Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout Bass Combo

I will come Christmas. I'm going to have one made in a bubinga cabinet with a brown grill.

Which one did you try, the 12" or the 15"? How does it compare to the Ampeg Portabass stuff?

 

I have the Walkabout head and a bunch of cabs, but being the obsessed gear freak that I am, I considering picking up a Scout cab to go with it. Of course, I'd like to audition some first, but haven't had a chance to. Which cab bottom did you get to audition? Were you able to compare it to anything else?

Tom.

 

Cool. The 12" would probably be the one I am most interested in.

Tom.

 

wow! these are really OUT IN THE SHOPS (cool)

Mesa never returns my emails, and our local dealer doesnt have a clue.

I really want to know a few things about these combos!

fer instance, the web site doesnt post this critical info:

Weight - 12 & 15 combo

dimensions - 12 & 15 combo

Low end response (-3dB) of cabinet - 12 & 15 combo.

MAX SPL @ 1M @ rated distortion spec, all controls set flat, pink noise input

IF anybody lives near Mesa-Boogie, and can call and quiz them (or has a very accomodating and hip dealer) i would love to find out this info

thanx!

 

and yet another amp gets swallowed by the "wall o' doom"...

 

It really has become and unstoppable force (or at least addiction). My most recent addition was an EA CX-310. It almost makes me want two of them! Much more high end than the VL-210 or VL-208.

Luckily, I store all these cabs in the basement, to alleviate floor stress!

Tom.

 

how much does the whole 12" combo weigh?

 

I picked one up. My guess is about 30-35 lbs.

 

Has anyone developed more thoughts on the Walkabout? I'm narrowing my search down:

Walkabout
Eden 330/400
GK 700RB

My sane thoughts are: anyone of those will make me happy.

My midwestern OCD pragmatist thoughts are: which one is better? which one is the best value.

Argh...

 

If you do a search on this forum, you should find a ton of feedback concerning the Walkabout. Heck, just do a search on my name, and you'll probably get more than you want to read.

I have been really happy with mine. I normally use it for my mini rig, which is usually my Epifani T-112 and T-110UL cabs. But I also use it for practice with one of my bands. We have a dedicated rehearsal space to use, so I leave a couple of cabs over there and just haul a bass and my Walkabout gig bag to and from practice. Very convenient. The cabs I use there are a Peavey 1820 cab and a Mesa Boogie Powerhouse Jr. (the older cab with 1x12 and 4x8 plus horn). That little Walkabout looks hilarious sitting atop those big cabs, but it powers them just fine.

I like Eden stuff, too, but I'd take the Walkabout over the Eden Time Traveler head or the WT-400. However, the WT-550 has enough extra juice above and beyond the Walkabout's 300w @ 4 Ohm to make it attractive. I have tried GK heads in the past (and wasn't too thrilled), but I have not tried their new stuff, and a lot of guys like it.

Happy hunting, Tom.

 

What does the 12 incher sell for? I may also be intrested in one. Thanks

Steve

 

I think they are $999.

 

That would not be too bad of a price since the head sells for $800. Would there be a difference in sound between the scout and just a walkabout and a 12 inch cab? Thanks for the reply

Steve

 

Depends on the cab. The scout you can convert to a head with a screwdriver though.

 

I'm going to head over to the Long Island City Guitar Center (pray for me) and check one out tonight.

Here's a question I should know the answer to: The scout comes with a 12 or 15" 4 ohm speaker. If you add another speaker, I'm assuming you add an 8 ohm speaker right?

Tom, you mentioned some overheating when driving an single 8 ohm speaker with the walkabout head, can i assume that wouldn't be a problem with a single 4 ohm speaker?

If the Scout is really $999, that pricing is hard to argue with. My only concern would be the speaker. I did search the forum and found one negative comment on its relative loudness.

One more question: I read about some quirkiness with the direct out. Something about the level being impacted by the level of the Master gain. Anyone know anything? The manual from the Mesa site doesn't mention it.

Thanks all...

By the by, this is a nice forum. Sooo much better than that car wreck at Harmony-Central.

 

Yup. I had only brought along my T-110UL, and I was competing with drums and two guitars. In order to be heard, I had to crank both the Gain and Master to about 75%. After an hour or so, I put my hand on the unit and noticed a good deal of heat blowing out of it from the fan. It never approached thermal shutdown or anything, it's just that I had never even felt it warm up before. So, I took one of our old homemade bass bins (1x15, 8 ohm) and plugged it in along with the T-110UL, backed off on the Gain, and it cooled down very quickly while putting out the same or more volume.

This would lead me to suspect that the Walkabout is more heat sensitive related to total gain as opposed to total load. Of course, cranking both gain knobs with a 4 ohm load probably would have caused to heat up even more.

Does anyone know if the Scout box is the same size in either 12 or 15 flavors, or is the 15 box larger than the 12? And for that matter, has anyone found out if you can buy just the speaker and box and not the head?

Tom.

 

Mesa will be selling the cab separately. The combo comes in either 4 or 8 ohm configs, so you can use the 8 ohm version with an extension cab.

I'm sure the 15" will be in a bigger box. The 12" was pretty small.

 

Cool. Thanks for the info.

Tom.