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Mesa Walkabout Megathread!

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#583
I am completely satisfied with my Walkabout head. As long the discussion is veering toward different cab pairings, let me share.

Ok , the head is perfect for me. I've got a small, modular rig now running a Bag End S15 and/or a Bergantino EX 12. But the more I read about the Scout 12 cab, the more I had to try it. I ended up buying a whole combo after a long fruitless search for a cab only (I was a man posessed). The Scout was really impressive, and I can see now what everyone is on about. This one had the new x over, and it is the most 'natural' sounding tweet I've ever heard. After a serious round of A/B'ing ther was no obvious winner soundwise. Really, everything sounded great, little nuances between cabinets I won't go into here, BUT...after a serious comparison of all the various combinations, I ended up keeping my 2 cabs and selling the combo.
In the end the BE and Berg gave me all I needed and then some, in easier to haul bite sized pieces. I can also relax knowing I'm not pushing the head running below 4 ohms. I just didn't hear the difference between the 4 and 8 ohm loads. The head into the S15 alone kicks as much butt as I need kicked. And even without the nice transparency of the Scout tweet, it has a surprisingly good top end (better than the bergy 12!).
Bottom line is that if I didn't already own these cabs, the Scout would definately been a keeper. It is amazing what it can do all by it's lonesome.

I will add that I also compared my 1st generation head w/ upgrades, to the recent blackface head that was in the combo. Noticably more gain and 'richness' from mine! My older head had been retubed prior to my getting it, and it has a stripped screw head which prevents me from opening it up. If I ever get it open I'll post what's in there tube-wise.
 
#584
Anyone out there using a Scout Combo 15" with a Dingwall AB1 5 string? The Dingwall is extremely articulate - amazing pitch accuracy and harmonic richness all the way down to the open B string. I'm wanting to add an extension cab that's faster than the 15" speaker but I'm running into the problem of running the Walkabout at 2 ohms if I add a second 4 ohm cab. Does anyone have any experience with this?
 
#587
Yessir, I run mine at 2 ohms; no issues, see that thread link above.
I also run at 2.67 (with an 8 ohm extension) now that I have a Mesa Diesel 115.

The Scout sounds great with Reverends;
Everything sounds great with Reverends;)
 
#588
Hey there, Chef.
Thank you very much for pointing me to this thread addressing impedance and extension cabs... most helpful. To be honest, I'm now starting to second guess myself about what to do. Originally I thought the problem I was having when gigging was not enough volume. But, really... volume is not one of the Walkabout Scouts shortcomings. Then, I realized it's more likely an issue of so-called "midrange punch" that's resulting in my getting lost in my band's mix when you walk 20 feet out into the venue. The bass just seems to fall off very rapidly as you walk away from the front of the bandstand into the audience. I'm not "cutting through" as they say. When I've turned up my volume my bandmates get pissed and complain that I'm way too loud - which is true if you're on stage but not if you're out on the dance floor. So, I started thinking along the lines of "maybe my Walkabout Combo just isn't intended to push a punchy sound out - despite it's very adequate low end and volume. Maybe I should add an extension cab like a Phil Jones Bass cab with a bunch of 5" speakers... or an Accugroove cab with a couple of 12"'s, a 6" and a couple of tweeters. But having skimmed through the Walkabout mega thread and read so many glowing opinions of the amp and the combo, I'm now wondering if I should simply be fiddling around with the parametric eq more and forget about an extension cab. I basically leave the eq settings flat and control the treble from my Dingwall. I'm new to Talkbass. Do you know of any other threads that discuss Walkabout Combo eq settings? Thanks.
 
#589
search;)
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198887&highlight=walkabout+settings

I run mine flat as a starting point. I cut mids for DB. I generally don't move very far from flat at all for electric, but I play fairly strong mix cutting basses. I've never played a Dingwall out, tho I've messed with them some.

Prolly half the time I' playing somewhere with PA support. The other half I run the Walkabout by itself, or with another one of several cabs; sometimes out of need, sometimes just cause I like to try different combos of stuff I have for fun.

I've never heard "you're just not getting out there" either from sound guys, studio guys, or other musicians/music lovers in the crowd, so I think it's gotta either be:
1) some anomoly of a particular room you're working
2) poor eq choice
3) poor sting or bass choice, but the Dingwall would seem to rule that last one out;)

If you're missing mix cutting punch, try pushing the passive mid control to about 6, and add some para eq b/t 400 to 600 and see how that feels. If your Ding has a mid control, push that around too...
 
#590
1Getaway said:
Hey there, Chef.
Thank you very much for pointing me to this thread addressing impedance and extension cabs... most helpful. To be honest, I'm now starting to second guess myself about what to do. Originally I thought the problem I was having when gigging was not enough volume. But, really... volume is not one of the Walkabout Scouts shortcomings. Then, I realized it's more likely an issue of so-called "midrange punch" that's resulting in my getting lost in my band's mix when you walk 20 feet out into the venue. The bass just seems to fall off very rapidly as you walk away from the front of the bandstand into the audience. I'm not "cutting through" as they say. When I've turned up my volume my bandmates get pissed and complain that I'm way too loud - which is true if you're on stage but not if you're out on the dance floor. So, I started thinking along the lines of "maybe my Walkabout Combo just isn't intended to push a punchy sound out - despite it's very adequate low end and volume. Maybe I should add an extension cab like a Phil Jones Bass cab with a bunch of 5" speakers... or an Accugroove cab with a couple of 12"'s, a 6" and a couple of tweeters. But having skimmed through the Walkabout mega thread and read so many glowing opinions of the amp and the combo, I'm now wondering if I should simply be fiddling around with the parametric eq more and forget about an extension cab. I basically leave the eq settings flat and control the treble from my Dingwall. I'm new to Talkbass. Do you know of any other threads that discuss Walkabout Combo eq settings? Thanks.
Click to expand...

I too just leave my Walkabout controls flat and only add or subtract little bits at a time and I don't have any problem being heard in the room. Mine is the 12" model.

But there's only so much a single 12 (or 15 ) can do, even with 300 watts behind it, especially if you're trying to get a lot of bottom end..

I don't have to use mine all that loud although sometimes louder than I've run other amps with more speaker area. In larger rooms I've almost always had some PA help. There have been a few times when I've used an 8 ohm extension cabinet, running the amp into 2.6 ohms and it sounded wonderful. That may be what you need to do. I've also used the head without the Scout and used it to drive a high end custom 3 way cabinet with RCF components. Even though that was an 8 ohm cabinet I could fill a room better with it. Also used it with an 8 ohm Eden 4x10 and that filled the room better than the Scout cabinet, but it didn't have as agreeable a tone to me.

Still, for its size and weight the Scout combo is quite amazing. But any single speaker amp is going to have limits. The Scout just seems to have a higher limit than any other amps of its size
 
#591
I ran mine last night thru two sets with a 4 ohm Dr Bass 1260 under it (12+6+horn).

It was super-fine.

Input on 3, master on 5. G&L L1000; Reverend 5L. Awesome.

It did not even get warm to the touch.
 
#593
Roscoe, Chef... this is very encouraging. I've got a little Ibanez 30 watt 1x10 practice amp that I believe is rated at 8 ohms. What would happen if I used this as an extension cab? (Can you drive a 4 ohm and 8 ohm load simultaneously with the Walkabout Scout?)
Also, I dragged out my Combo manual last night and actually read about the semi-parametric eq, and other tone contols... and actually learned a few things! One thing I'm going to experiment with is using the active vs passive input. I realize I'll get less headroom though the Dingwall passive pickups are reputedly "very hot". They're often mistakenly thought to be active. I don't know what their output measures but I've never even tried it through the active input.
I know that the sound at a gig full of bodies is very different from how it sounds in my garage rehearsing so I'll be experimenting with tone adjustments next gig (as opposed to leaving everything essentially flat as I usually do). One of the coolest things about my X2 wireless is that I can walk out into the room and hear myself and the band the way the audience does.
Thanks again for all your helpful info and advice.
 
#594
Hey 62Bass,
This is really good info for me. I responded a moment ago to Roscoe and Chef because I first looked at the last post and didn't see yours at first. You seem to have answered my question about running the Scout into an extension 8 ohm cab (2.6 ohms). I'm definitely going to try using my little 8 ohm 10" practice amp. Hopefully it'll sound good and I won't even need to save up for more gear. Also, lugging around lots of equipment gets old fast. Thanks for your input!
 
#595
1Getaway said:
Roscoe, Chef... this is very encouraging. I've got a little Ibanez 30 watt 1x10 practice amp that I believe is rated at 8 ohms. What would happen if I used this as an extension cab? (Can you drive a 4 ohm and 8 ohm load simultaneously with the Walkabout Scout?)
Also, I dragged out my Combo manual last night and actually read about the semi-parametric eq, and other tone contols... and actually learned a few things! One thing I'm going to experiment with is using the active vs passive input. I realize I'll get less headroom though the Dingwall passive pickups are reputedly "very hot". They're often mistakenly thought to be active. I don't know what their output measures but I've never even tried it through the active input.
I know that the sound at a gig full of bodies is very different from how it sounds in my garage rehearsing so I'll be experimenting with tone adjustments next gig (as opposed to leaving everything essentially flat as I usually do). One of the coolest things about my X2 wireless is that I can walk out into the room and hear myself and the band the way the audience does.
Thanks again for all your helpful info and advice.
Click to expand...

Part of my point was that the Mesa Walkabout head drives a 2.67 ohm load just fine. My Bergantino EX112 is an 8 ohm cab. The Scout is a 4 ohm cab. Keep in mind both are 12" speakers capable of handling the low B string. The Bergie EX112 is most likely a significantly better sounding cab than your little Ibanez 1x10. It could work, but might not be the best pairing.
 
#598
Chef said:
Yessir, I run mine at 2 ohms; no issues, see that thread link above.
I also run at 2.67 (with an 8 ohm extension) now that I have a Mesa Diesel 115.

The Scout sounds great with Reverends;
Everything sounds great with Reverends;)
Click to expand...



Aaargh!!
I too have a Reverend (awesome bass)
I too have a Mesa Diesel 1x15 (awesome cabinet)
I do not have (yet) a Scout....
Too bad they are soooo pricey here
 
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