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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Part 9!
- Thread starter Chef
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My (8ohm) HS210 seemed about even with, if not a bit louder than my 4ohm Scout 12 cab.
And, to me, it sounds much better with my playing.
And it feels a bit faster/tighter, so...
Does anyone know how much the black Mesa Boogie rack case costs? Is the only way to purchase one is to call up Mesa?
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,944
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
Warning! I have discovered another to die for cab combination with the WalkAbout!
The Bergantino NV115...
This cab is ridiculously good with the WalkAbout and puts out a lot more volume than I thought possible from a moderately sized sealed cab.
The Bergantino NV115...
This cab is ridiculously good with the WalkAbout and puts out a lot more volume than I thought possible from a moderately sized sealed cab.
Alrighty.
If you know me, and you know me in this thread, you know I used to use the Walkabout a lot. Love it for DB, like it pretty well for electric.
Always wished it had about double the horsepower.
So, I was goofing yesterday, and decided I'd put my LR Baggs paracoustic DI in front of that new Valenti '55-P5 single coil to add some buffering and give it a little more edge.
The Baggs has two gain controls; one master (on the side) and one with the controls up top.
With the master bumped a few clicks past unity, and the top gain bumped up a couple clicks past unity.....:
The Walkabout now has much more clean headroom.
I don't know why this isn't like "hitting it with a hot bass," which pushes the preamp into clip; but, it doesn't push the preamp into clip.
and; I tried the same settings with a Sadowsky JJ, and got the same results.
Much louder; stays clean. Or, clean enough anyways.
Certainly not the overdriven, tube compressing deal I didn't like before.
I was pushing two LDS 2x8cabs, 4 ohms per; 2 ohm total.
I have to mess with it some more, but I might be onto something.
---further testing--------
OK: I've tried it with 2xGK112
Same results, although the GK horns "are breaking up a hair" They do that.
The LDS horns and crossover are much better.
The GK Neo's are "fairly efficient."
And, tried the LDS 12/6/1+12sub.
Again, worked great. Horn doesn't do uglies, see above.
The LDS 2x8's, and the LDS 12/6/1+sub are not very efficient.
Yet, they both feel like, totally giggable now
Unplugging the LR Baggs felt like a 50% drop in power.
For fun, I turned up the volume on the Baggs top plate all the way. More power. This made the Walkabout start breaking up a little more but:
It didn't feel squishy; the lows feel as though they stay solid and match the rest of the powerband, instead of feeling compress-y and underpowered compared to the rest.
Then, I unplugged the Baggs, pegged the Walkabout Master, and set input gain to 2 oclock. I think the Baggs thing is real, cause it felt louder, firmer, and cleaner than this did.
If anyone has a Baggs, or the coin to try one, I'd be interested to hear what you think about all this.
If you know me, and you know me in this thread, you know I used to use the Walkabout a lot. Love it for DB, like it pretty well for electric.
Always wished it had about double the horsepower.
So, I was goofing yesterday, and decided I'd put my LR Baggs paracoustic DI in front of that new Valenti '55-P5 single coil to add some buffering and give it a little more edge.
The Baggs has two gain controls; one master (on the side) and one with the controls up top.
With the master bumped a few clicks past unity, and the top gain bumped up a couple clicks past unity.....:
The Walkabout now has much more clean headroom.
I don't know why this isn't like "hitting it with a hot bass," which pushes the preamp into clip; but, it doesn't push the preamp into clip.
and; I tried the same settings with a Sadowsky JJ, and got the same results.
Much louder; stays clean. Or, clean enough anyways.
Certainly not the overdriven, tube compressing deal I didn't like before.
I was pushing two LDS 2x8cabs, 4 ohms per; 2 ohm total.
I have to mess with it some more, but I might be onto something.
---further testing--------
OK: I've tried it with 2xGK112
Same results, although the GK horns "are breaking up a hair" They do that.
The LDS horns and crossover are much better.
The GK Neo's are "fairly efficient."
And, tried the LDS 12/6/1+12sub.
Again, worked great. Horn doesn't do uglies, see above.
The LDS 2x8's, and the LDS 12/6/1+sub are not very efficient.
Yet, they both feel like, totally giggable now
Unplugging the LR Baggs felt like a 50% drop in power.
For fun, I turned up the volume on the Baggs top plate all the way. More power. This made the Walkabout start breaking up a little more but:
It didn't feel squishy; the lows feel as though they stay solid and match the rest of the powerband, instead of feeling compress-y and underpowered compared to the rest.
Then, I unplugged the Baggs, pegged the Walkabout Master, and set input gain to 2 oclock. I think the Baggs thing is real, cause it felt louder, firmer, and cleaner than this did.
If anyone has a Baggs, or the coin to try one, I'd be interested to hear what you think about all this.
I just checked it out at MF. It got 43 5 star reviews (yes, I took them with the grain of salt). Guess it's good. I'm not sure I need one for the bass, but it might do the trick on my amplified Dobro, which needs some EQ help. The price doesn't look too bad, considering that I'll probably be dropping $150 for a stand for my lady friend and percussionist's Octapad.
The original design intent on the Baggs Paracoustic is to help you get your acoustic instrument dialed in.
It works really well on my upright, and the phase invert alone usually cures any feedback issues I have.
The para-eq works well, as do the shleving low, high, and presence.
I've used it successfully on several passive basses to give them that "little bit of bass and treble boost" that preamp buffering does; which is why I tried it with the Valenti '55-P5 single coil...just to give it a little more grunt.
The discovery that it seems to drive the Walkabout better was an accident.
I got mine, used, here for ~$100-ish, and I've seen them on ebay for that or less.
IIRC, street is about $150-ish
It works really well on my upright, and the phase invert alone usually cures any feedback issues I have.
The para-eq works well, as do the shleving low, high, and presence.
I've used it successfully on several passive basses to give them that "little bit of bass and treble boost" that preamp buffering does; which is why I tried it with the Valenti '55-P5 single coil...just to give it a little more grunt.
The discovery that it seems to drive the Walkabout better was an accident.
I got mine, used, here for ~$100-ish, and I've seen them on ebay for that or less.
IIRC, street is about $150-ish
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,515
- 19,944
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
well
after trying a couple other basses, i can now say there are some that this works well on
and others that now will push things into OD territory....
that it worked at all with any of them is interesting
after trying a couple other basses, i can now say there are some that this works well on
and others that now will push things into OD territory....
that it worked at all with any of them is interesting
Does the Para DI have the same high pass filtering as the cheaper Gig Pro (I think thats what mine is called)? I actually fiddled around with my cheapo Baggs acoustic pre with electric bass for a little while just because of the built-in HPF- It is a pretty dramatic filter and definitely does add headroom by cutting out anything from the deepest lows to up into the low mids if you turn it up. The main problem with that particular pre for bass is that it is voiced with a pretty strong scoop even when set flat (which works pretty well with acoustic guitar, but not so much with electric bass). Just a hunch, but I wouldn't be surprised if the ParaDI has a similar HPF that gives the impression of more headroom by cutting out the mud- the addition of the extra gain control then allows you to push the front end of the Walkabout more without adjusting the Master Volume (which gets that second tube pumping). It is also possible that the ParaDI has a similarly scooped voicing that masks some of the dirt- I know I can crank my WA higher and it will still sound cleanish if I turn down the mid knob when cranking the gain (since most of that grit is in the mid region). A theory...
Have you tried pairing your fDeck pre with a booster of some sort in front of the WA? If I am right this might give you the same effect as the Baggs.
Have you tried pairing your fDeck pre with a booster of some sort in front of the WA? If I am right this might give you the same effect as the Baggs.
Debating between a dedicated Bass Amp and a PA with cabs that could do double-duty with a bass head since I play more than Bass
Someone local has a pair of these for sale: Invalid Link Removed
I've been eye-ing the Walkabout head for quite a while, but at 350 Watts @ 8 Ohms each, maybe it would under-power these cabs.
Your thoughts?
Someone local has a pair of these for sale: Invalid Link Removed
I've been eye-ing the Walkabout head for quite a while, but at 350 Watts @ 8 Ohms each, maybe it would under-power these cabs.
Your thoughts?
Well, it appears that they're efficient (101 dB at 1 watt, 1 meter). The low cutoff frequency is high-ish. If I read the specs correctly, they're probably -10 dB at 60 Hz. But a sealed 8x10 is pretty high too.
It's going to depend on what you want, tone-wise. I'd recommend that you give 'em a try and let your ears decide.
And I think there's a Sticky about underpowering... Edit: Yep, click here and scroll down a ways.
No, no, no.
I don't want to hear this.
Nanananananananana.
Have been having a lovely time with my TH500 and had nearly forgotten about my old WA.
You've violated the laws of physics; you must be mistaken; I've vowed not to sell equipment and re-buy it later.....
Well, as I said in a later post, these same results did not seem to apply across every bass I own.
Don't know why.
To answer another question, no, I haven't tried patching the Baggs into fx return...yet.
Don't know why.
To answer another question, no, I haven't tried patching the Baggs into fx return...yet.
It'll take me a couple of weeks to get all the pieces I want in the same room, but I'll be trying to replicate this mid-month.
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