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Scrumpymike’s Mesa Subway TT-800 review When choosing a bass amp, there’s always an element of compromise. As a gigging musician, I have to look (well, listen mainly) for one that has a broad enough palette of tonal colours for the different kinds of music I play in diverse bands. That’s the practical side of things, but it’s not all. Like most bass players, I also carry within me that ‘holy grail’ sound that lives somewhere in the magic triangle between my head, my heart and my soul and grew from a seed that was planted in my teenage years. This personal ‘gold standard’ is an emotional rather than practical aspect – but it’s an equally important requirement that has to be adequately addressed by my amp of choice. In my case, I guess you would describe it as warm and round but at the same time punchy and coherent enough to cut through the live mix. So, that’s the starting point for my subjective review of the TT-800. The amp I sold to make space for the TT-800 was a Subway D800+, which in turn replaced a D800. Both of these were extremely capable, much loved, and tough acts to follow. However, the respect I have for Mesa Engineering after gigging those two amps together with the glowing reports from Talkbass forum members led me to expect even more from the TT-800. Another factor for me was my liking for the GK MB800 Fusion that served as back-up for my earlier Subways. I loved it for its punchy delivery and valve flavour but it was just too lively for me. My reasoning was that the addition of valve goodness to Mesa’s signature voicing would be just what I needed – and so it has turned out to be. The design brief for the TT-800 was for a two-channel amp that combined the best of the D800+ (the Subway channel) with the much-loved tones of yesteryear’s Boogie 400+. Sounds like a great trick if you can do it! So did Mesa manage to pull it off? I’ll start with what I’m familiar with, namely the D800+-inspired Subway channel. The short answer is yes! On this channel, you get all of the D800+ positives enhanced with that subtle valve colouring. The features that were game-changers on the ‘plus’ upgrade of the D800 are also present and correct on the TT, namely: the high-pass filter and the high and low boost switches. You truly would have to work hard to get bad sounds out of this channel. The Boogie channel is new to me, never having heard the classic 400+. My initial feeling is that this is a great rock amp offering authentic classic valve tones with all the usable sweet overdrive that I will ever need – and then some. For my purposes, it is the ideal partner to the Subway channel. I could go on about some of the more subtle features of this amp (and probably will do at a later date) but don’t want to comment further until I have used it at gig volumes – or even at actual gigs! We and our adoring public remain hopeful. Last of all, I can’t sign off without mentioning a couple of arguably trivial aspects of my TT-800 purchasing experience. My amp arrived 6 months after I placed my order with Andertons Music and had obviously spent much of that time outside Mesa’s control. I must say I was expecting the worst (it’s called the covid mindset) and was pleasantly surprised when the carton arrived looking like it left the factory the day before. Top marks to Mesa for their packaging. Inside the box, there was clear evidence that this is a company that cares. The wire wraps used to close the internal packets had been carefully – almost decoratively – tied in a way that would do credit to Harrods’ gift-wrapping department. Inside them I found a headphone adapter socket, a set of thick felt insulation pads to go between the amp’s rubber feet and your cab’s, the best user manual I have ever come across – and a wonderful black card hand-signed in white marker by no less than 14 members of the assembly and inspection teams. I can’t derive names from all the signatures but you all know who you are and, in case you ever read this, I salute you. We all know it’s often the little things that tell the true story.

O.K. Some final pictures of marks Custom build Zoot ZB-1000

In other words: Band Discover That Sex Sells More Easily Than Talent. Whoopee do. Opposite sex equivalent, more or less? And - oldie alert - this was what I didn't mind ogling, around three decades ago - despite the person himself being a complete idiot (even then).

Honestly, you all have no idea how pleased this makes me. I've lusted after one of these for about 30 years and snagged this one on eBay last week. Obviously, there's going to be good and bad stuff to consider when you're talking about a 35 year old guitar, so let's cover the bad stuff first (like you do). It was VERY grubby and unplayable out of the case; a frankly horrific back-bow on the neck (I slackened the truss rod by may two full turns), the bridge was at best 'gooped-up', so I needed to douse the part in WD40 to just allow the intonation and grub screws to move. The nut slots are quite wide, but the nut does its job, so no issues. The P-bass pickup wouldn't adjust up or down, took it out, the old foam wasn't doing anything, but more alarming across both elements of the pick-up, three magnets surrounding the poles had come out and two were magnetised to the other side (imagine two books next to each other with the poles between and then two on top of each other with the poles on the spines) - a chap on the Hamer Fan Club site enlightened me to the fact that 70/80s Di-Marzios were all prone to this problem. [Edit: I've added details further down the thread...the problem/solution might help someone in the future.] I've never seen anything like this before. After I reinstalled it (with springs and some soft foam underneath), I did feel that the D&G strings were quite a bit lower in output than the E&A. The strap buttons were loose, so I've taken these out and am waiting on some felts to arrive before I install a set of Dunlops. [Edit: I'll be cleaning the board and oiling it later today.] OK, moving to the aesthetics/good stuff, it does look fantastic to me. Paint is good (7.5/10), zero checking, but there is a bit of chipping around two of the machines and a little (inevitable) bucklerash on the rear (although no paint loss). It is very light (weee). [Edit: There's still a lot of meat on the frets.] After a set up and a bit of additional tweakage, it plays wonderfully, got the action down to what I'd class as 'clean with a bit of rattle. Tried it through the Darkglass and the dUg last night, I have to say it sounds decent enough through both, but feel that theDarkglass favours an active bass, this does sound nicer through the dUg. Nice dirt/grunt with everything open. Neck is lovely... Moving forward. Hmm. I will get a (black) scratchplate cut for it at some point, but no rush. While I do love a tweak, so at some point I'll swap out the pickups and loom. Again, no rush. This bass was more about the getting than anything else, I'm happy with it as it stands. I'll be 100% after I've done with the tweaks. Might even stain the board...

Or “Mrs Lewis” as she’s also known.

As it turns out, the whole thing seems like its a hell of a lot easier the second time around. chalk that up to a combination of experience, the oak panels being a lot cleaner cutting than the obeche ones, and doing things in a different order. Firstly glueing up the laminates again with the oak in the centre. i also used a bleached maple veneer for the outside instead of the Koto, for the same reason. a tighter grain means less splintering and cleaner cuts: I think i actually prefer this colour combination to the yellower woods, it just seems a little more subdued. these are then cut up into the cross pieces and the little triangles needed for the rope pattern: and once we have them and check them for fit with the walnut and purple veneer core... i then start to glue them together. this is kind of a slow process. these are all cut by hand and are 50mm deep, so no two are 100% identical. this means carefully matchingand sanding 10ths of a mm off if bits dont line up perfectly. they're glued up with some high viscosity CA glue, which doesnt soak into the grain the upper middle triangle here is a good example, i had to bring it down by a tiny bit to get it to fit better but slowly but surely, with lots of measuring and lots of waiting for glue to set... here we are, 5 repetitions in. by my measurements, 7 repetitions of this and ill have a pattern that runs from the bottom of the headstock pretty perfectly to where the neck meets the body. the triangles will be made from some namibian rosewood fretboard blanks that are exactly the right thickness back in pickup land, im starting to assemble the bobbins. First, take a 5mm alnico 5 rod magnet, mark the north pole with a mark and then add a bead of CA glue around the bottom: then set it into one of the bobbin pieces, like so: i then use one of the bobbin holders as a spacer to ensure a perfect 1mm proudness to the magnet at the top, with only a drop of ca glue this time: and once the top is held in place with the drop of glue, i can remove it and carefully run a bead of glue around the seam using a cocktail stick: This is where it really helps to have CA glue of varying viscositites, the gel glue holds its shape and wont drip down when glueing the first piece, and liquid glue will wick into any tiny gap when glueing the second. and finally, a bit of a preamp update. the pots im using for this are Bourns 10% tolerance mini pots, which are approximately 10mm in diameter. this means that i can use components up to 10mm tall (10mm proud of the PCB) without taking up unobstructed space in the control cavity. as the opamps i want to use are high end, hi-fi opamps, i want the other components to be similarly appropriate for high audio fidelity. im therefore using 63vDC Nichicon fine gold electrolytic caps for the power circuit and decoupling cap, and some 10% tolerance box caps for those in the signal path: you can see ive also added the 4 IC sockets for the Opamps, and pins at either end for the power inputs, signal inputs and outputs and ground connections. the 3 pins in the middle are to connect the 2nd/4th order mode switch. i then start to add the resistors, which for this im using 1% metal film, 1W resistors. i chose these as they were the highest wattage i could fit on the board and in the 10mm vertical space: theres a lot of these to solder, and then another board to do for the other preamp before i run a test to finally decide on component values next step... winding some coils!

... And Judge Me For My Music Incidentally, quite possibly the worst version of that song that I have ever heard. If only there had been something else to take my mind off it.

The reason Mark mentioned I had a smile on my face whilst testing his bass, was this: I also have one of Darren Snow's original Aria SB-1000 in the workshop at the moment so I was able to compare the two side by side. In Mark's case I have moved the pickup to a slightly different position than the original Aria. The main reason for this is due to the 32" scale length on Marks Zoot ZB-1000. I always work out the pup position from a quick bit of maths and where the closest anti-node would be to the position I'm looking at. If anyone has been to my workshop they would have noticed a one string bass I made myself with a sliding top nut to help work out precise positions of pickups given any scale length, so with a little bit of maths and a one string bass and you can pretty much nail the perfect pup positions for any scale length. Anyway, back to the smiles, If you consider that Veijo Rautia wired the pickup for me to have four core wires, I was able to add a 3 way mini toggle switch that give the pickup series/split coil/parallel Thus, if you think about it you end up with 18 basic tones when using this 3 way pickup switch with the 6 way "varitone", way more than the original Aria bass. Basically with the Veijo Rautia pickup and the new BB-NoiseKiller preamp plus the 3 way pickup switch, this bass is a killer in the tone department. (who needs two pickups?) In all honesty there were some sounds in this bass that truly astonished me considering it's simplicity, and yes, it knocked the original out of the park (no disrespects to the original, because in it's day it was a champion of basses and still is really). Gear used for testing: Little Mark 250 head set dead flat, Purple-chili 1 X12" non tweeter cab, Marks Zoot ZB-1000 and Darren's original Aria SB-1000. Regards, Mike.

There may be several reasons for this but the main reasons are, IMHO the density of wood is not consistant plus the wide tolerance of the electronic components. Body = Alder varies from 26 - 42 lb/ft3. Or can be almost 63% heavier for the same volume. Neck = Maple varies from 39 - 47 lb/ft3. Or can be almost 21% heavier for the same volume. Fingerboard = Rosewood varies from 50 -55* lb/ft3 Or 10% heavier for the same volume, depending on species. Then it seems clear to me that an alder body with a density of 26 will sound much different to one with a density of 42. Althought the amount of change in Maple is much lower, more of the string length is above Maple and so it could have a similar, or bigger effect on the sound than the body wood. Electronics. The pots and capacitors in a passive bass usually have a tolerance of =/- 20%. A typical P bass has two pots and one capacitor. These react with pickups that also have a tolerance (usually undefined). A 500K pot could be 400K or 600K. The electronics as a whole, form a tuned circuit and changing anything affects the tuning, and in the end the sound.

Just thought I would put a thanks on here to Guitar Guitar. My wife ordered me a Fender Mustang PJ at around 11;00 on Sunday morning, and it was delivered around 12:30 on Monday 😀. by DPD who sent a text message to say it would be arriving in an hour. Great customer service. Sorry no picture as it's a birthday present and I'm not allowed it yet.

Hmm, this thread has come at an interesting point in my insane and indefensible gear hoarding. I'm pretty much burned out on pedal gas and have had no real bass gas for a long time. So my thoughts turn to my Bi-amp rig. The top end is sorted with a guitar multi / amp sims pedal, but my bottom is still up for grabs. Pre-amp madness awaits.

As the OP, I feel I have to ask @Jakester if he understood the title & subtext of this thread. The band on display comprises three musicians and two pairs of boobs. The boobs can't sing worth a damn, but they have very clearly and obviously been presented in a particular way for a particular reason. I didn't do that, nobody here on Basschat did that, and I think we can all take a pretty good guess at who did that and why. If they don't want to be objectified, then why are they dressed like that? If you're determined to be offended on behalf of the boobs, then the least you can do is to contact The Devil's Dumplings first, just to see if they're offended. While you're talking to them, do feel free to point out that their clothing was perhaps a tad revealing and that everybody would find it far easier to focus on what could be loosely described as their 'singing' if they were to wear baggy Arran sweaters under duffel coats.

Just got to fit the strap buttons, truss rod cover, headstock logo and set it up then its all done!! I may be biased but I think its turned out really nice exactly how I wanted it to look........ 👍🏻

No time today, but just popped in the workshop to do a quick mock up. I am rather liking the mahogany/wenge/maple thing! Moving my focus back to the neck, carving, radiusing, fretting, dressing, nut, tuners etc. all need doing.

Here you go Caz - the idea was just one song per artist but it wasn't a hard and fast rule, just a good place to get some ideas. Turned into a fairly substantial playlist! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/59RhYT5dLPwboS9u3njL4S?si=lVSyQRB2QXS_y7rlFfRCMA

My vote goes to no pickguard but thats probably because I'm allergic to tort! 😁

What he said. 😁

Almost all your points are, again, applicable to all other builders like EBBM, and yet price rises haven't been seen anything like it elsewhere. They also don't address the huge rise in the UK and not so huge rise anywhere else (yet), which should have nothing to do with Brexit. You clearly fall comfortably into the "defend" category of players I mentioned earlier and that's fair enough, I have similar loyalties to a couple of brands, but the points being raised are very valid, and they are going to hurt EBBM's sales unless they provide an explanation. Standard Musicman Stingray basses are not £3k instruments, they just aren't, at the spec they are a built to. You can get a custom bass for that money.

Thanks Ricky 👍, Hi caz, welcome to the reggae thread, there’s some great tips in the Devon Bradshaw videos, I saw your video, great choice and nice work 👍, there’s some really good music contributions here and @Mykesbass has kindly put them on Spotify maybe he could re post the link . Also I think @donstrumentalwould help with any questions you would like to ask about playing reggae 🙂

If you've not seen it, this is a nice video from Devon Bradshaw and Donovan Miller: I think @Reggaebass may have a link to part #2 ? 👍

If I were running Gibson I’d just reissue the bicentennial t bird That simple

Me neither, Dave! It may take a little while before I can take delivery of it but once I do I will post some sound clips, promise.

The late great Pete Way demonstrates the correct way........

Smoke quantity 😉

Hey folks, I must have skipped over this thread somehow. There's loads of great stuff here!! I've recently been learning a few Bob Marley & The Wailers tunes.. so far Could You Be Loved, Is This Love, Redemption Song, Three Little Birds and Waiting In Vain. I've been checking out some videos and documentaries to see how Aston Barrett plays.. so far advice I've got has been play with the right hand up by the fretboard and roll back the tone to get a fatter sound. Are there any other tips from folks in the know please? I posted this a few days ago on the Show Us Your Playing thread.. hope it's ok to post again here, it just shows where I'm at so far with the technique and sound. I've been playing bass for just over a year and a half now, still getting the basics together so appreciate any advice. Thanks, Caroline

There's a Facebook group where occasionally some come up for sale, or where you can intimidate current owners into giving theirs up.

One other idea to consider is to get someone to use a 3d printer to make casings to fit an existing pickup A mate of mine did it for someone who was doing a custom build. Apparently it took a few goes to get it right, but in my experience people with 3d printers love any excuse to muck about on them and try new things

That's because you are wearing it about two feet too high. Some designs are fine on a short strap. The Thunderbird isn't one of them

A quick picture of the finished bass. I'll paste more pic's tomorrow. This bass has some freaking excellent tones in it, I wired the pickup with a 3 way on-on-on mini switch to give, series/spilt coil/parallel options for the pup, add this to the 6 way "Varitone" switch and you have 18 distinctive bass tones (all very usable), in-fact there are a couple that quite frankly immense. I can't recommend the Rautia Aria pickup enough, it is the very best sounding Aria pickup I have worked with, and with the four core wire option is in my opinion superior in sound and clarity than the originals. Add to this the new BB-NoiseKiller preamp supplied by Prostheta (which is also a great bit of kit) and the bass truly is amazing for a single pickup bass.

New to the 5 string bass but that hasn't stopped the GAS or impulse buying.

She's always fantastic.

Given that the performers appear to be objectifying themselves, what's the problem?

Fickle as feck these builders 😳😎😂

I ordered mine in October '20. They were out of stock. The new order arived at Thoman in late December. Mine was shipped to Benicia, CA, USA on December 24 and I received it December 29. I'm kind of a newby, I started in '66 and I was totally amazed by this bass. It looks great, has a great neck and sounds great. The only thing I found wrong with it is the bridge pieces. I don't care whether it looks similar to that other brand, I just want it to be sturdy. When I began to change strings, 3 of the bridge pieces fell on the floor before I realized it. What would happen if you were playing a gig and broke a string? The bridge piece would fall out and under the drum set before you were even aware ... what then? You are out of business! I put another bridge on and had a solid bridge with strings through as well for $30. Now it's incredible!

I think the themes of the thread so far relate to virtually no customisation options (8 colours, with no std colours on offer other than black, and H or HH only, not even hardware colour or fingerboard options), in a package that is whilst well made, is not handbuilt small luthier quality (although they generally have the QC sorted), that have been pricey for a while, that jumped when the Special range was introduced (fair enough, quite a few changes) but have jumped by an even greater amount with fewer (and worse IMHO) colour choices and no other changes whatsoever. I love Stingrays and Sterlings but you’ve got to admit, whatever the extenuating circumstances, the market for a £3,000 MM bass even in normal market conditions is small. In the middle of a pandemic with no-one gigging it’s going to be incredibly small

I think, if I wasn't married, I would go for lasses closer to my age to be honest.

I completely agree !! It was hard not to notice ! In the interest of pure science though!

Which is usually a sign of a lower grade of wood. To catch up, we are at heavier, lower quality woods being used than the last runs, and they're being sold for around £800 or more more?

I've never heard that saying before in my life.

Seeing Monty Alexander mentioned a while back prompts me to share an idea for a tune that would make a great ska number . Monty has made an album of ska/reggae arrangements of Thelonious Monk tunes , ... ... so why not a Skatalites type treatment of Kojo No Tsuki ( Japanese Folk Song ) , the tune that Monk included on Straight , No Chaser . - Bass player Larry Gales quotes the head at the end of his solo at 11:40 : ( imagine a ska version segueing into the Poirot Theme . )

Considering they are the devil's daughters, that was a bit of a how's your father.

They're lovely basses. I had a classic, but I really wanted the update J like this one. Sold it on but if the stars align I'll jump back in on an update if I can find one.

I think that your brain tricks you into thinking that you have heard the fundmental when you generaly hear the harmonics.

My latest

Is he North Korean by any chance? They scarily force kids into learning things like this to be the best. Ive never heard of him until now but I Googled him on Yahoo and the time he would have to put in to learning all of the very complicated songs he has online would take up most of his young life. I marvel at this ability but when I see it on a kid as young as that I think it's a bit freaky.