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Mesa M6 Carbine Mega-Thread Pt Deux

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#21
KJung said:
It would look like this:D

1) Where on the 'pure transparent' to 'fat,warm' continuum do I want to be?

2) How loud do I need to be?

3) What cab and bass am I going to use with it? (the 'mix and match'... is my cab a little low end attenutated? Does my cab need precise tuning of the low mids to even it out? Is my cab very low or very high SPL? Same for the bass... is it a 'fat, pure, warm' type instrument, are a grindy, mid punchy, growly type instrument?)

4) What are my size weight requirements?

5) What is my budget?


I put those in order of importance for me.
Click to expand...

I couldn't disagree more, the order of importance for you should be:

1) You need to get one so the Burk can find out where it sits on the "pure transparent-fat warm continuum".;)

2) You need to get one so the Burk can do an A-B test with a T-Funk 550 and several other heads to see how loud it will be.:eek:

3) You need to get one so the Burk can do an A/B test with several different cabs and amps conveniently and locally.:cool:

4) You need to get one so the Burk can see how it falls in his size weight requirements. We already know that if it weighs more then six pounds you can't carry it up the stairs without Katy carrying the other end.:hiding:

5) You need to get one so I can get tiered of it fast and sell it to Burk used for like 300 Bucks.:D

I put those in order of importance for me.:cool:
 
#22
burk48237 said:
I couldn't disagree more, the order of importance for you should be:

1) You need to get one so the Burk can find out where it sits on the "pure transparent-fat warm continuum".;)

2) You need to get one so the Burk can do an A-B test with a T-Funk 550 and several other heads to see how loud it will be.:eek:

3) You need to get one so the Burk can do an A/B test with several different cabs and amps conveniently and locally.:cool:

4) You need to get one so the Burk can see how it falls in his size weight requirements. We already know that if it weighs more then six pounds you can't carry it up the stairs without Katy carrying the other end.:hiding:

5) You need to get one so I can get tiered of it fast and sell it to Burk used for like 300 Bucks.:D

I put those in order of importance for me.:cool:
Click to expand...


:D
 
#24
weird, that this would be written by some guy named burk...???



burk48237 said:
I couldn't disagree more, the order of importance for you should be:

1) You need to get one so the Burk can find out where it sits on the "pure transparent-fat warm continuum".;)

2) You need to get one so the Burk can do an A-B test with a T-Funk 550 and several other heads to see how loud it will be.:eek:

3) You need to get one so the Burk can do an A/B test with several different cabs and amps conveniently and locally.:cool:

4) You need to get one so the Burk can see how it falls in his size weight requirements. We already know that if it weighs more then six pounds you can't carry it up the stairs without Katy carrying the other end.:hiding:

5) You need to get one so I can get tiered of it fast and sell it to Burk used for like 300 Bucks.:D

I put those in order of importance for me.:cool:
Click to expand...
 
#25
KJung said:
The Mesa tone stack is simultaneously wonderful (interactive to the point where the amp seems to be totally revioced even with minor changes) and frustrating (the amp seems to be totally revoiced even with minor changes:D).
Click to expand...
IMHO, the effects are not that strong. I've been able to make modest adjustments without "totally revoicing" the head. I know this EQ stack isn't your thing, and no offense, but IMHO your statement is a bit too strong... maybe even misleading.
 
#26
Vic said:
IMHO, the effects are not that strong. I've been able to make modest adjustments without "totally revoicing" the head. I know this EQ stack isn't your thing, and no offense, but IMHO your statement is a bit too strong... maybe even misleading.
Click to expand...

The M6 is a little more gentle than the MPulse tone stack, but it is still highly interactive. That again, I've found, can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your preference for EQ as a tool to revoice a head, or EQ as more of a 'channel strip' sort of thing to just keep the inherent voice of the head relatively constant across rooms and contexts. Two different approaches to EQ, and both have their positive and negative points IMO and IME.

That being said, to your point, that amp sounds very good to me 'flat', and I assume a subtle tweak on the bass control would be all that most players would need in different rooms (and maybe a click to setting 4 if you were 'grindy rockin'!
 
#27
KJung said:
The M6 is a little more gentle than the MPulse tone stack, but it is still highly interactive. That again, I've found, can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your preference for EQ as a tool to revoice a head, or EQ as more of a 'channel strip' sort of thing to just keep the inherent voice of the head relatively constant across rooms and contexts. Two different approaches to EQ, and both have their positive and negative points IMO and IME.
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I can't comment on the MPulse, and we DO definitely agree on the interactivity. I just thought you overstated it a bit is all, at least for the M6, and I'm figuring there's a lot of folks reading this thread who've never touched one, so I just wanted to offer a bit of counterpoint based on my experiences with it.

It's not like I've had this head for a super long time, but it has been my main gigging head for several gigs now, in some pretty significantly different bands and rooms, so I feel pretty confident with my familiarity with it. That said, I really can't speak generally about Mesa... outside of the Walkabout, I really haven't used Mesa products much... until now. :)

FWIW, anyhoo. :)
 
#29
koobie said:
Interesting that Mesa raised the price 15%, given the current economic outlook. I wouldn't be surprised if all the praise here on TB might have had some influence on Mesa's decision.
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It didn't. The price hike was known by Mesa as a necessity for '09 well before the TB buzz really kicked in.
 
#31
Vic said:
It didn't. The price hike was known by Mesa as a necessity for '09 well before the TB buzz really kicked in.
Click to expand...

+1 My local dealer warned me about the price hike a while ago.

But guys, come on (and I know Vic agrees with this). The quality and performance of that head MORE than justifies a $1,500+ price tag for me. At $999, it was literally a steal. At $1,149, it's just a GREAT deal.
 
#32
KJung said:
+1 My local dealer warned me about the price hike a while ago.

But guys, come on (and I know Vic agrees with this). The quality and performance of that head MORE than justifies a $1,500+ price tag for me. At $999, it was literally a steal. At $1,149, it's just a GREAT deal.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The fact that it is built in the US using high quality components, flying lead construction, etc. - it's amazing they can keep it at this price point. My one complaint is that the top of the chassis is flimsy and the screws that mount it are miserable - maybe they will go down a gage or two on the chassis with the price hike...

JR
 
#33
Hey Ken;
I'm with Vic in that the M6 tone stack is not the typical Fender/Mesa 400+/B-Max kinda tone stack where "twisting one twists them all."
If they're interactive, it's muuuch more subtle.
That particular tone stack interactivity is part of what drove me off each of the above. Blech.
I hated the ''tweak your treble, then tweak the mids to counter, then twist the bass to counter the mids'' set up. Totally counterintuitive and frustrating.
I don't feel that with the M6...fwiw, ymmv, etc.
 
#34
Chef said:
Hey Ken;
I'm with Vic in that the M6 tone stack is not the typical Fender/Mesa 400+/B-Max kinda tone stack where "twisting one twists them all."
If they're interactive, it's muuuch more subtle.
That particular tone stack interactivity is part of what drove me off each of the above. Blech.
Click to expand...

+1, it's not nearly as intense as the Mpulse and 400+ tone stack, which could get you in a bit of trouble if you gave one of the knobs a quick twist mid set:eek:

This again goes to my posting that the M6 is 'the Mesa for those who don't particularly like Mesa'!
 
#35
Shame about that, with the 400+.
I had three of them, and never could get past that; nor the fact that it had *tonnes* of headroom, but it all remained inaccessable to me because it got too dirty for my needs.

The M6 has all that headroom, and the ability to stay nice and clean for a good majority of it.
 
#37
Chef said:
If they're interactive, it's muuuch more subtle.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Ken's right, they do interact, but it's also true that the interactivity is very practical... in fact, I'd go as far as to say intuitive.

I don't have any experience with the other ones that seem to be cited here as kinda' hard to deal with, but I can tell you that, at least for my tastes, whenever I tweak a knob, it seems to make an adjustment that doesn't send me reaching for other controls to adjust at the same time to kinda' "complete" the process. I LOVE that.
 
#38
I took my Fathom over to Kindness' house on the 31st. We ran it through a couple of ACME B2's for a 2 ohm load. Unfortunately the crossover on one of the B2's was wonky, so we didn't get to really crank it up, but we are both convinced the Mesa could easily power that rig.

Its fun when somebody else plays with your amp, Kindness came up with a setting that I probably would have never attempted myself. He was cranking the mids up to about 3 o'clock with his US Glaub and DS'd Hollowbody and it sounded real good. So at rehearsal the other day I left the mids at 3 and ended up using the number 2 setting. I really dug the combination.

And while I totally think the M6 is still a good value at 1149, I am still glad I got mine when I did ;)
 
#40
Vic said:
IMHO, the effects are not that strong. I've been able to make modest adjustments without "totally revoicing" the head. I know this EQ stack isn't your thing, and no offense, but IMHO your statement is a bit too strong... maybe even misleading.
Click to expand...

yea, agreed.

"revoicing" might be too strong a word. guess it was too easy to use that word when you see "voice control"! ;) and adjustment wise, i loved the travel of each knob, where each turn was nice and musical. its my numero uno criteria for any EQ.

still, the extreme clicks of the voice control seemed to make the amp completely different, which was cool. i.e. i loved the leftmost click for slap. really different from the edgy flat setting sound.
 
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