Come on guys. Shlepin’ my 360 rig AND my }{><| KB player’s B3 around is why I play in traction most of the time now! Oh yeh, I guess that ain’t so cool, is it...
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Mesa Strategy and Prodigy discontinued. Also PH cabs.
- Thread starter mikeswals
- Start date
B3 is just ridiculous. And the leslie, which must be carried ever so gently.
Pbassmanca
In the pocket n' thumpy. So woody, so greasy...
And they sound so bloody good together........
I do know that Bugera (AKA Uli Behringer) has their own tube screening program and claims that the reject rate is insane. I do wonder why they haven't set up their own plant - I'd think it would be cheaper than sorting through all them crappy tubes to find the least crappy 
- and maybe they could make some decent money selling to others. My understanding is we can't make them here because the process is incredibly polluting - maybe Uli found that he couldn't get away with what the state-owned producers can...
- and maybe they could make some decent money selling to others. My understanding is we can't make them here because the process is incredibly polluting - maybe Uli found that he couldn't get away with what the state-owned producers can...
Yep. What of it? Dumped the GK "sparkle and grit" MB 800 like a bad habit. Use it for rehearsals and small gigs and probably for recording our second EP. DI is sweet, crisp without being harsh. Tone shaping is awesome as well. Bullet proof construction, chassis/knobs/switchesjacks etc are second to none for Class D high-power amps. Would prefer similar/identical switches instead of buttons on DB751; less chance of accidental/mistaken activation/deactivation of functions. My only constructive criticism is that there should be a rackable/rack ear option/inclusion. Use a shelf and "Velcro" in a 4U shallow case w/pwr cond. Does that suffice "sir"?
Focus grasshopper, focus.
But, what did you mean by discontinuing? Are you saying Mesa is discontinuing the D800+?
I'm not sure I really understood what you were saying...
I'm not sure I really understood what you were saying...
They’re not discontinuing the Subway. Erik’s rambling prose lends to misunderstandings often I’d imagine.
As much as I like the idea of a Mesa tube amp, I've almost never seen them in the wild. Ampeg and Orange are so dominant in that market that it seems it would be hard for Mesa to grab a decent share.
Maybe the Prodigy is too "modern" looking for the nostalgia enthusiasts.
Maybe the Prodigy is too "modern" looking for the nostalgia enthusiasts.
Ohhhh ok then. No, no implied discontinuation of D800+. My apologies for terseness in my response, seriously. For the price, quality, tone et al etc., the D800+ is the "real deal." That's why I am saddened by their deep six of the 488/888... if a company can do what they do for the Class D's, what about the all tube amps?
Again, my apologies for the snarky/rude response initially. (A ton of subjective "gear snobs" lurking.) Peace
I guess quite the opposite here in Seattle, never seen a bass player gig an Orange tube amp. Still see 400+'s, and I've seen two other Strategy's around the area.
Yes Ampeg CL's are still abundant. but the SVT CL is cheaper to buy new, and saturated in the used market here you can pick them up for 800 all day long.
You can't swing a dead guitar player without hitting a SVT-CL. They are definitely the go-to head. I've never had one because I don't want to move it.
Orange tube heads are a little genre specific. They are super common in hard rock and metal circles, second only to Ampeg, especially with the stoner\doom crowd. I couldn't see a jazz trio using one.
Sad to hear this, but this definitely confirms some of my fears and experience owning the Prodigy. Voltages at the venues around me vary wildly, and that Prodigy can sound amazing, or totally sterile on the same settings depending on the room. There's a couple of other guys here in Bmore that run Mesa tube heads, and they bring out huge power regulators to manage voltage variables. Adding a regulator kind of defeats the purpose of a lightweight tube head though...
I'm still glad I own it and will probably keep it forever. I feel like it gives me the best of the Mesa tube thing in a portable package, looks really cool, and will probably be a lifelong love/hate relationship as it comes on and off the shelf. Like @agedhorse said, those of us that actually gig with these heads knew what we were getting into. Its not just an amp, its a whole personality you have to get to know...like knowing my truck needs an extra 5 minutes on a cold day before the brakes work...the prodigy works great at venue A, but not venue B etc...It forces you to consider it in your playing and approach.
The real question is what do I get as my daily amp for when I'm mad at the Prodigy?
I'm still glad I own it and will probably keep it forever. I feel like it gives me the best of the Mesa tube thing in a portable package, looks really cool, and will probably be a lifelong love/hate relationship as it comes on and off the shelf. Like @agedhorse said, those of us that actually gig with these heads knew what we were getting into. Its not just an amp, its a whole personality you have to get to know...like knowing my truck needs an extra 5 minutes on a cold day before the brakes work...the prodigy works great at venue A, but not venue B etc...It forces you to consider it in your playing and approach.
The real question is what do I get as my daily amp for when I'm mad at the Prodigy?
And you do a good job! I ordered a set of 7 tubes from Mesa Boogie to re-tube my H & K Grandmeister 36 (for Geetar).
Excellent tubes. I had many choices but MB's approach to quality control made my final choice easy.
But now I feel like I need to speed up my purchase of another Powerhouse cabinet.
IMHO, if you run the AD200B's volume control wide open with the gain around 9 o'clock, the amp sounds and behaves pretty much like a blackface Fender showman with about twice the power (165W). My first amp was a blackface Twin, so the Orange feels like home, but of course it gains ups like crazy if you want it too.
That's probably why they are so popular. Same with the Ampeg.
I've never heard the newer Mesa amps used that way. Either they don't do it well, or they just aren't known for it. Since "tube grit" is one of the only advantages of a completely tube amp, if your amp isn't appealing to that market, it may hurt your sales, making it too expensive to continue.
As I mentioned before, players that like that dirty tone also often have a thing for retro looking gear. IMO the Ampeg and Orange are horribly dated looking, while the Prodigy and Strategy are decidedly modern looking. That's a plus in my book, but I'm in the minority as I dislike the appearance of anything retro.
Just about the time that I think I've figured out which all tube bass head I want to buy (Strategy), I read it's being discontinued.
Any folks that regularly gig with a Strategy, please tell me about it's reliability.
Any folks that regularly gig with a Strategy, please tell me about it's reliability.
It's also a shame they're going to discontinue the PH212 cabinet. IMO they're a breeze to move at 78 lbs, -and I'll be 55 years old this month!
I'll be watching the TB Classifieds. I'd love to have another pair of them. ......Yes, I suffer from OCD.
I'll be watching the TB Classifieds. I'd love to have another pair of them. ......Yes, I suffer from OCD.
The styling of the Strategy and Prodigy seems a bit Steampunk to me. I am pretty sure they can be dialed in to sound aggressive and nasty, or sweet and clean.
Both amps can be set to different power levels. This should be very useful for getting distortion at the right volume level. But I don't know exactly how the power scaling circuit is implemented or if it impacts the way the output tubes are loaded by the speakers. Perhaps the power scaling factors into the tube failure issue.
For example. My Trace Elliot V8 has a half power switch that lifts the cathode on 4 of 8 KT88s shutting the tubes down. I believe to properly load the 4 functioning tubes, the 2 ohm speaker output becomes a 4 ohm output, and the 4 ohm output becomes an 8 ohm output. If you don't make this change, the amp is running an impedance mismatch which is harder on the tubes. This is not mentioned anywhere in the operators manual...again I don't know how Mesa implemented it's power scaling scheme so I don't know if this is relevant.
