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Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout 1x12 combo

draygriff

draygriff

Feb 13, 2013
369
469
71
Jacksonville, FL
#1
Has anyone gigged with a Walkabout Scout 1x12 combo? I just tried one at GC and was totally blown away. Is it just as loud in a 150 seat bar as it is in the store? Is that 12" speaker sturdy enough to handle a weekly Fri & Sat nite gig? I don't need a gut busting low end, I need clarity and definition and light weight. I'm too old for the big heavy stuff.
 
#4
I was thinking of trying one out too....I'm pretty unhappy with my GK MB212 combo. I love the power and tone it has but I've had it in the shop twice already and it's not even a year old. When I saw the Mesa Walkabout 1x12 combo, I wondered why it was so expensive but didn't have a chance to try it out. I noticed there is a Mesa Walkabout 1x15 combo too.
 
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#5
IMO/IME the 112 is not enough with a drummer unless he's playing brushes, if you don't have FOH. Add a 12 underneath or pull the head for use with a 410 and it's heavenly ;-)
The 15 is much louder but needs the bass dialled back to avoid boom, and is a pain to carry. Personally, I favor using the head with non-Mesa cabs, YMMV.
 
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#6
I have successfully gigged my WA 12 for 7 years. Sounds great and is a very portable gigging rig.

That being said (so you get how much I love my WA), I would say that it is only a 1x12 cab, and does have limits (like any 1x12 would). It really depends on how loud your gigs are. When I use mine most successfully, it's in rooms of about 100 or so, and the bands are not terribly loud (small kit drummer with good dynamics, guitarist with 15-25w amps who understand dynamics too .. etc etc).

As has already been said, when you get much bigger/louder than that, you really should consider more drivers and/or PA support for the WA 12. My own answer to that is to run my WA 12 with a Scout 12 ext cab. This 2 x 1x12 combo gets me into 200 seat venues comfortably .. again, as long as the rest of the band knows how to control stage volume.

After 7+ years of using the WA, I find that while I really love the sound and portability of the WA/Scout cabs with the WA amp, they do not have a huge upper volume range (this is possibly due to the small-ish cab dimensions and passive radiator design).

Lots of folks here have had great luck running the WA into bigger non Mesa cab rigs. I am looking at Bergantino options myself (NV215, NV610 and the up coming NV115 x2 ) for my larger cab needs. Seems as if the Berg cabs play real nice with the WA head.

good luck, If you get the WA, you will not be sorry, just be realistic about what any single 12" driver can deliver.
 
#7
Thanks from the bottom of my B string. Thinking of going to Bass Central in Fern Park, FL next week and check out what they have. The WA12 is still on my short list but I want to see what is out there and what's up with this Phil Jones bass stuff. Keep the thoughts going. I can use all the advise you have.
 
#8
Since 2010 I've used just a single WA combo at over 100 of my gigs. Many of those were rock or R&B, but I'm lucky to mostly work with drummers who have good volume control.

I find the 12" combo keeps up with gigs that a guitarist could cover with a Fender Deluxe. If your stages are louder than that, I'd recommend using the WA head with an efficient larger cabinet. The WA head is very capable of pushing larger cabs to SPLs well beyond what the WA combo cab can manage.
 
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#9
You can't go wrong with a Walkabout combo as the head can be popped out and used with other cabs if the combo cab isnt enough. the amp itself is simply the best sounding head I have ever used. It's not the loudest but it absolutely cranks with a larger 4 ohm cab and the tone is really amazing. You gotta try one!
 
#10
I've used my WA 12 in a fairly loud 5 piece country band the last few years. It will do the job by itself in smaller clubs (100 seats) but when I need more I'll pull the head out and stick it on top of an Ampeg SVT410HE cab. I usually DI out in any case so that I can bump the FOH volume a bit if needed without causing stage volume to get out of hand.

Dan
 
#13
"Loud enough"

This is -always- a trick question.
Loud enough for whom?
In what circumstances?
With what other players?

I had a standing gig every Friday for 3 years or so, to a 150 or so seat venue, with a 5 piece band of bass, guit, piano, drums, and sax.
It was always enough for that band, in that room, with those players. They were all older session guys like me, who had a great sense for listening to each other, and, didn't want to play terribly loud.
In the three piece blues band I was working in at the same time; no way it was enough, but, adding the Mesa 115 under it worked fine.

You've played it, you have a feel for what it'll do.

It's not Terribly Loud;
but,
adding another speaker, or, using it with a different, bigger 410 or something works well; and I gigged mine that way for many years.
 
#18
Gig one report:
Set the Scout on top of the Schoeder cab putting the control panel chest high. I figured I'd have to do a bit of tweaking see'n as how this was the first gig and I've only had the amp about 6 hours. I am using only the 12" speaker in the scout. The Schroeder cab is an amp stand at this point. I set all the controls at noon except the Master and DI level, they were off. My EBMM 5 string controls were set as follows; Vol Max, Treb, Mid, Bass set to center detent and the P.U. selector either at the #2 or #4 position. As I was bringing up the volume on the amp I noticed a nasty low freq room resonance. I cranked the lowest para EQ vol to about 3 o'clock and started sweeping the freq knob until the offending freq was found and then backed the vol knob off until the room resonance was gone. Prob solved in less time than it too to describe it. The master ended up at noon just like the gain and the gig was on. The bar had a capacity of about 250 and the place was full of bodies. The Scout's 12" filled the whole room with clean, full, articulate bass.

Interesting sidenote... Putting the control panel at chest level places the speaker at gut level. It was a very small stage and I was standing about a foot or two away from the amp. By the end of the night the low freq chest/gut pounding was making me sick. My head was spinning, my chest hurt and I was getting nauseous. Yes, Virginia, this little single 12" combo amp WILL make your liver quiver, literally.
 
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#19
It should be pointed out that noon on both the Gain and Master is probably near to all the headroom you will eek out of a Walkabout. For what its worth, I have used my 12" Walkabout combo by itself in a few different venues- but it is almost always being pushed near its capacity to be useable by itself. Through my Bergantino 6x10 my Walkabout has been loud enough for just about everything I've needed it for!
 
#20
great head
i use mine with 2 non-mesa 1 12 cabs run @ 4 ohms. all i need and gorgeous tone.
i have heard these heads thru different fridges (ampeg, mesa PH4 12) and the added coneage wakes it up
 

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