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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Part 10

#3,601
StayLow said:
Wow, that does seem really promising.

And greater detail & specs much appreciated.

Size? "Passive" mids? Price? Date?
Click to expand...

Size and weight are here: Mesa Boogie Subway WD-800 Bass Amplifier Head | MESA/Boogie®

Love the passive mids... because we will burn 20 thread pages arguing about where "flat" is. And I predict that Andy won't tell us because he knows that the "where's flat with the Mesa passive mid" thing on Talkbass is like throwing a carcass into a a shark tank. :)

Edit: Unlike the manuals for the Walkabout and mPulse, the manual for the WD-800 clearly explains where "flat" is for the passive mid control. Whatever happened to the mystery of life?
 
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#3,603
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#3,606
Coolhandjjl said:
Power Amp Damping-- tightens up low bass?
Click to expand...
This is part of the WA conundrum, where what works well for one player and one type of cabinet might be a problem for another player and a different cabinet, especially at higher volumes and with overdriven tones.

This is by far the hardest feature to explain since it's multi-variable dependent. Chef and Al worked hard to translate what I wrote into more player friendly text. This is much the same as (though not identical to) what happens in the WA. It goes from as tight as the original Subways to almost as loose as the WA without the muddy artifacts that some of you struggled with.
 
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#3,608
agedhorse said:
This is part of the WA conundrum, where what works well for one player and one type of cabinet might be a problem for another player and a different cabinet, especially at higher volumes and with overdriven tones.

This is by far the hardest feature to explain since it's multi-variable dependent. Chef and Al worked hard to translate what I wrote into more player friendly text. This is much the same as (though not identical to) what happens in the WA. It goes from as tight as the original Subways to almost as loose as the WA without the muddy artifacts that some of you struggled with.
Click to expand...

All I use now is the FDeck HPF pedal. I take it that this damping control works with the low bass range rather than merely rolling off offending lows?
 
#3,609
I was one of the TB members who got some direct involvement in the development of the new "Walkabout 800."

Those who have been in the Walkabout megathread for a long time will know it was my amp of choice, especially for double bass, and smaller venues for a long time; I've owned several of each version of that amp.

I was a long time user of several amps that were "of similar eq and gain layout," those being the SWR, Eden WT stuff and Thunderfunk stuff; all of which had their various merits and faults. SWR being too clean and sterile perhaps, Eden being that their eq was rather "drastic" and you could only use a few clicks of it, and the Thunderfunk; which was nice enough, really.

The Walkabout tho...fat, warm, and it's clean tone was very nice...very, very nice. And dialing in a little of that "tube amp feel" via added harmonics and a perhaps a little grit; the Walkabout pretty much was a product by itself in that regard. To me anyway.

But: it's clean power was fairly limited. One's ability to find various levels of very pleasant "real tube-iness'' was really unmatched, if that's your thing. A little natural compression, added harmonic content that preceded grit, grind and fizz, well, that was/is very reminiscent of very good studio tube preamps, and I used it that was in recording a lot.
It's eq, if you're capable of understanding the depth of what it can do, is very, very nice. Very effective. Very nice.

But somewhat lacking in it's ability to stay clean, or, semi-clean, at higher Db levels, when needed, even with bigger/more cabs.

For me, an 800 watt Walkabout, with the ability to add that richness etc via various gain stagings, and, a bright and deep with to let it emulate "more modern tone," and the added ability to stay "more or less clean" in bigger venues was sort of a holy grail, for me and maybe a bunch of you other guys.

I think Mesa did a very good job here of paying attention to what all of us who felt as I did will be pretty well pleased with this new amp.
The bright and deep features "aren't there," but, Mesa did a nice job of building that into the available eq voicing and sweep.
And there's now really no lack of clean power. Excellent!

I like it quite a bit. Big cheers to a manufacturer with their ears to the ground, listening deeply what their customers want, and then actually executing on that. It's very seldom done.
 
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#3,610
This is really about the best you can words about this feature.
At lower volumes, it's not very noticeable.
At higher volumes it becomes a thing you'll notice.
It also varies by ohm load, and maybe speaker type to an extent, and how hard you're driving the front end of the amp.

You'll just probably have to have a WD800 in hand and play with it for yourself to feel it out and come up with your own descriptors.

So: plenty to keep talking about as the MegaThread evolves ;--)


agedhorse said:
This is part of the WA conundrum, where what works well for one player and one type of cabinet might be a problem for another player and a different cabinet, especially at higher volumes and with overdriven tones.

This is by far the hardest feature to explain since it's multi-variable dependent. Chef and Al worked hard to translate what I wrote into more player friendly text. This is much the same as (though not identical to) what happens in the WA. It goes from as tight as the original Subways to almost as loose as the WA without the muddy artifacts that some of you struggled with.
Click to expand...
 
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#3,614
Chef said:
This is really about the best you can words about this feature.
At lower volumes, it's not very noticeable.
At higher volumes it becomes a thing you'll notice.
It also varies by ohm load, and maybe speaker type to an extent, and how hard you're driving the front end of the amp.

You'll just probably have to have a WD800 in hand and play with it for yourself to feel it out and come up with your own descriptors.

So: plenty to keep talking about as the MegaThread evolves ;--)
Click to expand...

Hey Chef,

I read about the Highpass Filter, but I'm having a little trouble getting my head around it. If I'm understanding correctly, it seems like adjusting it properly will be really important to keep the amp from harming your speakers. Is it something that one will just have to play around with, or is it something that should be set to a specific point to match the frequency response of one's cab -- or both...?
 
#3,615
Haroldo said:
It's currently available for pre-order at Sweetwater, FWIW. $999.00
Click to expand...
I also thought it would be higher. I just ordered one.

I haven't purchased a new amp or pre-amp since 2006 (thanks to the TB classifieds). A few years back an Ashdown ABM500 replaced my Walkabout, and still nothing has unseated the Ashdown. But this looks like the ticket.

Edit: Sweetwater rep. said estimated arrival time is mid-January (and she said, "...estimated with a big E").
 
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#3,617
Having experience with both the Walkabout and o.g. D-800, I wonder how significant of a role the inclusion of a 12AT7 played in achieving the design goal.
I imagine enough of us would have shout-typed Where's the glass?!!! had it not been included.
And why a 12AT7 instead of 12AX7? And why not two?!!! ;)
 
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#3,618
Please educate me if I am wrong. So the Hi Pass Filter (adjustment) / LED, is it similar or the same as The limiter & LED on an old SWR SM400 for example? Or does it act as/like a compressor on the MP 360/600 models? Or a little of both?

WOW! And new Subway Cab options!
 
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#3,619
AT7 has less gain IIRC.. If so, maybe that keeps the amp CLEANER until you want it to go gnarly.. Just a guess. And my guesses usually only have a 50% correct rate. ha


McFarlin said:
Having experience with both the Walkabout and o.g. D-800, I wonder how significant of a role the inclusion of a 12AT7 played in achieving the design goal.
I imagine enough of us would have shout-typed Where's the glass?!!! had it not been included.
And why a 12AT7 instead of 12AX7? And why not two?!!! ;)
Click to expand...
 

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