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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Part 6
- Thread starter BassyBill
- Start date
- Status
The Walkabout gets really loud through a big cabinet- unlike many other solid state amps, turning the WA up tends to add more and more midrange and compression via the driver tube, both of which give the impression of a whole lotta volume (much like an all tube amp, except that clipping the Walkabout's solid state power amp still sounds like death once you do hit its limit whereas an SVT will sound better and better to a point beyond it's clean headroom limit).
Head alone. Initially will run it with an old EV TL plus a Hartke 2x10, looking for a second TL on ebay (they are cheap and reliable) then will research some good 12s. Open to recommendations. Blues, jazz, older rock and roll...old school kind of sound. Main basses are a P, a Rick, Ibanez Musician and a ply upright with realist pickup (and I need to work on the upright sound generally, I hate it now!)
Oh man, you'll love it! I love it with my carved upright & don't really need the Fishman Plat + pre amp. But I take it when I'm doubling on elec bass.
Good cabs those EV's , the 210 will probly sound good by itself too. But yep, 2 EV 15"s
Good cabs those EV's , the 210 will probly sound good by itself too. But yep, 2 EV 15"s
Oh man, you'll love it! I love it with my carved upright & don't really need the Fishman Plat + pre amp. But I take it when I'm doubling on elec bass.
Good cabs those EV's , the 210 will probly sound good by itself too. But yep, 2 EV 15"s
You take a carved upright into pubs??????
Mine goes nowhere near anything like that...doesn't even have a pickup so i can't be tempted!!
Actually, let me reword that as a question.
I have two uprights...an expensive French carved I use for orchestral and a cheap Chinese ply with realist pickup I use for jazz, blues, and any gig where I am concerned for the safety of the instrument.
The Chinese ply was my first upright but I saw several advantages to keeping it:
- Ply is tougher
- Ply holds tune better in extreme climactic conditions
- I like a different setup for arco to pizz
- The carved instrument is expensive and fragile, and some stupid drunk crashing into it could easily do thousands of dollars damage.
Now, obviously tone is a tradeoff here
But on the other hand, the carved bass is incredibly resonant and that's great for unamplified but would probably be a feedback nightmare.How do you manage the risk of a carved bass in some settings. Be selective about gigs? Use a cheap carved bass? ....etc?
fingerbun said:Actually, let me reword that as a question.
I have two uprights...an expensive French carved I use for orchestral and a cheap Chinese ply with realist pickup I use for jazz, blues, and any gig where I am concerned for the safety of the instrument.
The Chinese ply was my first upright but I saw several advantages to keeping it:
[*]Ply is tougher
[*]Ply holds tune better in extreme climactic conditions
[*]I like a different setup for arco to pizz
[*]The carved instrument is expensive and fragile, and some stupid drunk crashing into it could easily do thousands of dollars damage.
Now, obviously tone is a tradeoff here
How do you manage the risk of a carved bass in some settings. Be selective about gigs? Use a cheap carved bass? ....etc?
Ya I know, but I only have the one upright & choice here was/is limited, I got a good deal etc.
The band I use it in does mostly pretty laid back pub gigs & lots of weddings & corporate gigs, so far, no probs.
Feedback can be an issue, but the Fishman Plat.+ pre does me well.
Chef
In Memoriam
I only have one DB; and it's hybrid.
Feedback...yeah, it's problematic sometimes.
Fixing it so variable filled anything I say would likely be useless to you. Different bass, different strings, different preamp, pickup, etc.
One thing the WA does well with it's semi para eq is let you dial out three bands worth of problems.
Feedback...yeah, it's problematic sometimes.
Fixing it so variable filled anything I say would likely be useless to you. Different bass, different strings, different preamp, pickup, etc.
One thing the WA does well with it's semi para eq is let you dial out three bands worth of problems.
Actually, let me reword that as a question.
I have two uprights...an expensive French carved I use for orchestral and a cheap Chinese ply with realist pickup I use for jazz, blues, and any gig where I am concerned for the safety of the instrument.
The Chinese ply was my first upright but I saw several advantages to keeping it:
- Ply is tougher
- Ply holds tune better in extreme climactic conditions
- I like a different setup for arco to pizz
- The carved instrument is expensive and fragile, and some stupid drunk crashing into it could easily do thousands of dollars damage.
Now, obviously tone is a tradeoff here
How do you manage the risk of a carved bass in some settings. Be selective about gigs? Use a cheap carved bass? ....etc?
Is there any way to characterize the 2 tube positions in terms of what they do, or do they both have pretty much equivalent impact on clean headroom, type of breakup and tone, etc? I know 1 drives the power MOSFETS and the other the pre, just wondering if 1 or the other might have more influence on clean headroom.
My guess would be the tube associated with the pre contributes to most headroom/breakup/tone. The tube associated with the MOSFETS give the amp that extra special magic.
One way to check is compare the tone with the gain all the way up and the master down vs. the gain down and the master all the way up. Which way has more breakup?
Chef
In Memoriam
Master all the way up, and input gain down will be muuuuuuch cleaner than input gain maxed, and master way down.
I get that, but am interested in a way to try and compare how different tubes affect EACH of the 2 positions separately
Chef
In Memoriam
Pop the top and get to work then
She's been in convertible mode all week....awaiting a few other tubes.....will report back.......
Chef
In Memoriam
Must be nice weather there...
Up here, the way I see it, if I'm not wearing gloves, then it's gorgeous outside
Currently 39F and rainy.- Status
