Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Part 10

[svtb15]

I just sold my WA.. Mine was stock with the 4Ω speaker.
Its 300 watts sounded very hefty into a larger 610 or 810 cab.
As much or more than some of the newer lightweight amps. I was very surprised. There is some talk about this over at the FORTE HP thread .

From my experience the WA 300 watts is almost as stout as an SVT head and the original WA is about as close to an all tube amp that you can get without getting an all tube amp.
I actually used my WA into an 8Ω efficient 115 cab and i was surprised at how well it stood up to a fairly loud band. It was only 165 watts or so into the 8Ω load.

This isn’t meant to be insulting to 4ohm owners btw, not by any stretch.
4ohm or 8ohm is purely situational, and totally dependant upon the individual requirements of the owner.

I’ve only been playing for just over 18 months, and when I started, and was looking for an amp, I knew what I wanted for my particular requirements - which was an 8ohm WA with 8ohm ext speaker, so that’s what I’ve got.

I haven’t gigged yet, so as yet haven’t needed to use both together, and for me the 150/165 watts the 8ohm WA allows out has been plenty, but I wouldn’t mind knowing how it sounds with 300 watts powering the speaker of the 4ohm version, and i’ll bet it sounds awesome!
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[kringle77]

[

just

Ill agree, the walkabout pretty much sounds all tube, all the good parts. I actually preferred its tone to the vintage svt I had, or at least they were equals.
QUOTE="svtb15, post: 22429765, member: 40272"]I just sold my WA.. Mine was stock with the 4Ω speaker.
Its 300 watts sounded very hefty into a larger 610 or 810 cab.
As much or more than some of the newer lightweight amps. I was very surprised. There is some talk about this over at the FORTE HP thread .

From my experience the WA 300 watts is almost as stout as an SVT head and the original WA is about as close to an all tube amp that you can get without getting an all tube amp.
I actually used my WA into an 8Ω efficient 115 cab and i was surprised at how well it stood up to a fairly loud band. It was only 165 watts or so into the 8Ω load.[/QUOTE]

 

[Mark Desmo]

I have two 12” models, this driver is in my Walkabout Scout, and has the deluxe EQ control panel on the rear.
View attachment 3256664

View attachment 3256666


The driver below I use as the extension cab, and has a simple HF attenuator control panel on the rear.
View attachment 3256668

View attachment 3256670

After contacting Mesa and Emeinence, they are both custom spec’d 8 ohm drivers made for Mesa.

The bottom one is an early version of the neo and has a greater frequency response higher up and may have slightly less LF extension when compared to the newer one as well, according to Eminence.

The newer version at the top of my post is a true woofer, quite similar to the 2512 Deltalite II according to both Mesa and Eminence. Perhaps, in order to save packaging costs, they simply use the regular Eminence consumer boxes.

IIR, the 4 ohm 12” drivers are ferrite/ceramic. I could be wrong though.

Oh that's great, thanks for posting these pics.

Your first two pics are identical to the Eminence I received, except mine has Eminence stickers etc on, and the next two pics are identical to the speaker that came out of my WA, and the one in your pic clearly has the Eminence logo on it.

.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

Oh that's great, thanks for posting these pics.

Your first two pics are identical to the Eminence I received, except mine have Eminence stickers etc on, and the next two pics are identical to the speaker that came out of mine, and the one in your pic clearly has the Eminence logo on it.

View attachment 3353671

.

Notice any tonal difference after swapping in the new driver?

 

[Mark Desmo]

Notice any tonal difference after swapping in the new driver?

A bit yes - the one I was replacing was farting under load, and it looks like it has had a screwdriver stabbed through it at some point.

I bought the combo and the ext cab off ebay, and the seller cunningly disguised the damage when he demonstrated the setup to me.

Apart from that, I'm not really experienced enough to know the difference yet really, and I leave all the parametric settings at 12 o'clock because I don't yet understand them.

The combo and the ext are both first gen I think, and have the simple control you say is on your ext cab. The speaker in my ext is identical to the one in your ext, plus the one I have with the screwdriver hole from the combo.

I still have the damaged one, and will have a go at repairing it at some point.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

A bit yes - the one I was replacing was farting under load, and it looks like it had had a screwdriver stabbed through it.

I bought the combo and the ext cab off ebay, and the seller cunningly disguised the damage when he demonstrated the setup top me.

Apart from that, I'm not really experienced enough to know the difference yet really, and I leave all the parametric settings at 12 o'clock.

The combo and the ext are both first gen I think, and have the simple control you say is on your ext cab. The speaker in my ext is identical to the one in your ext, plus the one I have with the screwdriver hole from the combo.

I still have the damaged one, and will have a go at repairing it at some point.

So you have the newer driver in your combo, and the older one in your extension? Do I have that right?

 

[Mark Desmo]

So you have the newer driver in your combo, and the older one in your extension? Do I have that right?

Yes.

The speaker in my combo, and the speaker in my ext, were both the older ones, but the one in the combo was damaged, and I replaced it with the newer version.

I didn't know the newer one was different until it arrived - I'd just read on here about a guy who ordered a replacement from Mesa and what arrived was an Eminence Deltalite II 2512, so that's what I ordered.

Edit: and I have no complaints.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

I bought my Walkabout ‘full stack’ used, as three separate purchases. The head is silver with black (not brown), and has the factory updates on the front and rear.View attachment 3256200 View attachment 3256201
The top cab has black piping around the grill. The bottom one has grey piping. Both have the large heavily textured black tolex.

View attachment 3256202
This is the rear of the top cab, the one I mounted the head in. Has a deluxe user control panel off to the right. Has the newer driver.


View attachment 3256203
This is the rear of what I am using as the extension cab. Port is on the other side, has one user control in the middle. Has that older style driver.

So I actually have two 12” Walkabout Scouts with just one head.

I always thought the extension cabs were merely Scouts w/o a head, but later learned that the extension cabs were a bit different, some had the handles on the side, but the head enclosure was gone making for a larger volumed box with a larger direct radiator. Port is on other side on some also.

Hard to tell what the difference is between the Eminence OEM driver compared to the 2512 Deltalite II is as the OEM details are probably confidential. Mesa and Eminence could not provide me with any details other than it’s similar to the 2512 Deltalite II.

 

[Mark Desmo]

I bought my Walkabout ‘full stack’ used, as three separate purchases. The head is silver with black (not brown), and has the factory updates on the front and rear.View attachment 3256200 View attachment 3256201
The top cab has black piping around the grill. The bottom one has grey piping. Both have the large heavily textured black tolex.

View attachment 3256202
This is the rear of the top cab, the one I mounted the head in. Has a deluxe user control panel off to the right. Has the newer driver.


View attachment 3256203
This is the rear of what I am using as the extension cab. Port is on the other side, has one user control in the middle. Has that older style driver.

So I actually have two 12” Walkabout Scouts with just one head.

I always thought the extension cabs were merely Scouts w/o a head, but later learned that the extension cabs were a bit different, some had the handles on the side, but the head enclosure was gone making for a larger volumed box with a larger direct radiator.

Great pics thanks.
I'll take some pics of mine tomorrow - it's a bit dark in here for pics now.

My amp is the same as yours - silver with black. My ext cab matches the combo.

One thing I will say about the combo cab and the ext cab, the ext cab is noticeably lighter, so a good lightweight rig is the ext cab, with the amp in a shoulder bag, and I could actually walk to my local railway station with that setup, and carry my bass as well.
I wouldn't actually want to do it, and I'd have to stop for a rest 3 or 4 times, but it is nevertheless entirely possible.
I most definately wouldn't want to do it with the combo.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

Great pics thanks.
I'll take some pics of mine tomorrow - it's a bit dark in here for pics now.

My amp is the same as yours - silver with black. My ext cab matches the combo.

One thing I will say about the combo cab and the ext cab, the ext cab is noticeably lighter, so a good lightweight rig is the ext cab, with the amp in a shoulder bag, and I could actually walk to my local railway station with that setup, and carry my bass as well.
I wouldn't actually want to do it, and I'd have to stop for a rest 3 or 4 times, but it is nevertheless entirely possible.
I most definately wouldn't want to do it with the combo.

So your ext cab has the head compartment as well? Maybe it’s just the 15” model that had a differing extension cab from the combo.

 

[sunbeast]

The speaker in my combo, and the speaker in my ext, were both the older ones, but the one in the combo was damaged, and I replaced it with the newer version.

I didn't know the newer one was different until it arrived - I'd just read on here about a guy who ordered a replacement from Mesa and what arrived was an Eminence Deltalite II 2512, so that's what I ordered.

Edit: and I have no complaints.

The difference between the original Deltalite from the earlier Scout cabs (with the vent on the front dust cap) and the Deltalite II is pretty big! Can’t say for sure that there is any difference between the Mesa OEM speaker and a stock Deltalite II, but I used a stock one in my old Scout 12 for years and it sounded great!

 

[Coolhandjjl]

12” combo: Barely Walkabout-able
15” combo: Someone referred to that as the Dragabout

 

[Mark Desmo]

So your ext cab has the head compartment as well? Maybe it’s just the 15” model that had a differing extension cab from the combo.

No, my ext is a bona fide ext cab.

Like I said, it is noticeably lighter than the combo cab - even when the amp is not in the combo cab.

I'll post pics up tomorrow.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

The difference between the original Deltalite from the earlier Scout cabs (with the vent on the front dust cap) and the Deltalite II is pretty big! Can’t say for sure that there is any difference between the Mesa OEM speaker and a stock Deltalite II, but I used a stock one in my old Scout 12 for years and it sounded great!

Old one has less LF extension with more high end frequency response, new one being more of a true woofer-only.

And I’m mixing them! Gasp!

 

[Mark Desmo]

The difference between the original Deltalite from the earlier Scout cabs (with the vent on the front dust cap)

Which vent, and where's the dust cap?

and the Deltalite II is pretty big! Can’t say for sure that there is any difference between the Mesa OEM speaker and a stock Deltalite II, but I used a stock one in my old Scout 12 for years and it sounded great!

Thanks.

Well I have the one type in my WA, and the other type in my ext cab, so I'll have to try them one by one side by side to see if I can tell any difference. As I mentioned earlier though, I'm quite new to playing bass and haven't yet done a gig, so I may not easily tell a difference. Or I might notice a difference, but not really know what it is. That's more likely I would imagine.

 

[Mark Desmo]

Old one has less LF extension with more high end frequency response, new one being more of a true woofer-only.

What's that in English?

And I’m mixing them! Gasp!

That's just awful lol.

You're obviously one of the more outragious members of the forum . . .
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[Coolhandjjl]

The dustcaps is in the center of the cone. Usually it’s a saucer shaped piece of some kind of fiber. Some were aluminum back in the day. The older one here is conical and a vented fiber.

Conical because the dustcap shape is integral to the sound of the driver. Helps the selected frequencies leave the surface properly perhaps. Someone once mentioned phase plug, this one has a solid conical shape underneath the dustcap/vent as well.

Vented screen-like fiber material because there is no vent on the rear of that one

 

[Mark Desmo]

The dustcaps is in the center of the cone. Usually it’s a saucer shaped piece of some kind of fiber

Ta.

Where's the vent though?

Actually my damaged one is in a box in the next room. I'll see if I can find it and have a look.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

My post rambled. Dustcap is also the vent on the old one.

New ones have the vent on the rear.

 

[Mark Desmo]

This is my damaged driver from the combo

Don't ask me to point out the damage in this light - it's literally a tear in the suspension part (whatever that's called) the size of a small screwdriver blade, and I have carefully pushed it all back together ready for whatever (as yet undiscovered) repair method I employ.
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