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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Part 9!

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#121
It's been a long time since I had both, but, I can tell you that I flipped the 600 in just a few days.
Not the same, for me. Trying to quantify, from the past, I can't do so readily.
 
#122
svtb15 said:
The Mesa site says that the walkabout is the smaller version of the Mpulse 600... I once had the Mpulse , wish i never sold it.. Great amp.

But i know that WA experts here say that the two amps are not really that similar....

I know that the MP600 has extra Para EQ bands to alter sound compared to the WA. But do teh two amps sound more similar when only teh BMT controls are used?
Are the two really all that different?
Can anyone describe what they may be hearing RE: the WA and the MP 600.. Is it slight difference or a complete Night and Day thing.
Click to expand...

They fall into the same tonal ballpark, for sure. But it seems to me, at least, that the more simple - and more direct - signal path of the WalkAbout lends itself to a certain "life" and excitement to the voice that I found lacking in the M-Pulse 600. It might be more harmonic content, not sure.

Interestingly, though, I can dial in my Titan V-12 to sound pretty close to the WalkAbout.
 
#123
I'm back in the Walkabout camp!
Just got a used silver/black 2 input Walkabout and it sounds great. Needs a quieter fan and I had to tighten the bolt on the power transformer, but those were expected. It also has a dent that I knew about in the right lower rear corner from being dropped earlier in it's life. It looks like that also bent the bottom of the chassis where the transformer sits and snapped the bottom off one of the plastic mounts for the power supply board, but it's 100% functional and I can take care of those issues later.

When I got back into playing a few months ago I was planning on getting another Walkabout amp, but got sidetracked by all the raving about the Aguilar Tone Hammer amps. I got a TH350 and liked it a lot, but I never really came to terms with the EQ section on it. It's not intuitive to me like the Walkabout EQ. I think that if I was playing live more I'd stick with the TH350 because it seems to have more bite that would cut through a loud mix better and it's so small and light it'd be great when dragging gear around.

Edit:Actually, now that I've had more time tweaking the Walkabout with my current gear, I realize the Walkabout has more bite and punch than I remembered. What I should say is that I think the TH350 works better in a live situation than in the way I was using it, while the Walkabout does both equally well.

However, most of my playing is at relatively low volume for home recording experiments and practice and to my ear, the Walkabout beats the TH350 in that situation. The TH350 has about the best solid state overdrive sound that I've heard, but it still doesn't sound as good as the smooth crunch (does that make sense?) that I can get with the Walkabout.

The thing that brought me back to a Walkabout was going into a local dealer to try out some used basses and getting to play through a used Walkabout amp that was there. Everything sounded good through it, no matter what cabinet I plugged it into. Each bass and cab sounded different, but i never got a bad sound through any of them. I didn't buy any of the basses I tried, but if I'd had any sense I would have snapped up the Walkabout amp. It came mounted in an SKB rack case and was only $450! Naturally, by the time I came to my senses a day or two later it was gone. My wife had been saying that I should just get another Walkabout all along and told me to go ahead and get the used one I'd played through, so she enjoyed telling me that I should have listened to her in the first place when I got this one.
I predict that there will used a very slightly used TH350 in classifieds in the next day or two.
 
#124
Thanks for all the responses to the question pertaining to the M3 Combo/Walkabout issue.
The main reason my son was interested in the possibility of mating a WA head and the M3 combo cab, was so that he could sit that resultant combo on top of a Powerhouse 1x12, and keep the entire rig down to two elements.
I guess he's just gonna have to 'tough it out', and simply sit the WA head on top of a pair of PH 1x12's.
My poor, deprived son. :smug:
 
#129
I'm back in the Walkabout camp after a couple of weeks(!) away.

I thought I'd give the Aguilar AG500 a shot. It sounded nice, so I sold the WA.

The AG500 still sounds nice, but I miss whatever it is about the WA that makes it special. So... I've bought it back from the new owner. :)

Also, as an ex-M-Pulse 600 owner.. great head, but wider than the WA. The magic mids aren't there.
 
#130
I had an Mpulse 600 sitting next to my walkabout for the past year and compared them side by side using the same cabs. I recently sold the 600 as it was exactly as everyone describes it to be: wider, fatter, cleaner but somehow completely devoid of the magic fairy dust that the Walkabout head has in spades!. I can't explain it, but nothing even comes close to the tone of these little heads.
 
#131
I too am back in the Walkabout camp. My old Walkabout was gigged like crazy (over 1,000 gigs or so), and when my almost famous band fell apart, I sold it and retreated to my studio where I worked on solo material for a few years. Since moving back to New Orleans, I'm finding myself in demand as a bassist for hire once again, and only 6 months back and I'm already booking upwards of 20 shows a month! I didn't think I was going to be playing this much this fast, so I just picked up a cheap little GK combo to get me by - but I quickly outgrew it, and it was time to get myself back in the Mesa fold.

I picked up this Walkabout on Craigslist for $375 (even cheaper than my deal with Mesa Boogie!), and a PH112 from the TB Classifieds for $385 (also cheaper than my Boogie deal), and now I'm on the hunt for one more PH112. This cab arrived today, and I'm taking it on it's first gig tonight. I'm so looking forward to having good tone again. Huzzah!

Link Removed
 
#137
Crabby said:
I have the same setup and its fantastic! The PH112 cabs are outstanding. I paid full retail for mine but they were worth it.
Click to expand...

This is actually my 5th one. First two got gigged like crazy, then stolen right before a gig. Mesa sent me two others, and I gigged those hard too, before my almost famous band blew up. I sold them along with the Walkabout while I was working on solo stuff, and now I'm really happy I have another Mesa rig.

I took it out to a gig tonight, and even with just one cab it was louder than I needed it: gain at 3 o'clock, master at about 8 o'clock, EQ set flat. It sounded so good even the guitarist noticed.
 
#138
Benjamin Strange said:
This is actually my 5th one. First two got gigged like crazy, then stolen right before a gig. Mesa sent me two others, and I gigged those hard too, before my almost famous band blew up. I sold them along with the Walkabout while I was working on solo stuff, and now I'm really happy I have another Mesa rig.

I took it out to a gig tonight, and even with just one cab it was louder than I needed it: gain at 3 o'clock, master at about 8 o'clock, EQ set flat. It sounded so good even the guitarist noticed.
Click to expand...

Welcome back to the fold (and to New Orleans)!
 
#139
Now that I've had a chance to try my scout 1x12 combo at it's first gig, I absolutely love this little amp even more. After helping the bass player in the previous band move his ampeg svt head and 8x10 off the stage I plugging in my scout and fired it up. It was just a small room, but I had no problem keeping up with 2 guitars and drums without being plugged into the board. Both of the bassists in the other bands came up to me after our set and raved about the tone.

Most of the larger places we play have pretty decent sound systems, so the scout is really all I need, though I would like to add the 1x12 extension at some point just in case.
 
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