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new mesa all tube amp ?????

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#61
BassmanPaul said:
For myself I have no interest apart from curiosity. Switching out output tubes is problematic unless extra taps are built into the OPT secondary to accommodate the impedance changes the switch out causes. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I agree with JGR's, and others, disappointment with the 12 6L6GCs. That's a lot of tubes to go wrong and a huge amount of heat to dissipate just to keep the amp cool.
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Hmm. Do you think the YBA-300 would also suffer from these same problems?
 
#62
Alex1984 said:
Hmm. Do you think the YBA-300 would also suffer from these same problems?
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Traynor has addressed this issue with an automatic tube isolation when a tube fails. The amp is supposed to lock out the faulty tube and its corresponding "brother" while allowing the player to continue the show at a reduced power output. That coupled with the handy on board user bias adjustments make all those tubes much easier to live with. You don't need to find matched sets of tubes with the YBA-300. Just make sure all the bias lights on the back of the amp are in order.

As far as switching output tubes I'll leave that one for Paul or someone else knowledgable with tube amp design. I can say Traynor states it can be done with the YBA-300 but their sound tests revealed the 6l6's sounded best to their test pilots.
 
#63
pfschim said:
my objection to the M9 preamp section is in comparison to the Walkabout pre (and it's very nicely engineered link between the 12AX7 preamp section and the mosfet/power section). As is well known, the WA delivers a very tubey experience, whereas the Carbine series (M3,6 and 9), while they certainly have tube influence, delivers nowhere near the tube feel of the WA (IMO/IME).

Not saying anything against the Carbine, just not my cup 'o tube goodness. But, its possible the M series preamp will perform a bit differently when linked to an all tube power section. We'll just have to wait and see/hear it for ourselves.
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FWIW, I did argue that if they were going to come out with two new tube output section based heads, to make at least one of them with the WalkAbout preamp. Unfortunately, much like my wife, the guys at M/B don't always listen to me... :rollno:
 
#64
tombowlus said:
FWIW, I did argue that if they were going to come out with two new tube output section based heads, to make at least one of them with the WalkAbout preamp. Unfortunately, much like my wife, the guys at M/B don't always listen to me... :rollno:
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What I don't understand is why the deaf ear to the frequent, numerous, and strident pleas for a Walkabout with more horsepower? My guess is a lot more folks would be reaching for their wallets for that concept than there will be for two new tube amps, but maybe I'm wrong. TomB, can you shed any light on this?
 
#65
I've been begging for a Walkabout 9 for years now, and it would be my choice over an M9 tube based affair for a number of reasons:
I like the Walkabout eq better,
I really don't want to go back to tubes when I don't like overdrive, and the Walkabout is plenty tubey to me.
I'd prefer the (theoretically) smaller form factor over a (hypothetically) 4 space M9-tube with 12 6L6's.

YMMV, etc.
 
#67
kevmoga said:
What I don't understand is why the deaf ear to the frequent, numerous, and strident pleas for a Walkabout with more horsepower? My guess is a lot more folks would be reaching for their wallets for that concept than there will be for two new tube amps, but maybe I'm wrong. TomB, can you shed any light on this?
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The 600 was supposed to be a similar design, but it turned out completely different from what many would expect. Is it possible that maybe it can't be done?
 
#69
kevmoga said:
What I don't understand is why the deaf ear to the frequent, numerous, and strident pleas for a Walkabout with more horsepower? My guess is a lot more folks would be reaching for their wallets for that concept than there will be for two new tube amps, but maybe I'm wrong. TomB, can you shed any light on this?
Click to expand...

I've had long talks with both Doug West and Dan Van Reizen on this point, and they claim that after the two tube heads, the higher powered WalkAbout is next.
 
#71
#75
BassmanPaul said:
I agree with JGR's, and others, disappointment with the 12 6L6GCs. That's a lot of tubes to go wrong and a huge amount of heat to dissipate just to keep the amp cool.
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Well I too did wish they used KT88 this go around. But that dozen 6L6's is not new to Mesa Boogie. That's what the old Mesa Bass 400+ used for almost 20 years and worked just fine.
 
#76
I agree that a high-watt KT88 model would have been awesome. The one and only thing that I wish was different about the 400+ was that it had some more clean headroom - I don't mean actual volume, but rather, I wish it broke up much later. I like the relatively late distortion threshold of KT-88s. Of course, when they did get driven into clipping, it's not quite as subtle as 6L6s.

With that said, as someone said earlier, Mesa has always been a 6L6-based company, so it's really no surprise that they're using 6L6s in the new head.
 
#77
I dunno, they used 6550s in the 400 until availability became a concern, and their guitar amps have EL34s, 6L6s, EL84s, I think 6v6s even (Blue Angel maybe?), so it seems they like everything but tetrodes these days. To me, slapping the M preamp on their old power amp design seems a bit lazy/uninspired, especially considering it's taken them several years now. I think they could have done better. As a fan of their products, I'm kind of disappointed.
 
#78
That's right; I thought they didn't use EL34s, but doesn't the Stiletto series use EL34s? I agree that the design seems a bit uninspired. However, I guess if the end result if an awesome amp, that's what matters the most. I'm not in the market to run out and buy one, but I guess if one were to pop up on the used market a few years from now, I may consider it.
 
#79
I am a long time Mesa fan. But if this is their new tube offering I am pretty much calling it an epic fail before it leaves the gate. Does Mesa even pay attention to the popularity of bands like Kylesa, Mastodon, High on Fire etc? Gainy bass sounds have been "in" for a while now and Mesa is letting everyone else eat its breakfast.
6L6? Really? there are an almost infinite number of higher powered KT type tubes, as well as 6550 tubes. I get that they are trying to lock u into their brand and all that,but that shtick about not being able to find good tubes except for 6L6s is tired.
The front end of the M9 is simply not a very fun amp to play into if you dig tube overdrive(I am sure someone will beg to differ!). If I wanted the M9's sound I would go for an M9!
 
#80
I think Mesa believes they already have a 600 watt walkabout in the MPulse 600. Can't for the life of me figure out how they think that though, as we all know it's not true. I wanted to love the 600 so much, and it's not a bad amp, but, you know. Lucky thing for me, I don't really need more than the available 300 watts the WA provides. Still interested in the lower powered tube offering, just for kicks.
 
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