thodrik

I sometimes find it (mildly) amusing that the same people who claim the importance of having a quiet on stage sound are also claiming that they need an 800 watt amp, as anything less than that won't deliver the clean headroom that they desperately 'need'. I have owned a Walkabout for ten years now. The Walkabout 1x15 combo has been my main gigging rig for most of that period. It has only struggled on obscenely loud stages where there is little to no monitoring available, very loud drums and guitars and the PA is only just strong enough to carry vocals over the drums. You know, the type of gigs where everybody would say that the stage volume is too loud, but your mate at the back of the audience will tell you that it was too quiet! On those types of gigs the Walkabout could sometimes struggle. I have played many a gig with the gain at 12 o'clock (semi clean tone) and have had the master cranked at 75% or higher. With a quieter stage and better monitoring, the Walkabout 1x15 can cover just about any type of gig for my purposes. The cab makes all the difference though. I did two outdoor festivals last year, using an Ampeg 8x10 on one and my Mesa 6x10 for the other. During those gigs the master volume on the Walkabout wasn't even 40% turned up. It was bloody loud and clean and I was playing in a heavy rock band in drop C. I totally see the reason why Mesa have developed the WD 800. At very low volume levels, the Walkabout has a lovely bloomy clean tone, which disappears as the tone gets a bit more raucous and furry as you turn the master volume up. I love the slightly driven sound of the Walkabout and think that it is the true magic of the amp rather than the clean tone. However, some players want the low volume 'bloom' of the Walkabout at much higher volumes without the need to pair the Walkabout with a very large cabinet. I think that this sentiment is the reason behind the WD-800. From what I have read on the usual forums, it very difficult/not possible to 'scale up' the furry character of a 'pushed' original Walkabout to 800 watts, so the new WD-800 is not really a scaled up Walkabout, but rather using the Walkabout pre-amp as the basis for a new amp. I'll still be keeping the Walkabout.

Correct. The non-valve Trace heads are not 2 ohm stable.

I think that when people say 'I can't play with 18mm string spacing' it is just shorthand for 'I could technically play on 18mm string spacing but it isn't my preference and I would prefer to play something else'. I think that it is mostly personal preference rather than a case of bassists being fussy or not being adaptable or any idea that a bassist who doesn't like narrow string spacing is somehow a less talented bassist than someone who does. The context behind someone saying 'I can only play bass on Fender Precision basses might actually be 'I have been playing loads of types of basses for years but have finally discovered that the dimensions and sounds of a Precision are perfect for me, so why bother playing something else?'. I'm sure that if most of the players on this site swapped basses for a weekend of gigs, most of us would be able to 'make do' with someone else's bass for a weekend without the gig suffering. We probably wouldn't enjoy it as much though as playing with the instruments we are used to and have chosen through our own personal preference. It would be a fun experiment though.

No problem, I’m not one for ‘OMG this is the best thing EVER!’ reviews. I could give a detailed breakdown of the ‘negatives’ of all of my favourite bits of gear. It doesn’t make me like them any less, it just means I have played with them for a prolonged period of time and have discovered some things it can’t do or something I would personally change. I’m very happy anyway!

Well, I couldn't wait any longer. That Big Block 750 that was on sale with the matching case? Yeah bought that for a great deal, for not much more than what I sold my M6 Carbine for. I have wanted a Big Block for about ten years so I really couldn't pass it up. From initial comparisons with my Walkabout and old M6. The Big Block has a much more limited EQ than the Walkabout and has much less clean headroom, sub lows and cutting highs than the M6. There is a bit of built in 'grunt' to the sound as well which might not be to everyone's tastes. To my ears it is very much Mesa's approach to an Ampeg SVT pro series amp and is very much a 'rock' amp rather than the M6, Walkabout and WD-800 which could nail any number of different styles. This means that the Big Block will not be everybody's favourite amp. To my ears though it is one of the best amps I have ever played through and it absolutely delivers exactly what I want out of a bass amp, which is basically something like the V6 I have above, but with a slightly more aggressive, in your face, voice, and less likelihood of breaking down and costing me hundreds of pounds to replace 6 power tubes... The Big Block absolutely delivers this in spades. The overdrive is also probably the best high gain bass overdrive I have ever heard, which is saying something considering I have been running the Darkglass Duality for years and it just doesn't get anywhere close to the high gain tones from the overdrive on the Big Block. If Mesa delivered a WD-800 with a version of the Big Block overdrive circuit as a footswitchable drive, then I would be all over that.

I used to have a fairly big TE collection consisting of two cabs (1028H and 1518), a GP7 SM300 1x15 combo, a SMX300 head and the mighty V6. I am down to just the V6 now. Heavy yes, but not as heavy as the Ampeg equivalent. It is about 25Kg and there is only one handle at the top so it technically 'is' a one handed lift. In terms of weight my considerations are usually on the basis of 'can I lift it and walk it 100 yards from the car to the venue and up a flight of stairs without dropping it?'. The V6 is close to the limit as a one handed lift, but the tone is worth it. Once I am over 40 or suffer from back problems I will perhaps reconsider. At the moment though I am enjoying the benefits of owning an old Volvo that can fit all kinds of cool, old and heavy bass gear.

Used to get quite a lot of these back in the days of being in a 'signed' band. Sometimes it was difficult to tell the genuine offers of rip off 'buy on' tours from the fraudulent offers of rip off 'buy on' tours.

I always thought that Ampeg were the bass equivalent of Marshall in the guitar world. Ever present, industry standard gear that some people love, many people like and some people who just don't like them. I wouldn't say no to an Ampeg head. Would I trade my Trace Elliot V6 for an SVT though? Not a chance.

Me too!

At £3k I tried a really nice Fender Custom Shop jazz for about that in Guitar Guitar Glasgow today. Though I played an even nicer original 1970s Jazz for around half that price. Ended up buying a new Boss TU-3 after my TU-2 died after 17 years of use...

I only became a fan in the six months before the split. I stupidly did not go to the Isis Aereogramme tour when they played Glasgow which is one of the few gigs I really regret not going to. In the Absence of Truth is my personal favourite album even though I will accept that it is generally seen as one of the weaker albums, even by members of the band. Yes it is in the arty-farty period, but I absolutely love the drum sound on that the album. Oceanic and Panopticon are classics. Celestial is great. Wavering Radiant is a bit tame but has a couple of great tracks.

Played that set up for a radio session circa 2010. I was absolutely impressed with the amp and cab.

Both, always both.

Sometimes it is actually pretty impressive how large a gauge of strings you can install on a bass without having to recut the nut. I managed to install a D’Addario set of 120-50 strings and the DR DDT 115-55 set without having to recut the nut of my Sadowsky from stock. That is my absolute limit though on a four string. I would never tune a four string BEAD for example. I used to have a designated ‘drop tuning’ bass, but after a certain point, more and more of my projects were in alternate tunings. After a while I just thought that I might as well use my best bass for all this stuff, otherwise it would my ‘standard tuning’ bass that would never be used! if I was doing a set of standard tuning songs though and just one song needed to be in E flat or d standard, then I would definitely consider a pedal.

I own an S9 series Precision (so could have been made any time from 1978-80). Got it for under £400 in 1999 (I was 13 and it seemed like a good deal compared to a new US Standard that would have been £700 or so). Now, basses from that era are going for £1300-£1500. If I had bought a US Standard when I was 14 it would probably only be worth £600 or so now. The reality though is that either instrument would still be a passive Fender that I have been using for a period of 20 years. After using the bass for twenty years, I have probably ruined my bass as a potential 'investment' purchase for someone else. What a bloody shame. I have always wanted to buy a seventies Jazz to match the Precision I have. When I was last properly looking for a four string Jazz in 2009, I played a few 60s Jazzes, along with a Sandberg and Sadowsky Metro. Mojo aside, the 60s Jazzes were nowhere near the Sandberg or the Sadowsky Metro in terms of fit, finish or sound. I love old basses, but if/when I have thousands to spend on a Fender Jazz-style bass I am much more likely to consider a Sadowsky, Mike Lull or even a new Fender Custom shop, where there less fear of 'will I get a good one?'

A decent octave pedal would get you a decent low C with a minimum of fuss. I am very much a 'just tune down if you need to'. Back in the day if I needed to use a low C for 40 seconds of a song, I would just tune the E to C for that song and rework the fingering to suit. It wasn't as ideal as having a five string or a separate bass for a particular song, but the solution was free rather than find a solution that would cost me more money like another pedal. Now I have a five string which makes things a lot easier. For anything lower than drop D, which involves tuning all of the strings to E flat standard or below, I use the D'Addario 120-50 Balanced Tension set. Usually less than 20 quid a set compared to the far more unbalanced DR DDT set of 115-55 set at £30 plus quid and to me the work just as well. ideal for D standard/drop C but good for drop C sharp (a bit high tension for my liking) and decent enough for C standard (albeit with lower tension). Anything lower than C standard is five string territory.

Really like those. A Fender with a drop D extender as standard is also pretty cool. Personally I think more basses should come with this feature. I say that as someone who owns five basses and none of them have an extender!

No headstock signing on my NYC either. I don't think that the headstock signatures are standard on Sadowskys, but I might be wrong. Stuart Spector signs all of the main US Spectors, must have sore wrists at this point.

It’s getting bloody worse! I got a phone call from the student loans company on Friday afternoon. Apparently I’m due a refund because I finally paid my loan off in April 2018 without knowing, so I’m due a refund of 9 months worth of payments. It is like the universe wants me to buy stuff! I think I will manage to hold off. Played my Walkabout again today, it is still awesome.

Just bought a Darklgass Alpha Omega from Gavin. Posted to Orkney with no issues. Item was well packed, complete with box and manual. Super easy Basschatter to deal with. I even got some extra insight into some amps to consider in the future. As detailed in all the feedback above, I would also recommend him without hesitation. Cheers also to @Al Krow for managing to essentially broker two deals for me in as many weeks!

Definitely B3K into Duality. I use the B3K on very low gain to set up a thick ‘cleanish’ sound and feed that into the Duality for some utterly over the top filth. Feeding the Duality into the B3K is cool, but it takes away some of rough edges of the Duality, which to me is entire reason that I use the Duality in the first place. Obviously some people may prefer it the other way round!

Sold an M6 Carbine the other week, and without really trying have now sold a bass cabinet and a guitar. This means I have enough spare cash lying around to consider buying the WD800 without it eating into 'building a garage' savings. However, I have now seen two people in Glasgow selling a 400+ and Big Block 750 respectively on eBay, just to coincide with me going to Glasgow next week. So two of my dream amps on sale at the same time in the one city I happen to be visiting next week. Can some other Basschatters do me a favour please buy the 400+ or Big Block quickly? Otherwise I will probably do something really silly.

Sounds like the Prodigy pre amp is voiced a bit more along the lines of the Carbine I sold. The Carbine was a terrific amp, but the voicing of the upper mids was far too pronounced for me. The Voice settings on that amp either cut out too much mids for my liking or just added far too much mids! The weights of the Prodigy and Strategy amps really do amaze me given the type of amps they are and how much technology and components are squeezed into such a small space. I love the character of the Walkabout. Ten years in and I'm still impressed with it.

Walkabout owner and (as of last week) former M6 Carbine owner here. How does the preamp of the Prodigy compare to the Walkabout? Is the Prodigy more aggressively voiced than the Walkabout? I'm torn in terms of my next amp being an all valve job ( a more flexible EQ than my old Trace V6) or the new WD-800 to get close to the sound of my favourite amp (Walkabout) but louder.

Nice!