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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Part 10

#2,781
gillento said:
In my case the HDN212 is that solution.

Although, last weekend was the first time, I would have liked more headroom with my WA: open air with a very loud drummer and too small a PA :(
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I feel you on the WA headroom challenge on bigger/outdoor stages. I now use a Demeter VTPB-M-800DJ more often than my Walkabout for this exact reason, but I will never sell the Walkabout. It's just too good of an amp to part with. The Demeter can get a similar tube driven flavor to the Walkabout (2 stage tube preamp and a tube driver for the 800w Class D power section), a very nice amp in its own right, and I never run out of headroom with it's very honest 800w on tap.
 
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#2,783
two fingers said:
Honestly, one of the most impressive things about the Walkabout is that I haven't met a cab it didn't get along with yet. Heck, I couldn't even say that for the Magnavox era SVT I owned.
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This is my experience too. I have played my Walkabout through Mesa, Fender, GK, Epifani, Ampeg,and Bergantino. One of my favorite things about this head is it sounds great through all of them. That is not the case for me with some of the other combinations of amps/cabs I've had.
 
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#2,784
pfschim said:
I feel you on the WA headroom challenge on bigger/outdoor stages. I now use a Demeter VTPB-M-800DJ more often than my Walkabout for this exact reason, but I will never sell the Walkabout. It's just too good of an amp to part with. The Demeter can get a similar tube driven flavor to the Walkabout (2 stage tube preamp and a tube driver for the 800w Class D power section), a very nice amp in its own right, and I never run out of headroom with it's very honest 800w on tap.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my good buddy had the same challenge with an outdoor gig. I just don't think it is suited to that. Granted, totally worth having in the arsenal for plenty of other gigs.
 
#2,786
gillento said:
In my case the HDN212 is that solution.

Although, last weekend was the first time, I would have liked more headroom with my WA: open air with a very loud drummer and too small a PA :(
Click to expand...
I don't have my WA anymore but, when I did, I found that I could get a little more clean volume with an fdeck HPF3 in the effects loop (sounded a bit better to me there than in front of the amp, but in front would be fine, too). If you can afford it, though, and are okay with the schlep, adding a 112 to your 212 would yield a bigger volume dividend.
 
#2,788
MarkA said:
I found that I could get a little more clean volume with an fdeck HPF3 in the effects loop (sounded a bit better to me there than in front of the amp, but in front would be fine, too)
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IME this trick works well with many amps when you're pushing them to the limit and they inherently have a lot going on in the lower range.
 
#2,789
bobcruz said:
Is the outdoor headroom problem solved by running four efficient 8-ohm cabinets? I haven't tried this yet but I once powered four 12s with my 100-watt Carvin tube power amp outdoors and had to turn down.
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i have run a Walkabout with 3 8 Ohm 112 cabs and it was glorious-headroom problem completely solved (for me).......but I'm not willing to carry around 3 12s......YMMV.
 
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#2,790
The wa with 3 bag and s15d cabs is loud. As loud as it is, there still isn't the same control over the bottom end as a 1000 watt, class ab. In my world, hearoom is king for feel and dynamics. If you have only used 300 watts or less and are happy, great. If you can't tell the difference, great. It's better to be happy than picky. I'm super picky ao, it's a good thing that I have such a great wife or, I'd never be happy!
 
#2,791
I just wanted to comment on how good the WA head is for getting maximum Mwah out of a fretless bass.
I love my carbine M3 head but when A/B'd against the WA, it's not even close.
THe bloom and sparkle are gorgeous- even at low volume. It brings out the nuance and detail.

On another note, I used the WA this weekend for an out door gig along with my EA CXL 1-12's. Used the DI out about halfway and ( a P bass of course/fresh strings). Needless to say.... the bass sounded Superb
 
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#2,796
I was comparing the wa directly to the magellan this morning, as well as running the wa fx send to the magellan fx return to use as a class d power section. The wa preamp is so much sweeter, no doubt.

Having some this in the past, directly a-b-c'ing with the mesa d800 power section, I can say that I much prefer the magellan as a power amp. No contest.

So, as a wa compromise, I could see myself purchasing a class d amp with the wa front end. Though whatever genzler is doing, I'd like to see that on any new mesa offerings.

I don't see mesa putting out a big class ab version of the wa so, a well done class d could be close enough to settle for. An adjustable hp filter would be good or, even just a design with a higher damping.
 
#2,798
I'm in Annandale- I wasn't very clear, this is the top part of the metal chassis that you would remove if you wanted to get inside the amp to access tubes, for example. Sorry I don't have a pic, waiting on a new phone to be delivered (mine died) so no camera for a couple days. There is a handle on the side. It's like new.
 
#2,799
kringle77 said:
The wa with 3 bag and s15d cabs is loud. As loud as it is, there still isn't the same control over the bottom end as a 1000 watt, class ab. In my world, hearoom is king for feel and dynamics. If you have only used 300 watts or less and are happy, great. If you can't tell the difference, great. It's better to be happy than picky. I'm super picky ao, it's a good thing that I have such a great wife or, I'd never be happy!
Click to expand...
well, having used way more than 300w at different times in the past, that's not the issue for me at all. It is the reason I now use the 800w Demeter VTBP-M-800DJ way more than my Walkabout. I am also in the clean/clear (with a touch of tube compression for "sweetness") tone club - so headroom rules for me as well.

While I really love the Demeter, probably because it's a very tube flavored amp as well, when I do run the Walkabout these days (usually into a Berg NV610) it always reminds me how it good it sounds. I like the idea of using an HPF with the WA too, and these days I usually run the low Freq parametric eq kind of like an HPF (freq=30 w/15dB cut. I know this is not quite an HPF, but it does bring the low end under control pretty well.

And as far as larger/outdoor gigs these days, the ones I take almost always provide FOH support for bass, so I am usually only using my stage rig as a monitor.
 
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#2,800
As I wrote a couple of years ago, I had a problem, letters coming off...
So I decided to solve the problem by myself.
Here is my "hardcore edition" blackfaced walkabout :) :


walk01.jpg


Before:


walk03.jpg



walk02.jpg
 
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