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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Part 10

#3,661
agedhorse said:
Will have to look at the plate characteristics to see.



I can't take all the credit for this, Chef and Al were extremely helpful in coming up with more player friendly descriptions and information. Manuals are pretty easy to write, but good manuals take a LOT of effort.
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I believe you, I only have your name in my thoughs but congratulations to everybody at Mesa that do a fabulous work.

Thanks to Mesa to be what it is...:thumbsup:
 
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#3,665
kringle77 said:
Man, I really have been out of the loop! Im assuming that the passive mid still effects the character of the overdrive like the walkabout? It looks like the hp filter is in the right position to. This amp looks really good.
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The passive mid is virtually identical in architecture to the original Walkabout. I tried to stay faithful to the original intent where it made sense.
 
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#3,666
Thats great. With the walkabout I started by adjusting the passive controls to a true flat setting and then used the parametric for my eq. But, later I realized that I liked the overdriven tone better if it was flat. So, I adjusted to taste for the od and used the active eq to get my mids back. If thats the case here, I'll be good. Love the idea of the damping control and the hp filter run before the gain should make fine tuning gritier od even better. I hope.
 
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#3,667
Sorry if I missed this, but apart from Chef’s input re: overdrive has there been any other comment comparing the drive-ability of the 800 vs the original Walkabout? I know one of the difficulties mentioned about scaling up the Walkabout is losing some of that sweet extra harmonic content with the higher power (since it wasn’t all a result of simple input gain-stage)...
 
#3,669
sunbeast said:
Sorry if I missed this, but apart from Chef’s input re: overdrive has there been any other comment comparing the drive-ability of the 800 vs the original Walkabout? I know one of the difficulties mentioned about scaling up the Walkabout is losing some of that sweet extra harmonic content with the higher power (since it wasn’t all a result of simple input gain-stage)...
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The primary difference is that at lower power (say 100-200 watts) there is still a tiny bit of something that isn't going to be exactly Walkabout (and this differs between individual Walkabout amps too) but as soon as you get above ~200 watts and the Walkabout becomes less controlled and overly bloomy (to some), the WD-800 remains true and solid. This is ESPECIALLY true at 2 ohms, where the Walkabout struggled with articulation (and reliability). It's a necessary trade-off, but with the extra features and control, the end result (IMO) is much more usable then the Walkabout at higher volumes.
 
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#3,671
agedhorse said:
The primary difference is that at lower power (say 100-200 watts) there is still a tiny bit of something that isn't going to be exactly Walkabout (and this differs between individual Walkabout amps too) but as soon as you get above ~200 watts and the Walkabout becomes less controlled and overly bloomy (to some), the WD-800 remains true and solid. This is ESPECIALLY true at 2 ohms, where the Walkabout struggled with articulation (and reliability). It's a necessary trade-off, but with the extra features and control, the end result (IMO) is much more usable then the Walkabout at higher volumes.
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I was just answering a PM on this. For those who always used the WA at the ragged edge and loved that phenomenon that was bordering on instability, the WD-800 never did that. I'm mainly a clean player and rarely tread into that kind of territory unless it's a signature sound for song, so I never liked that regime on the WA. The more I thought about it, it sort of made sense to me that if I got all that sweet WA tone and could have it most any volume I wanted, the trade off was that I would't be constantly running into total break-up.

In my time with the prototype I really liked that I got usable WA mojo (the rich tone and harmonics) at really high volume and the head stayed focused and composed. That's not to say you can't get a little grit if you want it, but this new head (thankfully for many of us) didn't seem to have an operational state where it was the sonic mess the WA could become.

As I looked over my test notes Chef and I both mentioned that one aspect during our time with the prototype, and were of like mind that the WA goodness that you could have at significantly higher power levels felt like a good trade or compromise. Additionally, with the better control tapers and extra tone shaping tools (specifically the HPF and damping control) you could dial in and fine tune the voicing in more ways than the original WA.

My sense is that a lot of WD-800 magic happens by deliberate design in the pre-amp voicing and familiar controls (even the mid control circuit behavior felt literally identical to the original) and user selectable damping control. In contrast, in the original WA a lot of the tone seemed to be more a tolerance stack-up luck of the draw interaction between the pre and power amp sections that could be all over the map based on volume. Please remember that I love the original WA and still own two of them, but I'm honest about its oddities and shortcomings.

IMO the WD-800 kept the best of the original WA tone and added more voicing control that once applied will remain consistent as the volume goes up to whatever level you need, while remaining stable in 2 Ohm operation.
 
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#3,675
Waiting the definitive gig report from Chef, who probably wanted a more powerful WA more than anyone. As far as video demos go, other than live band scenarios, I much rather like the ones where the player plays one simple riff, while going through all the different tone variations.
 
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#3,678
^^^^^^^^^The Vintage Stallion will definitively respond, but methinks yes.

I hadn't played my Walkabout head in a while....haven't been playing nearly enough lately.....it was love at first pluck all over again.....I may just take advantage of "market forces" and pick up a backup used, original Walkabout when the new new, Walkabout "Stomp" incarnation starts arriving in earnest.
 
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#3,679
Congratulations to Mesa and all who were involved in the development of the WD800, I love my WA but this takes it to another level. The timing of the announcement of this new amp hit me right at the very moment a D800+ arrived at my doorstep, it’s all good I’m really liking it but a WD is certainly a future thing for me!!!
 
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