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Posted

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='405680' date='Feb 10 2009, 07:41 PM']I HATE NOT BEING RICH! I guess i'll just have to become a rockstar eh? ;) I know Jay James uses Mesa boogie bass cabs but i was thinking of MarkBass since they're a lot lighter! Maybe i could get one of those 400+ tube heads though...[/quote]

I had to get my Mesa stuff second hand to keep the costs down so yeah defo keep an eye out for a used 400+

Posted


Snap. Me and Jim have almost the same rig, except my tuner is better and my cab is older (pre- Player Control) ;)

Interesting to see the three different "eras" of Mesa - Diesel, to Silver Powerhouse, to black-fronted Powerhouse which is the standard these days. I prefer the black grilles but don't want to imagine the cost of getting a replacement one from Mesa...unless someone wants to swap a black 6x10" grille for my silver one?

In conclusion - Best. Rig. Ever.
  • 2 months later...
  • 3 years later...
Posted

Time to ressurect this thread!

Retro Mesa Boogieness Part (1): The all-valve stack

1982 Mesa D-180 with Diesel Road-Ready 1 x 15 and 2 x 10 cabs.

I’ve had a few “big” valve stacks over the years – ‘70’s Orange 120 with custom 4x12, Fender Bassman 135 with H/H 2x15, and more recently; Ampeg SVT-2 pro with Mesa Diesel Road Ready 2 x 15 and 1516BE. Over the last 5 years I’ve DI’d so don’t need a big back-line rig any more, but I wanted to put one together for “projects” (and I just missed that wall of sound behind me too!)

Criteria were; it had to be portable enough to stash into a small hatchback, and be “golden era” Mesa (late 70’s – ‘80’s)

So this is it – I deliberately went for the 200W D-180 over the 400+ as being lighter, more compact, and less valve-hungry – it also has a cascade-gain “crunch” channel just like the Mark series guitar amps for overdrive to filthy distortion. (also I’ve still got the Ampeg head in the unfeasibly big and heavy category….)

Pure sex, flightcased.

(’65 Precision posing for scale)

Posted

Retro Mesa Boogieness Part (2): The “compact rig”

Mesa 300W Walkabout head with the Diesel 2 x 10

TBH I haven’t tried the matching 1 x12 which would be still more compact, but it’s so nice with the 2 x 10 I won’t bother – the power and depth of this little rig is just humongous.

My main gigging rig – head feeds DI to FOH, and drives cab for stage sound.

(’69 Gibson EB-2 posing for scale)

Posted (edited)

Retro Mesa Boogieness Part (3): The guitar rig.

1985 “no stripe” Mesa Mk III short head with Boogie Thielle 200W EV cab

100 / 60W (switchable) all-valve head, 3 channel (clean / crunch rhythm / saturated lead), spring reverb, graphic and parametricEQ.
To my mind the best guitar amp ever built, the tonal configurability is endless. The later Mk IV and V has more flexible independent channel EQ, but the Mk III had the most saturated crunch tone of any Mesa, dual rec included.

Small, but heavy – it’s a full 100W stack in a tiny rig.

(’74 Gibson SG Standard posing for scale)

Edited by Shaggy
Posted

Current owner of this beast has been trying to sell it for many, many months with no luck.

I've got mixed feelings about Buster. I don't really like active tone stack, so I usually used graphic eq. Another thing is that it doesn't sound like a tube amp, until you really, really crank it, but that's already territory of doom.

  • 1 month later...
Posted

[quote name='Bassman Steve' timestamp='1351341585' post='1850302']
Ok, so here's the 'big' rig. Tend to only use the 2x15 indoors and 2x18 outdoors but one day I'll just take the bloody lot and sod the back row!![attachment=122135:DSCN0171.JPG]
[/quote]Woow ee i love it

Posted

[quote name='Bassman Steve' timestamp='1351341585' post='1850302']
Ok, so here's the 'big' rig. Tend to only use the 2x15 indoors and 2x18 outdoors but one day I'll just take the bloody lot and sod the back row!![attachment=122135:DSCN0171.JPG]
[/quote]

that is the coolest looking rig i have ever seen. im so jealous. proper back to the future moment plugging into that beast.

  • 2 months later...
Posted

I was recently prompted to contact Boogie to find out some more about the 2x18 and they have responded to say it was never a production item and could be a one-off. I wonder if there any others out there? Anyone know of another one?

  • 3 months later...
Posted

My Mesa cabs, I love them, I've had a RoadReady 215 before these. Can't beat a weighty cab :)

[IMG]http://i519.photobucket.com/albums/u359/cd_david/15661813-76FE-48DE-937B-2E2D3EBF19E9-1275-0000004F320B3C1E_zps1baad7ea.jpg[/IMG]

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/8710556606/][/url]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjelkeman/8710556606/]Glanshammar 2013[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/bjelkeman/]bjelkeman[/url], on Flickr

I had the privilege of test playing this beast earlier this year at an all-bass get together in Sweden earlier this year. I think you guys are going to like it when they release them. 400 w of nice (blue) shining tube power. This was a prototype.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

[quote name='mikeswals' timestamp='1368080747' post='2072828']
[url="http://s48.photobucket.com/user/Negative7bass/media/boogieman.jpg.html"][/url]
[/quote]

You don't fancy swapping the 1516 for my 1x15 and 2x10?

Dave

Posted (edited)

[quote name='cd_david' timestamp='1370282554' post='2098615']
You don't fancy swapping the 1516 for my 1x15 and 2x10?
[/quote] Since I'm in the States it would not be worth attempting...

Edited by mikeswals

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