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Mesa M6 Carbine Mega Thread part 3:
- Thread starter Thor
- Start date
anyone running an M6 with a Subway 212? Got rid of my D-800 for an M6. Haven’t gotten it yet but am excited to try it out. I got out of rack gear for a long while but am starting up a new project that needs a rack and I figured it’d be a good opportunity to try another rack head.
Al Kraft
Supporting Member
- May 2, 2016
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- Mesa Boogie beta product tester and player support
Not the 212, but I did try my M6 with the 112/115 for someone else who wanted to know how it worked. I had previously used my PH410 and/or one or two PH212 cabs with my Carbines.
All the Carbines sound fine through the SW cabs to my ear. If anything, compared to the PH 212 cabs (my favorite of the PH line), the SW cabs have a refined character that helps tame the occasionally brash/aggressive presentation of the Carbine. From what I know of the SW112 I would expect the SW212 to be a little less full in the deep lows than the PH212, similar in the mids (although smoother), and a little more polite in the upper register.
Carbine through a Subway 115 and 112 here as well.
It's a great sounding combo, and agree with @Al Kraft, the Subway Cabs more "civilized" tone profile helps keep the Carbines from getting to overly gnarly/harsh.
Still plenty of gut punch to spare though.
It's a great sounding combo, and agree with @Al Kraft, the Subway Cabs more "civilized" tone profile helps keep the Carbines from getting to overly gnarly/harsh.
Still plenty of gut punch to spare though.
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Carbines are something special.
Great weapons of mass destruction! LOL
I just picked up a TT-800 as well, and it is also an incredible head. Way lighter and more flexible than the Carbines, but Carbine still has a slight edge with their trademark tightness and immediacy, if that aggressive explosive kick is what you are after.
Great weapons of mass destruction! LOL
I just picked up a TT-800 as well, and it is also an incredible head. Way lighter and more flexible than the Carbines, but Carbine still has a slight edge with their trademark tightness and immediacy, if that aggressive explosive kick is what you are after.
Al Kraft
Supporting Member
- May 2, 2016
- 10,767
- 40,429
- Disclosures
- Mesa Boogie beta product tester and player support
I have two Warwicks and an EBMM Sterling...they all sound great through the Carbines and any Mesa cab! Prior to moving to mainly playing Mesa SW heads I used Carbines and GK MBs all the time for rock and country. When I needed a more polite sound and/or less firepower the Mesa Walkabout was my "go to" amp.
Nice! I’ve loved my Subway 212. The D-800 was alright. Nothing amazing but hard to beat the form factor. I think I’ll be much more pleased with the M6.
Al Kraft
Supporting Member
- May 2, 2016
- 10,767
- 40,429
- Disclosures
- Mesa Boogie beta product tester and player support
I have a D-800 and it's much more subdued to my ear than a Carbine - not nearly as "in your face" capable in the upper mids and top end. The D-800 sort of feels like a polite blend of 60% Carbine, 25% Walkabout, and 15% other/new voicing.
Running my M6 through a Darkglass 212 and that sounds amazing. I wanted to grab Subway 212, but financing a DG cab was easier and I'm not disappointed at all.
- Feb 12, 2006
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- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
I have a D-800 and it's much more subdued to my ear than a Carbine - not nearly as "in your face" capable in the upper mids and top end. The D-800 sort of feels like a polite blend of 60% Carbine, 25% Walkabout, and 15% other/new voicing.
The D-800+ gets a little bit closer to the carbine family with the "BRIGHT" switch plus a little bit more aggressive native voicing and the ability to eq in the more aggressive range.
This is why I love my D-800+
Nothing sounds like my M6 but the D-800+ comes darn close. I used to play an M6 > PH212, the past few years it's been D-800+ > SW115/SW210 and I've been very happy with it.
All this M6 talk has me thinking of using it this Saturday for the first time in a few years! M6 > SW115/SW210 would probably be awesome.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 60,951
- 5
- 220,594
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
It was addressed this way because the players that did not get along with the Carbines were quite vocal in asking for what the D-800 brings to the table.
The Carbine has an aggressiveness that's hard to work around if that's not the native voice the player is looking for. It's very much a purpose built amp for the hard rock/metal market, and for that application i's hard to beat.
Well, thanks to TB I had to do it - I brought my old buddy with me last night. It's been a couple of years since I used it last, as I suspected it sounded great through my cabs. I may get the D-800+ pre just to have the HPF and para EQ the next time I pull this one out. The sound was glorious M6 as usual, and it looks so pretty
The master is up pretty high but I keep the volume on my bass no higher than 1/4 open and play lightly, I'd probably break things in the room if I turned up half way :-D
(Yes, that's my D-800+ on top. I was going to use it as a preamp but changed my mind).
The master is up pretty high but I keep the volume on my bass no higher than 1/4 open and play lightly, I'd probably break things in the room if I turned up half way :-D
(Yes, that's my D-800+ on top. I was going to use it as a preamp but changed my mind).
So what's the difference from turning your bass on 10 and turning down the master to what volume you want?Well, thanks to TB I had to do it - I brought my old buddy with me last night. It's been a couple of years since I used it last, as I suspected it sounded great through my cabs. I may get the D-800+ pre just to have the HPF and para EQ the next time I pull this one out. The sound was glorious M6 as usual, and it looks so pretty
The master is up pretty high but I keep the volume on my bass no higher than 1/4 open and play lightly, I'd probably break things in the room if I turned up half way :-D
(Yes, that's my D-800+ on top. I was going to use it as a preamp but changed my mind).
View attachment 4510479
View attachment 4510480
Looking real clean. How was the gig? I bought a 2U SKB rack bag off the classifieds here for the M6. I got to play with the M6 for just a bit after it first arrived. Wasn't sure about the tone at first but I quickly realized it'd been almost 6 months since I had played an amp through a cab and it was my D-800 through my S212. I've been used to the tone with amp sims I've crafted on GarageBand.Well, thanks to TB I had to do it - I brought my old buddy with me last night. It's been a couple of years since I used it last, as I suspected it sounded great through my cabs. I may get the D-800+ pre just to have the HPF and para EQ the next time I pull this one out. The sound was glorious M6 as usual, and it looks so pretty
The master is up pretty high but I keep the volume on my bass no higher than 1/4 open and play lightly, I'd probably break things in the room if I turned up half way :-D
(Yes, that's my D-800+ on top. I was going to use it as a preamp but changed my mind).
View attachment 4510479
View attachment 4510480
Has anyone bought the rack handles for their M6? I got the rack handles and had a strange time getting them installed. The top screw went in just fine but on the bottom hole, the edge of the hole is slightly obstructed by the chassis making it really difficult to get the screw head in. I eventually got it in after I kept tightening as it sort of "snapped" in but it left a little scratch. I was wondering if I'm supposed to take the face plate off in order to secure the handles first but I would have to undo the nut on the switches and input jack and I noticed those are recessed which would be another challenge in and of itself...
Maximum clean headroom. I can also play as lightly as I'd like at the right volume and I have the flexibility to make any temporary volume changes (which I do throughout a gig) without walking back to my amp. It's also very handy for dropping Phil bombs, a momentary slight bump in volume if needed and then back to normal, or a momentary volume swell to make pants flap
I play an active bass with a pick and also fingers (I'll tuck the pick in my hand and switch back and forth during songs), when I switch to fingers I usually change one pickup's series/parallel switch, bump the bass slightly and turn up the volume a little bit. I can do this in a couple of seconds without having to move.
Maximum clean headroom. I can also play as lightly as I'd like at the right volume and I have the flexibility to make any temporary volume changes (which I do throughout a gig) without walking back to my amp. It's also very handy for dropping Phil bombs, a momentary slight bump in volume if needed and then back to normal, or a momentary volume swell to make pants flap
I play an active bass with a pick and also fingers (I'll tuck the pick in my hand and switch back and forth during songs), when I switch to fingers I usually change one pickup's series/parallel switch, bump the bass slightly and turn up the volume a little bit. I can do this in a couple of seconds without having to move.
makes sense. I use a spark peddle to get the bump. I also play lightly - moreso when using IEM. So, I can also bear down to cover some crescendo's, etc. guess it's just how you do what do to get there. thanks for the explanation.
