Mesa M6 Carbine Mega Thread part 3:

[Chef]

upright is a small part of my workload...

I think it's a big enough change to make a difference. The "quickness" of the M6 is great, but I really love the "smear" that happens with the gain at higher settings...the amp is too sterile for me to have the gain any lower!
I would imagine with the quicker decay of an upright, it might be harder to hear a difference in a band setting? I haven't tried upright with the M6 yet...don't play amplified often at all.

 

[drasticDUB]

upright is a small part of my workload...

Does that mean you don't miss the grit from higher gain settings while playing electric?

 

[Chef]

I guess mine M6 and M9 must be different than yours, because I sure don't get grit/grind/overdive with mine when the input is at 1 or 2 oclock.
Just big fat and clean.

The walkabout is a whole different deal at that input gain...

 

[drasticDUB]

I guess mine M6 and M9 must be different than yours, because I sure don't get grit/grind/overdive with mine when the input is at 1 or 2 oclock.

guess so.

 

[Matt Dean]

I guess mine M6 and M9 must be different than yours, because I sure don't get grit/grind/overdive with mine when the input is at 1 or 2 oclock.
Just big fat and clean.

This is what I get at 1-2... which is where I've been setting my gain (1:30)

 

[Chef]

plz clarify:
at that setting you get "still clean" or "gritty"

 

[lomo]

My M9 started to get some nice overtones and mild breakup with gain near 2 o'clock with a passive but pretty hot bass. Not dirt, but maybe a little grime

 

[drasticDUB]

for me its mild breakup...starting around 1pm on the gain. Not rock overdrive, but more of an old school R&B wool.

 

[CElton]

I guess mine M6 and M9 must be different than yours, because I sure don't get grit/grind/overdive with mine when the input is at 1 or 2 oclock.
Just big fat and clean.

The walkabout is a whole different deal at that input gain...

+1...Mesa and other brands have models for grind/grit/overdrive. My M6 is just big, fat and warm. My gain is usually somewhere between noon and 1:30. Active/Passive always set to Passive. EQ to taste.

 

[Matt Dean]

I've decided that the best way for me to get dirt in my tone is to use either an C-Bread SFT or Xotic Bass BB in the signal chain and run that through a warm but clean amp (hence the M6).

 

[Vic]

I've found that if you have a particularly hot bass (or I guess input signal... maybe via inline preamp/booster), you can push an Mx head into at least a crunch tone. I found this by messing around with the bridge pickup on a bass and boosting bass and mids even further (just experimenting). Thing is, it was kind of a cool sound. I generally go for clean/pure though, otherwise I probably would have opted for a BB750 or something instead, but FWIW anyway.

 

[scowboy]

So what is a used near mint condition M6 worth?

Feel free to PM me. I am about to put one up for sale.

 

[WingKL]

Maybe you all have different cabs that break up or distort at different levels.

 

[Jerry J]

So what is a used near mint condition M6 worth?

Feel free to PM me. I am about to put one up for sale.

I think that you are in the ballpark.

 

[Karma Police]

I've got an M6 and a Powerhouse 410...and I'm having a bit of a rig crisis.

I suspect it's either the bass (Warwick $$) or the cab, but I just can't get a tone that suits. Is the 2x12 or 4x12 much better? Also, does anyone play their M6 with a Precision?

 

[KsPiNeSh]

I've got an M6 and a Powerhouse 410...and I'm having a bit of a rig crisis.

I suspect it's either the bass (Warwick $$) or the cab, but I just can't get a tone that suits. Is the 2x12 or 4x12 much better? Also, does anyone play their M6 with a Precision?

What kind of tone are you looking for?

 

[Karma Police]

Well, we've gone from being a single guitar band to being two guitars plus keys/synth, so the original tone was fine. However now I think I am leaning towards something that sits 'lower' in the mix, as a foundation of the sound, and it fills the parts of the sonic spectrum that are left by the others.

Still a powerful tone though, but I hope that comes from my fingers ^_^ I use a Fulltone Bass Drive and an SFT (plus some other pedals but I think I will get rid of them, now we have a synth).

Edit: really dig the tones coming from Sergio Vega on Diamond Eyes and their live stuff - Abe has always been an inspiration, and glad to see Sergio is just as good, and has dealt with the dropping to silly tuning. That and Radiohead bass stuff always impresses for just fitting in where it needs to.

 

[Chef]

move to an epi ul410 cab; keep the M6.
there's deep for you.

 

[NickRich]

Is the 2x12 or 4x12 much better? Also, does anyone play their M6 with a Precision?

I use a P-bass with two Powerhouse 112. I'm quite happy with the result, which can be "low mids for support" or "All you can eat Mid take-out".

If you want more low mids, try backing off the gain to 9:00 or 10:00 and use voicing #4 or #5. Had very good results with this.

And as Chef suggested, try pulling the bass knob to activate the Deep mode.

 

[Chef]

deep also boosts high highs...

i pretty much run voice 2 all the time, with bass trimmed a tad, and mids boosted a tad