Mesa gear query

[dmccombe7]

I did like the Streamliner and out of the lightweights around the time i bought it i would say it was one of the best sounding.

Would like to gig my Warwick more but the weight gives me neck pains so its resigned to the house. Maybe some day tho.

Its good to hear that someone is happy with the D800 rather than the D800+ and its something i was wondering as a few people have said it was "dark" and went for the additional EQ on the D800+.

Makes me think the D800 alone would suit what i need.

[cetera]

On 06/01/2018 at 17:26, dmccombe7 said:

Saw Cetera use his Mesa cab with Hotter than Hell but band were thru PA so no real idea what stage sound was like. Not sure what amp he was using at the time. That's as close as i've been to a Mesa.

How VERY dare you!! I played bass at the time with the MUCH better KISS tribute 'Dressed To Kill'....NOT Hotter Than Hell! lol!!
Having said that, Hotter Than Hell ARE prob better than DTK these days

I was using the rackmount Bass Pod on 1976 SVT setting with my SVT3 as purely a power stage. Add in a BBE Sonic Maximiser through the 2x15 Mesa Diesel cab I had and "Hear Me Roar"!!! A monstrous, full, growling and punchy tone! Loved it B)

[dmccombe7]

19 minutes ago, cetera said:

How VERY dare you!! I played bass at the time with the MUCH better KISS tribute 'Dressed To Kill'....NOT Hotter Than Hell! lol!!
Having said that, Hotter Than Hell ARE prob better than DTK these days

I was using the rackmount Bass Pod on 1976 SVT setting with my SVT3 as purely a power stage. Add in a BBE Sonic Maximiser through the 2x15 Mesa Diesel cab I had and "Hear Me Roar"!!! A monstrous, full, growling and punchy tone! Loved it B)

Damn !!!! sorry about that Cetera. I've never actually seen Hotter Than Hell. Meant to say DTK and i've seen them few times too. 

My wife even had pics taken with the band including an individual pic with your good self. 

Must be an age thing Cetera

My sincere apologies.

Now changed on my original post. 

More important when are you bringing your new project up here to Scotland. Sounds interesting.

Dave

Edited January 11, 2018 by dmccombe7

[cetera]

2 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Damn !!!! sorry about that Cetera. I've never actually seen Hotter Than Hell. Meant to say DTK and i've seen them few times too.
My wife even had pics taken with the band including an individual pic with your good self. 
Must be an age thing Cetera
My sincere apologies.
More important when are you bringing your new project up here to Scotland. Sounds interesting.

Lol! No offence taken
We'll be up to see you when our Agent gets their act in gear and actually books us some more gigs!..... who knows when?!

[sPiKi]

I have the D800 and Subway 112 and 115. It's a fantastic rig and always makes me smile when I'm gigging. That reassuring feeling that I bought the right gear.

I play in a covers/wedding band and it is suitable for the wide range of rock and pop we play.

In the past I have had three Ampeg heads and at various times, 410, 610 and 810 cabs.

To my ears, the Mesa is leagues ahead in terms of tone. Not to mention portability and ease of dialling in a tone. Voicing knob is very useful and using the instant gratification directions in the manual make it very straightforward to get your sound Stage and room of course, add lots of other factors to getting your sound but I have found the D800 very versatile in that regard.

I've recently added my ageing VT Bass pedal to my extensive pedal chain i.e. to my Boss Tuner!

The VT enables me to add a bit more sparkle and a bit more 'dig' which gives me a nice punch in the guts.

I have no other experience of Mesa to compare things to, but I am very happy with my Subway rig. I was fortunate to have bought it back in May 2016 before prices became almost prohibitive. Would I buy it again? Yes, by finding some way to finance it. 

I would also like to try a 2 x 115 set up and the 800+, in an ideal world but as it stands, this rig meets my needs. I haven't once felt I made the wrong choice.

 

Edited January 11, 2018 by sPiKi

[dmccombe7]

And your using a Jazz bass so that more or less would be my same rig. 

[sPiKi]

I've only recently brought the Jazz out again as my Precision, seen in the second photo, is my usual go-to bass. The jazz is a 2010 American Standard with just a couple of cosmetic changes. I find describing tone a bit like describing a colour but if it helps, I would say the J sounds big/wide/thick with every note ringing out. I tend to open up both pickups fully and have the Voicing around 4 o'clock (depending on the room). I set the input on the VT pedal and the D800 just so I have a wee bit of hair on my sound and the OD light is flickering occasionally. Clear as a bell but you can really FEEL the bass.

[silverfoxnik]

On 08/01/2018 at 14:01, dmccombe7 said:

That's gotta be quite a thunderous sound with your basses and Ampeg rig. Curious to see how your new rig compares to that. They seem quite different set ups so this is gonna be good. Don't forget to keep me posted.

Hi Dave

I gigged the Big Block 750/Berg AE212 rig last night and it was great!

First impressions are that it has  much more punchy and mids driven tone than my Ampeg V4BH head, with some lovely - almost aggressive - valve distortion to it as well that works really well in the band as we do a lot of rock tunes (think Foos, Zep, U2, Muse)..

It also has more than enough power for me, and what's more, there was a real authority to it that's hard to describe in words, but I definitely felt it.

Overall, I really liked and enjoyed using it and the band certainly did too, but I need to gig it a couple more times to get a better idea of it's capabilities, i think.

Cheers

Nik

[dmccombe7]

Sounds like you've found the perfect set up so far. Let me know if things develop or change with your sound and whether its just because its new you feel its better. I tend to think that with gear then after a few gigs i find something isn't quite what i was expecting.

I'm hoping its going to just get better tho. That's what i want to hear 

Dave

[silverfoxnik]

Me too! 

But I'm prepared to accept that it might just end up being a case of it being different, a opposed to better.

Time will tell... 😀

[jazzyvee]

On 06/01/2018 at 18:16, Sean said:

@dmccombe7

I have a BF SIX10 and a BF Big Twin 2 and use them both (not at the same time but I could) with the 400+. They’re very different beasts indeed. The SIX10 gives the most plug and play result, the Big Twin 2 because it’s so transparent needs more tweaking based on the room.

Both of them absolutely kick the back side out of the Mesa 410 Diesel I used to have. Weighed a ton and was worthy but didn’t do the amp any favours. I have no experience of the Powerhouse cabs. 

I'v recently bought a BF Big Twin II after having powerhouse cabs since about 2003. I love the mesa cabs and they do sound great but for what these days they don't do big fat low end very well at reggae band eq and the off axis sound has no depth to the bass. I've sold my PH cabs 4x10 and 2x10 cabs and compared to the BF, they are completely different animals and you either prefer the sound of one or the other.  Mesa seems to be voiced to give more emphasis on punch and mids maybe as they are more common in rock bands??? And these days I'm downsizing both number and weight of cabs. So Mesa had to go though I am sad to see the 2x10 go as that is a great all rounder cab.  

 

[peteb]

I have just got a D800 that I will be using with a Berg AE212 that I picked up secondhand a few weeks ago. 

It certainly was my favourite in Bass Direct of all the comparable amps they had and early impressions are very good, but the real test is when I've used it on a few gigs. Give me a shout if you want any feedback in a few weeks time. 

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, peteb said:

I have just got a D800 that I will be using with a Berg AE212 that I picked up secondhand a few weeks ago. 

It certainly was my favourite in Bass Direct of all the comparable amps they had and early impressions are very good, but the real test is when I've used it on a few gigs. Give me a shout if you want any feedback in a few weeks time. 

I'd appreciate any feedback you can offer from your gig use. 

Dave

[peteb]

14 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I'd appreciate any feedback you can offer from your gig use. 

Dave

I will do when I've gigged it a couple of times. 

FWIW, I originanlly asked Mark at BD what was the Class D amp that sounded least like a Class D! He thought that I should also try the Genzler and the new Aguilar AG700 but I much preferred the Mesa. 

[bassbora]

2 hours ago, peteb said:

I have just got a D800 that I will be using with a Berg AE212 that I picked up secondhand a few weeks ago. 

It certainly was my favourite in Bass Direct of all the comparable amps they had and early impressions are very good, but the real test is when I've used it on a few gigs. Give me a shout if you want any feedback in a few weeks time. 

Same combination I use and have been using last two years. Its brilliant and as I said earlier in this thread I continue to get compliments on my sound. You won’t be disappointed 

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, peteb said:

I will do when I've gigged it a couple of times. 

FWIW, I originanlly asked Mark at BD what was the Class D amp that sounded least like a Class D! He thought that I should also try the Genzler and the new Aguilar AG700 but I much preferred the Mesa. 

I've tried the AG500 and sounded very much like a class D with a very clean sound. I couldn't take to it to be honest. Had the Genz Streamliner 600 few yrs back and to be fair i wish i had kept it. That was a nice rounded tone but i found it didn't have a vast tonal range for me but still a great amp.

Looking forward to trying the Mesa out at some point soon.

Dave

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, peteb said:

I will do when I've gigged it a couple of times. 

FWIW, I originanlly asked Mark at BD what was the Class D amp that sounded least like a Class D! He thought that I should also try the Genzler and the new Aguilar AG700 but I much preferred the Mesa. 

Let me know what bass you use when gigging the Mesa if that's OK.

Just curious. 

Dave

[peteb]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

Let me know what bass you use when gigging the Mesa if that's OK.

Just curious. 

Dave

It will be an Xotic active jazz or a passive 57RI P bass (depending on the band) 

[dmccombe7]

14 hours ago, peteb said:

It will be an Xotic active jazz or a passive 57RI P bass (depending on the band) 

Do you use the active circuit when playing. Will be good to get a review of how it sounds with standard bass tones. I have a Jazz bass and a P/J deluxe active and trying to understand the amp better its best to know if you are using the EQ on the basses to offset EQ on the amp. Hopefuly that makes some sort of sense.

Dave

[peteb]

32 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Do you use the active circuit when playing. Will be good to get a review of how it sounds with standard bass tones. I have a Jazz bass and a P/J deluxe active and trying to understand the amp better its best to know if you are using the EQ on the basses to offset EQ on the amp. Hopefuly that makes some sort of sense.

Dave

I always use the Xotic in active mode, but usually with the EQ flat or sometimes the bass slightly boosted. 

I wouldn't get too worried  about minor EQ settings - after all you playing through the exact same set-up as me is always going to sound a bit different. For me the main thing is the basic sound of the amp and how it works in the context of the band. I think that we are playing broadly similar types of music, so hopefully what works for me should potentially work for you albeit that there will be slight differences in playing approach / EQ settings etc. 

[dmccombe7]

4 minutes ago, peteb said:

I always use the Xotic in active mode, but usually with the EQ flat or sometimes the bass slightly boosted. 

I wouldn't get too worried  about minor EQ settings - after all you playing through the exact same set-up as me is always going to sound a bit different. For me the main thing is the basic sound of the amp and how it works in the context of the band. I think that we are playing broadly similar types of music, so hopefully what works for me should potentially work for you albeit that there will be slight differences in playing approach / EQ settings etc. 

Thanks Pete looking forward to hearing what you think of it. 

Dave