Mesa!

[CryingBass]

One of these for sale recently on TB. I like the pretty lights ( and I own one, it's awesome )

For Sale - Mesa Boogie Strategy Eight:88 Amp

 

[pfschim]

I have played both the M6 and the MPulse 600, and I even ran a Mesa Venture combo (MPulse 600 in a 2x12 - massive combo rig) some years back.
I think the comments already made between the M6 and MP600 are accurate.
Personally, I liked the MP600 over the M6. Same basic power available with both amps, but the M6 is clearly more of a SS/clean sounding amp (too clean for me) and the MP600 has that Mesa SimulState/tube thing going on with 3 tube stages, with a tube driver for the mosfet power section. MP600 is "almost" a 600w Walkabout, but not quite.
EQ capability of the MP600 is significantly greater than the M6's simpler setup with the voicing switch.
Compressor on the MP600 is very good, if that makes a difference to you. Much better than the most common 1 or 2 knob compressor pedals (IMO/IME).
The MP600 also has a Mesa feature that can be very useful - the Solo control. Basically its a 2nd volume/level setting that can be run with a footswitch. So, while its not a 2nd channel, it does allow for a 2nd level that can be kicked in when needed.

probably can't go wrong with either amp.
good luck.

 

[chaosMK]

I wonder if I was trippin'. I thought the Carbine (M9 at least) had a cool grind on the preamp. I was using an 18v active with it.

I am a fan of the M-Pulse and would love to own one again. You can get some sweet sounds out of it and the onboard compressor is excellent. I thought the Genz Streamliner had a similar overall tone.

 

[PDGood]

I chose the Carbine and am not disappointed. I already had a Walkabout, so the 600 wasn't as attractive - I wanted to broaden my tone options. In terms of power, punch and quickness the Carbines are pretty impressive. The Carbine is an excellent rock amp. You'll likely spend more time trying to tame it's inherent characteristics than working on how to get it to speak with authority. If you want more of tube-like response/feel, the 600 is a great hybrid amp, although no longer in production.

I'm hearing raves about the Walkabout. How would you compare it to the others, please?

 

[vin*tone]

The WA "saturates" earlier than the 600 watt amps but plenty loud enough for 99% of gigs I used it for. The smaller form factor is a big plus.

I've owned 2 Walkabouts (and 2 M-Pulses - 600 and 360) and would still be playing through it if the transformer didn't just fry. Fantastic amps.

 

[Korladis]

Everyone's saying that the M6 is sparkly clean, but the ones I tried dirtied up pretty nicely when I cranked the gain.

 

[db-13]

Well it's a done deal here. I got the M6-Carbine. Gotta get the cab tomorrow was $50 light and the guy wouldn't budge on the price lol. I'll keep a update on things. Thanks again for all your feedback. Although I've been using Talkbass for years, I'm now on it and this was my first topic and was cool. Remember "It's All About The Bass". db

 

[Al Kraft]

Everyone's saying that the M6 is sparkly clean, but the ones I tried dirtied up pretty nicely when I cranked the gain.

I can get some break-up too, but it's not what I characterize as warm, tube-like compression and grit. The Carbines seem to me to be optimized to do loud and clear with a feeling of unlimited horsepower.

To me that tube pre-amp is much better at generating some additional harmonic content in a clean tone (making it less sterile/more interesting) than it is at making me think I'm playing a tube amp with smooth, rich overdriven tones. Admittedly we all hear things differently and what you're running up-stream of the amp input can make a difference as well.

 

[Al Kraft]

I'm hearing raves about the Walkabout. How would you compare it to the others, please?

The WA is unique even in the Mesa M-Pulse line. For some it's a little short on power when pushed hard. It also tends to compress early and bloom in the lows a bit too much for others. When you run it in "its zone", it has a harmonically rich, tube-like quality and mild squishiness/compression that I haven't heard in other hybrid heads.

Rumor has it that partly through design intent and part luck the WA has an interaction between the pre-amp and power sections as they respond individually and together that produces a very desirable and hard to recreate tone. I like the WA and find it works best when pushing a multi-speaker set-up (in one or two cabs) at 4 Ohms. For me, the Berg CN212 is an excellent match for the WA, as that cab tends to tame massive low end very well for a ported cab.

The other M-pulse heads are similar in the pre-amp section, but don't actually sound like bigger/more powerful WA's. The Carbines came along next and the pre-amp section was a different design from the M-Pulse heads. Carbines have a single pre-amp tube and the M-Pulse's have two, but the difference is more than just tube count.

To me the Carbines were sort of the bass amp for folks who don't normally buy Mesa bass amps. To my ear, the Carbines were Mesa's answer to the question, what should solid state bass heads sound like? First and foremost, the Carbine heads are the opposite of subtle. They have a big low end, in your face highs and a quick, crisp presentation of the notes that sometimes seem like you can hear them before you're through with the initial attack. I would say that the GK MB series is quite close reminds me of the Carbine in a smaller size with a different tone stack.

None of the Carbines (including the discontinued M3) have ever left me feeling short on power. Anyway, I hope some of that is helpful.

 

[db-13]

The WA is unique even in the Mesa M-Pulse line. For some it's a little short on power when pushed hard. It also tends to compress early and bloom in the lows a bit too much for others. When you run it in "its zone", it has a harmonically rich, tube-like quality and mild squishiness/compression that I haven't heard in other hybrid heads.

Rumor has it that partly through design intent and part luck the WA has an interaction between the pre-amp and power sections as they respond individually and together that produces a very desirable and hard to recreate tone. I like the WA and find it works best when pushing a multi-speaker set-up (in one or two cabs) at 4 Ohms. For me, the Berg CN212 is an excellent match for the WA, as that cab tends to tame massive low end very well for a ported cab.

The other M-pulse heads are similar in the pre-amp section, but don't actually sound like bigger/more powerful WA's. The Carbines came along next and the pre-amp section was a different design from the M-Pulse heads. Carbines have a single pre-amp tube and the M-Pulse's have two, but the difference is more than just tube count.

To me the Carbines were sort of the bass amp for folks who don't normally buy Mesa bass amps. To my ear, the Carbines were Mesa's answer to the question, what should solid state bass heads sound like? First and foremost, the Carbine heads are the opposite of subtle. They have a big low end, in your face highs and a quick, crisp presentation of the notes that sometimes seem like you can hear them before you're through with the initial attack. I would say that the GK MB series is quite close reminds me of the Carbine in a smaller size with a different tone stack.

None of the Carbines (including the discontinued M3) have ever left me feeling short on power. Anyway, I hope some of that is helpful.

Thanks bro. I have the Carbine now. I'm digging it big time and I'm coming from playing a AMPEG-4 Pro. Surprisingly this M6 is just as loud. I like the simplicity of it. Plug and play. I use a MXR bass compressor and a sansamp. Together I can get pretty much any sound I'm nig for. Haven't had it long but I'm super stoked so far. Have a show this Saturday so gonna put it to the test. I think I made the right move.

 

[db-13]

•M6-Carbine
•Avatar-B410 4ohm / 1400w
•Fender Percision w/ quarterpounder pups
•MXR bass compressor
•Sansamp
•Aphex exciter / big bottom

My band: HATE GRENADE

Top Tracks - Hate Grenade - YouTube

 

[PDGood]

The WA is unique even in the Mesa M-Pulse line. For some it's a little short on power when pushed hard. It also tends to compress early and bloom in the lows a bit too much for others. When you run it in "its zone", it has a harmonically rich, tube-like quality and mild squishiness/compression that I haven't heard in other hybrid heads.

Rumor has it that partly through design intent and part luck the WA has an interaction between the pre-amp and power sections as they respond individually and together that produces a very desirable and hard to recreate tone. I like the WA and find it works best when pushing a multi-speaker set-up (in one or two cabs) at 4 Ohms. For me, the Berg CN212 is an excellent match for the WA, as that cab tends to tame massive low end very well for a ported cab.

The other M-pulse heads are similar in the pre-amp section, but don't actually sound like bigger/more powerful WA's. The Carbines came along next and the pre-amp section was a different design from the M-Pulse heads. Carbines have a single pre-amp tube and the M-Pulse's have two, but the difference is more than just tube count.

To me the Carbines were sort of the bass amp for folks who don't normally buy Mesa bass amps. To my ear, the Carbines were Mesa's answer to the question, what should solid state bass heads sound like? First and foremost, the Carbine heads are the opposite of subtle. They have a big low end, in your face highs and a quick, crisp presentation of the notes that sometimes seem like you can hear them before you're through with the initial attack. I would say that the GK MB series is quite close reminds me of the Carbine in a smaller size with a different tone stack.

None of the Carbines (including the discontinued M3) have ever left me feeling short on power. Anyway, I hope some of that is helpful.

Thanks that is VERY helpful. I'm not looking for the GK MB sound - that's ultra clean and sterile to my ears, so that would seem to eliminate the Carbine as well. I run 4 ohm Audio Kinesis cabs so that should tame any lows needed, but I'm not quite clear on what "bloom" and "squishines" are but I do appreciate your comments as it gives me a rough idea.

 

[Al Kraft]

Thanks that is VERY helpful. I'm not looking for the GK MB sound - that's ultra clean and sterile to my ears, so that would seem to eliminate the Carbine as well. I run 4 ohm Audio Kinesis cabs so that should tame any lows needed, but I'm not quite clear on what "bloom" and "squishines" are but I do appreciate your comments as it gives me a rough idea.

Bloom for me refers to a characteristic where the lows and sub lows seem to slowly grow in a pillow type way as a note is played as opposed to "crisp/clear attack, note jumps out at the audience, time for next note". For me, the squishiness is a tube feeling artifact where the notes feel compressed on hard attacks at louder volume and they lose that crisply defined round characteristic with a very wide dynamic range. I hope that is helpful and fully recognize that others might describe it differently. FWIW, the other M-pulse heads do not exhibit these characteristics to the same degree to my ear.

I don't want to a scare you off from the Carbines, but they have an aggressive edge that you'll likely find reminiscent of the GK MB heads (and I own GK MB's as well). If you can get past the sometimes overly present, super quick, on-stage sound, you might be surprised how well that translates to a powerful well-defined tone out in the audience seats.

 

[zacharybass76]

I'm a proud owner of a Mesa M9 Carbine, and I absolutely love it. I'm sure the M6 will have a great tone, but you won't get the onboard compressor or graphic EQ like you would with an M9. Regardless, you can't go wrong with Mesa, especially the Carbine series.

 

[Al Kraft]

I'm a proud owner of a Mesa M9 Carbine, and I absolutely love it. I'm sure the M6 will have a great tone, but you won't get the onboard compressor or graphic EQ like you would with an M9. Regardless, you can't go wrong with Mesa, especially the Carbine series.

Through just luck of the draw I ended up owning all the Carbine models and would agree that the M9 feature set is very useful and very high quality - and for only a few more dollars. My M6 is in the fairly heavy headcase, so the M9 or M3 (in SKB and Gator cases respectively) often get tapped for a gig. The thing I like about the M6 though (and the M3 for the same reason) is that its "everything at noon starting point" provides a good sound for me and the simpler layout makes it foolproof to make on the fly adjustments.

The best value is certainly the M9, especially if you compare the add in prices (over and above the M6) of pedals to provide some of the functionality at the same level of quality. The M9 compressor is really very good. At the end of the day, they all deliver Mesa quality and tone!

 

[shoot-r]

View attachment 1073541 View attachment 1073542 Gonna go pull the trigger on a new Mesa amp tomorrow. Toss up between Mesa M6-Carbine or the MPulse. There both 600w and both have killer reviews. Thoughts?

My ears love the Mesa M-6 Carbine through my two Avatar 210 Neo cabinets stacked as a vertical 410.

I was so taken with the M-6's punch/clarity/speed I've now got two of them, one I carry as a back-up just in case.

 

[mpdd]

still rockin the d180 with the two orange obc115s, however i am getting a shroeder 21012 to see if i can lighten the load a little

 

[Korladis]

Yeah, my main amp is also a D-180. I play it through a Sunn 2000S 2x15 cab with Faital drivers.

 

[Al Kraft]

Yeah, my main amp is also a D-180. I play it through a Sunn 2000S 2x15 cab with Faital drivers.

I'm betting that's a killer sounding rig.

 

[outoftune]

Thanks bro. That's what I've been hearing. I just needed a lil push from a few of you guys on here lol. Torn between them. I've heard nothing but good stuff with mesa. I'm also getting the PH410. I'm gonna pick up the PH212,next week. I'm getting a sweet deal. The gear has never been played out. Always just sat in a nice basement. Here's a pic of the actual rig.

Did you buy these cabs? I was looking at them on Craig's and they disappeared.