thodrik

I do. Bought it on the BC marketplace back in 2016. It is a fantastic amp but I prefer my Walkabout to be honest, just because I love the slightly gritty tone I can dial in that I can only get in the M6 via use of a pedal. I have been tempted of selling the M6 just because I don’t need that much clean headroom. The volume the M6 is capable of is just ridiculous!

Agedhorse will know more than me, I am pretty sure that the Trans-class Mesas (the M3, M6 and M9) have a single tube in the Pre amp section and the power amp is entirely MOSFET based. This is opposed to the 'Simul-state' Mesa's like the original Walkabout and M-Pulse Line which I believe used valves along with MOSFETS as part of the power section. The Simul-states like the Wakabout were designed to behave similar to an all valve amp. I think that the voicing of the Carbine series was designed to be a lot cleaner with lots of articulation with a more immediate response. This means that the M6 will have huge amounts of clean headroom and you won't lose any definition while you turn up the Master volume. The M6 also puts out a hell of a lot of low end grunt, especially if you pull out the 'Deep' switch which adds deep lows and adds a bit of sparkle up top. So basically, the amp delivers 'heft'.

Okay, that is actually pretty damn cool! What is it?

Another ‘I don’t like single cut basses’ vote here. Of course I love single cut guitars and own a Les Paul. I wouldn’t play a headless bass either. I like modern approaches to instrument making but those are my only two exceptions. A headless single cut bass is bound to exist right?

I really enjoyed the show last night. I was fearing it would the usual BBC rock music documentary full of Keith Moon and John Bonham anecdotes, but I really enjoyed the look into the evolution of the drum kit and the coverage of drummers in the era before rock and roll. I love Stanton Moore as well so glad to see him on TV. My fear for the bass show is that it would be a bunch of stories about McCartney, Entwistle, Flea, Sid Vicious, Mark King and the guy from Royal Blood as the ‘new’ bass hero, with 20 seconds on Marcus Miller and Peter Hook. The drum show has convinced me that I don’t need to worry. Nice to see the BBC doing a music show with a bit of depth.

I think I am the same. My MV4 was £1500 or so back in 2009. The same bass was £1200 or so when I started lusting after it in about 2006. The rising prices are a similar theme for lots of brand though so it really isn’t just a Sadowsky issue. At £2500 or so now, I don’t think I could justify buying a new Metro if the Metro Express quality is really good. That is saying something because the MV4 has been my main gigging and recording bass for nearly 10 years and will probably still be my main bass in ten years time. The Xotic basses look really good value for money as well. Though wooden pick up covers are not a deal breaker for me. It’s a great option though for folk looking for a sub £1500 bass. The fit and finish on my Metro is exceptional. The only thing that lets it down is that the wood neck and fingerboard is pretty plain and doesn’t have any fancy figuring or flame that you would expect on a ‘boutique’ jazz bass. I have seen NYCs with necks like these though, so I think it might be a design choice by Sadowsky to go for a very ‘clean’ look. The main thing that keeps me going back to Sadowsky is the Sadowsky preamp. It isn’t for everyone but I love it.

Okay, bringing this thread back to life as it seems Guitar Guitar have received their first shipment. https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/180206322275007--sadowsky-metro-express-mv4-tobacco-burst https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/180206322274007--sadowsky-metro-express-mv4-candy-apple-red Well, they look pretty much indistinguishable from the Metro MV4 I have, which is great. I guess the real question is what they are like to play and what they sound like. It seems that they are located in the Birmingham store. I would be interested in hearing the thoughts of anybody lucky enough to try one, as the chances of me getting to Birmingham is slim to none at the moment!

Bass Gallery in London as well: https://thebassgallery.com/ Along with Bass Direct they would be the main two ones that come to mind.

I may be wrong, (in that I writing this from memory of reading other threads from years back and without checking or verifying anything) but my understanding is that: Part of the reason was cost efficiency. The new Series IV basses could be produced more quickly. This resulted in the Series IV Arpeges being available for a much lower price than the Series III basses. I also understand that the equipment that was being used to create the neck through models were getting old, so it was becoming more difficult and time consuming for Vigier to produce the neck through models. Also, I think that part of it is that Patrice Vigier doesn't see in any tonal advantages/disadvantages between bolt on vs set neck vs neck through. This could explain why the GV Guitars (the Vigier equivalent of a set neck single cut Les Paul or neck through PRS) are all bolt on designs. None of my basses have neck though designs and I don't think I am missing anything in terms of tone. However, I will accept that a high quality neck through bass like a Vigier (or Spector or Warwick or Fodera or equivalent) is real work of art in terms of design and gives the instrument a real bit of 'Je ne sais quoi'... I'll get my coat....

I have a Series IV (when they started to go bolt on). I love the shape, but in my opinion the shape of the Series IV models are slightly more mainstream and bit less 'uniquely' Vigier like the Series 1 and 2 models. The fit and finish to Vigier is generally top notch whatever the time period or model (I have an Excess as well and my brother has an Excalibur).

Calling @ped!

Possibly. I have had one for nearly ten years now. That perhaps gives a clue as to why it was discontinued. The people that love them bought them years ago and mostly haven't needed to buy another. The people that didn't fancy the Walkabout in the first place, because they wanted more clean headroom or they wanted an even smaller class D solid state head, were never going to buy a Walkabout. That gives a limited market for Mesa to sell 'new Walkabouts'. This is particularly the case when the head has been on sale for 15 years or so, so it isn't difficult to find a Walkabout in the used market for less than what a new one would cost. So yeah, I understand the reason the original amp was discontinued. In terms of feature set though, the WD-800 seems to have a lot more going for it. I'm hoping though that Mesa haven't abandoned their big valve/simul-state bass amp designs for good. I have always wanted a 400+ or the Big Block 750.

Thanks for the clarification. From owning both a Walkabout and M6, my preference is definitely in the Walkabout camp in terms of how the pre-amp operates. I will probably be trying the WD-800 at some point as I'm intrigued in how the power amp dambing control operates.

Given how long the Talkbass Walkabout thread has been running, trying to redesign an updated version of the same preamp would be a tricky task! I would agree that most of the improvements can be seen as a positive, especially a quieter fan! Admittedly I am a massive fan of the original Walkabout and of Mesa products in general. My only query to the current Mesa bass line is whether there is enough differences between the D800, D800+ and the new WD800 as to warrant them all existing in the same product line at the same time? Three different 800 watt bass heads, all with similar features, all within the same general price bracket, all three of them released within the last couple of years. I have read that the D800 series was designed to sit somewhere in between the Walkabout and the Carbine spectrum in terms of tone. However, if the WD800 is designed to have benefits of the Walkabout pre-amp but with far more clean headroom and tonal flexibility, would this not mean that the new WD800 also sits in pretty much the same tonal spectrum as the D800 and D800+? The differences between the various models seem very subtle compared to Mesa's guitar line (say like the Rectifier Series as compared to the Lone Star series). I don't mean this as a criticism, more that I would just be interested in trying the different heads and seeing the differences and subtleties between the heads.

‘World’s Okayest Bass Player’ Christmas present from my brother.

A shame. Cool stage presence and personality. Most importantly though, a great taste in hats and sunglasses.

That is a poor sales person that doesn’t know their products. Surprising from Guitar Guitar as their staff usually know their stuff. Sorry to hear that they gave you false information, I would be annoyed as well.

None of the new VRs are made in the USA. Only the Heritage stuff is made in the USA and the cost for them is about two grand. Still, that is a top of the line valve bass head for a grand. It is a great deal. If you want a made in USA VR you will have to look used, probably have to pay more and have no warranty.

I don’t hate it, but I have owned a a 1974 Gibson EB3 since 2000. I don’t like the three point bridge design. It is very difficult to set it up to achieve are decent action and intonation. Only two of the four pick up selections deliver a workable tone. It is heavy and neck heavy. Due to the tiny space between the string entry point and the string saddle and the short scale neck, it is very difficult to find strings that work well with the bass. I have been thinking of selling it for ten years but have been too lazy to do anything about it, as part of my brain thinks it is cool to have such a unique bass and a bit of history as part of my collection. Also my brother thinks it is cool.

I have had this dilemma for ten years or more. I generally hit mute on my Boss tuner and then retune. It generally takes about 3-5 seconds and I never have needed to switch tunings in the middle of a song. Even if I had an extender I would still probably stop and check the tuning anyway so I don’t think an extender would save me any time in practical terms. I don’t do any session stuff, pit work, open mic nights or blues jams that require me to have access to standard tuning, drop D or songs in e flat tuning on the fly. If I did, an extender would probably be very handy, if just playing a five string is not an option. I have generally been in bands where the guitarists are checking tuning every other song and take far longer to switch to drop D (or equivalent) than it does for me to do the same on the bass, particularly if the guitarist is playing a Les Paul.

I have a 5 string tuned to A flat on the B string with a set of DR DDTs. It is fun, but in my opinion once I start playing stuff below a low A, I find it easier to play a note an octave up. I have played with guitars going as low down as F sharp, it is a tough push for me to set up a bass to accommodate that, so I just use the note an octave up. Even the bassist in Meshuggah doesn't drop down to the level of the guitars. I do like downtuning but I am more of a stoner/doom bass player when it comes to downtuning rather than the modern djent stuff that needs a really fast attack and precise definition.

No problem! At least it isn’t a certain other bass forum where every other thread has a passive aggressive first response of ‘Do a search before you post buddy because we already covered this in a sub-discussion in random other thread 36 1/2 months ago’.

I think you did a very similar topic to this a few months ago, except looking at Sadowsky as a price comparison point rather than Alleva, etc. You aren’t really going to find anything new other than you still really like your bass and that you can buy a Sei bass for less than another version of a high end Jazz bass made by a different manufacturer in a different country.

In the current market, the price for a boutique made in the USA head is pretty good. My Walkabout 1x15 combo was about £1300 new back in 2008 (the head alone I think was £1100 or so back then). The price of the cabs are silly. Just ridiculous. You would think with the lighter weight they would be easier and cheaper to ship than the old Powerhouse cabinets (which are/were really expensive as well). I see that Mesa have deleted links on their sites to the Powerhouse cabs and any non-Subway amps, such as their all valve Prodigy/Strategy heads. It looks like Mesa are really committing to lightweight gear, which is cool. Probably a wise move, despite being great, the Powerhouse cabs are really heavy and are only really 'easy to move' if you are used to moving those old Diesel or Roadready cabs about. I wonder if they will make a classic Powerhouse 1000 lightweight cab, fitting a 4x10 and 1x15 into a 'lightweight' box. Keep the mix of old and new cabs.

My solution for a louder Walkabout was playing it through a Powerhouse 6x10! No volume issues anymore. I need to hit weights more before I can really be able to lift the cab in and out my car unaided. Hence a portable 2x15 has me excited.