Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Part 10

[agedhorse]

The only good novel is that the WAs should sell for less money as a discontinued product. By the way, I'm no way a nostalgic man remembering the good ol days. It's just that I love the WA tone. If Mesa manages to deliver that quality with lighter and cheaper to build amps, I will consider that! Until then....
Given the amount of thoughts about a new WA and all the fear about the death of the current one, spread trough pages and pages of this forum, I would have liked a word about this from Andy, as a sign of respect and good practice, instead of a casual revelation looking at the Mesa website. But, I know, it's just how I conceive things

There was no disrespect intended. There are plenty of Walkabouts available (including new production that is being sent to dealers), and I would expect there to be so for quite some time. For me to raise the flag, jumping up and down that the sky is falling and that you better go out right this minute and buy a (or another) Walkabout would have been disingenuous/irresponsible, akin to "the sky is falling", which it's not. If you want/need/desire a WA, by all means use this as an excuse to go get one but it's by no means an "emergency".

 

[kringle77]

Just got the d800+. Nice enough. My walkabout is nearly as loud and actually has a much more forceful, controlled, focused bottom end. Its going back. I think that I'll just pay someone to move my rig for me until my shoulder heals and then stick with class ab or tubes for the rest of my playing career.

 

[slofut]

Just got the d800+. Nice enough. My walkabout is nearly as loud and actually has a much more forceful, controlled, focused bottom end. Its going back. I think that I'll just pay someone to move my rig for me until my shoulder heals and then stick with class ab or tubes for the rest of my playing career.

You playing it through a WA cab or something else?

 

[agedhorse]

Just got the d800+. Nice enough. My walkabout is nearly as loud and actually has a much more forceful, controlled, focused bottom end. Its going back. I think that I'll just pay someone to move my rig for me until my shoulder heals and then stick with class ab or tubes for the rest of my playing career.

I find this interesting, one of the biggest challenges most often commented here in TB is the looser, less controlled bottom end of the WA compared with either the Carbine or the Subways, along with the more wooly nature (of the low end especially).

By any chance are you using sealed cabinets with a high F3 (like 60-80Hz)?

 

[kringle77]

I played through an nv610 and pair of svt210av cabs as well as bag end s15d cabs. I also compared both mesa's to an eden wt800c and mesa titan where, the differences were even more exagerated. If my arm wasn't messed up I could have grabbed some ported cabs out of the garage but, it would have been the same result. I'm not even going to debate this anymore. Class D is not for me.

On another note, I've looked through the schematics for the walkabout and impulse 600. The preamp with bass, mid and treble, plus the tube output stage are identical. But, the active eq topologies are different. That and the compressor. I don't understand why they don't sound more similar with the active eq and comp are bypassed on the 600?

 

[agedhorse]

Makes no sense to me, but you would be better off sticking with something that you like, and get yourself a couple of backups so you are good to go for the next 20 years.

Regarding the difference between the WA and M-Pulse, there are plenty of significant differences but you have to understand and recognize what you are looking at. The world is full of mysteries, the more you know the more mysterious things become.

 

[Vanceman]

My experience too. My WA sported the stock russian 2 tubes. Recorded a whole day different brands of tubes and listening back I noticed the tone was almost identical, with the exception of more or less gain. The only tube wich prayed out of the choir was the contemporary Tung sol, with much more defined lows, clear detailed mids and extended top. No mud at all. Kept this one on. It's quite clean and detailed, if some day I get bored of this perfection, I will mount the stock tubes again, they were still performing flawlessly and were dirty and fuzzy....

Another +1 to the Tung Sol, although I only replaced the P1 tube. It's weird, I've had to replace the P1 tube twice, as it went ocean sounding, but the P2 tube is still original. This is a first generation WA, btw.

 

[bumble yeti]

I guess that means… no Eagle Scout. …

 

[Al Kraft]

I find this interesting, one of the biggest challenges most often commented here in TB is the looser, less controlled bottom end of the WA compared with either the Carbine or the Subways, along with the more wooly nature (of the low end especially).

By any chance are you using sealed cabinets with a high F3 (like 60-80Hz)?

I find this odd as well and I own all three Carbine models, two WA heads and a D-800. The WA is by far the big low end bloomer of that bunch. The Carbines feel like they could use some HPF help to dial back the amount of sub-low end on occasion, but they're not loose and blooming like the WA. The D-800 falls in-between with a bit more Carbine character to the low end IME. I think the HPF on the D-800 tightens up the low end nicely and gives Carbine power and punch without the overwhelming sub-low frequency artifacts.

 

[kringle77]

It's about the sound and feel of the power section. If you can go from any class d to any class ab and not feel a noticeable difference then, I am happy for you because it drives me crazy. A simple, cheap amp like the hartke lh500 beats the pants off the d800 and Magellan as far as punch and control. The titan and wt800 even more so. Class d will get there but, I'm not spending anymore money to find out when. I say this with respect to any class D designers, truly.

 

[rodl2005]

Fair enough. Each to their own of course. But I've never found a trad solid state amp that did ANYTHING for me.
While the Aggy TH500 hits my guts just nicely.
An SVT or Fender Super Bassman - (well designed ) all tube amps "do it" for me all day long.
Funny ain't it. I s'pose we all hear differently. How'd they say it. ??? Vive la differonce
THAT'S French 4 ya

 

[sratas]

I don't have a wide experience of many amps as many on this board, but it's quite interesting that I went the class D route and not been happy, and now I own, accidentally, class AB only (a 4th, a Thunderfunk, has been stolen, good amp). I have 3 at the moment, the WA and 2 others cheapo ones. while they sound all different, they seem to share a common feature that I happen to like and pretend, dynamics and control of the critical region of the lower bass to lower mid. Even the WA, with its bold and forceful low lows, seems to be capable of putting out a coherent sound that is able, at least with my other gear, to sit just right in the mix and be heard clearly in a room as supportive and massive at the same time. Not to mention the DI...out of this world. To be fair, the WA is obove the other two in different ways, and I attribute that to the possibility to engage and push the tubes gaining harmonics. The class D I owned and gigged were the Markbass BB, Genz Streamliner 900, MB LMII, Schertler. Unfortunately they do not belong to the latest offerings and I can imagine that the technology has evolved in the last years, but just like Kringle, I got bored with the idea of buying to try if these amps are up to the task. I have to thank all the lightweight manufacturers because the spreading of these toasters caused and will cause a major drop in prices of the used market if going with trad lead sleds. maybe in the future someone will bring that thing with a class D or even digital amps, I would like, but for the moment I will stick with the amps I feel better suited to my tastes.

 

[kringle77]

That's it right there.

 

[staccatogrowl]

The world is full of mysteries, the more you know the more mysterious things become.

The converse also seems to be true:

"The world is full of mysteries, the less you know the more mysterious things become. ."​

How could this be? Yet another mystery. .

 

[metron]

Am I reading this right - the Walkabout has been officially discontinued?

 

[agedhorse]

Am I reading this right - the Walkabout has been officially discontinued?

New production is coming to an end, but there are still plenty of units in stock and in the pipeline, and are likely to be for quite some time.

 

[metron]

I hear ya. It had a good run though!

 

[sheltjo6]

Any recommendations for a repair shop in the San Diego Area or southern California I can take a Walkabout head to for repair?
I had Audio Design replace a broken internal fuse folder earlier this year, but the amp now has noisy pots, especially the Master volume pot when the volume is adjusted.
I've considered taking the amp back to Audio Design, but my experience with the shop was disappointing.
They had the amp for over three weeks and it seem to be that they were dragging the feet about repairing it within the time they said it would be completed.
When I received the amp back, it has noise issue now.

Has anyone used any of the following Authorized repair shops and if so, how was their service?
Desert Amplifier Repair in La Quinta, CA
Futara Electronics in Orange, CA
Ampwerx repair in Long Beach, CA
Mesa Boogie Hollywood in Hollywood, CA

Is there any other shops in the area I should investigate?

 

[agedhorse]

I know the Hollywood store has some good techs, I also know the factory up in Petaluma has a couple of great techs. I have always been a fan of factory service where practical because that's a known quantity. (This applies in general, not just in this case).

 

[Al Kraft]

Any recommendations for a repair shop in the San Diego Area or southern California I can take a Walkabout head to for repair?
I had Audio Design replace a broken internal fuse folder earlier this year, but the amp now has noisy pots, especially the Master volume pot when the volume is adjusted.
I've considered taking the amp back to Audio Design, but my experience with the shop was disappointing.
They had the amp for over three weeks and it seem to be that they were dragging the feet about repairing it within the time they said it would be completed.
When I received the amp back, it has noise issue now.

Has anyone used any of the following Authorized repair shops and if so, how was their service?
Desert Amplifier Repair in La Quinta, CA
Futara Electronics in Orange, CA
Ampwerx repair in Long Beach, CA
Mesa Boogie Hollywood in Hollywood, CA

Is there any other shops in the area I should investigate?

I have nothing but praise for the folks at the Mesa factory...fast service and not a problem with any of the repairs/upgrades on three of my amps. I shipped mine from Virginia to the West Coast and will do so in the future when needed. If I lived in California a road trip or short UPS journey would be my first choice every time.