Mesa Boogie Diesel cabs: 1x15 & 2x10 Road Ready £800 Swansea

[Shaggy]

Mesa Boogie Diesel cabs, EV loaded, USA made.

 

As I’m currently winding my bass playing down to a low level I’m putting some stuff up for sale.

 

Mesa Boogie 1516 (now SOLD)  cab; Sir Macca apparently uses 2 of them on stage (or used to, anyway....).  This is the third one I’ve had.

Designed as a full range stand-alone cab, with a 1x15” driver in the lower section; 1x10” and 2x6” drivers and a high range horn in the upper section.   The two sections have separate inputs to enable them to be run individually or in stereo at 8 ohms each, and there’s also a single “master” input to run both sections together at 4 ohms.  All drivers are the original superb ElectroVoice units.

 

Tolex covered, which has a few scuffs and scrapes mainly on the back, but generally in decent nick.   The guy I bought it off said he was the second owner, and when he bought it the original owner told him that he’d ordered it from Mesa with the factory upgrade option of a higher performance EV “Black Shadow” 15” driver. 

These aren’t unduly big cabs considering the arsenal of drivers they carry (see pic with bass included for scale), it’s slightly shorter than the Mesa 2x15 I used to own, which itself is quite a compact cab.  They do have a justified reputation for being heavy however, and they’re heavy because they’re built to cope with a life of pro use on the road.    But the removable heavy duty castors on the bottom make it a cinch to move around, and it easily tilts and slides backwards into the boot of a car.    I gigged my previous ones for years quite happily; the only time you really notice the weight is when you have to lug it up or down stairs, and then you find out if your band-mates are also your true friends!

As a studio or rehearsal space cab though, it’s without equal.

 

Comes with a brand spanking new Roqsolid cover that cost me around £70.   I’d bought this at the same time as the Mesa Titan amp I’ve also listed, with the plan of upgrading to a big rig, but plan scuppered by the band changing the PA so I ended up DI-ing.

A piffling £300 for a whole lotta cab.....

 

1x15 and 2x10 “Road Ready” cabs

These are more of a feeler, as I spent a long time sourcing them as a matched, pair - they’ve been the mainstay of my gigging rig for a long time now, and I’m not going to find cabs of this quality again.

 

The “Road Ready” Mesa Diesels are built into an integral flightcase - again the design brief was for high performance cabs that can survive pro use on the road long term.    Compact but weighty, but being small very much more portable than the bigger Diesel cabs.  The nice thing about having 2 separate small cabs is flexibility; each is easily powerful enough as a stand-alone cab for most gigs, but when you do need a bigger rig you take them both.

 

The 1x15 is in excellent condition, complete with the clip-on front lid for transport which usually gets lost with these.  It also has the very useful slide-in removable castors underneath, which are great for moving the whole rig around on stage or when loading / unloading.  Original EV driver, rated at 400W / 8 ohm; I’m fairly sure the 2x10 is too.

The 2x10 is definitely scruffier, with some applied logos and a small crack in the shell on one side, though fully functional.  I suspect it’s been a rental cab at some stage of its life.   I checked the drivers when I acquired it, and although both were working fine I found that one was a non-original Eden unit.   I replaced this with a new (and very expensive) EV10M driver, which is the modern closest equivalent to the original EV10L (no longer made), and the two 10’s now sound fine as a matched pair.

 

£300 on the 1x15, £200 on the 2x10, or £450 for both.   

Collection from South Wales, near Swansea - I can deliver to Bridgend services M4, or possibly further for fuel costs.   Any questions or requests for specific pics; please message me.

Edited January 18 by Shaggy

[silverfoxnik]

Awesome! 

 

GLWTS @Shaggy

[chris_b]

5 minutes ago, silverfoxnik said:

Awesome! 

 

GLWTS @Shaggy

 

+1

[Beedster]

That 1516........... 

 

Nothing will ever sound as good as one of those 👍

[Beedster]

21 hours ago, Beedster said:

That 1516........... 

 

Nothing will ever sound as good as one of those 👍

 

In fact, if you're able to collect and have space to store it do yourself a favour and buy it because there is something absolutely sublime about how it makes almost all amps and almost basses (and bassists) sound. If it's good enough for Macca.....

 

[sky]

awesome stuff! if i had a car id really be considering that 2x10

[binky_bass]

Sorely tempted by the 1516... I'll be down your way (Cardiff/Merthyr) on the 12th Dec too. 

[Shaggy]

On 26/11/2023 at 16:58, binky_bass said:

Sorely tempted by the 1516... I'll be down your way (Cardiff/Merthyr) on the 12th Dec too. 

 

Always a welcome in the hillsides lol...... 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Could take it to Merthyr no prob

[Shaggy]

On 26/11/2023 at 16:38, Beedster said:

 

In fact, if you're able to collect and have space to store it do yourself a favour and buy it because there is something absolutely sublime about how it makes almost all amps and almost basses (and bassists) sound. If it's good enough for Macca.....

 

 

 

Thanks Chris - true words, and great pic!  I bet he doesn’t carry his own cabs mind.......😉

[Beedster]

My emergent rehearsal space needs not just one but two 1516s, firstly to ensure good bass coverage, but secondly as the hifi from hell, perhaps driven by an old Mesa tube stereo power amp, to teach the neighbours not to play Radio 2 so loudly on a Sunday lunchtime (the lowest point in BBC scheduling by a long shot) 👍

[warwickhunt]

"I can deliver to Bridgend services M4, or possibly further"... I'm guessing the 1516 to Newcastle is a push? 

[Shaggy]

22 hours ago, Beedster said:

My emergent rehearsal space needs not just one but two 1516s, firstly to ensure good bass coverage, but secondly as the hifi from hell, perhaps driven by an old Mesa tube stereo power amp, to teach the neighbours not to play Radio 2 so loudly on a Sunday lunchtime (the lowest point in BBC scheduling by a long shot) 👍

 

Reckon you could hold a festival chez Beedster with that “hi-fi from hell” Chris - and maybe try some fracking in your back yard too, given the low end on these cabs!   😉

 

21 hours ago, warwickhunt said:

"I can deliver to Bridgend services M4, or possibly further"... I'm guessing the 1516 to Newcastle is a push? 

 

Hmmmm, unless we could sort a relay.........????? 🤔

[Shaggy]

The all-valve D-180 head in the last pic will shortly also be up for sale; a valve or cap playing up that I’ll sort first with a visit to the tech.   Can send further pics if interested; 200W of valve hand-wired Californian goodness, unlike the 400 it only takes 6 power valves, and has a “clean” bass channel and a guitar channel that can allows really filthy distortion as it has the same cascade saturation circuit as the Mesa “mark” series guitar amps. 😎

Edited December 23, 2023 by Shaggy

[Sharkfinger]

If only there was a ‘drool’ reaction emoji available 

[Shaggy]

Indulge in some vintage Californian goodness

As endorsed by a certain Mr King.....👍

 

 

[Beedster]

On 25/11/2023 at 19:16, Beedster said:

That 1516........... 

 

Nothing will ever sound as good as one of those 👍

^

[Shaggy]

Last bump on these 2 beauties before I keep 'em 

[Beedster]

Keep them mate. Even my ‘little’ Diesel 2x10 blows the socks off pretty much every cab I’ve owned with the exception of my two bigger Diesel cabs 👍