Mesa Subway Plus preamp

[agedhorse]

bumping this question

Deep and Bright switches versus phase switch also.

 

[shwashwa]

so is the resette voiced "flat"?

 

[agedhorse]

so is the resette voiced "flat"?

Yes, very flat.

 

[hennessybass]

The Rosette looks very cool for my acoustic guitar. Not that I play it out all that often, but I do sometimes.
I have a K&K pure mini pickup in it - no control (vol or tone), and it's picky about wanting to see a 1M or higher input. Output is fine without a pre, but my guitar (old Guild) is very mid-rangey, so needs EQ, and I sounds way better with a pre-amp.

I have a Fire Eye Red-Eye preamp that is very nice, and has a boost, but no EQ other than a treble control, and no volume. Also have the K&K pure pre, but no XLR out on that, and I hate the belt clip style.

The Rosette looks kind of like the best of both worlds, with even more great and usable features (maybe too many). Also looks like the 1M input would match up with my pickup.

Interesting.

 

[agedhorse]

We found that the K&K sounded best between about 750k and 1M. Beyond 1M there was no improvement.

What pickup do you have on your Guild?

[edit for autocorrect error]

 

[Jman2089]

This is a very interesting piece of gear for me. I used a number of pre’s with my ip112. Having a powered speaker is great. I have used most of the gear mention I. The last few post. The summit stuff was great, but with an eq it was thought to work in. Still having a pedal board and powered speakers has been an easy load in load out set up.
Plus since I’m wireless, I use one Shure for bass and one for vocals (headset). Plug and play

 

[Jman2089]

I meant without an eq on the Summit’s it was hard to work in.

 

[hennessybass]

We found that the K&K sounded best between about 750k and 1M. Beyond 1M there was no improvement.

What lockup do you have on your Guild?

lockup? Did you mean Pickup? -- K&K pure mini.

Just watched the Rosette demo video - very nice.
Kind of thinking it might do a nice double duty kind of thing. Working for my acoustic guitar and maybe for electric bass too in some circumstances. Lots of great features. Some that wouldn't get used with electric bass, but lots that would.

Andy, is the HPF "always on", or is it effectively off when all the way counter clockwise? Curious about the 40Hz on Rosette vs 30Hz on the Subway. Probably fine for electric 4 string bass, but I've never really used a HPF before (that I'm aware of).

No offense intended, but I when I bought the D-800 (got it without trying), I did a hand-full of gigs with it, and never really bonded with it. I really wanted to, because from a feature standpoint, it kind of hit all the check boxes. I don't know if it was just the "voice" of the amp or what. That's kind of kept me away from the Subway DI stuff - although it also checks a LOT of boxes too. The Rosette might have a "voice" (or lack of) that I like a little more.

Your designs are really cool from a user standpoint. The USB charger on the WD-800 is something I would never expect, but would actually probably use all the time. I actually looked up my nearest Mesa dealer yesterday so I can try out the WD-800 in the near future.

 

[agedhorse]

lockup? Did you mean Pickup? -- K&K pure mini.

Just watched the Rosette demo video - very nice.
Kind of thinking it might do a nice double duty kind of thing. Working for my acoustic guitar and maybe for electric bass too in some circumstances. Lots of great features. Some that wouldn't get used with electric bass, but lots that would.

Andy, is the HPF "always on", or is it effectively off when all the way counter clockwise? Curious about the 40Hz on Rosette vs 30Hz on the Subway. Probably fine for electric 4 string bass, but I've never really used a HPF before (that I'm aware of).

No offense intended, but I when I bought the D-800 (got it without trying), I did a hand-full of gigs with it, and never really bonded with it. I really wanted to, because from a feature standpoint, it kind of hit all the check boxes. I don't know if it was just the "voice" of the amp or what. That's kind of kept me away from the Subway DI stuff - although it also checks a LOT of boxes too. The Rosette might have a "voice" (or lack of) that I like a little more.

Your designs are really cool from a user standpoint. The USB charger is something I would never expect, but would actually probably use all the time. I actually looked up my nearest Mesa dealer yesterday so I can try out the WD-800 in the near future.

Yes, pickup, autocorrect strikes again!

The HPF is always on, set to the lowest value that's practical for speaker protection.

On the bass amps it's around 25-30Hz and on the acoustic amps it's around 40Hz, which reflects real world conditions. Generally for bass, most players prefer between 40-50Hz if they have a choice. Depends on bass, speakers and playing style.

The Subway amps tend to be fairly neutral which some players find a little dark when compared with other amps that may have a lot of high end added into their voicing. You can add that in, but that means turning knobs from their 12:00 position.

 

[hennessybass]

Yes, pickup, autocorrect strikes again!

The HPF is always on, set to the lowest value that's practical for speaker protection.

On the bass amps it's around 25-30Hz and on the acoustic amps it's around 40Hz, which reflects real world conditions. Generally for bass, most players prefer between 40-50Hz if they have a choice. Depends on bass, speakers and playing style.

The Subway amps tend to be fairly neutral which some players find a little dark when compared with other amps that may have a lot of high end added into their voicing. You can add that in, but that means turning knobs from their 12:00 position.

Auto correct gets me all the time... but even more often just my terrible spelling and lack of proofreading.
Thanks for the info. I suspect with my style and tone, I probably wouldn't notice the HPF at 40Hz.
Looking forward to checking out some of this stuff.

 

[nostatic]

. You can add that in, but that means turning knobs from their 12:00 position.

 

[jwindham]

Hi Andy, I was just curious to know more about the "boost" feature on the D800+ pedal. I assume its a nice, simple clean boost, but I'm more curious about why it was implemented on this newer + version?

 

[agedhorse]

Hi Andy, I was just curious to know more about the "boost" feature on the D800+ pedal. I assume its a nice, simple clean boost, but I'm more curious about why it was implemented on this newer + version?

Correct, it's an adjustable clean boost. It was provided as an additional tool for those players who find the need to sit a little forward on stage during some portions of a tube and don't want to dig in harder for tone reasons. Conversely, it can be used in the opposite way if somebody wants to dig in a little harder without "getting louder", some may find it handy for switching between basses of different sensitivities, etc. Different players will find different applications for this feature and some will find no use at all.

 

[jwindham]

Correct, it's an adjustable clean boost. It was provided as an additional tool for those players who find the need to sit a little forward on stage during some portions of a tube and don't want to dig in harder for tone reasons. Conversely, it can be used in the opposite way if somebody wants to dig in a little harder without "getting louder", some may find it handy for switching between basses of different sensitivities, etc. Different players will find different applications for this feature and some will find no use at all.

Very nice, great feature to add to this preamp pedal. Will save some folks some pedal board space, too.

 

[agedhorse]

Very nice, great feature to add to this preamp pedal. Will save some folks some pedal board space, too.

Have had numerous players ask for some form of clean boost like this, but like many features, it causes the box to grow or the knob spacing to shrink.

 

[scottm]

Has anyone bought one since this thread has been started?

I ask, because I got one and wasn't impressed. My casing came bent so it doesn't sit flat. Also the controls don't seem to show much adjustment of tone until they're at least above the 50% mark, but maybe that's just my hearing.
I can however get a nice Mesa tone out of it though, but it just seems limited on tonal range.

I play on Markbass and Aquilar stuff and really wanted to give a nice Mesa stack a try... but after this I think I am going to sadly pass.

With that said, I have not contacted Mesa about the bent casing or any other issues. Just giving my first impressions after about two weeks.

-ScottM

 

[agedhorse]

The controls operate smoothly over the entire range of rotation unlike some brands that concentrate the adjustment over a smaller range of rotation which makes them appear more active than they really are.

Give customer service a call and they will help you get the bent chassis sorted out.

 

[scottm]

The controls operate smoothly over the entire range of rotation unlike some brands that concentrate the adjustment over a smaller range of rotation which makes them appear more active than they really are.

Give customer service a call and they will help you get the bent chassis sorted out.

Thanks.

-ScottM

 

[nostatic]

Has anyone bought one since this thread has been started?

I ask, because I got one and wasn't impressed. My casing came bent so it doesn't sit flat. Also the controls don't seem to show much adjustment of tone until they're at least above the 50% mark, but maybe that's just my hearing.
I can however get a nice Mesa tone out of it though, but it just seems limited on tonal range.

I play on Markbass and Aquilar stuff and really wanted to give a nice Mesa stack a try... but after this I think I am going to sadly pass.

With that said, I have not contacted Mesa about the bent casing or any other issues. Just giving my first impressions after about two weeks.

-ScottM

Yes, I have one, have gigged it running direct into a PA for a few gigs, and also experimented at home with variations of signal chains. For the eq 50% (or 12:00) is relatively flat so not sure how you're using the pedal. I start with all the eq at noon, preamp gain around noon and master depends on what I'm running in to. You may need to goose the master - I recall running it around 3:00 for one setup. If you are maxing the tone controls and not getting enough of that particular band then maybe it isn't for you but that ends up as pretty extreme sounds in my experience.

 

[scottm]

Yes, I have one, have gigged it running direct into a PA for a few gigs, and also experimented at home with variations of signal chains. For the eq 50% (or 12:00) is relatively flat so not sure how you're using the pedal. I start with all the eq at noon, preamp gain around noon and master depends on what I'm running in to. You may need to goose the master - I recall running it around 3:00 for one setup. If you are maxing the tone controls and not getting enough of that particular band then maybe it isn't for you but that ends up as pretty extreme sounds in my experience.

Thanks for your input on this, those are things I will take into note today when I play through it some more. I think agedhorse might have hit the nail on the head by saying that the controls "operate smoothly over the entire range" instead of being more dramatic than my other equipment over the years.

I will say that the tone I get makes any of my cabs have that amazing Mesa sound I was hoping for.

I am new to running a preamp pedal like this, so I got to ask... how do I turn off the pedal? Dumb question, but after playing for almost 30 years I am just now getting into the pedal scene. I have been running mine through using both the send and return and then also just using the return only. I also have gone direct through the main front input of the head as well. I was just wondering if there was a way to turn off the sound coming in from the preamp so I can hear my head sound only without unplugging it. Like there seems to be no normal bypass switch like a normal pedal.

Thank you for everyone's help.

-ScottM