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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Part 10

#3,266
agedhorse said:
Is 2 ohm capability even important to WA users if higher power was available?
Click to expand...

I'd say yes for me. I've been using my Walkabout strictly preamp into a Crest Prolite 3.0 at 4 ohm stereo. I've been rolling around the idea of picking up a D800+ in hopes that it would be similar enough to the Walkabout to get the tone right while being in the needed higher power realm.
 
#3,269
“Is 2 ohm operation important in a high powered Walkabout.”

For me, It definitely IS important. Due to a spinal fusion - I'm limited to small/light 8ohm 1x12 cabs - and I often use 3 @ 2.67ohms (or 4 at 2 ohms).

Being 2 ohm capable just offers much greater flexibility - as you'd never find yourself in a situation where you cannot use it - like I do with my other heads that don't go below 4ohm.
 
#3,271
agedhorse said:
It takes more thermal headroom than is possible for that circuit to operate reliably at 2 ohms. Maybe if it was cold out, it would be ok.

This is one of the reasons that the basic approach used in the WA that's responsible for the tube amp feel is not directly scalable to much higher power. If it was that easy, I would have done it already ;)

That said, there may be other ways to achieve this but there's a bunch of R&D involved in order for it to get into this territory AND be super-reliable, especially if 2 ohms is to be an option.

Is 2 ohm capability even important to WA users if higher power was available?
Click to expand...

2 ohm means nothing if it can dish out 800 watts at 4. At least for me.

I've run mine at 2 ohms many many times. The only time I got it to kick out was the third set of an maxed volume kind of night and I figured it was the replacement cooling fan I installed that contributed the most to the shutdown. It may be dead quiet in the studio now but the actual air flow is quite a bit less as well.

For the most part I haven't had any issues with it since that one time years ago. I never changed the fan back to stock.
 
#3,272
MuthaFunk said:
2 ohm means nothing if it can dish out 800 watts at 4. At least for me.

I've run mine at 2 ohms many many times. The only time I got it to kick out was the third set of an maxed volume kind of night and I figured it was the replacement cooling fan I installed that contributed the most to the shutdown. It may be dead quiet in the studio now but the actual air flow is quite a bit less as well.

For the most part I haven't had any issues with it since that one time years ago. I never changed the fan back to stock.
Click to expand...
You can remove the resistor in the fan circuit to give that new fan the full 12V.
 
#3,274
Interesting. The question comes up regularly on the Walkabout driving 2 ohms, but it really doesn't do it well (and there is certainly some variance between each amp as the MOS-FET's are never going to be perfectly matched in both current sharing and symmetry to the driver circuit. Each one is a little different and has different thermal margins, not unlike tubes in an output stage.
 
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#3,275
agedhorse said:
Interesting. The question comes up regularly on the Walkabout driving 2 ohms, but it really doesn't do it well (and there is certainly some variance between each amp as the MOS-FET's are never going to be perfectly matched in both current sharing and symmetry to the driver circuit. Each one is a little different and has different thermal margins, not unlike tubes in an output stage.
Click to expand...
IIRC it was described as safe (but not recommended) to use the amp at 2 ohms when not cranking it in the early manuals and emails with Mesa CS, which is what started the confusion. I'm guessing that there were enough overheating issues that came through CS that they stopped calling it safe at all at some point (a wise decision!).
 
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#3,276
Every player had a different interpretation of what "cranking it" means. It goes back to my qualifications in many of my recommendations that good common sense, good judgement is needed when driving gear hard, and accidents do sometimes happen.
 
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#3,277
agedhorse said:
Every player had a different interpretation of what "cranking it" means. It goes back to my qualifications in many of my recommendations that good common sense, good judgement is needed when driving gear hard, and accidents do sometimes happen.
Click to expand...
Definitely true! Especially with an amp like the Walkabout that many users push into preamp OD on purpose, which makes the relative setting on the Master Volume fairly meaningless. Whenever anyone says "I only had my amp on 6 or 7 on the Volume with light overdrive from the preamp" with the assumption that there is more headroom to give I'm always a little amused. On all of the Mesa amps I've owned, once you start to push the front end into overdrive your max volume comes somewhere between 5-7 on the Master Volume!
 
#3,280
An efficient 212 cab for a truly wonderful amp. Yessir!!!
Be prepared for great tone:
The Eagle Scout.
Boogie Sounds Amazing.
Eagle_Scout_medal_(Boy_Scouts_of_America).png
 
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