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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread part Four!

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#881
How many of you are thinking: "if I had to have only 1 amp, all the talk on that Streamliner thread could force the WA to have a new home"?

The only thing the WA doesn't do for me is to power an ineffecient cab like one of the 15/6 variants. Anyone here planning on buying a SL that could do a side by side comparison?
 
#882
Jim C said:
How many of you are thinking: "if I had to have only 1 amp, all the talk on that Streamliner thread could force the WA to have a new home"?

The only thing the WA doesn't do for me is to power an ineffecient cab like one of the 15/6 variants. Anyone here planning on buying a SL that could do a side by side comparison?
Click to expand...

I refuse to get caught up in the Hypeliner viral marketing. Not to dis GB, which is a company I respect, but the hype in advance of any real experience (notwithstanding Ed F, who is, by definition, biased as he is an endorser) is ridiculous IMO.
Don't misinterpret these words. I truly hope it does what it has set out to and believe there's a good chance it will, but I am still looking for a mid-sized cabfor my Walkabout and when it returns from Mesa service I'll be trying it with my 4 Ohm Avatar TB153 and a Schro BMF 1515.

BTW, the 15/6 type cabs are not inefficient, but if you want one to get as loud as a 410 you need 500 watts. My WA cannot get my LDS 15/6 to be loud enough for my garage band gigs, but it still goes louder than my Scout 12 by a mile. IME 300 watts into my LDS 15/6 is enough (if not ideal), so I still have hopes for the 4 Ohm Avatar box/WA pair. I'll wait until there's 6 months of reviews on the Streamliner and the honeymoon has passed before I place any stock in what I read. Right now it reads like a dot com bubble to me. YMMV, of course. I DID order a SMax 9.2 because I know I want its' features and the GB FET sound-that head will make my LDS cab sing.
 
#884
Jim C said:
How many of you are thinking: "if I had to have only 1 amp, all the talk on that Streamliner thread could force the WA to have a new home"?

The only thing the WA doesn't do for me is to power an ineffecient cab like one of the 15/6 variants. Anyone here planning on buying a SL that could do a side by side comparison?
Click to expand...
The only way the Streamliner could truly replace the WA is if it had the same tone and behavior. I don't think it does, so IMHO, it's really just as much, if not more, of a tonal question as it is a power question.
 
#885
lomo said:
I refuse to get caught up in the Hypeliner viral marketing. Not to dis GB, which is a company I respect, but the hype in advance of any real experience (notwithstanding Ed F, who is, by definition, biased as he is an endorser) is ridiculous IMO.

[...]

I'll wait until there's 6 months of reviews on the Streamliner and the honeymoon has passed before I place any stock in what I read. Right now it reads like a dot com bubble to me.
Click to expand...

"Viral marketing" is an extremely polite way to put it, and I could not agree more with the above. Those who were quick to pre-order already found themselves paying 33% more than other stores have offered it for, and it isn't even out yet.

I'm at a loss to understand why anyone thinks it'll be any different than the latest & greatest amp to come along, often from Genz, about every other month. It'll be ideal for some, and it won't matter to Walkabout lovers, SVT lovers, etc.

Plus GK has already had the MB Fusion out for awhile, with all 6 stages of 3 12A7 tubes being well-fed with voltage in the preamp stage. Who here in this thread cares? I haven't even bothered to try it, despite having the MB200 as a backup and finding it to be a very impressive, loud, and well-built amp.
 
#886
Thanks Vic! I normally wouldn't have given it a second thought (messing with powers beyond my ken), but the "note to PCB manufacturers" and "perforation line" made me think twice. Wanted to make sure it wasn't accidentally left in and would do something weird.
 
#887
Easy boys, it is a fair question. Funny thing is that I posted that so many want the SL to be a success that that it has nearly been named one without actual product being shipped; no response in that thread though; defineately some band wagon jumping based on a hope.

Forgot about the 3 tubes in the Fusion although not a fair comparison since it is not the same manufacturer. Still remember all the problems that GK and Carvin had when they released new amps although GB historicaly has not had new product reliability issues.

lomo said:
(notwithstanding Ed F, who is, by definition, biased as he is an endorser) is ridiculous IMO.
Don't misinterpret these words. I truly hope it does what it has set out to and believe there's a good chance it will, but I am still looking for a mid-sized cabfor my Walkabout and when it returns from Mesa service I'll be trying it with my 4 Ohm Avatar TB153 and a Schro BMF 1515.
Click to expand...

Didn't realize Mr. Friedland was on the GB payroll although I kidded him about that unknowingly. Hope the WA fairs better with the Avatar and await your review. have they determined what caused the amp to fail?
 
#889
Jim C said:
The only thing the WA doesn't do for me is to power an ineffecient cab like one of the 15/6 variants.
Click to expand...

Some of the 15 year old kids with their pants down around their ankles would disagree. Even they can read the driver data sheets and suss out that cabs built around them are gonna compare like Lomo just said. Admittedly though, a lot of the 15 year olds are just as clueless as their older brethren.
 
#890
Jim C said:
Forgot about the 3 tubes in the Fusion although not a fair comparison since it is not the same manufacturer.
Click to expand...
Am I missing something on this? I was thinking it was fair to bring up the MB Fusion since we're talking about how a tube preamp'd head with a class D power section (like the GB SL) might possibly affect WA fans hungering for more output?

Still remember all the problems that GK and Carvin had when they released new amps although GB historicaly has not had new product reliability issues.
Click to expand...
Irrelevant for the point at hand. The MB products are mature and stable at this point. Same with Carvin.
 
#894
Chef said:
I too was thinking that comparing the Streamliner and MB-Fusion was "game," as they're quite similar designs in many ways.
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+1 I'm sure they will sound WAY different, given the very aggressive GK voicing, and the reports that the Fusion sounds quite similar to the MB500. The RH450 is another one that will be fun to compare, as will the Walkabout.

The Genz endorsers do get a little overexuberant, and the company is masterful at using TB as a 'free marketing tool' (which often doesn't sit very well with me personally), but that's pretty obvious by now, so what the heck. I actually am pretty excited about this one!

The Streamliner is a very cool potential design, and I preordered one given its specs and design approach. As a previous Walkabout owner, and a current TC RH450 owner (not much interested in the GK head for a variety of reasons), I look forward to checking it out:bassist:

My guess is, it will sound like a Streamliner, not an RH450 nor a Walkabout. I've yet to hear amps by two different manufacturers that sound anything like each other.

I'll post up in a few more days on my Youtube channel if anyone is interested! If Mesa comes out with a 600 watt Walkabout, I'll probably buy one of those too!
 
#895
KJung said:
The Genz endorsers do get a little overexuberant
Click to expand...

I'm guessing a lot of them are prone to incontinence, based on how much that one image and the equivalent phraseology kept circulating. That's got to be tough on them at longer gigs ; }

The amp is interesting though. It's time the micros and minis put all the whimpy last-gen module research behind them and got into the more serious business of getting voicings and musical nonlinearities happening with less restrictive power sections.
 
#896
Vic said:
Am I missing something on this? I was thinking it was fair to bring up the MB Fusion since we're talking about how a tube preamp'd head with a class D power section (like the GB SL) might possibly affect WA fans hungering for more output?

Irrelevant for the point at hand. The MB products are mature and stable at this point. Same with Carvin.
Click to expand...

Agreed that it is fair to bring up the GB / GK similarities regarding 3 pre-amp tubes coupled to class D power but don't recall the GK threads promoting the big tube tone / sag thing vs. what is being said about the SL.

You would know better Vic, but didn't the initial MB product launches have huge relaiability issues (both amps and cabinets)? Don't recall that GB has had as rough a time with new gear launches. Am saying that if history repeats itself, perhaps new SL owners will have units with plenty of beta testing and the new product issues resolved.

Ken - Good observation about marketing strategy and free ink on TB
 
#897
greenboy said:
I'm guessing a lot of them are prone to incontinence, based on how much that one image and the equivalent phraseology kept circulating. That's got to be tough on them at longer gigs ; }

The amp is interesting though. It's time the micros and minis put all the whimpy last-gen module research behind them and got into the more serious business of getting voicings and musical nonlinearities happening with less restrictive power sections.
Click to expand...

+1 Some cool stuff coming out at this point. And, while I agree with you that the cabs using that 3015LF driver have decent sensitivity, at 8ohms, and with the wonderful mechanical specs of that driver, I have experienced an amp with a little more wump than the wonderful Walkabout at 8ohms resulting in superior performance, of course, assuming the user needs the additional volume. I really like that roughly 500 watt into 8ohm power spec of some of these heads (the Shuttle 9/Streamliner 900, the EA iAmpPro, the Markbass SD1200, the Walter Woods Ultra, etc.). Nice performance at 8ohm, and still quite lightweight if not as small as some of the micro's.

Pretty cool stuff going on these days!
 
#898
I too ordered a streamliner...due late this week. GB is responsive to input and has great CS..amps I have seen are solid performers...reason to support them in my book.

Having owned two different Walkabouts in the past I have to say I absolutely LOVE the WA tone... I may come back to another WA if the Streamliner doesn't do for me what I want it to but...

I have to admit being frustrated/disappointed that Mesa did not put their WA sound into a more powerful package after years of comments from users that they should. I hope they give me the choice to coming back to a more powerful WA sometime. Mesa makes great stuff, no doubt. What about a walkabout that is 900 watts and capable of 2 ohm operation? That would get plenty of hype on TB...
 
#900
Jim C said:
didn't the initial MB product launches have huge relaiability issues (both amps and cabinets)? Don't recall that GB has had as rough a time with new gear launches.
Click to expand...

Everybody building around the modules has had teething pains with the new methodology, in one way or another. The makers of the modules themselves have had problems.
 
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