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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread part Four!

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#621
Chef said:
yeah, the tube driver does indeed change the tone some too.
Click to expand...

Shame on me for doubting you on this!
With the Tele in the preamp hole, I tested the following tubes as drivers:
Stock Mesa - sounded fine
Mullard - Was slightly better; again slighly deeper sound stage, more articulate, harmonicaly richer, clear, clean, and 3D
GE (that I didn't like in the preamp) - Noticeably flat, less dynamics, harmonics, depth, etc.
Holland tube (presumed to be Amperex) - Liked it slightly better than the Mullard; so very hard to be sure especially when you have to wait for them to warm up and loose musical memory, patience, etc. Think I will try the GE-JAN 12AX7WA that just came in and then put it together and play it hard.

One other item about this tube swapping; all of these tests have been through a Bergie 322 as I thought that any small differences would show up more than with a TL606. While this proved to be true, I was blown away when I tried the 1x15 with the new tubes. It clearly sounded MUCH better than before; more defined and full; harmonicaly richer; adding treble (to get closer to a 2-way cab sound) is more musical than with the stock tubes. I usualy don't play this cab at home as the Berg just sounds way bigger and clearer with it's 2-way design and great drivers. Suddenly fun to use the 606 as with the new tubes as its' simple and old school funk tonalities are just a blast; plus you can run it hard without going deaf which is always a good thing. Can't wait to gig with this cabinet again.
 
#624
some guys want the walkabout tubier....
for me, tube swap all about making it as clean as it would go before it started doing that as the power section compression, and preamp going tubular really aren't my thing most of the time.

on the other hand, i've really been using mostly the walkabout lately, and enjoying the diff b/t it and the M9, which is just....much different than that;)





If it only had 3-600 more watts, all that would be "more of a choice," as opposed to "i need more power, but that takes the tone places I don't like sometimes...."........ya know?

I don't feel like I can harp on that enough, especially if anyone at Mesa is ever reading this junk;)

Please, please, please, pretty please:
build me a Walkabout with something like M9 headroom.
thanks;)
 
#625
I tried all of these same tubes (with the exception of the Tele), and the Mullard made a very slight improvement in an SWR SM400. Very disapointing actually.
Is this due to how the tube is used in the preamp stage, the operating voltage, or both?

To you engineers could you help explain this:
As I see it, the use of tubes or SS devices in the front end of an amp is purely about controlling voltages and dividing frequencies. Why do we prefer tubes, and how come the glass bottles make the music sound better?
 
#627
Chef said:
Man, tubedepot had some Telefunkens they had priced a $1295.00
No joke.
That better make my rig sound...a lot. better.
Click to expand...
Nah, those are collector's items or tubes for the ultra-high end HiFi stereo folks. For our "LoFi" (by comparison) needs, get any of the Tele's down in the $40-$100 range and you get the same exact perceivable tone. I actually did an ebay search recently, and the good-excellent used Tele's are still easy to find AND afford... especially if you don't care they're OEM branded (which of course has NO effect on tone.)

Jim C said:
Chef said:
JimC;
yeah, the tube driver does indeed change the tone some too.
Play with it and check it out if you still have the lid off, and the time to futz with it.
Click to expand...
Shame on me for doubting you on this!...
Click to expand...
Yeah, I've posted about this before as well... both tubes in the preamp play VERY significant (though also very different) roles in the WA. If you're tube rolling, you definitely need to roll both, and NOT necessarily with the same kind of tube and tonal goals for each one!
 
#628
Friend came over with his MiniMark combo to play today, and the shootout was a blowout. The Walkabout Scout absolutely crushes the MiniMark for volume -- and this goes without even commenting on tone.

: )

Cute little amp, but that Markbass farts out pretty easily.
 
#629
Vic said:
Nah, those are collector's items or tubes for the ultra-high end HiFi stereo folks. For our "LoFi" (by comparison) needs, get any of the Tele's down in the $40-$100 range and you get the same exact perceivable tone. I actually did an ebay search recently, and the good-excellent used Tele's are still easy to find AND afford... especially if you don't care they're OEM branded (which of course has NO effect on tone.)

Yeah, I've posted about this before as well... both tubes in the preamp play VERY significant (though also very different) roles in the WA. If you're tube rolling, you definitely need to roll both, and NOT necessarily with the same kind of tube and tonal goals for each one!
Click to expand...




I would be very careful with the super low priced ones.There are alot of fakes out there as well as some dogs.A buddy of mine bought a pair on ebay and they tested way lower than advertised.I paid $85 apiece for mine about 8 months ago from a trusted seller(Fisher branded)-tested pretty much as new.Might be worth paying a bit more to make sure you know what you are getting.
 
#631
bassjam said:
I would be very careful with the super low priced ones.There are alot of fakes out there as well as some dogs.A buddy of mine bought a pair on ebay and they tested way lower than advertised.I paid $85 apiece for mine about 8 months ago from a trusted seller(Fisher branded)-tested pretty much as new.Might be worth paying a bit more to make sure you know what you are getting.
Click to expand...
Agreed... but you should always be careful who you buy from... and you can get screwed at any price level.

Thing is, I have seen legit and well-functioning Tele's sell for this price. They're usually kinda' haggard looking (all branding worn off, legs showing wear), which is mainly why they sell so cheap. But you can always tell by the diamond on the bottom, so the printing doesn't really matter unless you're a collector, and as long as the seller is honest about the test results (see my first point above), you should be fine.
 
#632
Several years ago a TBer recommended that I use a Tung-Sol 12AX7/ECC803-S Gold in the pre and an Electro-Harmonix 12AX7-EH Gold in mosfet driver section. The tubes cost less than $50.00 total and sound great... very tubey yet nice and clear.

This combination sounded so good that I use them in both my WalkAbouts now.
 
#633
Vic said:
Agreed... but you should always be careful who you buy from... and you can get screwed at any price level.

Thing is, I have seen legit and well-functioning Tele's sell for this price. They're usually kinda' haggard looking (all branding worn off, legs showing wear), which is mainly why they sell so cheap. But you can always tell by the diamond on the bottom, so the printing doesn't really matter unless you're a collector, and as long as the seller is honest about the test results (see my first point above), you should be fine.
Click to expand...

I agree.Mine are not mint looking,but the do test strong.I'm sure there are perfectly good ones out there cheaper than what I paid.For me though I was totally willing to pay the price on a pair I knew would be strong rather than take a chance buying from someone I didn't know.
 
#634
bassjam said:
I agree.Mine are not mint looking,but the do test strong.I'm sure there are perfectly good ones out there cheaper than what I paid.For me though I was totally willing to pay the price on a pair I knew would be strong rather than take a chance buying from someone I didn't know.
Click to expand...
Oh, I see your angle here... YEAH, I'd be very happy to pay more from a trusted source than take a chance on a questionable source just because they listed cheaper. Absotively dude.
 
#635
So after confirming that even through a 4 Ohm Avatar TB153 cab, my Walkabout doesn't have enough clean headroom for our band I decided to throw in the towel and part with it.....but now it's like my child and no offer seems quite worth parting with it. I searched but could not find an answer to this question-is there a tube swap I could do that would significantly change the OD point and give me more clean volume? Maybe that'd be smarter than risking seller's remorse?
 
#637
Actually, I've been messing with it some more, and I think the tube(s) have gone bad. With my passive Fender 5er it's overdriving significantly even with the gain at 9 o'clock, which it never did before. At 9, the B and E strings STILL overdrive. I'm pullin' my FS ad and will try new tubes 1st, as there's still hope. What are the cleanest??
 
#638
JJ are nice.
The long plate sovtek that mesa now use are nice.

Tong Sol and Tele reissues are nice.

Stay away from EH, GT, China...like that...

As a ref point, my blackface with the mesa long plate sovteks doesn't start getting yucky til about 1 or 2 oclock on input gain...depending on how hot the bass is...and I've never, ever, ever used the active pad, even for very active basses.
 
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