krispn

So they're basically the Flea jazz? No wait I'll go look for myself....

Or It’s being medically extracted from the last doofus who requested Brown Eyed Girl

"Here, can you play 'insert song here'? ...to which my go to response is... "Do you have it on you phone?" with the punter enthusiastically saying Yes and reaching for their pocket... to which I reply... "Well feck off outside and listen to it and let us get on with our set!" I normally manage to deliver it with enough humour that the person gets the message! Another classic for us was a woman asking after every song for at least 5 songs in a row "Can you play Call Me Al?" to which our singer said sorry we don't do it in our set but me being me I'd play the bass line as he was telling her we didn't do it. I don't think to this day she ever clicked that every time she asked I played that bass part - da bumbump da dat bubbabump da dat 😂

I had another listen and the demo’s still sound good. I’m certainly feeling like I have a good idea of what the amp’s can do broadly speaking. I was hearing plenty of nuance and player character coming through on the wd800 video especially at the end when it was showing the rear panel features. The thumbed sound at the end of the TT demo sounded great too and the picked chords seemed to ring out nicely with plenty of clarity. It’s obviously no substitute to standing in front of an amp and cab and hearing it for oneself in the room. I dunno about harmonic richness (are you meaning in 2nd 3rd 5th order harmonics) but again A/B’ing with other heads would be fun!

That’s kinda what I was implying at the end of my earlier reply. A lot of the gear Westside distributes doesn’t share the mark up of 30% so why does Mesa gear command that? Is it related to the cost of repair or simple because Mesa is a top marque brand and Westside could add that mark up? I guess we’ll never know

The weight was always the killer with those Dirnt Basses. Some struggled with the neck but it was integral to the overall sound. Big neck big sound. The newer RW ones are meant to be lighter.

I keep harassing Dirnt owners but if you decide to change the pick up I’ll take the ‘59 off your hands. Tidy looking bass! Ooh and when I had mine I had a custom pick guard done but using the Lakland style plate with a flat edge parallel to the pick up just for a slightly different look. https://www.lakland.com/product/skyline-series-44-51/

I don’t think 30% is acceptable either and it explains why I’ve never bought a new Mesa anything even if I do think highly of their gear. Some gear only becomes accessible to most of us at used prices. I can live with that.

Retailers margins are slim and I'm not suggesting folks would or could walk into a shop and pay ££££'s just to demo an amp or bass at home or take it to a gig that night and return it on Monday morning. As a consumer it's good to know that being 80-90% certain that the product is right for you can be confirmed when one has actually spent some time using it and I'd imagine most folk have this confirmed after purchase and some time spent with the gear. If it doesn't work out then the security of being able to return it is also a bonus. I just bought some new pick ups and had to return them due to a fault. I didn't spend £££ to demo them for fun with the intent to send them back after a week and a bit of a muck about and I doubt many of us are doing that with amp and bass purchases. I'm sure you've mentioned returning a bass which had some cosmetic flaws under the finish after the retailer flew it in from Germany for you - if the retailer had of cut their own throat to give you the additional discount you wanted you'd have happily walked away with the bass in question gleeful at the bargain and little regard for the margins. That's not to imply most of us wouldn't have bitten their hand off either it's just an example of this moral fluidity when a bargain means more than a margin. I've never returned a pedal I bought used to a retailer and got a refund for it but I know folk who have. I guess if the pedal was gonna be replaced anyway it's not important who the retailer gives the refund to and we can praise the shop for their customer service even if we've basically pulled fly one! I've never had direct dealings with Westside Distribution so have no idea what they're like to communicate with as a customer. I'd be lying to say I'd any idea of the associated costs of being a distributor - staffing, importing, storing, servicing and maintaining warrant etc. As a consumer I have bought Dunlop strings, MXR gear, a Pedaltrain board, WayHuge pedals, a mono case, Levy's strap etc all distributed by Westside and never had an issue. I suppose their margins are less relative to retailers? People are rightly or wrongly giving Westside a hard time for the mark up but it happens with all manner of products all the time form cars to kitchens. We 'expect' to pay more for some brands and it's notable that the other product they distribute are rarely cited in these sorts of debate.

If the 100w would be enough for your gigs (with a modern efficient cab) - Vintage tone stack, modern tone section and blend-able drive.

Mesa amps both guitar and bass were never as straightforward as their control layout would have had you believe. I geeked out reading the manuals way too much in my teens but it really made me appreciate that every amp builder/amp can have its own quirks and it really does pay to RTFM if you can get access to it.

As ever the only way to really know is to go and demo one for yourself and if you can take your M6 or whichever amp you’re comparing it too. Wait until Bass Direct get them all in and treat yourself to a day out! Online demo’s don’t always give us the sounds we’d prefer to use. I rarely slap and rarely play with a pick. As an example I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Darkglass amp or pedal review which highlighted a less driven sound which is something I’d gravitate towards but that’s not a typically DG sound. I do think it’s sometimes easier to hear a demo than have a sound described as we all have different parameters or ways of describing what we hear. I suppose if we’re seriously in the market we’ll take a punt knowing that we can return within 14 days and really out the amp through its paces.

Let’s not forget that TE also has the traffic light ‘Goldilocks’ zone for optimum input gain to help us out! The demo videos on the Mesa site are worth a watch to hear a description and get a flavour of the amps albeit in isolation.

I didn’t say you were a fan of the pedals but you’ve owned two DG amps now which you rightly identified have the pedal circuits built in. Whether or not you like the drive circuits or use them is your call. If the clean sound alone works for then rock on 🤘🏽

The M6 is voiced to have a slight boost in the lows and mids where as the DG might be more even when set flat? I have an amp which is very similar to the M6 in its design and power section which is a bit more even when flat - it's just how the EQ isvoiced. The tube might well be warming it up over the DG but so will the overall eq voicing, the toroidal transformer, the mosfets etc. but at 12kg give or take you'd expect more heft/warmth sweetness (insert sonic adjective here) over a class d (controversial I know but...) You've made similar wild claims abut all sorts of gear in the past so you can allow me this one I just think the baked in DG sound, which I know you steered clear from and weren't a fan of for quite some time, is more divisive - people who love it love it and those that don't don't. It's a versatile amp for sure! I have another amp here which has a separate drive channel which can do a variety of sounds. I'd really need to A/B with a DG Microtubes to hear how similar they can sound - it might be more a kin to an Ampeg SVT4 or possibly the AO amps. I'll have to get a local bass bash on the go once civilisation can start back up! I'd happily take either amp out for a test drive... only thing is my gigging future is likely to be more In ears based than amp based. It's unlikely I'd be buying any new amps for the foreseeable future - the two I have cover every gig I play when needed.

Pick up dilemma - gonna have the shop take a look.

video has gone

In the TT one of the additional tubes is in the Subway channel which is 'new and improved' over the standard subway amps. The size of the WD800 likely harks back to the design of the original Walkabout - keeping a recognisable form factor which loads of players loved and found to be very intuitive. I think both these new heads look great. I also believe that the TT will be all the better for having dedicated eq for each channel as there is always a compromise on shared eq amps which have additional drive capabilities be they guitar or bass. A killer clean tone can become a little bass heavy when drive is added or need more mids, need less top end etc etc. Having two independent eq's potentially removes any such niggles. The Walkabout was always designed to sound like a big tube amp in a small package and I'm sure the WD delivers just as the original Walkabout did - the demo's seem to suggest it does! The price drop will obviously encourage more folks to consider one of these now they're more competitive but they still appear to have a really solid set of features which players want and christ knows they moaned about on various forums for years I cant imagine either of these amps would be bulky to carry in a should bag and it's certainly not heavy at 3.2kg considering what some peoples pedal boards clock in at! I know it's fickle but out of all the class D amps on the market right now the Boogie WD and TT appeal to me a little more than the competition. I really like the feature set and the overall form factor/design. In saying that I gigged a Walkabout for a few years way back and it's a cracking little amp and I fell in love with Boogie amps in general as a teenager (a local music shop stocked Boogie amps way back in the 90's and they were so cool!). I can only speak for myself but I think the Mesa drive sounds might have more wide spread appeal than the Microtubes amp circuits. I've yet to hear what the AO amp can do drive wise but I am familiar with the pedal and I know there are some good gain sounds - my interest would be in the lower gain application.

You in the market?

At that price I’d think so!

We’re a pub band here in Scotland and nothing on the horizon yet. I think it’ll be one of the last areas to be given the go ahead by the Scot. Gov. Our drummer did a live streamed gig with her other band from her garden and by all accounts her neighbours loved it so we might do one as a ‘rehearsal’ but it’s not due to imminent gigs. In saying that we have a great relationship with our main pub and once they get the green light we’ve been assured we’re first in so it’s nice to know that we’ll be able to hit the ground running - let’s hope we’re not too rusty!