It can be an addition to your set of tools, and over time it WILL win your heart. Then the Berg will be sitting in the closet while good ol' WD800 is having all the fun. It's a natural progression, really.
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New mesa subway amps and cabs!
- Thread starter mexicant
- Start date
Ummmm.............a week after later they are almost sold out from manufacturer and retailer.
Agreed, my B Amp will be going to the classifieds once I take some pics. Between the WD and D800+ I now have 2 flavors that I love. The B Amp is fantastic but it's just missing something to me, I know it's designed for complete transparency.
Unfortunately for me, mine did not arrive yesterday (plus open mic was canceled). It is arriving today though, and I'm quite tempted to take both it and my D800+ with me to the gig tonight. We are only playing a 40 minute set opening up for a Led Zeppelin tribute band, but I'm pretty sure I can get it dialed in quickly.
Al Kraft
Supporting Member
- May 2, 2016
- 10,774
- 40,451
- Disclosures
- Mesa Boogie beta product tester and player support
It is a very intuitive amp and will be easy to dial in if you're used to the 800+. The inherent tone without a lot of knob turning from their neutral positions will likely put a smile on face. I liked the input around 1 o'clock, a touch on the HPF (9-10 O'clock) depending on the room acoustics and cab(s) you're using, a little bass boost, passive mid between 10 and 2, some treble if you want a more open top end, and damping to taste. The semi-parametric EQ is icing on the cake for dealing with room acoustics or more surgical tone shaping. Enjoy!!
Gimm...same with mine. Should have been in my hands yesterday. On the truck for delivery today and took the day off from work in anticipation.
I was one of those guys that ran the voicing around noon, which provided a little scoop in the upper mids while thickening the lows (and adding some highs to boot). Glad to hear it is intuitive. I have faith I can get something dialed in quickly, but just in case the 800+ is coming with me if I run into issues.
I'm only working a half day since the show tonight is an early load in. I was upset when I saw it sitting in western Ohio for a full day! But not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
I spent a good part of the evening yesterday working with the WD800 through a Hathor 1203. After a while, my wife poked her head through the door and said, "Remember your ears." (She was right. I went a bit too far.)
I really need to spend more time with the thing, but initial impressions:
Very bright (at flat setting) compared to my Ashdown ABM 500
The damping feature does exactly what I expected (how it was described), and I love it. As an example, from my experience, it goes from Shuttle feel (high) to Walkabout feel (low).
It has been over three years since my Walkabout was sold, and my first reaction was "too many knobs". But it didn't take long to dial-in a few tones that made me want to keep playing despite my dear wife's reminder about hearing damage.
I think the demo video did an excellent job capturing the character of the amp and demonstrating the features (given the limitations of representing such features in a YouTube video).
I do not like the preamp overdrive tone at all when driven hard (gain knob past noon or 1 with high output pickups). [EDIT 12/26: I really like the overdrive high. At first I just wasn't using it correctly. A little TREBLE cut and knob tweaking really helps.] But sitting right below it, "on the verge", is excellent. And there was plenty of room to raise the master volume (while I was running it at lower output--2 ohm setting through an 8 ohm cab).
FWIW, I never cared for the Streamliner preamp driven hard, but I loved it clean. And I rarely pushed the Walkabout gain past about noon.
Aside from my Ashdown, I never heard a 12__7 preamp tube drive that I much liked with bass guitar. I get heavier overdrive mostly from pedals, my favorites being the Bearfoot Blueberry and Mad Professor Blueberry (and rarely for "always on" flavor).
I only had the D-800 for a few months, but for a person doing a lot of wide variety gigging, I could see the benefit of owning both the D and WD.
There's still a lot more wringer to put this thing through, but so far I'm pretty excited about it. I should do a few rehearsals and gigs before any of this is more than "grain of salt" feedback. (Even after that, why should you trust me, really?)
I really need to spend more time with the thing, but initial impressions:
Very bright (at flat setting) compared to my Ashdown ABM 500
The damping feature does exactly what I expected (how it was described), and I love it. As an example, from my experience, it goes from Shuttle feel (high) to Walkabout feel (low).
It has been over three years since my Walkabout was sold, and my first reaction was "too many knobs". But it didn't take long to dial-in a few tones that made me want to keep playing despite my dear wife's reminder about hearing damage.
I think the demo video did an excellent job capturing the character of the amp and demonstrating the features (given the limitations of representing such features in a YouTube video).
I do not like the preamp overdrive tone at all when driven hard (gain knob past noon or 1 with high output pickups). [EDIT 12/26: I really like the overdrive high. At first I just wasn't using it correctly. A little TREBLE cut and knob tweaking really helps.] But sitting right below it, "on the verge", is excellent. And there was plenty of room to raise the master volume (while I was running it at lower output--2 ohm setting through an 8 ohm cab).
FWIW, I never cared for the Streamliner preamp driven hard, but I loved it clean. And I rarely pushed the Walkabout gain past about noon.
Aside from my Ashdown, I never heard a 12__7 preamp tube drive that I much liked with bass guitar. I get heavier overdrive mostly from pedals, my favorites being the Bearfoot Blueberry and Mad Professor Blueberry (and rarely for "always on" flavor).
I only had the D-800 for a few months, but for a person doing a lot of wide variety gigging, I could see the benefit of owning both the D and WD.
There's still a lot more wringer to put this thing through, but so far I'm pretty excited about it. I should do a few rehearsals and gigs before any of this is more than "grain of salt" feedback. (Even after that, why should you trust me, really?)
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Holy smokes! It's a good day to be home alone...
This is all very encouraging, and aligns with my experience of my Walkabout. I really bought my Scout for the cab more than the head. I tend to run it Gain at 12:00, treble boosted a bit, and otherwise flat as a board, and it sounds great. It was only about two years ago that I ever even began to think about the parametric EQ section (oddly, after checking out the Darkglass EQ section), which I then discovered is capable of a fairly good approximation of the old Trace Elliot Pre-Shape EQ curve.
I don't use overdrive on bass, because I think it sounds weak. But the sound of the preamp tubes *just* edging into the saturation/compression zone is where I think tube amps sound wonderful on bass. Over the years, it took a long time for me to admit that I generally prefer a crystal clear solid-state preamp. This became obvious to me when for a few years, I switched to an SWR Interstellar Overdrive and Power 750 as my main rig. I found I was spending all my time on the solid-state side.
That rig also included a Trace Elliot V-Type rackmount and a JoeMeek VC1Qcs channel strip (for either a full preamp, or just the compressor), so I had two tube choices and two solid-state choices. It was too much to carry, though wonderfully versatile.
These days, I'm using my Walkabout with a Boss BB-1X Bass Driver, and I leave the Walkabout clean and the BB-1X in that magic "just beginning to saturate/compress" zone.
So yeah, I can totally see owning both the WD-800 and the D-800+. In fact, I can see maybe even owning the D-800, as well, *and* having the pedals as a backup.
I don't think I've been this excited about an amp release in 15-20 years. When I am finally able to purchase, I have a feeling this will be the last rig of my life.
Give him a couple hours of time "alone"
I feel like I've said that to myself a few times before...
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Al Kraft
Supporting Member
- May 2, 2016
- 10,774
- 40,451
- Disclosures
- Mesa Boogie beta product tester and player support
...and each time it probably felt as true as it will the next time.
Doug Parent
Supporting Member
Tried one yesterday. Different animal. No voicing control but plenty of EQ control. I like the passive mid control more than I thought I would. Another fine way to skin a cat. Nice work Andy. Hard to say if this would directly replace my 800+ amp head however I do need the new 800+ preamp DI pedal for my rack rig and QSC cabs. hmmmmm. decisions decisions.
