The must have been Italian and read it as FRAGEELAY
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New mesa subway amps and cabs!
- Thread starter mexicant
- Start date
The must have been Italian and read it as FRAGEELAY
It's looking increasingly likely that I'm going to be returning my WD-800 for a credit with MBH, so I have some questions about the Subway 215 folks who have been using theirs for a hot minute, and also just about modern 15" bass guitar speakers in general. So here's some history...
About 25 years ago, during my early college years, I transitioned to playing bass guitar as a primary instrument from trombone with a woefully underpowered late 70's/early 80's vintage Acoustic 1x15 bass combo. When I started working at the local music store, I upgraded to a brand new Tube Works MOSFET 300w 2x10 combo, and then added their 1x15 extension cabinet to bring some wubba (and get my full 300 available watts) when I started playing with a blues rock band regularly. Not long after that, I upgraded the 15" extension speaker to an EV15L, just as my father had done with his pair of Peavey TNT bass combos back in the mid 80s to help bring some focus and mids back into the equation. I eventually became a Trace Elliot keyman and 'upgraded' to an AH250SMX head when I started playing with a locally well-known singer/songwriter, but kept using that EV15L loaded Tube Works 15" extension cab. I was never really happy with the focus of the 15" speakers when I had to crank them up, but they always had plenty of bottom end. In about '97, I started playing with a real rock band (see LOUD) and traded the 1x15 EV cab for a raft of punchy 10" speakers in an early 90's era SVT-810 fridge sitting under the Trace head (that broke down every 6 months, but that's a different story). It sounded like GOD and weighed a metric eff-ton, and thus ended my experience with 15" bass guitar speakers.
About 5 years later, with my youthful exuberance spent and looking for a better (lighter) answer to bass tone, Glenn at Austin Bass Traders turned me on to the Aguilar GS112s and I found my perfect size bass speaker - the at the time practically unheard of 12" bass guitar speaker. Since then, I've been very happy with them and have sung the praises of the happy middle ground 12" bass guitar speaker. But times have changed and so has speaker construction. I've never had an opportunity to play any of the modern 15s at any reasonably loud volume. I was thinking I'd just go with the Subway 212, but for only 8 extra lbs, I'd hate to leave all that extra cone area on the table. And having that built-in dolly looks pretty sweet. So my question is: How flabby are the neo magnet ported 15" bass speakers in the Subway 215? Do they have some good, tight mids now out of the box without having to transplant EV type PA speakers like was done in the good old days (I love my Jazz Bass mids)?
Can't believe I'm actually thinking about replacing my Ags on some level, but I got $999 to spend in one particular place, and those Subway cabs are the onliest other things I am coveting from Mesa's current bass gear line-up.
About 25 years ago, during my early college years, I transitioned to playing bass guitar as a primary instrument from trombone with a woefully underpowered late 70's/early 80's vintage Acoustic 1x15 bass combo. When I started working at the local music store, I upgraded to a brand new Tube Works MOSFET 300w 2x10 combo, and then added their 1x15 extension cabinet to bring some wubba (and get my full 300 available watts) when I started playing with a blues rock band regularly. Not long after that, I upgraded the 15" extension speaker to an EV15L, just as my father had done with his pair of Peavey TNT bass combos back in the mid 80s to help bring some focus and mids back into the equation. I eventually became a Trace Elliot keyman and 'upgraded' to an AH250SMX head when I started playing with a locally well-known singer/songwriter, but kept using that EV15L loaded Tube Works 15" extension cab. I was never really happy with the focus of the 15" speakers when I had to crank them up, but they always had plenty of bottom end. In about '97, I started playing with a real rock band (see LOUD) and traded the 1x15 EV cab for a raft of punchy 10" speakers in an early 90's era SVT-810 fridge sitting under the Trace head (that broke down every 6 months, but that's a different story). It sounded like GOD and weighed a metric eff-ton, and thus ended my experience with 15" bass guitar speakers.
About 5 years later, with my youthful exuberance spent and looking for a better (lighter) answer to bass tone, Glenn at Austin Bass Traders turned me on to the Aguilar GS112s and I found my perfect size bass speaker - the at the time practically unheard of 12" bass guitar speaker. Since then, I've been very happy with them and have sung the praises of the happy middle ground 12" bass guitar speaker. But times have changed and so has speaker construction. I've never had an opportunity to play any of the modern 15s at any reasonably loud volume. I was thinking I'd just go with the Subway 212, but for only 8 extra lbs, I'd hate to leave all that extra cone area on the table. And having that built-in dolly looks pretty sweet. So my question is: How flabby are the neo magnet ported 15" bass speakers in the Subway 215? Do they have some good, tight mids now out of the box without having to transplant EV type PA speakers like was done in the good old days (I love my Jazz Bass mids)?
Can't believe I'm actually thinking about replacing my Ags on some level, but I got $999 to spend in one particular place, and those Subway cabs are the onliest other things I am coveting from Mesa's current bass gear line-up.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,047
- 5
- 221,001
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Some of the modern 15" drivers have done a remarkable job of improving the balance of performance parameters. This is something that some designers have been working on for decades.
Do what you can to try some and see if they fit your needs. They aren't your daddy's 15's these days.
Do what you can to try some and see if they fit your needs. They aren't your daddy's 15's these days.
Well my WD800 has been paid for in full and is due to be at my local dealer tomorrow! I’m glad I got in on the initial order for Canada as the next shipment isn’t due until mid March!
I did some recording with my 800+ and a single Subway 115 on Sunday night. We took a line out from the amp and mikes both the 15 and the horn separately. Got a gorgeous tone right out of the gate.
I did some recording with my 800+ and a single Subway 115 on Sunday night. We took a line out from the amp and mikes both the 15 and the horn separately. Got a gorgeous tone right out of the gate.
Attachments
- Apr 3, 2003
- 35,516
- 19,952
- Disclosures
- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,047
- 5
- 221,001
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Right Tom, that was an earlier use of a lightweight curvilinear cone and a smaller voice coil (2.5" versus the 4" of the competing JBL) along with a strong motor which resulted in a much more pleasing tone when driven very hard. It also resulted in a more highly damped system when used in a suitably tuned cabinet. IMO, the EVM-15L was pretty much the beginning of this evolution, where the combination of low frequency extension was carefully balanced with mid voicing. As power increased, the voice coil winding height grew (DL series) which grew Xmax which slightly reduced damping, sensitivity and mid extension. At some point EV made the decision to focus more on PA drivers (DLX/EVX) and the VC grew to 4" which was fine because mid voicing wasn't important for those applications. They also stopped selling drivers OEM (for the most part).+1 And FWIW, those early EV-loaded Mesa 215's were not in any sloppy, either.
I suggest you to listen to the sound demo on the Mesa site, very conpelling.
Picked this beauty up today drooldrool Can’t wait for practice tomorrow!
Congrats fellow calgarian. If yer playing out lemme know, love to come hear the new mesa!
Thanks! Will be at the old strathmore hotel on the 26th and the Ironwood on the 31st. PM me if you’d like details or want to come check it out sometime!
Yes it is in good company. The WD800 pairs quite well with the BA410-3. The HPF and bass knob together are effective at keeping the low end focused and solid. The BA410-3 is a good power match which provides lots of headroom and those smooth 3" mids balance well with the strong highs of the WD800. I like the Magellan 800 a lot but this is a different flavor of good. The tube preamp has richer harmonics.
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The Magellan is the best sounding solid state head I've owned. It has a wide range of tones with good heft to the notes, very useful voicing adjustments, and a great feature set. It can be clean but you can also add some drive to put a little hair on those notes. Contour and channel switching makes it easy to toggle between different tones. It's not going anywhere. The WD800 has more adjustments and takes a little different approach to set up your sound, especially with the high pass filter, passive mids, and damping selector. It is a warm, clean, and harmonically rich chameleon. IME a tube preamp has a different mojo and is a different flavor of good than solid state. Both amps are top notch designs with similar ample headroom. I'd say which flavor you prefer is a matter of personal taste. I enjoy them both.
ill be honest tho, Mesa can take a fraction of the blame here. I’m in AUD so I have to speak in that tongue but it costs $3565 for the 215 and Mesa can’t even put steel braces on!?! They look like plastic. If that’s the case, that is disappointing to cut cost on the last point of build when they are an expensive brand.
Guys off brand here but I have found my Amp and cab. I’m a valve person, I love the warmth and roundness of valves so I’ve decided to bypass Mesa for Bass and I’m going with an Aguilar DB751 and it’s subsequent 410 cab. There is a lot I’ll be able to do really nicely with that combo ranging from blues to rock to soul to funk and much in between. It’s 1K your $ more but know it’s gonna do the job for me in the studio and live for many years. Down the track when I can, I might get myself a Mesa 215 since Y’all are saying really positive stuff about them. Peace
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,047
- 5
- 221,001
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
The corners are an engineering grade of plastic and we see very few broken corners, way less than we saw on models that used metal corners where they would get dented and deformed with the same type of impact. The steel corners, due to getting scraped up, would also rust in humid environments (especially near the sea). There's really no difference in cost.
You can always change the corners if you think steel would work better for you, but our experience is that the plastic holds up much better in the long run.
As far as the cost, that's up to your in-country distributor, the cost of shipping, exchange rate and the significant inspection/regulatory fees, import duties and VAT that your country imposes on goods from the US. Trust me, we don't like it any better than you do, but at least you are benefiting from the programs these fees/taxes fund.
Set up at rehearsal with the Subway 2x15 and my new Stingray Special. This cab sounds huuuge!
Another band snubbed by the Coachella management...
Actually having plastic which will break when extreme force is applied probably helps to reduce shock to the internals better than metal.
These corner are easy to replace and I presume that you handle your gear better than UPS guys.....
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