Mesa Subway D-350!

[Al Kraft]

Even though I’m not one of the people concerned about fan noise, I’m extremely impressed with a passively cooled 350 Watt amp.

It also occurs to me that it eliminates the component most likely to fail under normal operating conditions, and almost certainly well beyond the warranty period. For someone like me, who expects a new amp to be capable of at least a decade of service, that’s likely more of a long term value than operating below 4 Ohms.

As you’ve already pointed out, you can make a lot of noise with a 350 Watt amp and a pair of relatively small modern cabs. I upgraded from a 150 Watt amp to 350 Watts to improve headroom, tone, and weight, but not volume. My 210AV stack already made more noise than I needed without the extra power.

On the flip side of that, I tend to mentally derate those cabs from 200W to 125W, because I play a 5 string. In theory at least, that makes a 350W amp pretty close to ideal for 3 of them. In reality, I’m unlikely to ever buy that third cab, so 2.67 Ohm capability is unlikely to ever matter to me.

Irrational human that I am, I’d probably still opt for 2.67 Ohm operation over passive cooling. However, of the two, I think passive cooling is more likely to become an industry trend.

I think about this from time to time and I'm still not sure. Personally I would want an amp as quiet as possible but that's because I play at home, where the fan and other random amp noises can be distractingly audible because I'll be sitting less than six feet away from it in a quiet room. In a performance those noises don't matter as much because they'll be drowned out by ambient noises before they reach the audience. So my guess is it comes down to where most of a given model of amp will be used, and I would assume that most people not playing out will prefer lower-powered amps. But then again there are people who buy SVTs and keep them in their basement, so I really dunno what the market wants.

These posts made me smile. They touch on an important subset of issues that all have to be traded-off against each other in the design process relative to consumer expectations/planned uses regarding often conflicting features/capabilities. While the logic, reasoning, and conclusions sound perfect to me, I'm sure there are others who would arrive at an entirely different place given the relative weight they place on some of the things discussed.

This is what makes designing new products for consumers with widely varying opinions and needs such a challenge. The diversity of products in the SW line directly reflect Andy's analytical rigor in surveying the overall customer base and packaging up product solutions that while perhaps not 100% perfect for every individual player, represent a comfortable and workable set of product themes/features that will appeal to the largest possible groups of bass players. The D-350 was IMO the next logical product to offer a new dimension to the SW line for players who were looking for something small, simple, and yet highly capable in some similar and some different ways than the existing SW product line.

 

[Inara]

The fanless cooling of this amp is what put me over the top and into being one of the lucky first few to grab it from Zzounds. I value this above less-than-4-ohm operation. For me, it's for the increased simplicity of recording. When it's my decision, I prefer to have a mix of mic'd cab and direct signal when I record, and I've worked with a lot of engineers who also prefer that. When I don't have to jump through extra hoops to isolate fan noise, it's just easier. And it makes home recording a lot more straightforward for me as well. Silence when practicing at low volume is very nice as well, but it's the recording benefits that got me. Nothing new there that hasn't been voiced by others already, of course.

 

[duncmill]

These days I'm a home player for the most part. I bought a Genzler MG350 (as quiet as it is the fan still bothers me at times) a few years ago to update my amp from an Eden WT300. There are a lot of relatively low volume gigs around here in very small rooms (pubs, taverns, restaurants, and even homes) or other situations where 350 watts is plenty.

 

[instrumentlevel]

These posts made me smile. They touch on an important subset of issues that all have to be traded-off against each other in the design process relative to consumer expectations/planned uses regarding often conflicting features/capabilities.

This.

The thing is, sometimes there are just cases where tradeoffs may not work. I am a pretty "no frills" guy and love a small amp. Recently, I've been playing outdoor gigs without PA support, and so need the watts, 2Ω option, and the fan on hot days in the sun. D-800 sounds do great and has been perfect for that. The thing is, I also play services in a small chapel where lower watts and higher ohms are fine, but having minimal fan noise is really important. I realize this is may be an odd combination, and I cannot imagine anyone making something that would hit all those needs. But it leaves me seriously contemplating adding a D-350 to the collection. Yeah, it's super close to the D-800 (and the TC BH250 I use for chapel duty), but it would be perfect for when I need complete quiet.

It's people like me that make me I'm glad I don't design products!

 

[DJ Bebop]

Correct, it was not designed to handle any load below 4 Ohms...this was typo by someone in the marketing/advertising area as far as I know.

I thought so, I just wanted to let those in the know, know.

 

[Basically Bob]

Very often the market doesn’t know what it wants, or even individual customers. I didn’t know I wanted the Genzler until I played through one.

Oh … I know exactly what I want. What I need is another story LOL.

 

[ColdEye]

Yeah this amp is sweet. So easy to get a sound that sounds good. Either with my EBMM Sterling, Jazz or PBass and L-2000, it just sounds right.

 

[Al Kraft]

The largest casino club in our area same one the national acts play on.
The D350 sounded great on stage. Played fri and sat, the amp was on from 8:30 til 1am, and I checked the temp of the amp and it was never even warm.

I think I mentioned it in an earlier post, but this is identical to what I've experienced playing one of the D-350 pre-production models over the last year. Andy nailed the passive thermal management approach and even lengthy sessions and/or high volume levels don't phase the head one bit IME.

 

[Al Kraft]

Yeah this amp is sweet. So easy to get a sound that sounds good. Either with my EBMM Sterling, Jazz or PBass and L-2000, it just sounds right.

I absolutely love my EBMM Sterling and Warwicks through it. I tend to find some heads aren't quite as compatible as others with the Sterling, but the D-350 is a good match for some reason.

 

[Ethereal Thorn]

Time for me to get the wd800 and d350 then all I'll need now is a tube di+ and it's game over

 

[Lex P.]

This thread needs more pics.

First day at the cabin. Sounds real good! Ignore the settings I was in a deep mood. Playing along to the blue tooth stereo I keep it fairly straight up.

 

[dave64o]

If it hasn't been posted there yet, that would make a nice addition to the Mini Rigs of Doom thread.

 

[Inara]

Here's a pic with both my little cabs...

 

[DJ Bebop]

Mesa/Boogie unveils its lightest, smallest and most affordable bass amp ever, the Subway D-350

 

[ibzprestige]

Would this amp be suitable for playing heavier style of music, rock and metal? What cab would be a good pairing as well? Not gigging at the moment so don't need to crazy of a set up, but still want to get a punchy, aggressive tone.

 

[Gordo350]

Mesa/Boogie unveils its lightest, smallest and most affordable bass amp ever, the Subway D-350

Wow! Is it just me and my phone but are ads just getting outta control now. You can't even see the content anymore for all the crapolla streaming across the page

 

[rickdog]

Wow! Is it just me and my phone but are ads just getting outta control now. You can't even see the content anymore for all the crapolla streaming across the page

Try installing Firefox. I'm using it on my phone, no crapola....

 

[soitainly]

I received my D-350 yesterday. My 1st impression was even though I knew it was going to be small and light, I was not prepared by how small and how light . I had textbooks larger and heavier.
I mostly have been playing through headphones (can't crank it in an apartment). This thing is really tweakable, the controls are really sensitive. Moving an EQ knob even a hair is quite noticeable. The voicing knob is genius. I ended up just tweaking this for different basses, with the eq flat. So far am quite pleased with what it can do.
I think I have a line on where to try out a couple of Subway cabs tomorrow, could be cool.

 

[ColdEye]

I want a subway 15 to pair with it but man its almost impossible to find those.

 

[agedhorse]

Would this amp be suitable for playing heavier style of music, rock and metal? What cab would be a good pairing as well? Not gigging at the moment so don't need to crazy of a set up, but still want to get a punchy, aggressive tone.

With reasonable expectations and a larger cabinet, it should be fine. We tested it with all of the Subway cabinets, and it was surprisingly big sounding with the 115, 210 and especially the 215, 212 and 410.