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FS: Mesa Boogie D-180 Valve amp head


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I only bought this amp from a Basschat member back in January. It's an incredible amp, very loud and such a powerful tone, but I've sadly realised that it doesn't suit me that well. Also I am not playing live regularly enough these days to justify having such a massive amplifier.

[left]It runs on 6 6L6 power tubes, kicking out around 200W of valve power and has 3 12AX7s and 1 12AT7 in the preamp section. Reportedly great as both a guitar and bass amp but I've only ever put a bass through it. It has two channels, Channel 1 has much more scope for high gain (I consider this the guitar channel) with two gain controls that cascade, so you can get an infinite number of variations in distortion by experimenting with these two gains. Channel two bypasses the first gain knob and is a bit cleaner sounding, and the one I use for bass. Still, it get's pretty dirty past half way on the volume control. An interesting aspect of this amp is the Master volume control, which doesn't seem to work like any other I've tried. Mesa recommends keeping it on 10 for best performance, and then reducing master drastically lowers the volume but seems to increase the distortion saturation. I'm not 100% that this control is working exactly as it should as the whole range between loud and quiet seems to happen between about 8 and 10, but I can definitely say that at 10 it sounds beautiful, and I tend to keep it at 10 and vary the volume control.[/left]
[left]All this might make more sense if you read the manual from Mesa: [url="http://www.mesaboogie.com/manuals/D-180%20Power%20Amp.pdf"]http://www.mesaboogie.com/manuals/D-180%20Power%20Amp.pdf[/url][/left]
[left]And some useful reviews on Harmony Central: [url="http://www.harmonycentral.com/products/82167"]http://www.harmonycentral.com/products/82167[/url][/left]

[left]Also I should point out that one of the EQ controls (middle, I think) crackles a little bit, but probably just requires a clean. It also has a switchable graphic EQ to sort out your bass / low mid frequencies with a lot of precision. And an XLR output that captures the sound of the power amp too. Runs at 8 or 4 ohms.[/left]
[left]Since I bought it I've put it in a shallow Gator case which makes it a lot easier to carry around (it's a pretty heavy amp, but I'm sure more bearable than an SVT etc). It also keeps the power cable nice and neat by putting the back lid on the case in transport.[/left]

[left]I paid £550 for it in January and will sell for exactly the same, plus £50 (what I paid for a second hand, excellent condition Gator case). So £600 all in, or if you don't want the case I'll sell for £550 and will try and sell the case separately.[/left]
[left]This amp is 30 years old this year![/left]

[left]I live in Leeds but am in South Wales with the amp (at my parents') until Sunday. I'll be driving from South Wales (near Swansea) up to Leeds on Sunday, so could make a detour (within reason) and deliver it to anyone on that day for free. Otherwise feel free to come around to my flat in Leeds after Sunday to have a look at it. I am still fairly new to the forum but have feedback from a couple of transactions here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/160023-feedback-for-jonmohajer1/page__p__1485313__hl__jonmohajer1__fromsearch__1#entry1485313"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/160023-feedback-for-jonmohajer1/page__p__1485313__hl__jonmohajer1__fromsearch__1#entry1485313[/url][/left]

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