Mesa M9 mega thread

[Jim Carr]

We left it that I would call them Monday. I guess once that conversation has happened, I will decide what to do. At this point I feel like winging it into a dumpster.

 

[waleross]

Never played Mesa looks great (like tanks ) . I do own Ampeg and Fender but I will have to consider Mesa next time around..................................

 

[Jim Carr]

Nothing sounds better than a good looking tank, No?

 

[Crabby]

I would think that he who makes the biggest stink will eventually receive appropriate service. The fact that this is not the first time we have heard less then stellar Mesa Customer Service stories is disheartening as I really love their gear. If you simply refuse to accept that the amp is not broken and make a formal complaint about the way you were treated, something will likely be done about it. Keep us updated!

 

[rockstarbassist]

Anyone w/ an M9 regularly play a Stringray 5? We do bro-rock/radio rock and I'm definitely needing to add more Mids w/out it getting honky (no racist, br). I even have Voicing 4 engaged but it still is like a huge gap in the Mids as compared to using my NS-5 on the same settings.

 

[Chef]

You can do the "frowny face" on your graphic eq, but, lack of mids is why I've never really bonded with any MM bass.

YMMV...

 

[rockstarbassist]

You can do the "frowny face" on your graphic eq, but, lack of mids is why I've never really bonded with any MM bass.

YMMV...

I thought Voice 4 was a bump at like 370hz or so, right? Maybe I can try Voice 5 and see if that helps any.
I'm gonna give it a few shows and more time in rehearsal, but yeah I totally get what people mean with the "ghost mids" thing on these basses.
The B and G string sound great, but other than that "Hey man, is your bass on?" lol

 

[Chef]

I've had 4 or 5.
I really want to like them. Great build, they feel great.
But, I can't hear them when I play them.
I know they really work out for some folks; they sell a lot of them and have a rabid following.

Not my thing. Easy enough to move on to other things I like better.

 

[rockstarbassist]

I've had 4 or 5.
I really want to like them. Great build, they feel great.
But, I can't hear them when I play them.
I know they really work out for some folks; they sell a lot of them and have a rabid following.

Not my thing. Easy enough to move on to other things I like better.

That was exactly what I experienced once we got to rehearsal-level volume. Very weird to say the least, but yeah there's plenty of other options available. If I end up moving it, at least I can say I tried.

 

[Chef]

Exactly
AS a long time "leo-phile," I really wanted to like them.

 

[Crabby]

First time I ever heard a Stingray described as being devoid of mids. Are you boosting the low end on the bass? I have both Ceramic and Alnico pickup equipped Stingray 5"s and when running the on board eq dead flat, they are both growly mid snarling monsters that cut through the mix better then any bass I have played before or since. I set my M9 fairly flat and use preset 3 or 4 usually.

Funny as I have often wondered if my tone was too focused on mids and needs to be scooped out a little.

 

[rockstarbassist]

First time I ever heard a Stingray described as being devoid of mids. Are you boosting the low end on the bass? I have both Ceramic and Alnico pickup equipped Stingray 5"s and when running the on board eq dead flat, they are both growly mid snarling monsters that cut through the mix better then any bass I have played before or since. I set my M9 fairly flat and use preset 3 or 4 usually.

Funny as I have often wondered if my tone was too focused on mids and needs to be scooped out a little.

Yeah that's actually what I've already read about them for years, and the main reason I never picked one up.

I guess it really depends on where you focus your Mids, too. There is plenty of attack and snarl, but for me it comes at the sacrifice of oomph and booty I get with my NS5. I'm basically using the bass flat with a tiny bit of Bass boost and then Voice 4 on the M9, which is a bump at 370hz. Maybe I need to go back to using the Graphic EQ and dial in more low-Mids around 150-300hz and see if that helps.

 

[Vic]

First time I ever heard a Stingray described as being devoid of mids. Are you boosting the low end on the bass? I have both Ceramic and Alnico pickup equipped Stingray 5"s and when running the on board eq dead flat, they are both growly mid snarling monsters that cut through the mix better then any bass I have played before or since. I set my M9 fairly flat and use preset 3 or 4 usually.

Funny as I have often wondered if my tone was too focused on mids and needs to be scooped out a little.

Not me, but I'd definitely say that's mostly about the "classic" parallel mode... which is definitely scooped in the mids compared to series mode (which was always my favorite). Now, you take a Sterling, and that's actually even too much mid focus for me. IMHO IME anyway.

 

[Chef]

See, I told you some folks really like them!

First time I ever heard a Stingray described as being devoid of mids. Are you boosting the low end on the bass? I have both Ceramic and Alnico pickup equipped Stingray 5"s and when running the on board eq dead flat, they are both growly mid snarling monsters that cut through the mix better then any bass I have played before or since. I set my M9 fairly flat and use preset 3 or 4 usually.

Funny as I have often wondered if my tone was too focused on mids and needs to be scooped out a little.

 

[Crabby]

ha ha I guess I am a bit of a raging EBMM fan. They just work for me. And as a lefty, Music Man offers so many more options then just about any other company which has allowed me to amass a small army of Stingrays in unique and cool colors. I have never played an NS5, or any of the high end boutique basses so I really can't compare.

 

[Jim Carr]

My old MTD Korean-made Kingston 5er (passive 35" scale maple fingerboard) has a no-tap MM-style pup in the MM-style position. I Love playing it through the M9. This is the most snarly bass I have and the M9 gives it a clear bottom while the fangs are still out.

About the sound of that particular bass, I am fond of posting this old YouTube video of Anthony "Turtle" Nembhard: da truth - YouTube

Is that what we are talking about from MMs? I run it flat with a smidge of bass knob—and loud.

 

[Jim Carr]

My sick M9's serial number is 0000034, so it was one of the first.

A little over a year ago, I got it back from Mesa after thermal shutdown. The techs at Mesa added a fan, slotted cover, larger heatsink and new power transformer as part of the engineering retrofit.

Shortly thereafter, I detected a weird high-mid freq band artifact in the decay of long low notes, and took it to a local authorized service center. They changed the tube (as had I, thrice), and pronounced it fixed.

I soon realized it was not fixed, and after trying everything in my not inconsiderable trouble shooting trick bag, I called Nick Epifani about the possibility of me having three different Epifani cabs with the same defect—as they were the only cabs I had for testing. Nope, not even possible, let alone probable.

While on a road trip to a friend's wedding in CA, I hoped to actually drop the M9 off in Petaluma (planned a demo) but my schedule didn't permit it.

Because I had shipped out my old but sweet SWR 350 in the box the M9 had traveled home in last time, I had to order a $40 shipping box from Mesa and wait a week. Once the box arrived, I shipped the M9 back to Mesa for its second visit.

It has been "broken" now for over 13 months. I've spent about $160 on shipping and $90 on the faster "out-of warranty" service from the local Mesa repair shop (Audio Electronics of Dallas).

Until this evening, my plan was to get it home, record the noise for TBer's to hear, and then take the unit back to Audio Electronics, where one of the techs said he would sit for a demo.

I have pretty much scratched my plan to wing it into a dumpster...pretty much.

However, I just got off the phone with Mesa CS. They said something surprising. It seems that there were several (as yet unspecified) engineering changes that my M9 had not had done 13 months ago on it's previous visit to Petaluma. These were completed last week, BEFORE THE UNIT WAS TESTED FOR THE PROBLEM I SENT IT IN FOR.

Of course this means that their diagnosis of "passes all tests" could indicate that they have fixed the problem, or that it only happens when I am present—as they have more than implied at least a few dozen times. It ships tonight. I should have it in a week.

Any suggestions besides "complain louder?"

 

[andrew]

Any suggestions besides "complain louder?"

Cross your fingers and wait for it's return. Could be their tweaks did resolve the problem. If not, chase Mesa until they make it right.

I'd like to get another M9 someday, but I am apprehensive about it.

 

[Crabby]

What a story Jim! I sure hope she is working when you get her back. Also makes me hope that when mine was retrofitted last year all the newest upgrades were done. I havn't pushed mine very much in the last year. This weekend, I am going to be running her hot for several hours in a very loud jam so I will have to keep an eye on things.

 

[Chef]

Jim: am I paraphrasing you right:
"they applied new updates before testing the amp, so, maybe it didn't misbehave because they fixed it before they tested it."

that about right?