Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Part 10

[Al Kraft]

This comment probably saved me a grand, thanks Al.

Seriously though, nice work Mesa! I’m a big fan of the brand for the sounds I get from my amps. All this great product development and customer service is icing on the cake. Very cool.

I try to honestly and accurately represent my experience, pro and con with the caveat that it's colored a bit by my own tastes. Hopefully, I offer a useful data point for folks in making their own buy or pass decision. I've benefited from that same balanced input/reporting from others and really appreciate hearing "the whole story" especially when the review is on a product they personally like. Not every head is for everyone.

 

[metron]

I try to honestly and accurately represent my experience, pro and con with the caveat that it's colored a bit by my own tastes. Hopefully, I offer a useful data point for folks in making their own buy or pass decision. I've benefited from that same balanced input/reporting from others and really appreciate hearing "the whole story" especially when the review is on a product they personally like. Not every head is for everyone.

I completely agree and I enjoyed reading your and Chef's comments on the new amp. I wouldn't even say that one point within your comments is a con, it's positive for a vast majority of folks. It depends on personal preference of course. I happen to be one of the few that likes the OG WA best when it starts struggling. Sonic mess is a good way to put it.

I'm probably just fooling myself though and will end up getting a WD eventually. In time.

 

[Al Kraft]

I completely agree and I enjoyed reading your and Chef's comments on the new amp. I wouldn't even say that one point within your comments is a con, it's positive for a vast majority of folks. It depends on personal preference of course. I happen to be one of the few that likes the OG WA best when it starts struggling. Sonic mess is a good way to put it.

I'm probably just fooling myself though and will end up getting a WD eventually. In time.

You might be better able to coax some that out of it than I was. My skills at operating an amp in that regime are limited based on my bias for the cleaner sound. I just have virtually no experience working at the edge - I'm very much a headroom to spare guy!

I know Andy worked hard at preserving that "harmonic business" (sounds more musical than sonic mess) while eliminating the inconsistencies from amp to amp when they were pushed and things got really loose. I can't speak for him, but suspect that was probably one of the biggest challenges - providing folks who liked that regime with the ability get most of the desirable artifacts it produced, but at much higher power levels in a controlled and consistent way. My best engineering guess is that in the end he had to trade some of that for stable, focused tone at high power, which was also a big criticism of the original.

Given what it sounds like your tones goals are, folks like me probably got more of what I liked than in the original than you may have. If you get a chance to play one, I'd be curious to hear if it was simply my inability to coax out what you were hoping for or if that's something that just isn't the WD-800 to the same degree as before. If nothing else I think you'll be impressed that Andy came as close to an 800 Watt WA as anyone is ever likely to.

 

[tomydacat]

Tone all night!!!!

 

[Red Planet]

The thing I could never understand about most Walkabout fans is the complaint of volume I used my walk about with a 4-ohm 212 that had eminence beta drivers in it and it was plenty loud I never cranked it past halfway and I play with some damn loud musicians so I just never understood the need for more power after I got rid of the Walkabout I moved to a GK 1001 which was too much damn power I used it with the same cab I ended up dropping down to a 700 which is just right but my tonal goals are different than what the Walkabout offers so for me I have no interest in this new amp I'm kind of moving away from class D you might say though I still have a couple of Class D heads as well my main gigging amp is the RB 700 2 I'm done with my amp searching .

 

[agedhorse]

It's pretty simple, different players have different needs and taste.

 

[Wicked G]

Hey, I just finally paid attention to the video on YouTube and realized that is Uriah Duffy playing. Wow, pretty cool. He is an awesome bassist and I could definitely hear the different changes through my Altec Lansing speakers.

 

[Red Planet]

It's pretty simple the original Walkabout was plenty loud

 

[agedhorse]

It's pretty simple the original Walkabout was plenty loud

It was for some players and it wasn't for others. Your own tastes do not diminish the needs or tastes of of other players.

 

[Chef]

It's pretty simple the original Walkabout was plenty loud

That’s, like, your opinion, man.

I loved that little amp, but it was fairly underpowered for me and my clean power needs; even with bigger multi-driver speakers. I don’t play with loud bands either.

For sure I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, based on many hundreds of old posts, and many hundreds of current responses to the new product announcement.

Very cool that it worked so well for you tho.

 

[Chef]

Different players like different things.
The GK 700RBII got gritty too early for me. It had plenty of power, but having to use the boost feature to get at it was a fail for me.
For me, the 1001RBII was a much better choice because of its immense clean power.

The thing I could never understand about most Walkabout fans is the complaint of volume I used my walk about with a 4-ohm 212 that had eminence beta drivers in it and it was plenty loud I never cranked it past halfway and I play with some damn loud musicians so I just never understood the need for more power after I got rid of the Walkabout I moved to a GK 1001 which was too much damn power I used it with the same cab I ended up dropping down to a 700 which is just right but my tonal goals are different than what the Walkabout offers so for me I have no interest in this new amp I'm kind of moving away from class D you might say though I still have a couple of Class D heads as well my main gigging amp is the RB 700 2 I'm done with my amp searching .

 

[Red Planet]

That’s, like, your opinion, man.

I loved that little amp, but it was fairly underpowered for me and my clean power needs; even with bigger multi-driver speakers. I don’t play with loud bands either.

For sure I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, based on many hundreds of old posts, and many hundreds of current responses to the new product announcement.

Very cool that it worked so well for you tho.

And because it's my opinion is not valid?

So let me say it this way y'all must be some loud son of a guns I was always known for being a loud player but you guys must make me seem like an old grandpa. If a 700rb ain't enough juice for the goose then the volume is insane or you're using some really inefficient cabinets anyway that's my two cents your mileage may vary as usual

 

[Chef]

I didn’t say your opinion wasn’t valid.
Just that it’s your opinion and many other people had different opinions.
As a matter of fact, so many people had the opposite opinion of yours, that Mesa actually felt like designing and manufacturing new product based on them. But whatever.

Also, I said I don’t play in loud bands.

Also, I said the 700RBII had plenty of power. Just not plenty of clean power.

 

[Red Planet]

I didn’t say your opinion wasn’t valid.
Just that it’s your opinion and many other people had different opinions.
As a matter of fact, so many people had the opposite opinion of yours, that Mesa actually felt like designing and manufacturing new product based on them. But whatever.

Also, I said I don’t play in loud bands.

Also, I said the 700RBII had plenty of power. Just not plenty of clean power.

Loud loud loud you is!

 

[Chef]

Really, I’m not.
I play with a bunch of other seasoned studio guys, and we all place a high value on hearing the vocals over everything else, maintaining a crowd friendly volume where people can still talk, and a wide dynamic range.
We’re not under quiet, but we’re not loud. The guitar players use either 10 or 25 watt tube amps depending where we are. The drummer doesn’t hit real hard. It’s nice that way, I don’t have to wear earplugs and no one goes home with ears ringing.

I won’t work in loud bands, I don’t enjoy it.

I do like a surplus of clean power tho.
I feel it makes for a more solid note, a more easily manipulated dynamic range, and I don’t like grit and grind.

 

[Red Planet]

Really, I’m not.
I play with a bunch of other seasoned studio guys, and we all place a high value on hearing the vocals over everything else, maintaining a crowd friendly volume where people can still talk, and a wide dynamic range.
We’re not under quiet, but we’re not loud. The guitar players use either 10 or 25 watt tube amps depending where we are. The drummer doesn’t hit real hard. It’s nice that way, I don’t have to wear earplugs and no one goes home with ears ringing.

I won’t work in loud bands, I don’t enjoy it.

I do like a surplus of clean power tho.
I feel it makes for a more solid note, a more easily manipulated dynamic range, and I don’t like grit and grind.

So you just made my original point the first Walkabout was loud enough

Carry on

 

[Chef]

Nope.
It wasn’t, for me.
It was a fair bit short on overall power for me, and a long bit short on clean power.

 

[Leo was right]

Thanks for putting so much time into educating.

I was just about to reply to that too. Good effing luck putting a legit 600w of BASS into one of those little AV210 cabs.

Was shocked that Ampeg would be rating them at that ridiculous 600w figure, but it turns out the OP was confused on what units to use. Cool.

The 2 Ohm switch is essentially a throttle (fair term to use?) to prevent the amp from overheating per only a 2 Ohm load. And it's not something specific to Class D. Correct?

There is big chance your 4 ohms cab

And because it's my opinion is not valid?

So let me say it this way y'all must be some loud son of a guns I was always known for being a loud player but you guys must make me seem like an old grandpa. If a 700rb ain't enough juice for the goose then the volume is insane or you're using some really inefficient cabinets anyway that's my two cents your mileage may vary as usual

Differents playing styles, differents needs, your opinion is as valid as others, today the technology permit this power (800w) in half the weight of the original WA. Need or not, it is there. In the '60 the portaflex was the standard with only 30 watts.

Happy playing!

 

[McFarlin]

Circular reasoning - Wikipedia

 

[Red Planet]

So wattage output power loudness and decibels are all subjective?