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What's your favourite Mesa Subway Head?

What is your favourite Mesa Subway Head?

  • D-800

    Votes: 22 11.8%

  • D-800+

    Votes: 50 26.7%

  • WD-800

    Votes: 57 30.5%

  • TT-800

    Votes: 36 19.3%

  • They all sound the same so I bought an Ampeg

    Votes: 7 3.7%

  • Hellman's > Miracle Whip

    Votes: 7 3.7%

  • Fire the drummer (I think it make a nice change from "carrots")

    Votes: 8 4.3%
  • Total voters
    187
#41
You really can't go wrong with any of them, all those Mesa Subway heads are top quality products. Just depends on what your goals are. I have a D-800, and love it. Don't need it. I can get where I need to be with my old silverface Walkabout in an Scout 15 radiator combo-cab.
 
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#48
esoxhntr said:
Yes friends, I fully realize that answers can be found in the Official Mesa Boogie Subway Club thread, but there are over 1800 pages in that thing and ain't nobody got time for that... at least not tonight.

Why am I asking? Excellent question... I tried a Subway head out back near the beginning. It wasn't quite my thing. Went with a GK MB800, and then later the Legacy 800. I have tried the D-800+, which I found to be much like the D-800. Then I tried the TT-800, which is definitely not my thing. Tonight, I ran across the WD-800, and by crickey, that might just be my thing.

Does anyone else find something a little special about the WD-800? Or any of the other models, for that matter? Which one is the one for you? Why? Is it band dependent? Music dependent? Feature Dependent?

Do tell.
Click to expand...

3 band mid range Parametric EQ. I have one on my Eden heads. Being able to dial in specific low mid frequencies allows one not to rely on uber amounts of low end. This make it much easier to hear in the mix. Couple that with the built in HPF ( something my Eden heads don't but wish they did) can really clean up your sound. JMO.
 
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#49
lermgalieu said:
Some say it is very similar. To me it wasn't - the Subway channel on the TT was not as quick and immediate as the D800+ and I didn't like it nearly as much (love that boogie channel though).
Click to expand...

Agree. Many think that the Boogie channel is "dirty" and the Subway channel is squeaky clean and bright. That's both a generalization and and over simplification. The Subway channel is still warm to me. It's not "modern" or "flat" sounding to me at all.

Are there differences between Boogie and Subway? Absolutely. But they're not miles apart, or two ends of a spectrum. They complement each other very well.
 
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#51
The Subway channel is warmer and has quite a bit more harmonic content than the dedicated Subway D-800/800+. Some folks prefer the Subway channel, and others feel it's "too much of a good (tubey) thing". It was originally designed with 2 gain stages, but that was (to me at least) way too much and got in the way of the essence of the Subway vibe.

It's a little like the old Streamliner amp, some players really liked the heavily tubey presentation, but for others it was too much, there's not too much middle ground.
 
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#52
Killing Floor said:
There's no best amp. Glad you found what you like. I like the Mesa heads I've had and would buy another. I'm glad they're a little smaller and more portable than they used to be.

And they have great service. If anything ever fails on a Mesa head @agedhorse will show up at your house or gig with tacos of his choice.
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Did somebody mention tacos? I'm hungry ;)
 
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#56
I haven't tried the Subway Walkabout, but I had a few of the original Walkabouts and all of the other heads in this poll. I voted for the TT-800, which is my current amp. I replaced a Reiner Saturn V with it and have zero regrets. On Saturday, my band opened for the John Popper Project here in DC. His bassist, Tad Kinchla, let everyone use his rig, which was an Ampeg SVT stack. I swapped out his SVT head for my TT-800 since it was one of the few opportunities I'd ever get to do that, and the Mesa easily held it's own against the 85 pound competition. It was the final step in my full conversion to class D heads.
 
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#58
Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati said:
Miracle whip? Nah … I'd rather go for a nice crystal ball or a magic wand …
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giphy (2).gif


:)
 
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#59
agedhorse said:
The Subway channel is warmer and has quite a bit more harmonic content than the dedicated Subway D-800/800+. Some folks prefer the Subway channel, and others feel it's "too much of a good (tubey) thing". It was originally designed with 2 gain stages, but that was (to me at least) way too much and got in the way of the essence of the Subway vibe.

It's a little like the old Streamliner amp, some players really liked the heavily tubey presentation, but for others it was too much, there's not too much middle ground.
Click to expand...


I've had my Streamliner for 11yrs and it's staying. That's one amp I won't let go
 
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