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New mesa subway amps and cabs!

#1,302
Tried the WD at Guitar Showcase, only had like two minutes with her. Put the gain on full with master very low and prepared to get the glorious fuzz with harmonic overtones of my Walkabout. Didn't happen. Rich said they put a cleaner tube in there. I think my old WA has a JJ. Any hope changing the tube will get me there?

My ideal setup is a foot-switchable dual-channel, ch1 is the WA so I can dial in gain from grit to fuzz range, and ch2 would be the D800. Until then its the D800 with a ToneHammer pedal for the grit/fuzz.

Sadly the WA just stays at home and for recording
 
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#1,306
The WD is a higher gain amp than the D-800 & D-800+ but is not what I would call a high gain amp.

When asking on TB what features were desired in a WA replacement, moderate overdrive and being O/D & distortion pedal friendly was much more requested than inherently high gain.

I don't know what Guitar Showcase may have done to the amp, but moderate overdrive is totally possible as shipped from the factory.
 
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#1,307
agedhorse said:
The WD is a higher gain amp than the D-800 & D-800+ but is not what I would call a high gain amp.

When asking on TB what features were desired in a WA replacement, moderate overdrive and being O/D & distortion pedal friendly was much more requested than inherently high gain.

I don't know what Guitar Showcase may have done to the amp, but moderate overdrive is totally possible as shipped from the factory.
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And it would, of course, greatly depend on the bass used, being played into it.
I've had pretty low output jazz basses that I've struggled to get a dirty tone outta, but the same settings, same amp, being hit with a high output bass, like (in the extreme) my old 74 Telecaster Bass, would overdrive heaps.
Even a pretty hot P bass will get drive outta some of my amps, where a more polite bass won't hardly get none no how :cool:
 
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#1,308
bobicidal said:
Tried the WD at Guitar Showcase, only had like two minutes with her. Put the gain on full with master very low and prepared to get the glorious fuzz with harmonic overtones of my Walkabout. Didn't happen. Rich said they put a cleaner tube in there. I think my old WA has a JJ. Any hope changing the tube will get me there?

My ideal setup is a foot-switchable dual-channel, ch1 is the WA so I can dial in gain from grit to fuzz range, and ch2 would be the D800. Until then its the D800 with a ToneHammer pedal for the grit/fuzz.

Sadly the WA just stays at home and for recording
Click to expand...
That’s so weird- why swap a tube in a floor demo amp?
 
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#1,310
kesslari said:
That’s so weird- why swap a tube in a floor demo amp?
Click to expand...
I agree, as this doesn't accurately represent the amp that the customer will actually receive.
 
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#1,311
kesslari said:
That’s so weird- why swap a tube in a floor demo amp?
Click to expand...
the "They" Rich from Guitar showcase is referring to is MESA.
the Factory design includes a lower gain cleaner tube (AU/.AT vs AX)

Showcase is a lot of things, but would not modify a new amp!


I can get grit and overdrive with my Passive Pbass
Distortion starts to creep in when I hit it with My G&L L2500 with the preamp engaged, which can be pushed further by selective boosting in the PEQ :)
 
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#1,312
/\/\3phist0 said:
the "They" Rich from Guitar showcase is referring to is MESA.
the Factory design includes a lower gain cleaner tube (AU/.AT vs AX)

Showcase is a lot of things, but would not modify a new amp!


I can get grit and overdrive with my Passive Pbass
Distortion starts to creep in when I hit it with My G&L L2500 with the preamp engaged, which can be pushed further by selective boosting in the PEQ :)
Click to expand...
That's why this didn't make much sense.

The 12AT7 was not used because it was "low gain" and in fact was used because it's actually higher gain in the specific circuit that it's being used in. There is a difference between voltage gain and current gain, though the marketing folks who fixate on "gain factor" seem not to understand that there is an entire set of operating curves that define a particular tube and an engineer that's designing with tubes will determine what the circuit needs and choose a tube with an appropriate set of operating characteristics rather than listening to the marketing blather about gain, gain, gain where the folks marketing this stuff have no idea that there's a difference between voltage gain and current gain (the combination is what makes up POWER gain).
 
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#1,313
fe8761a5-5e02-4659-816b-8079003277e5-original.jpg


So I received my WD800 on Christmas eve and have been A/Bing with my D800 thru a studio 1x15 cab.
WD800 gets overall more natural warm tone and is way more capable of tone shaping with the help of HPF and PEQ.
The D800 is a bit more modern sounding with tighter feel and easy to get great tones due to its simplicity.
I thought buying the WD800 will just make me want to sell my D800 right away but turns out the WD800 simply is not a more tweakable D800. I am digging both amps and might just end up keeping both.
 
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#1,314
agedhorse said:
That's why this didn't make much sense.

The 12AT7 was not used because it was "low gain" and in fact was used because it's actually higher gain in the specific circuit that it's being used in. There is a difference between voltage gain and current gain, though the marketing folks who fixate on "gain factor" seem not to understand that there is an entire set of operating curves that define a particular tube and an engineer that's designing with tubes will determine what the circuit needs and choose a tube with an appropriate set of operating characteristics rather than listening to the marketing blather about gain, gain, gain where the folks marketing this stuff have no idea that there's a difference between voltage gain and current gain (the combination is what makes up POWER gain).
Click to expand...
You mean that the marketing terms are inaccurate and self serving herd mentality *Gasp* .?
 
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