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Mesa M6 Carbine Mega-Thread Pt Deux

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#661
I think I'm going deaf. I was playing with my band last night and I had the Corvette $$ plugged into my relatively noise free pedal board with none of the effects on and had everything on the amp set at noon (from gain to master), all running into my 212 PH cab and I noticed some fuzzing out. I know the Corvette $$ pickups are hot, and I certainly noticed it more when I picked (fingerstyle) closer to the neck and was able to deliver a stronger pluck, sending a hotter signal. Have I just gotten comfy with running the 212 in combo with the 115 and getting the push of two cabs to get a loud clean tone? I recently transitioned from flatpick to fingerstyle, and I'm wondering if my technique is just too agressive. Where do y'all notice the amp starts to fuzz out (gain/EQ/bass&pickup types)?
 
#662
monsterthompson said:
I think I'm going deaf. I was playing with my band last night and I had the Corvette $$ plugged into my relatively noise free pedal board with none of the effects on and had everything on the amp set at noon (from gain to master), all running into my 212 PH cab and I noticed some fuzzing out. I know the Corvette $$ pickups are hot, and I certainly noticed it more when I picked (fingerstyle) closer to the neck and was able to deliver a stronger pluck, sending a hotter signal. Have I just gotten comfy with running the 212 in combo with the 115 and getting the push of two cabs to get a loud clean tone? I recently transitioned from flatpick to fingerstyle, and I'm wondering if my technique is just too agressive. Where do y'all notice the amp starts to fuzz out (gain/EQ/bass&pickup types)?
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Never had this happen, honestly. Maybe try turning the gain down and the master up, or putting the switch in the active position and see what happens. Man, you must play with a crazy loud band on stage. I can't imagine having both the gain and the master at noon.
 
#663
''input and master at noon...fuzzing out"

1) I could never take it being that loud! Dang!
2) Are you using the active/padded input? The battery in your bass fresh?
3) try turning input down a little, master up a little
4) I've never pushed mine hard enough to get it fuzzy. I run input at about noon, or one oclock; master at about 9 oclock. Theoretically, this would be pushing the input stage as hard as you are. I do not use the active input, even with my hottest active basses. I've not noticed the M6 getting overdriven, ever. The Walkbout, yessir, the M6; nope.
 
#664
Chef said:
Does it work ok, and do you find it useful?

I've not tried playing with just plain old jumpers to see if I'd find any of the combinations "good things," or just ''more stuff.''
Click to expand...

It works fine, its useful if you switch. But I play 45 minute indie rock sets, I either use the third or fourth preset and do most of my tone switching with pedals or via the bass. If I played a longer and higer variety set, then I would get more use out of it. I haven't tried any of the combos yet, I leave my Fathom in the space and tend to only play it during rehearsal, so I don't have a lot of alone time in order to test these things out.
 
#665
Vic said:
Never had this happen, honestly. Maybe try turning the gain down and the master up, or putting the switch in the active position and see what happens. Man, you must play with a crazy loud band on stage. I can't imagine having both the gain and the master at noon.
Click to expand...

I do this, but only when I am playing the single 1x12, so I need to push more power to get heard. That said, to me it sounds like a possible equipment issue somewhere.

I'll run at noon straight across and then sometimes I'll put a boost of some sort in front and it doesn't cause any fuzzing or breakdown of the sound, just the same sound only louder. And I don't use the input pad either usually.
 
#666
Yeah, I know, those settings seem like they should be loud as hell with a 212 cab. With the 212 and the 115 together, the thing is dufus-loud and I have to be super careful with the master settings, but with the 212 alone, it didn't seem that gnar. I played a show a bit ago and ran it with just the 115 and set the gain and master pretty high and it didn't feel as loud as I thought it should, but it was a huge room, so I figured it was just the accoustics of the stage. After that, I turned the amp on at home to play around at low volumes and I heard some weird buzzing show up and go away as I turned the master knob. It turned out I had a wonky pedal in the mix and since I pulled it out, the buzz hasn't been there, so I figured that was the issue. Last night I wanted to fiddle with some settings to see if the buzz would come back. I certainly noticed the fuzzing out when I had the bass boost pulled (so I pushed it back in) and it fuzzed the amp more when I attacked hard near the neck.

I have the $$ set with the active preamp on (i'll check the batteries) and I have the passive switch setting on the amp (the active setting does something I don't like to the tone). The volume difference between having the bass preamp on and bypassed seems minimal, so I figured there wasn't that much gain being pushed. I'll try the active switch.

Now I'm thinking of adding a 210 cab to the mix to get the overhead of the 600w poweramp section without having the bulk of a 212+115; maybe I'm out of my tree, but the idea of a 210+212 and/or 210+115 seems like it would be more manageable in terms of mobility and not quite as loud, but still allowing for the full 600w of headroom.
 
#667
I have been able to make my M6 overdrive like you describe- the Gain settings are affected quite a bit by the tone settings- using any of the presets (especially the first mid-boost setting) or boosting the bass with the Gain knob higher than noon-1:00ish seems to distort when I dig in. Since I generally have come to prefer the sound with no presets selected and a slight bass cut, I just leave the Gain knob at noon or a little below and am able to crank the Master beyond where I should ever need it (playing with LOUD guitarists and a heavy drummer!) with little noticeable distortion, which I prefer to get from an OD pedal (though to be honest, a little dirt from this amp actually sounds really natural in my experience- which is odd to me coming most recently from all-tube amplifier overdrive in the past).

Engaging the "Bass Boost" will definitely eat up headroom, though cutting a little Gain and raising the Master may still help- I feel like the Bass Boost might not be super efficient in your situation anyway. Does that cab even have a frequency response that goes low enough to really reproduce those sub frequencies that well on its own? You may just be wasting power with little sonic return (apart from distortion). It sounds to me like your band just needs the extra speaker cone juice (and the bump in wattage from using 2 cabs)- I wouldn't be too enthused to have to be pushing my amp that hard on a regular basis personally if there was an obvious alternative! In my practice space, my Master never goes above 11 (generally around 10 o'clock or so)- and I think most sound guys wouldn't be having even that kind of stage volume in a gig!

Karl
 
#668
Karl,
Thanks for the reply. I think your experinces sound like mine. I did seem that pushing the bass is what was eating up the headroom, particularly with the more noticeable fuzz in the bass boost mode, and in voicings 1 & 2 with a strong neck-aimed attack. I was trying to get a big subwoofer low end without fuzzing out. Perhaps I just need to admit that for what I'm trying to get i need more speakers to push air and that bumping the bass to try to compensate for it is not the best (or even a good) solution. I felt bad pushing the single 15 as hard as I did at the last gig, but I had left my 212 at the rehearsal space and didn't have time to go get it.

Man, the local Mesa shop had a used road-ready 410+115 combo a while back and I keep feeling like a dumba** for not getting it (I tried at one point, but there was a pending sale that later fell through). I was uncertain about having that big, heavy beast to roll around, but I think it would have been fun to have on stage.
 
#670
Doufuss said:
After 29 days of agonizing, multiple rehearsals/ auditions, the Fathom was returned to the store. Don't flame, I'm going to get to the point and I'm ultimately looking for suggestions. This gear is for my kid who is 15. He is a very accomplished player and does a lot of work with some great local bands.

He has a Bassman 150 that he loves with his basses, specifically an Ibanez BTB455QM and this old Boogie Bodies P/J with the old Seymour actives with dip switches.

Trouble is, THAT Bassman tone was never achieved through the Mesa, no matter what. The stack is a Diesel 210 and 115. Curious, we removed the head from the Bassman and plugged into the stack and voila. Same tone.

Not enough volume, though. Make a suggestion please. No arguing and play nice.

Peace.
Click to expand...

Not to hijack this thread, but... Finally, after many auditions and extended ones at that, the selection is a Markbass LMK. First, it is manageble for 'in the house' stuff, while having stunning volume at gig levels. Second, for whatever reason, the amp combined with pretty much any speaker setup gives this nice throaty sound with real pulse altering bass.

The Diesel stack is enjoying itself, and the Markbass never really has to be above 6 for work wiith Marshall half stacks and a medium loud drummer.

A Little Mark II was nice as well, but having the option to plug in two different basses with their own EQs made it a no brainer.

Sorry guys, I'm a convert. Now I look for a lightweight set of cabs. Any suggestions here?
 
#672
Vic said:
Not to continue the derail, but, Epifunky. Affordable, very light, and surprisingly great tone for its price class.
Click to expand...

+1 These are not the most "refined" sounding cabs, but they are very full, sit well in a mix, and just generally sound a lot better than you'd expect at their price point. I'm very impressed with these cabs.

Tom.
 
#673
well, was looking for a cleaner tone than my walkabout, and my berg nv cab sure likes power, so i just picked up a carbine from big string (excellent chap, btw!). got it in time for the studio, a/b comparisons
with the walkabout ended in a unanimous vote to use the carbine.
haven't even changed the pre amp tube (my usual choice ends up being tung sol these days). same kind of harmonic saturation on top but the lows are more defined than the walkabout... the comparisons to a single tube pre/ lead sled power amp ring very true. going back in today to do the serious tracking, perhaps i'll post a pic and/ or sound clip later...
much thanks to all who posted info on these amps.
 
#675
derekale said:
I changed the original Mesa 12ax7 with a Groove Tube 12ax7c...
Now sounds perfectly, without noises or hisses!!! :hyper:
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Is the 12ax7c a lower gain tube? Several of us tried the tube swaps without much noticeable difference. I tried a GT gold lower gain tube, can't remember the tube right now,but didn't help me. I do notice less hiss on my Epifani UL410 S2 than with the berg HS210s.
 
#677
Not lower gain tube but smooth treble...
(Groove Tubes 12AX7C Preamp Tube, high gain tube, warm, rich tone, smooth treble)
Now with treble at noon I have less noise then before with treble at 3, whith the same cab, Eden D410T.
Perhaps my original tube had a problem.
Why I must tell a lie? I'm not sponsored by GT :D
For a comparison my old Eden wt330 had much hiss (but my Aguilar Ag500sc is more silent).

P.S.: sorry for my english :bawl:
 
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