I see. After your experimentation, what was the best tube you found? I'm particularly looking for a louder cleaner sound.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Mesa M-2000
- Thread starter Dee Wurthy
- Start date
Ahhhha...Pictures of this beautiful head.
----------------------
Yes I know...All M-2000s look the same, but there is something special about mine!
----------------------
Yes I know...All M-2000s look the same, but there is something special about mine!
I have one as well, and I love it. I use Ampeg classic series cabs. I have a 2x10 and 1x15. Playing my Warwick through my rig rocks! Love the sound, and my bandmates still mention how much they love sound, and I have had it for 6 months!
Someone mentioned the screws. Yes there are alot of screws that have to come out in order to change the tubes. And they are a royal pain. I actually stripped two trying to get them out. So unscrew carefully.
Someone mentioned the screws. Yes there are alot of screws that have to come out in order to change the tubes. And they are a royal pain. I actually stripped two trying to get them out. So unscrew carefully.
So how do I go about changing tubes? I have not had the pleasure.
Just unscrew the case take out the tubes and plug in the new ones?
It sounds very simple, and I am sure that there is a good possibility that there is more to it.
Any other regular maintanance that I should be giving it?
Just unscrew the case take out the tubes and plug in the new ones?
It sounds very simple, and I am sure that there is a good possibility that there is more to it.
Any other regular maintanance that I should be giving it?
Benjamin Strange
Commercial User
- Dec 25, 2002
- 9,737
- 310
- 49
- Disclosures
- Owner / Tech: Strange Guitarworks
Now there's something I love about the M-2000. (BACK OFF you hosers, this ain't going where you think it is!) I just love the front panel layout ... all those little knobs, faders, switches. It is the bitchenest looking amp on earth. However, after an hour of futzing with it in the store, I could not, could not find a single useable tone. It might've been that sucky Mesa cab or whatever, but frankly, I had better luck with the 400+. Nossir, there is no Mesa amp in my future, unless I need a bitchen-looking doorstop.
It's all good for ME! I happen to love the tone that comes out of MY amp. It just so happens that it perfectly matches MY ideal amp tone for MY style of music. And I'm discussing it in MY thread and talking about how I just spent a crap load of MY money on it! I don't need any wimpy, pretty, smooth sounding Eden junk!
I have the trash-compacting, kick you in the nuts, slap your grandmother metallic tone of Mesa!
Hehe...Ok, that was fake anger...Fun to pretend though. Everyone has their preference.
Ok...this kills me. I must >cringe< conccur with the 'Bunga on this one. All those gigs...rehearsals...differnt cabs combo's; I never really _did_ nail "that" one true sound. The irony (for me at least) was that I gleefully traded my fresh 400+ (recently re-tubed and soundin' smokin'!!) for the new-fangle3d swiss army knive. Now I play an F-1X w/a bass, mid +treble. Guess what? It sounds far richer, wider, deeper and more dynamic than my old M2000 ever did. I remember being somewhat hyped in the beginning when I was deep into punk rock and fusion. Sounded RETCHED with Eden cabs tho', sorry. Anyhoo...the Ale,mbic preamp sounds more like my sorely missed 400+ than I could have hoped for so all is good.
Is there spell check in this forum...I can't see a damn thing where i anm(!)
Yes, I was aware of many peoples experiences with the M-2000 (including yours, and yours) before I made the purchase. Although I know it does not do many things well, it does what I want it to do well....It's nothing that can be explained....You know, it's that sound you like a lot.
Just like everyone else in the world, if that ever changes, then its time to trade it in for the next sound you like.
Eh, I'm young and full of Heavy Metal...I don't see that changing soon, so I need this sound. I'm in a bit of a minority of preference. I dont like old-timer rock (Ampeg) or R&B/Anything Else (Eden)...I like new angry Metal (Mesa)....So you can't change my mind! Let me do that by myself someday far from now....(Everything gets old after a while, including your bass tone.)
Just like everyone else in the world, if that ever changes, then its time to trade it in for the next sound you like.
Eh, I'm young and full of Heavy Metal...I don't see that changing soon, so I need this sound. I'm in a bit of a minority of preference. I dont like old-timer rock (Ampeg) or R&B/Anything Else (Eden)...I like new angry Metal (Mesa)....So you can't change my mind! Let me do that by myself someday far from now....(Everything gets old after a while, including your bass tone.)
Benjamin Strange
Commercial User
- Dec 25, 2002
- 9,737
- 310
- 49
- Disclosures
- Owner / Tech: Strange Guitarworks
I've never had any problems nailing a bunch of different tones out of my M2000. That being said, I barely touch the graphic EQs. It's pretty easy with this amp to get into to much EQing, and killing any tone you could have had. I personally have a hard time finding a good tone with an Eden with those quasi-parametric EQ thingies - I don't really care much for the new Mesa's EQs either.
A wise man once said, "For every EQ there is a fool to use it."
A wise man once said, "For every EQ there is a fool to use it."
well, perfect then! That head is just the ticket for that hard-hitting style. Blending the two preamps is not a bad idea either. It's tricky...many gain levels to consider. I ran a DBX 120XP in the loop of mine to widen up the sound and it stayed crisp and punchy.
Interesting side note: I had spent a fair deal of time on the phone with those folks and always walked away with some sort of nugget or new idea. They told me how to piggy0back a resistor on the 50hz slider to cut it down to 25hz, what i needed for the deep fingerstyle stuff. They admitted fairly quick that the amp was more suited to themore "aggressive" styles and was tweaked for a very quick response.
Enjoy.
Hmmmm...I've never had a problem getting a sound out of either of mine. Pretty much any sound you want is in there somewhere, you just have to spend the time to find it. I can see where it would drive a plug-and-play type player absolutely bats.
One of the reasons I've played these things for so many years is that you CAN dissect your tone. Also, setting it up to function as 3 seperate preamps is a great feature. I can dial in the exact tone I want for each preamp. Mine is set like this:
FET side for finger-style (big bottom, punchy mids, comp to control low end)
TUBE side for slap (scooped mids, bright switch for highs, comp set to tame high spikes)
MIX mode: Adds a Boss VF-1 into the signal path, via the selectable effects loop. The VF-1 is out of the circuit until I select "Mix", so there is no degradation in my uneffected sound. Pretty cool.
One of the reasons I've played these things for so many years is that you CAN dissect your tone. Also, setting it up to function as 3 seperate preamps is a great feature. I can dial in the exact tone I want for each preamp. Mine is set like this:
FET side for finger-style (big bottom, punchy mids, comp to control low end)
TUBE side for slap (scooped mids, bright switch for highs, comp set to tame high spikes)
MIX mode: Adds a Boss VF-1 into the signal path, via the selectable effects loop. The VF-1 is out of the circuit until I select "Mix", so there is no degradation in my uneffected sound. Pretty cool.
So far, Ive found the FET side better for low, low slap with scooped mids. For that metal slap sound. Mixed for the more average slap, and Tube for fingerstyle. That may change with experience with this head though.
Well I be a knob twiddlin' fool! I love options andflexibility up the yin yang but the bottom line on that ol' M-20000 of mine is that it never sounded full or wide enough for me WITH OUT having to fall back on the graphic. I shouldn't have to even touch that thing save for venue/room acoustics and all. If a preamp doesn't start off sounding sweet from the get-go.....anyhoo, the new M-pulse line was produced _specifically_ to address those issues but left out some of those super-nifty m2000 treats like that freq-dependant compressor and rack function switches. My Alembic F-1X blows the Mesa outta the water i am afraid to say.
I of course give my respect to the Twiddle King!!
But it kinda depends on on how you look at it, huh? I like the fact that the passive BMT controls work subtly. Lets you make minute changes easier IMHO. I've never had a problem with either of mine sounding full, though. Maybe you had a bad one or something? I mean, I like the FX-1 too, but I wouldn't say it blows the M-2000 out of the water....Purer sounding yes (because there's not a lot in the signal path), but it's a bit of a one trick pony as opposed to the M-2000....YMMV of course
Off topic a bit...I heard Mesa is discontinuing the M-Pulse line?
But it kinda depends on on how you look at it, huh? I like the fact that the passive BMT controls work subtly. Lets you make minute changes easier IMHO. I've never had a problem with either of mine sounding full, though. Maybe you had a bad one or something? I mean, I like the FX-1 too, but I wouldn't say it blows the M-2000 out of the water....Purer sounding yes (because there's not a lot in the signal path), but it's a bit of a one trick pony as opposed to the M-2000....YMMV of course
Off topic a bit...I heard Mesa is discontinuing the M-Pulse line?
Bottom line I 'spose is that metalheads are easily impressed....KIDDING! Naw, the M2000 was designed with transient response and a sharp attack in mind. The M-Pulse line was introduced for the players like me who complained enough that the amp didn't sound like our old 400+'s (duh.) In contrast, the new amps are much deeper and have a tad more 'snarl I'd say.
My point on the preamp comparison was just that while both feature passive rotary knobs (cool) the Mesa really needs the graphic as well to hold it's own; not so w/the Alembic. Too bad.
My point on the preamp comparison was just that while both feature passive rotary knobs (cool) the Mesa really needs the graphic as well to hold it's own; not so w/the Alembic. Too bad.
Agreed! The passive controls on the M-2000 kind of suck by themselves.... but I guess we're really comparing apples and oranges here?
Hey Tritone ~ my sister lives in Santee ... I grew up in Lakeside (slightly more sophisticated than Santee). Are you the guy that was selling that old SansAmp Bass DI about 8 or 9 years ago? I notice we have some similar basses.
Sorry about YOUR thread, Dee. You are a funny guy, though (unless, of course, you are a chick).
Invalid Link Removed
Sorry about YOUR thread, Dee. You are a funny guy, though (unless, of course, you are a chick).
Invalid Link Removed
