Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Part 10

[StayLow]

I’ve regularly used an 800w amp on my Scout 12” and 15”, both 4 and 8 Ohm.

You don’t have to crank your amp, or the bass EQ.

As for 8 Ohm vs. 4, I’ve swapped back and forth. I maybe prefer 8 Ohm, but doubt I’d pass a double-blind test.

If say a 500w amp into 4 Ohms vs same amp putting 350w into 8 Ohms, there’s no audible difference between those ratings all else equal. If you run into speaker stress or amp headroom issues, that’s different but realistically it doesn’t make any practical or audible difference.

I say this having sat in front of this rig, just bass and drums so very audible and room-recorded, for countless hours at times using the same brand & model amp rated at 500w and 800w respectively into alternately 4 or 8 Ohm speaker in a single Scout cab.

Stockpiling Scout cabs and speakers is always a great idea no matter how you need to justify it though, and since there aren’t better rigs to buy you might as well spend that shopping time instead on bonding with your Scouts by mixing configs & speakers.

Better still, just jam and enjoy them. As with *any* rig, use prudence and most of all use your ears!

 

[3rdeyep]

At first I thought I'd slip my WD-800 right into my 4-Ohm Scout where the Walkabout head fits, but that's not a smart power match. So, I considered a D-350 next, but that's also a touch risky at volume. Put it in the back of my mind to install a DeltaLite 8-Ohm.

The MG350 though sounds really good, can put out less power, and can even allow addition of an 8 Ohm cab. The Mesa Scout's PCN tweeter w/crossover lets me get a variety of voicings too. It may be the best easy solution.

The Scout with a small D amp is handy and looks really nice.

That’s really nice. Thanks for sharing it. I think I’ll get the MG350 as well as the D350 and see what I like best.

Although the power of the D350 can be a concern, I’ve owned a few walkabout combos over the years and I think I should be able to tell when the cab is being pushed above its limits. I feel like I’m aware of what the cab can handle and is capable of - just gotta be mindful of that.

 

[ImTheOnlyOne]

That’s really nice. Thanks for sharing it. I think I’ll get the MG350 as well as the D350 and see what I like best.

Although the power of the D350 can be a concern, I’ve owned a few walkabout combos over the years and I think I should be able to tell when the cab is being pushed above its limits. I feel like I’m aware of what the cab can handle and is capable of - just gotta be mindful of that.

You may like them both

The MG's two voice channels seemed better suited than the D-350's one. The Bright switch loses some comparative benefit when the tweeter volume can be dialed up or *down* so easily directly on the Scout.

The Walkabout combo, as-is, is just great if just a few extra pounds don't phase you

 

[3rdeyep]

You may like them both

The MG's two voice channels seemed better suited than the D-350's one. The Bright switch loses some comparative benefit when the tweeter volume can be dialed up or *down* so easily directly on the Scout.

The Walkabout combo, as-is, is just great if just a few extra pounds don't phase you

I love the walkabout combo. I’ve had a few of them over the years. I love the tone and I would get one again if it wasn’t for the weight. And that’s the reason I purchased the scout cabinet - to shed some weight off.

That said, if I don’t like the d350 or mg350 paired with the scout cab, I will happily purchase a WA head. Not as light as I would like to go but at least I will be able to carry them separately.

 

[sunbeast]

I love the walkabout combo. I’ve had a few of them over the years. I love the tone and I would get one again if it wasn’t for the weight. And that’s the reason I purchased the scout cabinet - to shed some weight off.

That said, if I don’t like the d350 or mg350 paired with the scout cab, I will happily purchase a WA head. Not as light as I would like to go but at least I will be able to carry them separately.

Walkabouts aren’t very heavy really! Particularly if you are talking about a 12” Scout cab it is quite an easy haul. I have the Scout 15 that I use on the regular these days and it is definitely more of a pain to move- not that it’s super heavy, just kinda cumbersome for the weight. I’d love something like a Subway 15 with a removeable head slot like the Scout cabs, and would jump at one of those upon release!

 

[MuthaFunk]

I’ve been using my WD-800 set to 2ohm and Scout 4 ohm combo cab for years on 100’s of gigs and practices now. No probem. Mostly rock gigs. It’s thick sounding for such a small light rig.

Just listen to the speaker and know it’s a single 12”. I keep the combo close to the drummers and I and it sings all night long. On occasion I’ve used it without pa support on some gigs in smaller bars.

 

[Mastermold]

I love my WA, should have bought a second one before they were discontinued.

 

[agedhorse]

Just note that we have seen a fair number of 4 ohm Scout cabinets damaged from lack of good judgement and too much power. My experience is that most bass players aren’t perfect, have to accept that damage happens and work harder to make it more difficult to cause damage.

 

[morebass!]

Does anyone know if the replacement handles on the MB site work on the Walkabout 15" combo? Or, even better, is there is anything better? Mine is failing to the point that I don't trust it anymore.

 

[Mastermold]

Does anyone know if the replacement handles on the MB site work on the Walkabout 15" combo? Or, even better, is there is anything better? Mine is failing to the point that I don't trust it anymore.

I ordered one from Sweetwater years ago. If Mesa doesn’t sell them then you might try Sweetwater.

 

[agedhorse]

You can call our customer service guys, they should know it the mounting dimensions are the same.

 

[3rdeyep]

O m g

Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout 2017 - Cocoa Bronco | Reverb

 

[morebass!]

You can call our customer service guys, they should know it the mounting dimensions are the same.

OK thanks

 

[ImTheOnlyOne]

O m g

Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout 2017 - Cocoa Bronco | Reverb

 

[commonplayer]

O m g

Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout 2017 - Cocoa Bronco | Reverb

Man oh man! Dream rig. Looks like it run at 2ohm full load though, is that kosher?

 

[agedhorse]

Man oh man! Dream rig. Looks like it run at 2ohm full load though, is that kosher?

Not recommended.

 

[commonplayer]

Not recommended.

M sure this has been covered somewhere in the thread so apologies in advance. But curious why Mesa would make these matching sets that aren't recommended to be played together? Was this just realizing down the road that there was a design flaw?

 

[sunbeast]

M sure this has been covered somewhere in the thread so apologies in advance. But curious why Mesa would make these matching sets that aren't recommended to be played together? Was this just realizing down the road that there was a design flaw?

I'm pretty sure both the manual and amp said 4 ohm minimum by 2017 (some early manuals said 2 ohm minimum- maybe "with caution" or similar, but that changed in later manuals), but I'm sure Mesa would also still build whatever a customer ordered with the custom shop options like this.

 

[StayLow]

M sure this has been covered somewhere in the thread so apologies in advance. But curious why Mesa would make these matching sets that aren't recommended to be played together? Was this just realizing down the road that there was a design flaw?

4 Ohm combo & extension cabs was the standard spec for probably a decade or more (when were these introduced… late 1990’s?).

During much or all of that time the manual effectively bragged about the head’s 2 Ohm capability.

A quick search only yielded these posts linked, but when I get around to it I’ll screen-cap the section from my old manuals:

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/cab-for-walkabout.1470396/page-2#post-24178713

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/me...thread-part-10.1028827/page-253#post-25143205

Any amp rated 4 Ohm minimum “can” be run below that, including 2 Ohms. Question is for how long and how loud / hard.

As AgedHorse stated, no longer recommended in this case. I’ll only add if any amp can and does do it, it’s this one, though there’s no benefit in sound or volume so best to install 8 Ohm drivers. Even in a single combo or Scout cab, sounds same and has advantages running it at 8 Ohms.

Fun fact: there was also a padded carry bag for the 12” combo (or probably for 12” extension cab since it’s much lighter but same size, and am unsure if the 15” had this accessory offered). This is the proper way to “walk about” with this deservedly legendary bass combo:

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/me...thread-part-10.1028827/page-244#post-24567440

 

[agedhorse]

M sure this has been covered somewhere in the thread so apologies in advance. But curious why Mesa would make these matching sets that aren't recommended to be played together? Was this just realizing down the road that there was a design flaw?

It was discovered that there was way more variation in the lateral MOSFET devices than the original manufacturer had accounted for, and the semi fab changed at least 3 times during the evolution of these parts so it was like trying to redesign around a moving target. This impacted 2 ohm capabilities of the amp and since it was a sole source part that we had absolutely no control over, we had to adapt. The earliest versions were 2 ohm capable but it was also found that moving to the 8 ohm driver made no difference in volume because the sensitivity of the 8 ohm driver was more than 3dB higher, and the 8 ohm drivers sounded better, so it ended up being a win-win scenario.