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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Part 10

#3,561
rodl2005 said:
Using less speaker cone area is what I do when using my Fender Super Bassman.
Into my 215 or an 810 it gets blisteringly loud and I would be seriously struggling to get anywhere near power tube break up at a level my bands play at, and we ain't quiet by any means.
But, into just one 115 (luckily my Super Bassman does 8,4 & 2 ohms) , I can push it pretty hard. I'm not usually going for full on power tube grind, just a touch of sweet break up, is what I'm going for.
Was the same with my old SVT2. I'd run that into an 810, LOUD AS! into a relatively inefficient 4 ohm 410, I could get it nice and dirty at ok levels too.
The WA is pretty much the same. Imo...
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Another possibility is to rewire you 4x10 all in serie which will give you 16ohms.
 
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#3,562
Leo was right said:
The 10inches drivers for the 8x10 SVT cab is 32 ohms , you could make a cab with one like this.
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That'd be a cool experiment! Based on my experience with Ampeg fridges the speakers don't have much in the way of bass-response at all, and it really takes a cab full of them to fill out the sound (even then there is a noticeable dropout on the low E string when playing clean- part of the reason I think they are such great cabs for driven tones is that they just can't physically get muddy and most of their strength is in the harmonics). My home cab now is actually an Ampeg SVT-210AV, and it is the cab I bought originally to record with using my Prodigy and the MASS 200 attenuator. It really makes the midrange of the WA sound glorious, but there is little to none of that fatness of a Scout cab (it honestly makes it sound like a different amp!)- and this is with a 210 at 8ohms vs a 110 at 32ohms. For recording purposes it worked perfectly blended with a clean low-end DI signal to fill it out and handled the attenuated (but cranked) Prodigy like a champ. It was the best low-volume alternate to my Berg NV610 I could do on a budget! The plus is that we recorded live in an AirBnB and produced ourselves, so saved a ton of money in the long run.
 
#3,563
I think I found the ultimate cab for the walkabout
image.jpg
 
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#3,570
There's the aluminum front ears and there's the steel backing brackets. The front piece should be obvious, then match the back brackets to the holes in the front ears and the sides of the chassis. Be sure you use the correct length screws into the chassis. If you don't have the factory screws, wait and I will get you the correct dimensions. If the screws are too long, you could damage something inside.
 
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#3,572
agedhorse said:
It's a cool amp, no doubt, but we do recognize that it doesn't work for everybody's needs. It was never intended to do big, loud gigs by itself (especially without PA support), but it does it does well. It has some unique characteristics that make it a great choose for some players yet these same characteristics make it a poor choice for others.
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Considering all of the love for this amp...... Would Mesa even consider a higher powered (head only) re-issue, with a more modern design and touches? I read your rational about how times have changed and people want to go lighter, and the higher costs of manufacturing hybrid amps......... With all that in mind, wouldn't a company want to supply that demand?
 
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#3,573
4stringmf said:
Considering all of the love for this amp...... Would Mesa even consider a higher powered (head only) re-issue, with a more modern design and touches? I read your rational about how times have changed and people want to go lighter, and the higher costs of manufacturing hybrid amps......... With all that in mind, wouldn't a company want to supply that demand?
Click to expand...
this has been covered in this thread a few times.
Basically the amp is designed in a way that all the components effect each other - it isn’t possible to make a higher powered version without changing the tone... if you want a higher powered amp with modern design and touches and a Mesa tone I would try a D800+
 
#3,574
I believe Andy @agedhorse was taking a survey of interest and features to see if there was enough demand to put something like that on the drawing board. Apparently, the original release of WalkAbouts and WA Scouts were only mildly received by the bass community, so any further development was stopped and the line eventually dropped. If anything happens, or if anything can happen, is unknown. The WalkAbout goes back to 2002, so it probably went on the drawing board in 2000. Some of the components may not even be available anymore.
 
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#3,575
Luke the Fluke said:
this has been covered in this thread a few times.
Basically the amp is designed in a way that all the components effect each other - it isn’t possible to make a higher powered version without changing the tone... if you want a higher powered amp with modern design and touches and a Mesa tone I would try a D800+
Click to expand...

Oh, I didn't know that! Really, its power rating is related to it's unique tone huh? Nah, I'm not interest in class D. I was thinking more of a modern design hybrid, perhaps lighter with some bells and whistles. Thanks for the reply!
 
#3,576
Coolhandjjl said:
I believe Andy @agedhorse was taking a survey of interest and features to see if there was enough demand to put something like that on the drawing board. Apparently, the original release of WalkAbouts and WA Scouts were only mildly received by the bass community, so any further development was stopped and the line eventually dropped. If anything happens, or if anything can happen, is unknown. The WalkAbout goes back to 2002, so it probably went on the drawing board in 2000. Some of the components may not even be available anymore.
Click to expand...
The Walkabout have a very specific tone that are very pleasant to some and less to others, but it was in production for 15 years if I am not wrong, I find it very appealing if I were not spoiled by the compressor of the Mpulse600.
 
#3,577
4stringmf said:
Oh, I didn't know that! Really, its power rating is related to it's unique tone huh? Nah, I'm not interest in class D. I was thinking more of a modern design hybrid, perhaps lighter with some bells and whistles. Thanks for the reply!
Click to expand...

Very much limited by the design, the tone and power are intertwined. There is a plateau for the specific architecture used where the power and tone max out and the circuit is no longer practical for additional power.
 
#3,578
Leo was right said:
The Walkabout have a very specific tone that are very pleasant to some and less to others, but it was in production for 15 years if I am not wrong, I find it very appealing if I were not spoiled by the compressor of the Mpulse600.
Click to expand...

agedhorse said:
Very much limited by the design, the tone and power are intertwined. There is a plateau for the specific architecture used where the power and tone max out and the circuit is no longer practical for additional power.
Click to expand...

I have the same thoughts with my 360! So Horse, was the uniqueness in tone of the WB almost an accident? And as a result you have the different sounding 360/600?
 
#3,579
4stringmf said:
I have the same thoughts with my 360! So Horse, was the uniqueness in tone of the WB almost an accident? And as a result you have the different sounding 360/600?
Click to expand...

Kinda-sorta, but not kinda-sorts, in that the goal and the design evolved through a series of exploratory steps, each step leading to somewhere different along the path. Dan was the guy in charge of that project, and he was able to come up with something quite unique, though it only maintained it's uniqueness up to about 300 watts. Beyond that, the combinations of competing tradeoffs just didn't work together the same way and the performance really fell off.

In some ways, like with a tube power amp, more power is not necessarily better.
 
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