I'm both extremely pleased and surprised at how massive the lows are for reggae with the WD, even when the HPF is up at noon or 2:00. Mud-free, huge low end. So many tools in this head to shape tone, you can always find what you need.
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New mesa subway amps and cabs!
- Thread starter mexicant
- Start date
Al Kraft
Supporting Member
- May 2, 2016
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My very first experiecne with the WD left me with the impression that the WD is a player's head for sculpting tone to match what you're hearing in your own head. After lots of time using the WD on all kinds of gigs I have to agree that if the WD sounds good to you when you first fire it up, it will likely only sound better and better over time.
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100% agree!
I had planned to post a couple of weeks ago on my first anniversary of owning mine, but life interfered and I never got to it. Anyway, that was exactly what I wanted to say. I loved it out of the box, but the better I've gotten at learning how the various controls interact, the more I enjoy playing my basses. I know how to set it for different cabs that I use at different spaces, and how to get the most out of my basses for some pretty divergent stuff. Reggae, Fusion, Funk, Classic rock, 80s metal, Motown with a smattering of other stuff. I can dial in the right tone for the job every time. I never imagined having a single head that could handle all that and do it all so well.
Is anyone using 2 Subway 2x12 cabinets with their WD800 ?
No, I only have one, but that would really be something!
Yep to all of this!
I'm an old cat and have lived through a lot of musical changes and styles that I like to revisit all the time.
This head can flow with me
Plug in my P with La Bella 1954, it sounds like Motown. Plug in the 5 stringswith Dunlop Super Brights, Larry, Louis, Marcus-Funk. Fretless plugged in, I get a Percy Jones, Alphonso Johnson, Jaco thing goin'
I even enjoy the tube front end. I was worried about that as I was one who disliked heavy tube distortion after
starting my bass career playing through a B15n trying to keep up with half stacks playing Led Zepplin
I thought the WD would not have the headroom to play clean. I was fortunately wrong. I actually like the fact that I can dial in some controlled grind as needed or wanted and have the power to be heard beyond just trying to keep up
A thing that is really tripping me out, that I feel a need to speak on as I haven't heard addressed is, how well this works with my double bass, my Kay M1
I think this WD can be a doubler's friend. I can usually run the head pretty flat with a solid body bass. Have the para mids set to work best with my upright and switch the mids in and out as needed So as well as the above folks I can go from Reggae, Fusion, Funk, Rock, Jazz, Art Noise and all stops in between.
PS sorry for all the
but, that's where I'm at on this! 
Someone in one of the Mesa threads is running that stack. It sure looks impressive!
Can anyone comment how the WD800 sounds plugged in with headphones? I've used the D800 with headphones and wasn't a fan, sounded too artificial but again, it wasn't plugged into a cab.
IvanBassist
Commercial User
- Jun 8, 2008
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- Content Manager at Darkglass Electronics, Dingwall Guitars Artist
As far as i know, there's a 1x15" subway cab simulation going through the headphone output of both amps.
Which headphones were you using?
That's how I practice 95% of the time. Works great for me, sounds like it should as if I'm going through a cab. It's about the same as the D800+ when I had it. I never have to mess with the EQ from headphones to cab, sometimes have to turn down the input a little but that's about it.
I get good sound through my headphones. I have the WD 800.
I was not aware of any cabinet sim for the headphone out. I didn't see that in the manual.
Maybe agedhorse can clear that up for us.
Not all headphones are created equal either. It also wouldn't surprise me if different EQ settings are needed to "sound like a cab".
I get good sound through my headphones. I have the WD 800.
I was not aware of any cabinet sim for the headphone out. I didn't see that in the manual.
Maybe agedhorse can clear that up for us.
If all else fails reread the manual
That's the second time I missed something in the manual. The first thing was the tube emulation in
the power amp section.
I see it now:
HEADPHONE OUTPUT: The SUBWAY WD-800 includes a 1/4” (6.35mm) TRS tip-ring-sleeve headphone output jack, which will drive all common headphones and IEM ear pieces between 8 and 32 ohms (and many well above 32 ohms). It is not necessary to have a speaker connected to the amp when using headphones, it is completely safe to operate the amp without a speaker load. It’s advisable to use caution whenever sticking a sound source in your ear, as damaging volume is possible, especially with “bass player accidents”, and when volume is factored over a long period of time. This output contains additional cabinet emulation circuitry. This output should not be connected to anything but headphones or ear buds.
- Feb 12, 2006
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- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
The cabinet emulation is mild and probably best emulates the Subway 115 with the tweeter control clockwise.
Al Kraft
Supporting Member
- May 2, 2016
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- Mesa Boogie beta product tester and player support
I think the quality of the headphones used makes a pretty significant difference. I use Sony MDR-7506 headphones (middle of the road, solid utility product) and get a good result.
this may be a throwback question, but has anyone arrived at settings on the WD800 that they feel is very close to the Walkabout.
When I switched over to using the WD800 as my primary gigging amp, I pretty much set my Walkabout aside (poor thing). But I recently picked up a Berg NV212t and wanted to try it with all the amps at my disposal, including the Walkabout.
While I am very happy with the WD800, particularly at louder gig volumes .... once again I am blown away by the wonderful tone/eq/feel of the Walkabout .... and the WA thru a great sealed cab like the NV212t is a thing of beauty.
Of course, there are power level drawbacks with this combination as the NV212t is an 8ohm cab and the WA only gives ~165w @ 8ohms ... but boy-oh-boy what a tone match.
This has me thinking of how I might tweak the WD800 ... thus my question.
When I switched over to using the WD800 as my primary gigging amp, I pretty much set my Walkabout aside (poor thing). But I recently picked up a Berg NV212t and wanted to try it with all the amps at my disposal, including the Walkabout.
While I am very happy with the WD800, particularly at louder gig volumes .... once again I am blown away by the wonderful tone/eq/feel of the Walkabout .... and the WA thru a great sealed cab like the NV212t is a thing of beauty.
Of course, there are power level drawbacks with this combination as the NV212t is an 8ohm cab and the WA only gives ~165w @ 8ohms ... but boy-oh-boy what a tone match.
This has me thinking of how I might tweak the WD800 ... thus my question.
When I A/B'd these two heads I quickly realized how different sounding they are. Both great but very different. The closest I have come with the WD800 is using the MESA recommended settings with the fat, full and round dialed in. I used that setting last weekend up in Boston with a Subway 2x12 and it was pretty amazing.
I still use the Walkabout on smaller gigs because it sounds so great.
