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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Pt. Tres

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#501
Chef-I saw you post your WA head with a pair of 15s. For what type of venue/situation (other than outdoors/big stage/no PA) do you find that not enough? I'm thinking my WA with the LDS 15/6 and a PH12 will likely handle anything I do (we have our own PA) but have a lingering doubt that maybe I should've held onto my M9.
Rickenboogie-how loud is your band and have you played outdoors or a very large stage with your 212?
 
#503
Chef said:
That was plenty enough for me, for anything, but, I don't play with a bonekrushingly loud band.
It was a lot of cone area!
Click to expand...

That's reassuring. Our band is moderately loud- sane rock volume. I was never pushing the volume on the M9 past 11 o'clock into my LDS 15-6. I think the WA with that and a 12 will git'r'done. Maybe just a tad of seller's remorse regarding the M9:D
 
#506
D.A.R.K. said:
i'm on my second walkabout head,
my original head had the burgundy screening,
my current head has the blue.
i've swapped tubes, had it checked out,
no issues. but, the older head definitely sounded better.
anyone who's had a few of the different versions
care to comment on their experience/ have an opinion?
thanks!
Click to expand...

I have two of the newish silver with black print Walkabouts that sound different from each other- I traced the difference to the tubes. Both have the original Mesa tubes, but one has the russian 12ax7s and the other has the chinese 12ax7s. I can't recall which is which at this point, but one overdrives much earlier, and the other is brighter and clearer. I like both characters for different applications!
 
#508
I have a question for those of you who have owned the walkabout and played a darkstared bass through it! (i think chef had one!)
Did you end up having to use the active pad to be able to get the amp to stop overdriving?
I just got a darkstared jazz bass and im having a very hard time getting a relatively clean sound...
Usually have my gain around 12 with a Fender Jazz, with the darkstared one if my gain is anywhere past 9 i get into drive territory...

I am wondering if its a pickup adjustment or if they are indeed THAT hot!
 
#512
Chef said:
on the tele, lower than fluash
on the P, the center two a little higher, the outer two about even
Click to expand...

Thanks chef, i did try to lower the pole pieces but the pickup looses this rawness that i love if i do sow! My neck pickup poles are lowered about 3mm and the bridge pickup are raised about 3mm out so the volume of both is matched.
Its output is barely higher than my standard jazz bass but still it drives my amp like nothing i ever played before!
I dont really know what to do, the active pad on the WA really kills some high for some reason so i dont like the sound with it on, and im having to put the gain so low to avoid drive without the pad i dont know if ill have enough volume even with master pretty high...
Any ideas
 
#513
given all that, it would seem the next choice is lower input gain, rasie master volume.

i concur that using the active pad kills some top end in both the walkabout, and M6, IME.
 
#515
There may be something inherent to the tubes themselves making it OD more easily than is typical. Consider a tube swap if other measures don't satisfy.
 
#516
Has anyone tried sitting thier walkabout scout 12 ontop of a powerhouse 12? Played through one and OMG! Love the tone. I'd get an 8 ohm version to use with an extension cab for bigger shows.
 
#518
I just bought the walkabout scout 112 combo and I love it :hyper:
I'm thinking of selling my svt4 pro and using the walkabout head with my svt410hlf cabinet, anyone else uses this head with that cab??? Or any other 410 cab (or other) out there that just shines with the walkabout? I play Sadowsky 4 and 5 string if that matters...

sorry for my langauge but I'm not a native speakers and thanks for reading :D

:bassist:
 
#519
carlos840 said:
I have a question for those of you who have owned the walkabout and played a darkstared bass through it! (i think chef had one!)
Did you end up having to use the active pad to be able to get the amp to stop overdriving?
I just got a darkstared jazz bass and im having a very hard time getting a relatively clean sound...
Usually have my gain around 12 with a Fender Jazz, with the darkstared one if my gain is anywhere past 9 i get into drive territory...

I am wondering if its a pickup adjustment or if they are indeed THAT hot!
Click to expand...

I found with my Darkstar'd Jazz that I'd get some overdrive from just about any amp with the polepieces set high- it was almost as if the pickups themselves were creating some distortion. I found the pickups to also be too sensitive and compressed with the poles raised that high- so that string noise and fret clicking were nearly as loud as the notes. Mine are now lowered slightly below the face of the pickups (this will really depend on how high the strings are above the pickups on your particular bass though- mine didn't give me alot of room to work with), and now I have no issue getting a clean and even tone- you do lose some of the rawness, but the trade off has been well worth it for me (EQ'ing more mids on the amp brings enough of that back). I've found that Darkstars can have very high output, but it's still much less than a G&L- which oddly doesn't seem to distort preamps as readily (my theory is that the Darkstar is pumping more actual low end vs. low mids, which doesn't create alot of audible volume but does drive the input pretty strongly).

As mine is set up now, it is a great pair for the Walkabout (and without distortion unless I want it). I will also 2nd the post about whatever particular tubes are in your Walkabout. I have two of the amps and one overdrives much earlier than the other, and I've narrowed it down to a change of stock tubes at Mesa between the time of manufacture- Chinese vs. Russian in my case, though I like both for different things!

Karl
 
#520
JeanBG said:
I just bought the walkabout scout 112 combo and I love it :hyper:
I'm thinking of selling my svt4 pro and using the walkabout head with my svt410hlf cabinet, anyone else uses this head with that cab??? Or any other 410 cab (or other) out there that just shines with the walkabout? I play Sadowsky 4 and 5 string if that matters...

sorry for my langauge but I'm not a native speakers and thanks for reading :D

:bassist:
Click to expand...


The WA head should sound great through your 410-are you French or Flemish?
 
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