Mesa Boogie Walkabout Part 6

[MarkusBass]

What do long plates do for you?

 

[MuthaFunk]

Long plates should be fine in the WA. Although, I'll admit, I can't see why the long plates would be any more susceptible to microphonics over standard plates. As far as I know, microphonics are typically caused by minor vacuum leakage and the ingress of oxygen into the tube. I'm by far not an authority on the topic though...

 

[Chef]

I don't know that they do anything specific, in general.
I have JJ long plates in mine now because I like how they stay cleaner a bit longer, but, I can't say that this is a long plate specific trait...

 

[MarkusBass]

Ah...gotcha. Thanks Alan!

 

[rodl2005]

I took Chef's advice & put jj long plates in my WA & have now A/B'd it with my newer WA that has the original tubes.
The one with the jj's seems to have more clean headroom & a smoother overdrive also

 

[Chef]

That was my experience....except I wasn't in Tasmania.

 

[rodl2005]

Ya, things work upside down here

 

[BillyB_from_LZ]

Ya, things work upside down here

It's all relative, perhaps things work upside down in the Northern Hemisphere... One thing I know for sure is that things sure seem to be moving backwards here!

 

[rodl2005]

I WAS joking....... Hence the sign
I still think we're moving forwards myself.

 

[BillyB_from_LZ]

I WAS joking....... Hence the sign
I still think we're moving forwards myself.

Yes, I knew that you were joking. By "here" (in the moving backward comment) I meant in the US.

/offtopic

 

[rodl2005]

Yeah, thought so, but sometimes ppl on these forums make an argument outta nuthin' so I wanted to reiterate
Back o.t.-
Anyone use their WA with a single 15" driver cab (tweeter allowed [if turned down] )
Just wondering what single 15"s sound nicest with the WA?
Apart from the Scout 15" cab.

 

[Chef]

I had two diesels, loaded with Em 3015 (non LF); and that sounded great, even with just one...

 

[Limeman]

I took Chef's advice & put jj long plates in my WA & have now A/B'd it with my newer WA that has the original tubes.
The one with the jj's seems to have more clean headroom & a smoother overdrive also

I agree with this as well. I put some Sovtek long plates into my WA and found the exact same thing: The ability to push the gain higher before breakup, and then much smoother after that. I was able to dial in some really great OD tones with those tubes. I would have kept them in, but in my case unfortunately, the Sovtek LPs proved terribly micro-phonic. Maybe I should try the JJs?

 

[rodl2005]

I just spent a cuppla hrs A/B-ing my 2 WA heads into 2 cabs.
1, a Mark Bass STD115HR(with the horn taken out of the 'loop'.
2, Bergantino AE212
Was doing this for fun mainly- no-one else home & I could crank the volume
One WA has the JJ long plate tubes & is an older 2 input (active & passive) model, the other has the one input & the toggle switch. Both silver faces.
Both sounded GREAT! I'm not one to describe bass tones in lavish terms, but what I stated above (as Chef 1st noted) is certainly true.
More clean headroom (not a lot, but definate) & smoother overdrive with the JJ long plate tubes.
The stock tubes in the newer model still sound nice, but the JJ's just seem sweeter & a less farty overdrive, more a gutsy grind.
As I said, no flowery terms, I just can't seem to elaborate in that manner. Sorry.
Wow, it (the WA) sounds great into a 1x15". Love it into the AE212 too, but that 15" round sound sounds like BIG OL' bass from my youth-playing all tube babies!
Great amp!

 

[tsunami1052]

NEW HOME PRACTICE RIG:

Every time I venture on to talkbass I spend money - shame on you people for feeding my gear addiction!

Just put in a Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 in the V1 and a JJ ECC803 in the V2. I will give it a good work-out when I am done with my house work.

P.S. The RH450 is staying at the practice space. First time walkabout owner & I LOVE IT!

 

[BillyB_from_LZ]

NEW HOME PRACTICE RIG:

Every time I venture on to talkbass I spend money - shame on you people for feeding my gear addiction!

...

Spiffy!

About spending money, I hear you!!! When someone makes their first post on TalkBass, I often welcome them and advise them to hide their credit cards!

I'm afraid to actually make a list of all of the gear I've bought and sold since I became involved with (first The Bottom Line and now) TalkBass...

 

[RickenBoogie]

It's partly the fault of TalkBass, partly because there's just so much great gear available, and partly a disease which has NO CURE. Nice practice rig, just the same.

 

[tsunami1052]

Saved up 3 months of overtime and pay from a part-time gig to pay for it. Got it used for $525 with 2 years of warrenty left. Happer than a pig in you know what.

 

[Chef]

Way to go!
Working for your gear is the best, I think.

 

[tsunami1052]

VERY UNSCIENTIFIC TEST - tube rolling in my new (used) mesa walkabout. Clip 1-9 has background noise from the walkabout fan -the digital recorder picked up. Clips are very basic - just to see if I could hear the difference in tubes in the V1 position. RCA is a 7025 - I said 725 in the clip. This was just for fun so go easy on my poor playing and sound quality. #10 is the RH450.

DR000057 walkabout by tsunami1052 on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free


P.S. Very low volume and Mid Control was set @ 12:00 - 10:00 is flat.