updates are not mandatory.
Click to expand...

Hey Baxter...my Titan has never been updated and I was glad to hear that Mesa said that they were not mandatory. Mine shut itself down once when it got too warm inside a rack case that was too tight for good air circulation. I now use either a larger rack case or take it out... and have had no problems since!
 
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#719
DAcat said:
Hey Baxter...my Titan has never been updated and I was glad to hear that Mesa said that they were not mandatory. Mine shut itself down once when it got too warm inside a rack case that was too tight for good air circulation. I now use either a larger rack case or take it out... and have had no problems since!
Click to expand...
Thanks for your input! I'm glad to read this. Even if mine needed to be serviced after this shut down. However I feels since it's been serviced, it runs way cooler now. I also added a fan on the side of my rack to extract the air on the side of the amp. No issues since then and it runs super cool.

Did you have to service yours or wait for it to cool down?
 

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