Mesa Subway D-350!

[Chuck M]

Many jazz guitarists used the Walter Woods heads. I would think the D-350 would actually sound better than the Woods amp.

 

[Nebadon2000]

No, Mesa have not acknowledged Hum problem from what I've been told and I didn't say they had acknowledged it. I said they couldn't replicate the problem. I would say the probability of 2 faulty amps with the same issue extremely unlikely. The issue doesn't happen on other amps I have tried and same cables/speakers work fine and of good quality. 3 Sadowsky's, an Xotic, a Maruszczyk, a Fender and a Gibson jazz guitar have all exhibited this issue. Also been to many different venues, so different mains sources. My D800 and D800+ di are all good with passive basses.
Does anyone else have a D350 they've brought over to Europe, if so is it working ok with passive basses?

Since Mesa Service can't recreate it... it must be your Body/fingers generating hum in the passive circuit only when you engage Volume pot

there may be a simple answer overlooked but I know the frustration when you have a problem and it can't be recreated by those you seek help from.

I only have volume maxed in Passive Basses and on my Bass that is Active/Passive in passive mode if I know I may need volume adjustments when playing I use Active always.

PS: Fortunately or unfortunately you did have the best person possible looking into it with Andy

 

[Michael Vee]

It doesn't always take a lot of OD but using some can fatten things up and give the bass more body in a mix.
The way these class D Mesas do it sounds good to me.

I've always been a fan of Bobby Vega! Thanks for sharing. Can't see in this video whether Bobby is playing that P bass directly into the D800, or if he's got something happening on the floor. Based on my D-350 experience, since the preamps are the same, I suspect no effects and he's got the input up. There is that little sweet area between noon and 3 o'clock, depending on your bass, that causes the OD to occur and to fatten things, as BlueRock said.

Once again, depending on your bass, that remaining input gain can be Xtra Nice if it's your tonal goal. I don't care for the sound of a really hot bass with the D-350 gain all the way up- it is not a good sound to me. I'd rather generate that kind of OD/distortion with a pedal such as the 4 on the Floor. (Plug!) The 4OTF gives a lot more range and control than just cranking the input gain on the head.

 

[BlueRock]

26954189[/URL], member: 38783"]I've always been a fan of Bobby Vega! Thanks for sharing. Can't see in this video whether Bobby is playing that P bass directly into the D800, or if he's got something happening on the floor. Based on my D-350 experience, since the preamps are the same, I suspect that is no effects and he's got the input up. There is that little sweet area between noon and 3 o'clock, depending on your bass, that causes the OD to occur and to fatten things, as BlueRock said.

Once again, depending on your bass, that remaining input gain can be Xtra Nice if it's your tonal goal. I don't care for the sound of a really hot bass with the D-350 gain all the way up- it is not a good sound to me. I'd rather generate that kind of OD/distortion with a pedal such as the 4 on the Floor. (Plug!) The 4OTF gives a lot more range and control than just cranking the input gain on the head.

My experience with the D800 makes me think he's going straight into it too. I never ran it with quite that much OD just enough to warm things up. It does clean well too if you don't crank the input gain. It's a versatile design. I only sold it to get something less colored to double with on the upright. Absolutely love it for the electric bass though. I'm not holding my breath but if they ever did a 2 channel amp with that circuit and a super clean channel eq'd for the upright with a 10 meg input impedance for piezo pickups I'd get one in a heartbeat. I've never found anything that was stellar for both upright and electric. It's hard to find a great amp system for doubling on the upright. Not a huge seller I'd imagine.

 

[bucephylus]

My experience with the D800 makes me think he's going straight into it too. I never ran it with quite that much OD just enough to warm things up. It does clean well too if you don't crank the input gain. It's a versatile design. I only sold it to get something less colored to double with on the upright. Absolutely love it for the electric bass though. I'm not holding my breath but if they ever did a 2 channel amp with that circuit and a super clean channel eq'd for the upright with a 10 meg input impedance for piezo pickups I'd get one in a heartbeat. I've never found anything that was stellar for both upright and electric. It's hard to find a great amp system for doubling on the upright. Not a huge seller I'd imagine.

FWIW, I always have had excellent results using the ART TubeMP as an interface for my upright transducers. Even when using my WW Green Light. Pretty much lets one put the upright into any amp; IME.

Only caveat is that particular preamp can have ground loop issues with some larger PA setups; but, I mainly used it for small ensemble gigs.

 

[Phlipper]

I know of a couple of players that switch off between bass and guitar using the D-350 and a Subway cab with the tweeter turned down. One guy uses guitar pedal preamp, FX and O/D pedal for guitar, then bypasses them for bass.

There are many ways to skin that cat.

So I got the stick-on piezo pickup for the mandolin. It also sounds good thru the Mesa. Amazing. Will be even better with a good preamp.

Going to try a K&K Pure pre on my belt to give me quick (albeit minimal) basic EQ and volume control when switching between upright bass, mandolin, and two different acoustic pickups. We don't have enough mics yet for vocals, cabs, and for mic'ing the mandolin. Trying a few things.

 

[DJ Bebop]

My experience with the D800 makes me think he's going straight into it too. I never ran it with quite that much OD just enough to warm things up. It does clean well too if you don't crank the input gain. It's a versatile design. I only sold it to get something less colored to double with on the upright. Absolutely love it for the electric bass though. I'm not holding my breath but if they ever did a 2 channel amp with that circuit and a super clean channel eq'd for the upright with a 10 meg input impedance for piezo pickups I'd get one in a heartbeat. I've never found anything that was stellar for both upright and electric. It's hard to find a great amp system for doubling on the upright. Not a huge seller I'd imagine.

The 1 meg input seems to work with my Underwood-equipped Kay, what am I doing wrong?
I'm using a WD and enjoy the coloration of the amp for my Kay. Maybe because I don't have nice carved soild woods to listen for.

 

[BlueRock]

The 1 meg input seems to work with my Underwood-equipped Kay, what am I doing wrong?
I'm using a WD and enjoy the coloration of the amp for my Kay. Maybe because I don't have nice carved soild woods to listen for.

You're not doing a damed thing wrong! I've heard people sound amazing with an Underwood going straight into an amp. It's what everyone did for decades from the 70's on. Newer pickups like the Lifeline, Full Circle, EAP etc though don't really play ball without a buffer. I should probably apologize to you for saying this but if you get a chance to check out buffering preamp (especially a Red Eye) it will improve your sound and ability to get more volume. You can sometimes get away without it (like I say we all did for years) but impedance matching is always a benefit. Ok, I'm sorry.

 

[agedhorse]

IME, 1M Meg is beyond the point of diminishing returns for about 95% of piezo pickups.

 

[BlueRock]

IME, 1M Meg is beyond the point of diminishing returns for about 95% of piezo pickups.

Maybe on paper.

 

[DJ Bebop]

You're not doing a damed thing wrong! I've heard people sound amazing with an Underwood going straight into an amp. It's what everyone did for decades from the 70's on. Newer pickups like the Lifeline, Full Circle, EAP etc though don't really play ball without a buffer. I should probably apologize to you for saying this but if you get a chance to check out buffering preamp (especially a Red Eye) it will improve your sound and ability to get more volume. You can sometimes get away without it (like I say we all did for years) but impedance matching is always a benefit. Ok, I'm sorry.

No, I get it as I was using a buffering pre before.
I wasn't getting a good sound straight in on some amps. I could with my Gk and I can on the WD. It does sound hipper with the pre, and I can get more volume at a lower gain point on the amp input. In addition I do run a little mixer as I run two pickups off the Kay and blend them. But I can get a good giggable sound off the piezo straight in to the amp and that's a comforting thought.

It's a wonder my Underwood still works, mine is from the 70s.

 

[Chuck M]

It's a wonder my Underwood still works, mine is from the 70s.

I have two of them almost that old and they both sound fantastic.

I have used various preamps through the years including Fishman Model B, SansAmp Acoustic DI and LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI. Lately I have been using the Fishman Model B with my hybrid bass that is equipped with a Realist. The preamp did not seem to add much except an onboard volume control when I used it with my D-800 into a SW115, however, I also own a Fender Rumble 100 V3 and on that amp if I don't use the preamp I have trouble with some lower mids being louder than they should be. Using the Model B with the Fender Rumble it sounds quite good and even. Of course the Mesa rig sounds much better but the little Fender is an amp that will stay at a venue that my band will begin playing weekly this month. I will need very little amplification for that room and in fact may end up playing acoustically.

 

[agedhorse]

Maybe on paper.

Since I evaluate this by listening and by player experience, my experience is way beyond being on paper. I also developed a line of piezo pickups that were introduced at NAMM in the early 1990's, ended up selling that part of the business to a company that paid more than I could have ever made from it. I also developed several lines of commercially successful acoustic amps that also used 1M as the happy medium between tone and excessive resonance + noise.

The loading of the piezo crystal does two things, first it affects the low frequency response. This is MUCH more pronounced with the tiny crystals used in a few (but not very many) pickups and these are the pickups that benefit from higher loading impedance. The larger the crystal (it may be larger in size or in layers of a layered assembly) the less impact on frequency response the loading has.

The second thing that is impacted is the damping, the lower impedance (not just resistance) increases the damping of the crystal by absorbing resonance energy. This can improve the feel of the instrument, limiting the ringing effect that can occur on some crystals. It's similar to adding damping material to the inside of a speaker enclosure, a little bit goes a long way, too much and it can feel dead.

 

[Wannabass]

So just to be sure as I seem to have a way of screwing things up, I can plug in a laptop, tablet or phone from the speaker out connection and into the AUX Input on the back of the D350 and play thru headphones while I PATIENTLY wait for my SW115 speaker?

 

[Michael Vee]

I can plug in a laptop, tablet or phone from the speaker out connection and into the AUX Input on the back of the D350 and play thru headphones

Yes, remembering that for playing through headphones, don't connect a cab to the amp. The speaker outs are not muted by inserting a headphone plug into the amp's headphone jack.

 

[agedhorse]

So just to be sure as I seem to have a way of screwing things up, I can plug in a laptop, tablet or phone from the speaker out connection and into the AUX Input on the back of the D350 and play thru headphones while I PATIENTLY wait for my SW115 speaker?

Yes

You might want to spend some time looking over the owner’s manual first.

 

[Wannabass]

Yes

You might want to spend some time looking over the owner’s manual first.

Yes, very detailed. Some information in there I will never grasp. One of the many reasons I liked this amp is simplicity. Thank you!

My lifetime experience with electricity is using it to melt metal together..

And they make a lot of adapter cables these days they probably shouldn't.

 

[Wannabass]

Yes, remembering that for silent playing, don't connect any other cab to the amp. The speaker out is not muted by inserting a headphone plug.

Thank you, it all seemed to good to be true!

 

[Al Kraft]

And they make a lot of adapter cables these days they probably shouldn't.

This gets my vote for quote of the week...assuming we have something like that on TB...

 

[TomB]

This gets my vote for quote of the week...assuming we have something like that on TB...

I especially like this one:

“My lifetime experience with electricity is using it to melt metal together…”

Me too! (says the occasional arc welder)