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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Pt. Tres

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#527
Oh buddies...

P1011893.jpg

P1011894.jpg
 
#531
Crabby said:
I can't believe a Walkabout head just sold in the classifieds for $375!!!!! I already have one but would have bought that in a heartbeat! What a deal.
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lomo said:
I know. The seller initially asked 700ish, so I pmed him just to let him know older ones generally go for around 550. He thanked me, changed it to 550, and then dropped it through the floor about a day later to 350! I almost bought it but really don't need a 2nd one.
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Crabby said:
great deal for the buyer.
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That was me!! Sorry for resurrecting these posts from May - I've been reading the Megathread from both ends and just got here.

I couldn't believe the price either. Three months on and I couldn't be happier. Our band is gigging once a week now (small places - neighborhood bars-and-grills, larger coffeehouses that can take a rock band, a few patio gigs) and the WA is just perfect. Have yet to hit the noon or higher position on the Master. Hopefully I will when we start playing bigger places.

Got my old-school P-bass-with-flatwound sound down perfectly (to mine and my bandmates ears, at least). Still working on my grindy SVT-type sound with my L-2000. I went back to putting my VT-bass pedal in the chain. Chef's recommended SVT settings were really good and sounded perfect at home, but I can't quite get it to work in the band mix. Tried every combination of settings on the L2k and many eq settings on the WA, but I end up with either a way-over-the-top overpowering tone, or I get lost in the mix - can't find a middle ground.

At this point I'm thinking it's more my cab than my WA. As Chef said in another post, a lot of the SVT sound lies in their cabs. And right now I've got a sealed 1x15 boomer that's probably as far from the midrange-heavy 2/4/8x10 Ampeg style as you can get. So for now I'm relying on the cab emulation built into the VT pedal and it does get me closer - but my next purchase will be an Ampeg 2x10 cab - I'll see how that sounds together with the 1x15. If that doesn't work, I'll probably then just get another 2x10 and retire the 1x15.
 
#533
Poon said:
Looks kind of like my Walkabout with Headcase on top of my Aggie 8x10, but prettier since it's matching.
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Matching sure is nice looking but I bet that Aggie 810 kills! We can't talk much further about the Aggie, this is the Mesa thread. :hiding:

I'm absolutely loving the combination. I've got an Ampeg V-4bh and an Aggie DB751 but there is definitely something special about the Walkabout and I'm on my third "go 'round" with 'em and have loved each one.
 
#534
stingray56funk said:
Matching sure is nice looking but I bet that Aggie 810 kills! We can't talk much further about the Aggie, this is the Mesa thread. :hiding:

I'm absolutely loving the combination. I've got an Ampeg V-4bh and an Aggie DB751 but there is definitely something special about the Walkabout and I'm on my third "go 'round" with 'em and have loved each one.
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walkabout is my only head left...that should say something.
 
#535
sunbeast said:
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
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Hey karl,
Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer that! I do feel like i have it a bit more under control now, i did lower the pole pieces as low as they can on the neck now and i dont have to much unwanted drive now!
I discovered it was mainly my E string on the neck pickup that drove the amp i lowered it till it barely drove the amp with gain at 12 then set all the pole pieces on both pickup according to that one.
Its a lot better now.
I do agree with you about the low end driving the amp more, i also have a G&L SB2 which is pretty hot but still it doesnt drive it as much even though it is louder!
Go figure!!!

(any idea how much under the surface are the pickup you are? Also, do you have the bridge pickup raised on a pickguard ring or straight on the body?)
 
#536
I know several of us have commented that we'd love a Walkabout with more watts. For those of you who have tried the Effects Loop Out into a Poweramp, does that still accomplish the genuine & sweetly tubey Walkabout sound?

In a less loquacious question,

How much of the signature walkabout sound is the power section?
 
#537
Poon said:
I know several of us have commented that we'd love a Walkabout with more watts. For those of you who have tried the Effects Loop Out into a Poweramp, does that still accomplish the genuine & sweetly tubey Walkabout sound?

In a less loquacious question,

How much of the signature walkabout sound is the power section?
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Although I have not tried any of my Walkabouts with a separate slave poweramp, I believe general consensus is that the Walkabout sound is reliant upon the Walkabout poweramp and probably more importantly the tube driver driving said poweramp.
 
#538
stingray56funk said:
Although I have not tried any of my Walkabouts with a separate slave poweramp, I believe general consensus is that the Walkabout sound is reliant upon the Walkabout poweramp and probably more importantly the tube driver driving said poweramp.
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Swut I've read as well. IME/IMO the 750's clean channel (and presumably the Titan's) can cop the Walkabout tone. YMMV
 
#540
RickenBoogie said:
The BB750 and Titan are certainly in the same tonal family as the WA, but, for whatever reason, my ears say the WA still sounds sweeter.(not that the 2 bigger amps aren't sweet, mind you)
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I tend to agree. I still need to do a direct A/B, but I find that my Titan can get closer to the sound of my Walkabout than I recalled the M-Pulse or BB750 could.
 
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