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New Mesa/Boogie Fathom Amp

#101
Alcyon said:
I played this head through my favorite Mesa cab, a Powerhouse 1000 (1x15" and 4x10") and it sounded amazing. I was a little leery of falling in love with the scooped tones considering the scooping the mids always makes me drop out in band situations, but with the deep knob pulled this head sounded amazing! The pricetag said $1,100 or close, so I compared it to a GK 800RB ($790 used) which had nowhere NEAR the lows of this head, despite me wanting so hard to love the 800RB :p the Fathom just blew it away with bass. I haven't had a lot of good luck with tube bass heads and I find Mesas especially muddy... I think I've played through some bum heads. But the Fathom was absolutely savage, and if I had 2 and a half grand for a rig I'd pick up the Powerhouse 1000 and the Fathom right away.
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That is the same setup I tried at L and M here in Ottawa !!!!

I was totally blown away with the Tone and the low wend I got from the Mesa !!! Even with another cabinet ( Epifani 3X10 ), the low end was excellent !

The powerhouse cabinet is a monster for me and I am not used to carry or lug around that type of cabinet around but it sounded so good !!!!
 
#103
anyone get a chance to test drive the Fathom 2x12 combo yet ? I really like the load in ease of the combo format for the gigs I do and prior to the Fathom being announced at NAMM this year I was seriously considering a Venture combo (2x12 with the MPulse600 head).

So, anyone ?
 
#107
I play the fathom threw a ampeg 8x10 and a swr 18 with a fender american precission bass and a compulator compressor it could not sound better. One thing i learnded was to turn down the lows and the low would come threw better. odd i know but its the thing to do i hear:) only problem i have with this amp is the pull mute on the master, when pushing and pulling this it is easy to change the volume and with this head every little move on volume does alot. but a foot pedal will fix that. i play with a very loud drummer and a two guitar players with full stacks. my gain is set at 4oclock and the master at 2 (there are no numbers on the knobs:):):)
 
#109
pfschim said:
anyone get a chance to test drive the Fathom 2x12 combo yet ? I really like the load in ease of the combo format for the gigs I do and prior to the Fathom being announced at NAMM this year I was seriously considering a Venture combo (2x12 with the MPulse600 head).

So, anyone ?
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I haven't tried the Fathom 212 but I gig with the 212 Venture and I couldn't be happier.
 
#110
Lawsonman, yes I know you grabbed a Venture 2x12 recently and have reported being very happy with it. Lucky you !

I asked about the Fathom 2x12 combo specifically because I posted in another thread that I had tried the Fathom head through a Mesa PH4x10 and really did not care for it, but guessed that it was as much the fault of the sound of the 4x10 cab as anything.

I really do not like 10's. As a rule, I am much more of a 12's and 15's tone kind of player, but I have tried an older style Venture 2x10 combo and liked that very much.

So, I'm still interested in hearing any reports from those who may have had the chance to play a Fathom 2x12 combo.
 
#111
pfschim,

Sorry I can't be of more help with sound clips etc.
I'm still hunkered down in custom order wait mode.

I just had to order a Fathom Combo in a custom vinyl covering and tan Jute grill.

Someday soon I hope, two weeks crossed off in the date book so far, and then I can share pix and rhetoric. :ninja:

Cheers,

Mr. BEAR
 
#113
MrBEAR said:
pfschim,

Sorry I can't be of more help with sound clips etc.
I'm still hunkered down in custom order wait mode.

I just had to order a Fathom Combo in a custom vinyl covering and tan Jute grill.

Someday soon I hope, two weeks crossed off in the date book so far, and then I can share pix and rhetoric. :ninja:

Cheers,

Mr. BEAR
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very cool MrBEAR, I'll certainly be interested in hearing your comments on the Fathom 2x12.

WinterBass, how about a little more info on your #87 Fathom 2x12 while we wait for MrBEAR to offer his impressions.
 
#115
WinterBass said:
I just got the Fathom 2x12 combo (#87) and it is working out great. Has anyone found a padded slip cover for this yet? I may go with Tuki if need be.

Thanks,
Click to expand...

Winterbass:

Just out of curiosity did you receive a slipcover with your Fathom Combo?

I understand you are looking for a padded one but in my discussion with Mesa's CS rep he stated that it does come with a slipcover, Pro Net Price List description does not show it as included, but does list one as part No. 091717 in the replacement Slip Cover section.

As a topic of interest it seems that either all of the hubbub about Mesa's active imagination marketing in their description of the Fathom was taken to heart or I am going to be severely disappointed.

A visit to their Website earlier today no longer lists the Fathom head or combo anywhere on the product listing page nor the Bass Power page, plus you can see the empty placemark on the left hand side of the b&w link listing.

I did find the original webpage description in my history pages but there are NO links from any of the main site pages.

Curious indeed. I think I need to contact my gear guy that I placed the order with tomorrow as we still have not received order confirmation or an anticipated build date yet either.

Cheers,

Mr. BEAR
 
#117
I placed an order for a Fathom head with my dealer about two weeks ago. He contacted Mesa and was told it would be about 4-6 weeks for delivery. I sent him an e-mail last night to check on the status of my order after seeing the above post regarding the Fathom being gone from Mesa's web site. He is very responsive and I will probably have a reply by mid-day today. I'll post after I get his response.

Cheers,
Kevin
 
#118
Contacted my gear guy at noon today.
He was able to talk to Shawn, IIRC, and was told the Fathom models are alive and well.

The Website however is undergoing some changes and the Fathom will reappear soon.

Still no confirmation on a build/ship date for my custom vinyl Fathom Combo, also ordered just a tad longer than 2 weeks ago, though.

Cheers,

Mr. BEAR
 
#120
Sorry it took so long to reply.

No I didn't get a slip cover with it. I will email Mesa to see I am supposed to.

I posted this on another thread, but here it goes.

I just bought the Fathom 2x12 combo - Love it.

Let me tell you where I am coming from.

I have an Original Ashdown ASM/Klystrom head and have paired it with Bergantino 3x10, a Bag End 1x15 and more recently 2- EA NL210 cabs.

I have recently tried the Markbass LMII and the GenzBenz Shuttle 6. Both great amps but not doing it for me. A guitarist mentioned the Fathom to me so I went and checked it out. I loved it right away , but walked away because I was trying to get a small and lightweight setup.

I went back a few days later with my bass (MTD 535 Marylin) and I wanted to know if there was something special about the combo. I unplugged the combo speakers and plugged it into a MESA 4x10 Powerhouse to compare. I have to tell you, the 2x12's in the combo did it for me. Had to buy it. I just played 2 gigs with it. A bar gig and a wedding. Never went past 1/4 power and this thing is loud, fast, warm, tight and articulate. Plenty of upper end too. I had to cut them back.

The basses I used on the gigs was a 73 Fender jazz with flats, and 2 MTD's fretted and fretless.

Since you can run the amp at 2ohms, I am going to get an additional 2x12 cab to match for outdoors and larger venues.

Where have 12 inch speakers been all my life. Try out the Fathom with 12" speakers.

I played another gig last night in an unfamiliar room. Small stage in a casino. It performed wonderfully again. I also used the DI out, pre setting, and it was great.

The only downside I can think of is its size. It is much more clumbsy to carry than a 4x10 cabinet. The wheels and hand truck handle work great, but it is difficult to get up stairs by yourself. Maybe I am just getting old.

The 600 watts on the Fathom is very different than the 600 watts rated on the Shuttle.

The combo has a big warm sound, yet it is tight and focussed. Ther is plenty of high end too, and I have found myself rolling off some of the treble.
 

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