thodrik

Looks class. I’ve only tried the RB heads, which I think are great as well. I’m not familiar with the Fusion line to be fair.

Three preamp tubes? Foot switchable overdrive with additional tone shaping? So in features it is similar to my Mesa Big Block but a fraction of the size and weight. I'm not buying anything soon but this is the kind of head I would be interested. Basically I'm putting this post in to see how folk get on when the try and buy these amps.

For me, it has to be Threatin...

In terms of guitar amps, I have. I have seen lots of Dual/Triple/Single and Mini Rectifiers at local gigs over the years. Perhaps I have gone to too many 'hardcore/metal' gigs! Not as much as Marshall amps, or Peaveys, but a fair number of Mesas nonetheless. In terms of indie/rock gigs, the sighting of a Mesa has been really rare. In terms of bass gear, I have rarely seen other local bands using Mesa bass stuff. The odd Walkabout has cropped up. I lived in Glasgow for ten years though, where the Mesa UK distributor was based. At least one of the times I saw a local bassist using a Walkabout it was because he had been working at Westside and got a great deal. At 'pro touring level' (i.e. non UK bands), I have seen a few M6/M9s and the odd 400+.

You are correct, they should 'need' less margin per unit, however business being business, they will 'want' more margin per unit.

You might be onto something there. Mesa is at the 'premium' level of gear, so some shops might take the position that those who can afford the 'premium' would be willing to pay additional 'premium' on top of that to establish a profit margin. I was going to say that still doesn't explain the bigger up-charge on Mesa relative to other premium amp brands (say Bergantino). However, once you factor in guitar amp sales, I would presume that Mesa sales would greatly exceed that of Bergantino etc, so that would maybe explain why there is a bigger up-charge on Mesa items. I dunno, I'm probably talking nonsense, morning coffee break thoughts and all that.

I have the Keeley Bassist. It is a really good 'transparent' compressor/limiter in my opinion. It is generally an always on pedal for me. Honestly though, I never play much slap live. In rehearsal context though it is great. EBS Multicomp is another good pedal, though I personally think that the design of the pedal is starting to show its age in comparison to the newer pedals such as the ones from TC Electronic. Horrible oversized footprint aside, I really liked the Aguilar TLC for slap.

A Spector 6 is now on my wish list.

Peter was kind enough to post me a spare light bulb for my EBS Fafner. He actually contacted me by PM to say that he had a spare without prompting after I had mentioned on a thread that the bulb on my Fafner had gone again. He really didn't have to do anything, but Peter is another example of why Basschat is so great.

Oh yes, I'm sure that there are high level meetings at certain manufacturers taking place as we speak to discuss 'communication protocol' and 'historic communication data purging initiatives' after reading this: "The CMA also found that certain Fender employees deliberately tried to cover up their actions by recording as little as possible in writing. However, the investigation uncovered emails and texts from Fender’s IT servers and mobile phones, which proved the illegal behaviour."

In terms of the WD800 not taking off (at least on Basschat), my views are: 1) Price, it is more expensive than other premium heads, including the D800 and D800+ which were already on the market and were catering to people who wanted a high power, portable Mesa bass amp. People who spent £800-£900 on the D800 in 2016-17 or D800+ 18 months after that were not exactly going to be in the market for another Mesa bass amp at £1200+ released shortly thereafter again. If the WD800 had been released first, then I have no doubts it would have made a bigger splash on the market. However, the D800 and D800+ were developed and released first, so 'it is what it is'. I don't want to come across that I am criticising Mesa for releasing three brand new bass heads in five years, which I think is a really positive move. However that is a lot of new products in a short space of time. 2) It is a 'new' design but is also still kind of a take on an 'old' design by being marketed as kind of a 'new and improved' Walkabout. This obviously has the danger of limiting the amp's appeal on the basis that a lot of people who have the Walkabout like how it is already is, and given the build quality of Mesa, most of the existing Walkabouts are going to be operational for years to come. People who didn't like, or who never tried the Walkabout might prefer the D800 or D800+ anyway as they are less expensive and look more 'user friendly' (i.e less knobs). For that reason, I think that the WD800 is a bit more of a niche product to begin with. If I am being honest, the price of the WD800 doesn't really turn me off. I paid about the same for my Walkabout 1x15 combo in 2008. In that case I paid a premium but it has been more than worth it. In any case, the flagship Mesa bass head is now £1299 or so, whereas their previous 'flagship' M9 and Big Block/Titan V12 amps were closer to £2k and above when new, while the recent Strategy/Prodigy amps were much more than that again. Yes we are talking class D vs Hybrid and all valve amps and we would normally expect Class D type bass heads to be cheaper. However, as it stands, the flagship Mesa bass head is now much less expensive than it used to be... The Mesa pricing issue only really becomes an issue for me with the cabs. Their current 4x10 is currently listed as £2150, which I think is over the odds, even for the usual Mesa UK price allowances (the cab is being sold for about $1599 in the States). I just cannot justify spending that much on a cab when it is almost double the price of other premium level competitors.

I’m not sure if any Basschatters have bought one yet. I think that there is a Talkbass megathread which is largely positive.

Me too. Given that the HD360 has been readily available for under £1000, I would hope that the price for 802 is not really over the top.

Any news on what the price is going to be? I know it is going to be much more expensive than the class D Reidmar range (bigger, heavier, entirely made in Sweden), so my guess would be around £2000 or so. Anything more than that is getting up there in terms of price though.

1) Hybrid/valve amps which have no standby mode, but which also take 20-30 seconds to 'warm up' and actually start working. I turn on my Mesa Walkabout at my gig. There is no stand by switch and it takes about 20 seconds to warm up and actually deliver any sound. This leads to 20 seconds of me going into a mild panic thinking 'what if it doesn't actually work this time? Wait, there is no sound still! Something is wrong, I'm going to be totally screwed, NOOOOOO!' Then it starts working. This has been going on for over ten years.

At least they are getting better at playing the games other companies are playing. The Reidmar 502 is marketed as being a 'lightweight amp in the 500w-range' capable of operating at 2 ohms despite it being 250 watts RMS at 2 or 4 ohms and 470 watts dynamic. Whereas the original Reidmar 250 was 250 watts RMS at 4 ohms and 470 watts dynamic output. If only EBS had marketed the original Reidmar as the 'Reidmar 504' then they would probably have got a few more sales. The new 802 from the pics appears to be 750 watts RMS at 2 ohms, so while not quite 800 watts RMS as you might think from the name, it is surely going to be loud enough to cover any reasonable situation so long as the cabinet is capable of dealing with the power.

I would agree with that. I really like the Fafner as a live amp. I had a Mesa M6 for a while, nominally to replace the Fafner, but ended up selling it as the level of sub bass was just ridiculous and was very difficult to EQ out without the bottom falling out of the sound altogether. The Fafner just sits brilliantly in a live mix. Loads of headroom and a lot of clarity, even when adding some drive. Great slap amp too, even though it was marketed as the 'rock' head with the styling of the amp. I did record an album with the Fafner once, but to end up with the bass signal was mostly a clean DI straight to the desk from a Sadowsky Metro so I think that would probably help prove your point.

The Fafner is probably a back up head as part of a hire set up. I love my Fafner, and prefer it to the (old) HD350 or TD650, annoying frequently malfunctioning bulb aside and the fact that it is pretty bulky and not actually that much more powerful than the HD350 in terms of output. If I am being honest, the voicing of the EQs was pretty similar across those range of amps. You could do slap, funk, or rock/metal on all of the amps. I never tried the HD360 or TD660 so can't comment on how the EQ was changed on those models, as by then I had bought the Fafner so I wasn't really looking for an amp. The Fafner II to me was a misstep. Too heavy, too many knobs, too expensive and overdrive features that, while great, were maybe better suited to a pedal.The HD350 preamp with the 650 power section would probably have done great on the market. I think that this new 802 amp looks like it will be more like an updated HD350 with more power and features. The only drawback on the old EBS amps to me is that there is not much low, 'sub' bass below 100Hz. I know that this is by design in order to avoid muddy sounds and it really results in a really, clear, defined sound which is great live. However, compared to say, a Mesa Boogie M6 or Big Block (other amps I have had/have), there is not much floor rumbling bass when you are using a low B string. This is why I really like the look of the 802 with the extension/voicing options on the Bass and Treble settings.

That crossed my mind to be honest. I think that they must have been really tight on the deadlines with the prototypes. However, my view is that if the prototypes were not correct, then don't bring them. I would have just brought the Metro and Masterbuilt ones and run with that. Perhaps the fit and finish on the Metro Express prototypes are so good that Warwick/Sadowsky felt that they were good enough to demo even with the decal being wrong? Anyway, it is a curious development.

The original Fafner was used by a lot of rock metal players. However it was also used by Victor Bailey and Marcus Miller on occasion, as you can see in the left hand corner of the pic below. The Fafner is a great head for pretty much any style. In fact, so was the HD350 and TD650. All great heads.

Non-Spector owner here (at least until I get the funds together for a Forte 6 or Euro 6), however this is a statement that I 100% agree with. I 'fought' against the massive high output of my Vigier Excess for years. The massive output and huge amounts of low and high end on the onboard EQ has made it tricky to pair with certain amps. No trim pot. It wasn't so much 'tone sculpting' as it was 'fire fighting'. Luckily after 15 years I have finally got the hang of it...

Okay, for years I have been using D'addarios. Still my first choice for straight up tone. However the Elixirs deliver 90% of the tone and last for ages. The switch is saving me a lot of money as previously I was switching strings every 6 weeks or so on my two main basses between my different gigs and rehearsals.It was starting to hit me in the pocket and I felt that I was wasting so much metal to the point that I could swear that Greta Thunberg was angrily looking at me when she appeared on my TV. So Elixirs it is.

Sadowsky or not, a nice active Jazz type with good fit and finish for sub-£800 is a good deal. There is a lot of competition at the point though. Will consumers just go with the brand they know and prefer a Mexican Fender Player bass rather than a Chinese Warwickdowsky? It will really depend on the fit and finish and attention to detail, which is really what Roger Sadowsky built his reputation on with the NYC and prior Metro series.

I think that the Spector Legend series would cover that price point as well. It can certainly be done. However, even as a Sadowsky aficionado, I do think that it is diluting the brand a little. However, Sadowsky were already doing off-shore licensed products for years with the Metro and Metro Express line. If it was Vigier guitars announcing a licensing deal with Warwick then I would be more shocked.

A brilliant idea, however for me, an amp should only be rated in accordance with continuous power. In which case this is a 140 watt amp. In a couple of years, I think that output power will be doubled or tripled.