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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Mega-thread Pt. Tres

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#541
tombowlus said:
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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I continue to be a bit confused about the Titan (I've never played nor heard one). I had the BB750 for a very short while and just hated it... very mid grindy, compressed, etc. (which is the voicing they were going for... that kind of 'SVT cranked up' sort of thing. NOTHING like the Walkabout to me at all (which I had at the same time), and of course, almost opposite of the fat, warm, clean, bloomy, big MPulse600.

The Titan is supposed to be basically two BB750's in one box... however, all the tone descriptions of the Titan seem totally different from my experience with the punchy, grindy, gritty BB750.
 
#542
KJung said:
I continue to be a bit confused about the Titan (I've never played nor heard one). I had the BB750 for a very short while and just hated it... very mid grindy, compressed, etc. (which is the voicing they were going for... that kind of 'SVT cranked up' sort of thing. NOTHING like the Walkabout to me at all (which I had at the same time), and of course, almost opposite of the fat, warm, clean, bloomy, big MPulse600.

The Titan is supposed to be basically two BB750's in one box... however, all the tone descriptions of the Titan seem totally different from my experience with the punchy, grindy, gritty BB750.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I am not sure if they did anything different in the Titan (maybe the different output sections just sound that different?), or maybe I spent enough time with the Titan to be able to dial it in better than the BB750 (which, to be honest, I have not spent a ton of time with). I'm not sure. But I will say that after gigging with the Titan a couple of times, I have found a pretty wide range of usable tones.

To be fair, it's not as plug and play friendly as the Walkabout, and I do think that the Walkabout has some magic of its own. But for whatever reason, in my own personal experience, I've been able to get a more Walkabout like tone out of the Titan than any other M/B head.

I'm still bugging them to make an 800-watt Walkabout, though. :D :bassist: :bassist: :bassist: :cool:
 
#543
tombowlus said:
Yeah, I am not sure if they did anything different in the Titan (maybe the different output sections just sound that different?), or maybe I spent enough time with the Titan to be able to dial it in better than the BB750 (which, to be honest, I have not spent a ton of time with). I'm not sure. But I will say that after gigging with the Titan a couple of times, I have found a pretty wide range of usable tones.

To be fair, it's not as plug and play friendly as the Walkabout, and I do think that the Walkabout has some magic of its own. But for whatever reason, in my own personal experience, I've been able to get a more Walkabout like tone out of the Titan than any other M/B head.

I'm still bugging them to make an 800-watt Walkabout, though. :D :bassist: :bassist: :bassist: :cool:
Click to expand...

+1 As you know, when I bought my MPulse600 way back when, I was 'hoping' that I would be getting a louder Walkabout. Of course, that wasn't the case at all (although the 600 is great in its own way). That's also why I tried the BB750 when they were first released... god, I hated that head... NOTHING like the Walkabout at all.

If they could keep that Walkabout the same size, and just add a couple hundred more watts, that would be killer.
 
#545
KJung said:
NOTHING like the Walkabout at all.

QUOTE]

Gotta remember that the WA has a great versatile eq. IME the clean channel of the 750 has considerable overlap with what the WA can do. I A-Bed them side by side through the same cabs and was able to get my preferred WA tone from the 750, even if the overall voicings of the heads differ. I just found the extra ower of the 750 not that significant and not worth all the xtra weight and bulk. If they make the 800 watt WA my plastic is ready.
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#547
Hizzoner said:
Jordan..that WA head on top of your PH cab looks amazing....oh no...GAS..I may have to replace that baby sooner than later......loving the stingray for sure
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Yeah buddy! It looks stellar...I was going to change the grill out for a Mesa Vintage grill, but with your old WA and headcase on top, I really dig the look and I am not going to change a thing. Glad to hear you are loving the 'ray! Tried the mutes yet?
 
#549
No NV610, but with my HS410 it works great!

vmu4qu.jpg
 
#550
Just acquired this funky little number! so far, so good/unbelievable! (I hope the cabs are allowed in this thread!) I cant get over how deep this thing goes, my big rig consists of a 2x15 with this head so I wasnt expecting too much but i'm very pleasantly surprised! A little annoyed at the lack of Speakon connectors but you can't win em all...

For those of you with a scout cab, get valves!

TraceMesa.jpg
 
#551
I've had a Walkabout Scout 12" combo for a week now, got it used for a good price. It's the silver faced one with the knurled knobs. I've changed the valves today to the Tung-Sol and EH (cryo treated version) as suggested earlier in the thread and that's really done the trick for me, slightly more middy and breaks up a little later. It's not quite as warm as before but the difference is quite subtle.

Anyway, what can I say? I fell in love with these little beasts last year when I tried a bass through one in a shop - completely lost interest in the bass I went to look at and became fixated by the Boogie. I have a racked M6 Carbine that I have gigged all year through Berg AE210s (one or two depending on venue) but have been hankering after combo for ages. This thing delivers in spades and has the most personality of any amp I have ever used/owned/tried whatever. I can't believe how many sounds are in there and how well it responds to even the smallest tweak. I mainly play my Yamaha BB2024x and BB2025x and this amp seems perfectly matched to the high output passive P/J set up - it's instant classic rock goodness all the way home!

I play in a wedding covers band and in a classic rock covers band so quite how I'm going to spread usage of the M6 and this I don't know yet but I'm now thinking that for wedding gigs the Walkabout is ideal and there's no need to take the whole rig.

I haven't tried the Walkabout with the Bergs yet, the jack-speakon cable just came today so I think tomorrow I'll A/B the M6 and the Walkabout just to see what's what.

Great thread btw - some really useful tips!
 
#553
Tried these guys out on Friday with a cajun/jazz/Americana/roots reggae band at an outdoor show for ~4,000 people.....

I had been using just one of the WalkAbout heads when a couple of months ago I 'upgraded' to the TC RH450. The RH450 sounded great, but it is kinda tame and I longed for more watts. My solution was to re-wire the SWR bin so that each 15" Eminence Neo could be accessed separately (replaced the ¼" jacks with switching jacks and wired it so that the Speakon plug still connected to both drivers (if I want to use a single head) while the ¼" jacks defeated the Speakon and each served one 15).

All I can say is 'Holy Cow, Batman!'....It was on a big stage with a big PA, but the stage sound was HUGE with some SERIOUS low end (the H.F. horn in the SWR hasn't worked in years).....and I've never felt the bass vibrate the stage quite as much (I've played roots Reggae for over 30 years) yet retaining all of the nuance, sensitivity and dynamics whether playing fingerstyle or with a pick.

I was going to sell one of the WalkAbout's, but maybe the RH450 will be the one to go!

WABx2-1.jpg
 
#555
for my personal needs, the WA has proved to be plenty of amp, but I do recognize the potential demand for a 600w or 800w (!) WA.

Given what Mesa has given bass players a BB750 x 2 in the Titan V12 (I think that's correct), I don't see why they couldn't do a mega Walkabout V12 (Colossus, Runabout etc.?) by combining 2 Walkabout preamp sections into a larger format Walkabout power section.

Any thoughts as to whether there are technical limitations that might stop Mesa from doing this ?
 
#559
Krügmeister;9531961 said:
Like Tom stated earlier I am able to copy the WA sound on my Titan quite easily.
Click to expand...

That was my experience with the 750 as well, but Kjung's post underlines that copping "the WA tone" depends on what one's own WA tone is. I think we'd all dig an uber WA that looks like a WA in terms of eq section and has twice the electron flow. I've toyed with the Titan idea but in the end, the size and weight are not a form factor I'm after, and neither is the 750.
 
#560
I sold off my Big Block last week as it was not getting much love now that I have a Carbine and Walkabout in the house. The Walkabout flat out sounds better then the Big Block to my ears.
 
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