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Mesa M6 Carbine Mega-Thread Pt Deux

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#1,061
Saluki said:
I use the M6/AE410 as my main rig and I regularly cut the treble to about 10 on the MT and use the tone control a bit on the basses I am using to get the sound I want. That combo with stainless steels on a bright bass can be a bit bright.

I have never had any distortion issues with my M6, but I did have a tweeter go bad on the AE410, but it was just dead no sound at all. Actually the cab without the tweeter didn't sound bad either.
Click to expand...

+1 The Berg neo 10's REALLY have that upper midrange neo 'bump' to them, and grind very nicely, even without the tweeter. I dig it, although again, you need a preamp with some control over the upper mids IMO.

Mesa has that strange treble control voicing, with a shelving point that starts way down in the midrange (700hz or something). Much better to have a nice, relatively narrow Q upper mid control centered in that 800hz to 1K 'problem' region, and then a treble shelvling control voiced higher.

It's not so much a problem with the Walkabout and M600, since you can use the upper band of the semi-parametric in conjunction with the treble control to control the gank but keep some sparkle. I just couldn't quite get used to the M6 treble control. The M9 takes care of that issue nicely though, with the addition of the graphic.

IMO there.
 
#1,062
KJung said:
+1 The Berg neo 10's REALLY have that upper midrange neo 'bump' to them, and grind very nicely, even without the tweeter. I dig it, although again, you need a preamp with some control over the upper mids IMO.

Mesa has that strange treble control voicing, with a shelving point that starts way down in the midrange (700hz or something). Much better to have a nice, relatively narrow Q upper mid control centered in that 800hz to 1K 'problem' region, and then a treble shelvling control voiced higher.

It's not so much a problem with the Walkabout and M600, since you can use the upper band of the semi-parametric in conjunction with the treble control to control the gank but keep some sparkle. I just couldn't quite get used to the M6 treble control. The M9 takes care of that issue nicely though, with the addition of the graphic.

IMO there.
Click to expand...


Ken,

I don't disagree, but working with what Mesa gives me ya know. The slight cut on the treble, for me, doesn't remove all the grind and the adjustments on the bass tone control is just to remove some of the high zing ( I mean the fret noise from my sloppy playing with stainless steels ;))
 
#1,063
Saluki said:
Ken,

I don't disagree, but working with what Mesa gives me ya know. The slight cut on the treble, for me, doesn't remove all the grind and the adjustments on the bass tone control is just to remove some of the high zing ( I mean the fret noise from my sloppy playing with stainless steels ;))
Click to expand...

+1 Killer head! Just musing about that kind of combined 'upper mid/treble' control, which is a bit unique with Mesa. I assume that came from their 'rock bass' background, where guys typically want to remove a lot of sound above 1K, versus more pop/funk players who seem to like some sculpting power to cut upper mids without eliminating some lower and upper treble.

Again, the addition of the graphic on the M9 adds this sort of EQ power for those who need it.
 
#1,064
Vic said:
Remember, all my stuff has to go up and down those steps to my basement every time I use it, and in the wee hours of the morning, the 310 just looks a LOT better to me. :D
Click to expand...

+1 Even though the UL410 is quite light, it is still a good bit larger than the UL310, and I agree that when it comes to going up and down steps, those smaller dimensions are often more important than the weight (within reason).
 
#1,067
KJung said:
+1 Killer head! Just musing about that kind of combined 'upper mid/treble' control, which is a bit unique with Mesa. I assume that came from their 'rock bass' background, where guys typically want to remove a lot of sound above 1K, versus more pop/funk players who seem to like some sculpting power to cut upper mids without eliminating some lower and upper treble.

Again, the addition of the graphic on the M9 adds this sort of EQ power for those who need it.
Click to expand...

I am by now means and electrical engineer, but everything mesa does is a bit counter-intuitive to me, but that said their amps just work for me. I wish I could be a fly on the wall during the design disscussions at mesa.
 
#1,070
Chef said:
My SKB 2 space is going to be out of commission for a bit.
The only other rack I have anymore is a Gator 3 space soft bag.

Anyone got their M6 in one of those?
Click to expand...

Chef, how did the Gator rack bag work out for you?

I tried to put mine in a 3-space ProTec bag. But for some reason Mesa has the rack screw holes in the wrong position???
Rather than put the holes at the corners so that the amp can be mounted in the bottom position I had move the amp up to the in-between position. I guess that's better for cooling but now the back of the amp needs to be propped up from the bottom. The heaviest part of the amp is that back end and it sags. I'm thinking that I will need to come up with something to support the top/back end in case the amp is placed upside down in transit?
 
#1,075
I have my M6 since January of 2009 and love it. I also never had a problem with it....until last week that is. Seems like the power module went on it. It's on its way back to Boogie.

They've also discovered that the M6s are running too hot so they want to do additional modifications on mine to keep the amp from frying.

I may not have this exactly correct but they are also going to put in:
---new mosfet assembly (whatever that is)
---new heat sink
---2nd fan
---new vented lid
---recalibrate mosfet power section

If I understood correctly they're also going to set the limiter in the amp to kick in around 3-5% sooner preventing someone from driving the amp too hard. To me that spells less power and head room which I'm not happy about.

Morning bear what kind of problems did you have with your M9?
 
#1,076
The M6 I had for a week distorted badly with the master past 9 o'clock (gain at 12). It was one of the newer models.

Sound was very good until master at 9. After that was awful.

Also, not sure if this is by design or if it was related to the problem, the master would affect the DI out volume (Di set to post, but shouldn't the master be after?).
 
#1,077
Coelho said:
The M6 I had for a week distorted badly with the master past 9 o'clock (gain at 12). It was one of the newer models.

Sound was very good until master at 9. After that was awful.

Also, not sure if this is by design or if it was related to the problem, the master would affect the DI out volume (Di set to post, but shouldn't the master be after?).
Click to expand...


RTFM...
"In_the_POST setting, the GAIN, MASTER and Tone controls WILL affect the signal at the DIRECT OUTPUT"
 
#1,079
Neil said:
I have my M6 since January of 2009 and love it. I also never had a problem with it....until last week that is. Seems like the power module went on it. It's on its way back to Boogie.

They've also discovered that the M6s are running too hot so they want to do additional modifications on mine to keep the amp from frying.

I may not have this exactly correct but they are also going to put in:
---new mosfet assembly (whatever that is)
---new heat sink
---2nd fan
---new vented lid
---recalibrate mosfet power section

If I understood correctly they're also going to set the limiter in the amp to kick in around 3-5% sooner preventing someone from driving the amp too hard. To me that spells less power and head room which I'm not happy about.

Morning bear what kind of problems did you have with your M9?
Click to expand...

I'm out of the house right now and don't have the shop order by me, but everything worked fine on it but the power section. It was at a show when it went out on me DI worked fine but nothing to the cab. Off the top of my head I know they screwed around with mosfets and "updated it", something else came off and was re-soldered. I know my slip didn't mention different venting (no idea how they could mine is covered in vents) no mention of another fan either.

I only had for a month before it dumped out on me. Since the return, so far so good. I've had it for six shows since it came back last week and no issues.

I honestly feel that my issues were out of the ordinary considering Mesa's track record, but I'm still not conviced i don't need to carry around my WTX500 with me .....Yet.
 
#1,080
I just bought a gently used one. I think that it was built around 8 months ago. The seller never turned in the warrenty card but he didn't have the receipt. After reading the how the transferable warrenty works it looks like I might be screwed if the amp fails.:eek: This is kinda distressing.

Otherwise I am loving the amp. It sounds great into a pair of Bergantino HT112's.
 
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