I can confirm that the WD concept started years ago and I recall many discussions on TB and via PM with agedhorse about how to tackle the design challenge associated with satisfying all the pleas and requests for a higher powered WA. Unfortunately it simply took some time to fully appreciate the unique system dynamics/interactions responsible for the WA tone at a level that even brainstorming on how to reasonably scale it up could begin. And most will recall that nothing else with more power in the M-Pulse line sounded like a more powerful WA - which one would have logically expected. If it was an easy nut to crack, Mesa had lots of monetary incentive to do it a long, long time ago.
Mesa wanted to give us what we all asked for, but the path to doing that was anything but clear - in fact it was considered by most to somewhere between impossible and impracticable. After a lot thinking and experimenting, agedhorse finally formulated a design approach that brought some new puzzle pieces into the equation to replace pieces that would not scale up. Unfortunately they were not exactly a one for one replacement because it was an un-scalable interaction that was producing the unique WA tone. Wanting to stay totally analog and not use digital modelling or emulation (which IME would have fallen short of customer expectations) simply required time. As I said, most assumed the problem was not solvable and the WA results could not be replicated at higher power.
Since invention and innovation are rarely instantaneous, and even miracles often take time, it just took a while. Many of us were in conversations with agedhorse along the way, and I was one of those folks. He would have loved to be the hero who delivered this the moment it was asked for. And I suspect he would have rather not read all my wild suggestions and comments along the way.
The new architecture here IMO is more of WA+/second generation WA design than it is simply a Subway with different controls and a tube pre-amp. While agedhorse may have told the story differently (and usually hits the facts more accurately than me), I wanted to provide my perspective as someone who was an occasional participant along the entire process.
As someone who trusts Mesa's ethics and an engineer myself, I'm pretty comfortable that if Mesa could have produced this even one day earlier, they would have. They have had folks clamoring for it for many years easily bordering on a decade. Just look at the response here! Who in business would have kept this hidden in the backroom with demand like this knocking on the front door? Good engineering takes time, especially when the problem is considered unsolvable. IMO the real question in my mind should be how was this even possible, not whether the timing is suspect.
A final thought from someone who has played the prototype head along side my WA and my SW. This head didn't make my D-800 obsolete (or shorten my 5 year transferable warranty if I want to sell it) and neither did the 800+. The WD-800 does eclipse my old WA, but that was what we had all been screaming we wanted for 10 years or more. I like my D-800 as much as the day I bought it. As people played that head and expressed interest in new features and capabilities, Mesa responded to that demand with a D-800+. We can either accuse them of listening too closely to customer demand and responding too rapidly, or of having ulterior motives,...I think the answer to this one is obvious!
Very respectfully,
-Al
