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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread part Four!

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#861
The bit about the listening skills came across as derogatory. It wasn't supposed to be. One visit to Stereophile, 6moons, Gearslutz or -- gasp, even TB -- shows that even trained ears disagree on what they are objectively hearing. My point was that even though you didn't hear a disagreeable S-N issue with *your gear* and *your ears* and *your bass*, it's quite possible that someone else will be hearing an issue objectively identifiable as impedance mismatch on account of taking your advice. Ergo, it's not good to disseminate that info.

I have no doubt that you are an accomplished musician in the studio and in live performance. My bad. But I wish you had seen it more as a general statement on how subjective listening reports sometimes lead us astray in assessing objective issues in a signal chain.

I have no idea who you are! Maybe you're Pino! But it's still unsound advice.

Vic seems to have gotten the point. Thanks, man.
 
#864
all right, now we're talkin... got my Rickenbacker back from the shop, took it to rehearsal and right off the bat... this bass likes my Walkabout stack. I took all the EQ advice and tried a number of different things... still fine tuning a bit, but I had a very nice tone by the end of rehearsal.

basically I'm set with the gain around 1:30-2, bass at noon, mids at 11, treble at noon. down a few db at 50hz, down a few at 600hz, down a few at 1.5k. with the gain set lower, I liked the mid knob a bit lower, but as the gain goes up, the mid knob really interacts with the grind in a musical way... i liked it a bit higher the grindier i got. my Rick is fairly hot, and at 1:30 the grind was pretty gnarly... in a good way!
 
#865
gigged the scout combo stack... this thing is a beast live. had the master volume down around 8:30-8:45 and kept up with reeeally loud drums easily. only frustration came from trying to set the amp up back by the drums.... the small stage made it incredibly difficult to get behind the cabs, and then trying to see the bottom of the amp in order to plug in the speaker cable is a pain-in-the-A with the combo design. I ran DI through a countryman that the club preferred to use so i didn't have to plug into the walkabout DI, which would have been similarly annoying. i guess there's no way around that with this design, and its totally workable, just a little annoying.
 
#866
ishouldbeking said:
gigged the scout combo stack... this thing is a beast live. had the master volume down around 8:30-8:45 and kept up with reeeally loud drums easily. only frustration came from trying to set the amp up back by the drums.... the small stage made it incredibly difficult to get behind the cabs, and then trying to see the bottom of the amp in order to plug in the speaker cable is a pain-in-the-A with the combo design. I ran DI through a countryman that the club preferred to use so i didn't have to plug into the walkabout DI, which would have been similarly annoying. i guess there's no way around that with this design, and its totally workable, just a little annoying.
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I connect the speaker cable and DI before stacking for this reason. Makes it much easier. Too bad you couldn't use your WA DI. That's one of the best benefits of the Walkabout IMO.
 
#868
+1 speaker is all the way to the left and the power cable is the funny shape on the right
I had to put a drop of flourescent orange on the knobs though as I can't see the marker unless it is really in a well lit room
 
#870
CElton said:
I connect the speaker cable and DI before stacking for this reason. Makes it much easier. Too bad you couldn't use your WA DI. That's one of the best benefits of the Walkabout IMO.
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I'm sure I'll develop a walkabout routine once I've gigged it a few times, and what you suggest makes total sense.

DI question: where do you guys typically set the DI output knob? Does that knob have any impact on the DI gain structure? Figure I should at least get a vague starting point before I let some goomba soundguy ruin my FOH tone due to the signal I'm giving him.
 
#873
#875
Chef said:
With flouro orange, at least deer hunters won't shoot you.
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I was afraid that it would make me a better target...baddbing
Band sounds good Alan.

BTW, new Mesa black knobs or j-bass knobs will not work as there is barely any pot to grab onto with the set screw. The new amps have longer pots and the old knobs were recessed to fit the faceplate. You can use a collet type knob like those on some consoles; spec"ing all the dimensions was too much work for me but I'd love to have a part number that would fit and be approx. the same outside diameter
I think black knobs with white pointer are the best for visibility
 
#878
So I popped open my Silverface WA for the first time yesterday to do a bit of tube rolling - and this was inside? Anyone else have this? It's weird but it doesn't look like it's doing any harm so I left it alone.

BTW I replaced the stock pre tube, a Mesa-branded STR SPAX7-A with a Fisher-branded Telefunken, (proudly made in WEST Germany!) based on the recent discussions of that tube.

Overall a worthwhile swap for me. Initially I didn't notice a big change - when A/B'ing the two quickly, I did notice that the Mesa sounded a little more muffled - the Tele had a more "open" sound which I think is due to a clearer top end - shiny without at all being shrieky or piercing. Based on the quick A/B I was sure that no one but me could tell the difference - and I wasn't sure even I'd be able to tell the difference if I heard them 10 minutes apart.

But as it warmed up and I played the Tele longer, I really enjoyed it. In addition to the more open sound, I noticed that percussive slaps (palm, not thumb) sound more . . . percussive. There is a subtle but noticeable and very musical "string sing" sound in there that wasn't there with the Mesa. Nice.
 

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#879
BarStarzBass said:
So I popped open my Silverface WA for the first time yesterday to do a bit of tube rolling - and this was inside? Anyone else have this? It's weird but it doesn't look like it's doing any harm so I left it alone.
attachment.jpg
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Yeah, definitely don't mess with what you don't understand!! :)

That's a ground plane. It's designed to "sink" RFI from that power transformer and help keep it from interfering with the audio signal paths on the other side.

In short, it's doing a very good thing. Honor it. Respect it. Leave it be. :)
 
#880
ataunton said:
I've been thinking about putting together a modular rig for lower volume gigs and also full volume gigs on smaller stages. Currently I use an M6 with a PH1000 cabinet. While this setup has cured my amp GAS it's not always the most appropriate rig for every venue. I've tried several of the micro heads and none of them have really done it for me. Many sounded good, but just seem to be missing something.

I finally tried a Walkabout today with the Bergantino AE112 and then through an AE2212. I was absolutely blown away. I think I may have found what I'm looking for in a smaller rig. My current idea is for the Walkabout with an AE112 for lower volume gigs, and then I would add an AE212 for the full volume/small stage gigs. Does anyone have any other speaker recommendations for this head? I need something with a smaller overall footprint than a full sized cabinet. I like a lot of punch with tight lows and not really any high end sizzle.
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I recently used my Walkabout head with my Bergantino AE410 and it was MIND BLOWING how GOOD it sounded! Stunning. I'd love to get an AE212 because I like the taller form factor, slightly bigger sounding bass notes. But my AE410 is just SOOO good with the walkabout. It's a 4 Ohm cab, and its efficient at that! So it gets the most out of the 300W 4 ohm output power. (which I used to dismiss as a bit too low)
 
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