New mesa subway amps and cabs!

[JOME77]

My Mesa D800+ arrived this afternoon. I spent a little time with it and first impressions are really good. I originally purchased a Berg Forte' (and really liked it) but I needed another Berg cabinet so I ended up trading the Berg Forte' (with a local player) for a Berg HD112 and a MB Big Bang (as my backup head) and bought a Mesa D800+. I really liked the Berg Forte' but it was a really clear and open sounding head and from the descriptions in the various threads it sounded like the Mesa might be a bit warmer (which is typically what I prefer).

Here's a pic of it sitting on top of my mini-Berg stack (HT-112-ER and HD-112). The Mesa really pushes them nicely. Very thick and warm.

 

[nostatic]

I think one key with that amp is not being afraid to twiddle the knobs. That said, I think the place to start is the voicing control (you'll either love it or not), then mess with a combination of deep switch, HPF and bass control. You can get some interesting sounds just playing with those three. Then the parametric can either help fix a room or give you more warmth (or not) or articulation (or not).

 

[Calvin Maine]

Yessir. Good eye.

I looooove Fender Guitars. I’m not an expert but I know a little. The headstock and in particular the logo hinted at 73. It was more of a calculated guess! Bet it has a lovely warm but bitey tone??

 

[Lowendtech]

Bet it has a lovely warm but bitey tone??

You nailed it. It’s got a set of TI flats on it and it’s perfect for what it was built for. I have a 2011 60th anniversary P with with a set of Fender 8250 nickel rounds and the ‘73 has more perceivable output.

 

[keto]

You nailed it. It’s got a set of TI flats on it and it’s perfect for what it was built for. I have a 2011 60th anniversary P with with a set of Fender 8250 nickel rounds and the ‘73 has more perceivable output.

I was 2nd owner of a ‘73, that was used but seemed to have never been set up, the intonation was off by a mile and there were years of crust in obvious places if it had been moved, wouldn’t be there. I loved the sound and, I know ‘a pot is a pot’ when it comes to 250k potentiometers, but it seemed to have the widest most usable tone knob of any guitar I ever owned (60?75?). Just could never adjust to the width at the nut, so it got traded towards my L2K order. Great bass, heard it went over to Europe, France maybe.

Please excuse the derail.

 

[Lowendtech]

Tonight’s recipe of favourite tones are coming from a Dingwall Super P/J (passive) with only a slightly tweaked Barber Linden and a Cali76cb into the WD-800 and a BF SuperTwin. This svelte setup is sounding really good and is first in line for my next band event.
The more I’ve played with the WD-800, the more pedals get left in bypass. I’m pleasantly surprised.
Probably all in around 60 lbs including bass and cables.

 

[keto]

Tonight’s recipe of favourite tones are coming from a Dingwall Super P/J (passive) with only a slightly tweaked Barber Linden and a Cali76cb into the WD-800 and a BF SuperTwin. This svelte setup is sounding really good and is first in line for my next band event.
The more I’ve played with the WD-800, the more pedals get left in bypass. I’m pleasantly surprised.
Probably all in around 60 lbs including bass and cables.

Rig pic. And tell me more about the Linden

 

[Jim C]

Rig pic. And tell me more about the Linden

Here's 135 posts in addition to what Loendtech says
Barber Linden EQ • New small form factor

 

[agedhorse]

Tonight’s recipe of favourite tones are coming from a Dingwall Super P/J (passive) with only a slightly tweaked Barber Linden and a Cali76cb into the WD-800 and a BF SuperTwin. This svelte setup is sounding really good and is first in line for my next band event.
The more I’ve played with the WD-800, the more pedals get left in bypass. I’m pleasantly surprised.
Probably all in around 60 lbs including bass and cables.

Are you getting some overdrive from the WD-800 or purely from pedals (or are you not using any overdrive at all?)

 

[Lowendtech]

Rig pic. And tell me more about the Linden

The Linden is a nice bit of sauce. The organic musicality of it is extremely useful. I’ve had it for less than a week so it’s still pretty new, but it flat out works and I haven’t found a thing about it that I don’t like. If you’re into a clean James Tonestack kind of thing, it’s very nice.

 

[Lowendtech]

Are you getting some overdrive from the WD-800 or purely from pedals (or are you not using any overdrive at all?)

I’m not using too much O/D on the WD-800 yet. I’m using the Linden for a initial tone shaper with some occasional Valve Boost from a Broughton Archetype and the Cali76cb for some mild comp.
I was chasing O/D for a while but have decided that what I’m really after is clean tube tone with some round warmth that resembles early/light power tube breakup.
More booty and less stink eye, I guess.
The WD is really helping in this regard. The damping control and the passive mid are excellent tools.

The o/d on the WD is definitely worth exploring I think, as there’s some good stuff there. Any drive that I’ve sent into the front of the amp has sounded great.
I’m just enjoying the simple approach very much at the moment.

The fact that the amp can get aggressive enough with clarity while still retaining the warm bottom is a huge plus.

 

[nostatic]

I'm finding the OmniCabSim mini provides some nice grit/hair/overdrive. For more dirt I'm using a Cog 66 Mini (which sounds crazy good). I like the WD800 just on the edge of breakup (OL light just occasionally showing). I prefer the pedal overdrive to the WD800 preamp overdrive. Plus I wouldn't set the amp for particularly dirty sound as most of the time I'm looking for clean, fat, and punchy rather than overdriven.

 

[JOME77]

View attachment 3277701 I’m all set.

Totally modular with single Bag End 12” and 15” - 8 ohm cabinets.
With this head I can actually run all 4 @ 2 ohms which I will do at a few of the venues I play throughout the upcoming year.
Lots of options.. 2 x 12 - 2 x 15 - 1x12 & 1x15 or just single cabs.
The 15’s have neo drivers and the 12’s have ceramic magnets..which I don’t think should be a problem.

I’ve been playing through these cabs with my different basses and the WD-800. I’m very happy with the results at home volume levels and am looking forward to hearing them cranked up. View attachment 3277478

Awesome rig! I haven't played through Bag End cabinets in a long while but the ones that I've owned were really nice sounding. Of course back then they were quite heavy. That's was back in the day that men were men and we wanted them to be heavy!

P.S. Love the P-Bass too!

 

[57pbass]

Awesome rig! I haven't played through Bag End cabinets in a long while but the ones that I've owned were really nice sounding. Of course back then they were quite heavy. That's was back in the day that men were men and we wanted them to be heavy!

P.S. Love the P-Bass too!

Thank you.
They really haven’t changed much aside from the new finish on the cabs. Each cab is right around 40lbs which is very manageable.
They sound great and have great projection.
I’m really liking the single 12 cabs.
And that’s a 64 P Bass.. amazing instrument.

 

[treyandres]

After having some time to play with the WD-800 on it's own and with the band and getting to put it up against the Walkabout, the D-800, and the Monique 700, I've decided it's not for me right now. I'm going to go ahead and flip it or return it (I have 10 days left to return it for store credit at Mesa Hollywood, including today). Serial #83 will be listed in the classifieds shortly if anyone wants one that's been 'tested functional at volume' for a $50 discount off new. Original MBH receipt will be included and it has not been registered for warranty yet. Otherwise, that store credit might be going toward a new Subway 212 or 215.

 

[JOME77]

I’m really liking the single 12 cabs.
And that’s a 64 P Bass.. amazing instrument.

I've also been using 1-12 cabinets for a while now (Bergantino). I just love the sound of 12's!
Wow! A 64 P-Bass! Very nice!
I've also recently returned to my first love, which was a P-bass. I played them exclusively in the 70's and haven't owned one since until a few months ago. I switched to Musicman and then G&L in the 80's and eventually got lost in the sea of boutique basses. I purchased a new Fender American Pro P-Bass and a Fender Elite P-Bass. I A/B'd them for a couple days and kept the Elite P-Bass. Probably one of the best playing and sounding basses that I've ever owned. The compound radius neck feels great, I still love my Roscoe Custom Signature 5 (easily the best one that I've owned) but I'm totally loving the sound of the P-Bass in the passive mode! No wonder it's been the go to bass on recordings and live all these years.
I sure get a great old school tone out of it through the Mesa D880+ and the Berg 112's (D'Addario Chrome flat strings).

 

[Frankie Fender]

After having some time to play with the WD-800 on it's own and with the band and getting to put it up against the Walkabout, the D-800, and the Monique 700, I've decided it's not for me right now. I'm going to go ahead and flip it or return it (I have 10 days left to return it for store credit at Mesa Hollywood, including today). Serial #83 will be listed in the classifieds shortly if anyone wants one that's been 'tested functional at volume' for a $50 discount off new. Original MBH receipt will be included and it has not been registered for warranty yet. Otherwise, that store credit might be going toward a new Subway 212 or 215.

I decided the same. I returned #60 for a refund minus the shipping. I tried it out at a rehearsal. I think it is a low end monster, and to my ears, very transparent with a very responsive Mids knob, just not the sound I was expecting.

FYI, I compared it with the Walkabout, D800+ (sold) and the D180.

 

[JOME77]

After having some time to play with the WD-800 on it's own and with the band and getting to put it up against the Walkabout, the D-800, and the Monique 700, I've decided it's not for me right now. I'm going to go ahead and flip it or return it (I have 10 days left to return it for store credit at Mesa Hollywood, including today). Serial #83 will be listed in the classifieds shortly if anyone wants one that's been 'tested functional at volume' for a $50 discount off new. Original MBH receipt will be included and it has not been registered for warranty yet. Otherwise, that store credit might be going toward a new Subway 212 or 215.

I decided the same. I returned #60 for a refund minus the shipping. I tried it out at a rehearsal. I think it is a low end monster, and to my ears, very transparent with a very responsive Mids knob, just not the sound I was expecting.

FYI, I compared it with the Walkabout, D800+ (sold) and the D180.

View attachment 3278087

You guys are making me feel better about my decision to start with the D800+. I considered just purchasing a WD800 but when listening to the sound and video clips i felt like the D800/800+ was more my sound. After receiving the D800+ and playing it though my Bergs I'm totally loving the sound.

 

[Frankie Fender]

You guys are making me feel better about my decision to start with the D800+. I considered just purchasing a WD800 but when listening to the sound and video clips i felt like the D800/800+ was more my sound. After receiving the D800+ and playing it though my Bergs I'm totally loving the sound.

Yeah, I owned and gigged the D800+ for over a year and a half. More for the punchy power reserve than the tone, but I think I still prefer it over the WD800 nonetheless. I just didn't need to buy another amp where I wasn't in love with the tone from the get go. With the WD800 it never was a "Hell Yeah" moment for me.

 

[treyandres]

I decided the same. I returned #60 for a refund minus the shipping. I tried it out at a rehearsal. I think it is a low end monster, and to my ears, very transparent with a very responsive Mids knob, just not the sound I was expecting.

FYI, I compared it with the Walkabout, D800+ (sold) and the D180.

View attachment 3278087

Yep. I wanted it to be more Walkabout than it is. I really just want a high powered Walkabout, and it doesn't sound like that's really possible. So now being armed with 2 silver face Walkabouts, I'll just add more cabs as-needed. I'm keeping my D-800 for now. It's got a nice, warm, quick tubey sound and it's tiny. I dig it for an alternative sound and it's a great little backup amp that's easy to get around with.