Mesa M6 Carbine Mega-Thread Pt Deux

[mothra2]

I just posted this in a different thread for a guy looking to replace his CA-6 and pre...sums it up for me...VERY impressed.

I own a Crest CA9 with a Millennia TD-1 pre. I use two Acme B2's (tough load).
I am currently auditioning a Mesa Carbine M-6. I f I did not own the above I would not hesitate to buy the Mesa, in fact I still might. Of course it doesn't have the control options I currently have, or as much power ultimately (but it does have a TON of that, and there is the M-9 as well - 900 watts) but as far as my go-to settings, the Mesa gets 90+% of it for a quarter of the money and less than half the weight, all in one box, and has no problem driving the Acmes. Coming from where you are with the CA-6 and such, the Mesa would be a no-brainer if 26 lbs and the form factor meet your goal.

Gotta say though...the mute pull function off of the master volume is astoundingly lame, especially given the fact that you could (would) disturb the DI send level.

Edit: My chief reservation at this point is my inability to get the bass (primarily the E string) as pointed in it's delivery as what I have (perhaps its the 'bloom' effect?). Seems like I have to thin it out to much to keep the point on it.
Tube front end effect?..user error?...we'll see.

 

[mothra2]

+1 I mentioned this way back in this thread some place. I've preferred the gain at around 11 and bumped up the master to suit.

Love the M6 but wish I could tame the 'pillow' like bottom. It's tight but a bit too much whoosh for my taste. Any tube swap suggestions that might help ??? If I could get the pillow to reduce a bit that would practically be the Holy Grail for me. My DB750 has the concussive tighter/less pillowy bottom presentation I love but the M6 has the rest of the Grail tone.

This is EXACTLY where I find myself with this head.

 

[Chef]

I tried several tubes in the M6, back to back, with the top off.
I noticed very little, if any difference.

You could try an inline high pass filter between the bass and amp, and set it b/t 50-80 hz.

 

[David Jayne]

Took a look at the fuse. IT GOT SCREWED! haha good thing it was only the fuse.

Believe it or not, your 'power conditioner' may actually have CAUSED the fuse to blow. Power conditioner+powerful amp with heavy current draw= possible problems. Lose the conditioner, IMO.

 

[sunbeast]

As far as tightening up the bass- I had the same issue to some degree with my Carbine. What worked for me was using the farthest left voice setting (low-mid boost), cutting the bass control nearly 1/4 of a turn from flat, and boosting the mid control maybe 1/8 from middle detent. This seemed to put the emphasis more on the low midrange than the gargantuan lows, and got me the closest to my Walkabout tone/ old 400+ tone (although with MUCH more clarity/treble). I am surprised at how few posts I read where people mention that voice setting, because it was by far the most useful for my more recent applications (though for my the band I was in when I bought it, I had great results in the middle/"off" voice setting).

Really coming to terms with the Carbine for me was dependant in viewing the voice control almost like an "amp-switcher" where I was able to get the response of a wide variety of different colors of amplifier all in one box. I got too wrapped up in this idea that the ideal amp should sound amazing set "flat", even though all amps color the tone (the few amps I have had that sounded great "flat" were not capable of a very wide range of tones). My best "flat" tone on the Carbine just happened to involve turning a couple knobs and a switch!

But....even with the settings I mentioned, the amp still put out a much deeper low end than I am accustomed to. I think a stronger high pass filter as Chef suggested might be just the ticket to really making the Carbine the "perfect" punch machine if you want to tame the boom/bloom (IMO!). For me, it was a bit of a non-issue because my main cabinet is an NV610, which just doesn't go that low!

Karl

 

[Chef]

I concur, the voicing is a powerful tool on the Carbine.

I most generally run mine on voice 2, with bass trimmed back to about 10 oclock, and mids pushed forward to about 2 oclock, and treble flat.

I only move away from that if some particularly bad mojo is going on in the bass/cab/room scenario.

Sometimes I use the bass knobs "pull deep" function...but only because it seems to impart even more high end sheen. In that case, I'll trim the bass back even more.

 

[mothra2]

Thanks guys...lots of options to explore here.

 

[Crabby]

I like the two mid boosting voices quite a bit but am also loving the flat setting. I am not much of a mid scooper but I cant find a bad tone on this amp. My only little niggle so far is that the amp is crazy bright when set flat and I find I have to turn down the treble quite a bit. She hisses a lot more then my other Mesa rigs but thats not a big deal.

 

[CElton]

I like the two mid boosting voices quite a bit but am also loving the flat setting. I am not much of a mid scooper but I cant find a bad tone on this amp. My only little niggle so far is that the amp is crazy bright when set flat and I find I have to turn down the treble quite a bit. She hisses a lot more then my other Mesa rigs but thats not a big deal.

Pay no attention to the knobs. Turn 'em until you get a sound you like. The amp is inherently bright as you mention. I run the treble at about 10 o'clock and still have to roll off the treble a bit on my 'Ray.

 

[KsPiNeSh]

Very interesting stuff. I run mine on voice 3 ("flat") w/ my Thumb and voice 4 ("boost 1") w/ my Aguilar-loaded Spector. Also have the mids dimed and the treble at ~ 2 o'clock as my base settings, and have slight boosting of the mids and treble on each bass pre as well. What a killer piece of gear!

 

[mothra2]

I concur, the voicing is a powerful tool on the Carbine.

I most generally run mine on voice 2, with bass trimmed back to about 10 oclock, and mids pushed forward to about 2 oclock, and treble flat.

I only move away from that if some particularly bad mojo is going on in the bass/cab/room scenario.

Sometimes I use the bass knobs "pull deep" function...but only because it seems to impart even more high end sheen. In that case, I'll trim the bass back even more.

Yes, this setting helps quite a bit as the bloom gets tamed...but...for me, this also has the undesired effect of taking a bit too much off of the meat of the upper strings, making my alder Jazz sound more like a Ray then I would like.

Ultimately, while I love what this amp does, it is not quite for me. I get a bit more percussive effect with my existing rig (albeit at 5 times the cost if I bought it new). I'm thinking it's really a tube vs tube/solid state hybrid thing, and not a criticism of the M-6. Just a preference for less tubes (and alas, less glorious full tube enhanced harmonics/overtones) for a bit more center which translates into percussiveness for me.

If I had an issue with size and weight, or did not have what I have, it would be M-9 for me. The weight and size is more than reasonable, the sound is great and it has the grunt I find so lacking in the class D stuff.

 

[Breakerfall]

I'm off to try one of these (M6) this week. I'll be running it with the 2 x Berg AE210 stack and my "Death From Above" Spector NS5 with EMG 40P/40J w/East U-Retro as well as my Lakland AC DJ CS. I've been using a Markbass LMK for a couple of years and I'm looking for a more punch and more throaty growl.

I play in a club/wedding covers band with a hugely eclectic and varied repertoire but with quite a lot of rock.

Any advice comments, anything to check or look out for when I'm test driving this baby?

I thought it wise to take my own cabs and current head to A/B.

ANY ADVICE GLADLY WELCOMED.

 

[atauntaun]

I received my M6 this weekend and I love it already. Here it is pictured with some GK Neo 412's I just finished bringing back to life.

 

[Saluki]

I'm off to try one of these (M6) this week. I'll be running it with the 2 x Berg AE210 stack and my "Death From Above" Spector NS5 with EMG 40P/40J w/East U-Retro as well as my Lakland AC DJ CS. I've been using a Markbass LMK for a couple of years and I'm looking for a more punch and more throaty growl.

I play in a club/wedding covers band with a hugely eclectic and varied repertoire but with quite a lot of rock.

Any advice comments, anything to check or look out for when I'm test driving this baby?

I thought it wise to take my own cabs and current head to A/B.

ANY ADVICE GLADLY WELCOMED.

Good idea to take your own cabs. I pair my M6 with my AE410, so be prepared to be blown away. Will probably even be better in the mix then when you solo it. Good Luck and let us know how you like it.

 

[Neil]

Breakerfall I run my M6 with my Berg HS410. I use preset #5 and back off the mids to about 10:00 o'clock and run the gain around 11:00 o'clock. It is ridiculously punchy. Hope you enjoy yours.

 

[Breakerfall]

Thanks for the words, guys. I'm going tomorrow afternoon. The Bergs are already in the car and my Spector is freshly waxed! This time tomorrow I'll either be ecstatic and a proud owner or looking at other options .

The lack of a foot-switch thing is a pain - does anyone use one of those Voodooman ones? Does anyone have a Mesa one - made on request? Is that right?

I haven't heard any good stuff about Voodooman's service and being an ocean away, I'm being shy.

I use quite a few tones during a gig, jumping from scooped to classic rock mid/treble boost, to thick Stax/Motown P tone and also a middy fingerfunk sound. I cover most of it with two channels on the LMK and a few tweaks of my U-Retro but to have the full range on footswitches would be a dream.

Am I right in thinking that the M6 is way more versatile than the M9 for foot-switching?

 

[Saluki]

Thanks for the words, guys. I'm going tomorrow afternoon. The Bergs are already in the car and my Spector is freshly waxed! This time tomorrow I'll either be ecstatic and a proud owner or looking at other options .

The lack of a foot-switch thing is a pain - does anyone use one of those Voodooman ones? Does anyone have a Mesa one - made on request? Is that right?

I haven't heard any good stuff about Voodooman's service and being an ocean away, I'm being shy.

I use quite a few tones during a gig, jumping from scooped to classic rock mid/treble boost, to thick Stax/Motown P tone and also a middy fingerfunk sound. I cover most of it with two channels on the LMK and a few tweaks of my U-Retro but to have the full range on footswitches would be a dream.

Am I right in thinking that the M6 is way more versatile than the M9 for foot-switching?

I have a voodooman 3 button pedal. I use one for mut2e and one for usually 4 and 2. I love it, and mixin' 2/4 setting via pedal is real nice too.

 

[ptidwell]

Anyone using the foot pedal with their M6, If so how has it worked out for you in a gig situation? I haven't even connected mine since I've had it.

 

[JerryD]

I am looking to buy one of these but can only try out the Mesa and Wow!!! Just wondering if anyone has done any compairsons between the Mesa M9 / M6 and the Carvin B1500. I would like to hear your opinion.

Thanks
JerryD

 

[jowens004]

I see the M9 manual is now online. There is a great explanation of the Active Bass knob and active treble knob as well as the passive mid knob in there. I may have just missed it in the M6 manual, but it now makes sense to me how the tone controls work.
http://www.mesaboogie.com/manuals/m9Carbine_090914.pdf