Somebody talk me out of a Mesa Subway

[D.A.R.K.]

My Buddy Aaron uses a D-800 with drop tunings etc in a heavy band, here's an example, he loves it. I have a D-800+ right now, does the trick but I should get the WD 800, have had 5 or so Walkabout heads but always wanted more power.... Walkabout is my fav front end

 

[BassmanPaul]

My buddy's Mesa subway rig sounds great.
You've got G.A.S.

And Beano is good for gas!!

 

[DJ Bebop]

Somebody talk me out of a Mesa Subway

 

[DJ Bebop]

Good start, but you forgot "Don't you boys know any nice music?"

 

[jbhaugh]

If money is no object buy 2 115 cabs instead of the 215

 

[JW56789]

Oh yeah, don't buy a Subway stack.

They have tone for days, certainly very loud, very patchable, built like a tank, a tree-mendous warranty, remarkably light and powerful cabinets, and the designer even hangs out on TalkBass to answer tons of questions about his creations. Among the best choices available, and a tremendous value made even better by Mesa's lofty quality standards.

So, for Gosh sakes, don't buy one.

Didn't work, did it? So, GET ONE !

 

[DJ Bebop]

Somebody talk me out of a Mesa Subway

 

[Scott Lynch]

Not me. I am THIS close to pulling the trigger on a WD-800 (again...) to power my new-to-me Berg NV212T.

 

[coy garcia]

I'm a boogie fan but would not buy one that wasn't all tube, maybe consider the prodigy models...to me that's where they really shine in warmth and grit. Also I'd suggest a 1-15 and a 2-10. That way you can take the 115 to smaller gigs and rehearsals and take both cabs for larger shows...imo.

 

[Raoul_Duke]

The D800+ is pretty much perfect. Ample power, stable pushing two 8x10s, small and lightweight, flexible but intuitive EQ with sweepable midrange(x2), built in HPF, non-offensive voicing that works well with a lot of basses... I don’t know how much more you can reasonably expect from one thing.

 

[MMiller28]

I've used the Subway D-800+ into a Subway 2x10 for 4.5 years and I have zero thought of buying another amp.

 

[DJ Bebop]

I'm a boogie fan but would not buy one that wasn't all tube, maybe consider the prodigy models...to me that's where they really shine in warmth and grit. Also I'd suggest a 1-15 and a 2-10. That way you can take the 115 to smaller gigs and rehearsals and take both cabs for larger shows...imo.

No love for the TT-800?
Mesa Boogie Subway TT-800 Bass Amplifier | MESA/Boogie®

 

[staccatogrowl]

Your wife's divorce attorney is on the phone . . *

* something about you paying retainers for him and his forensic CPA team. .

 

[coy garcia]

No love for the TT-800?
Mesa Boogie Subway TT-800 Bass Amplifier | MESA/Boogie®

They are cool but... I've had a boogie 400+ all tube amp since '89. I switched to solid state with tube preamp for about 10-15+ also at times using simulator amps. I thought it sounded great, lightweight, easy on the back, and sounded just like the real thing. About 6 yrs ago I dusted off the old broken boogie tube amp and had it serviced and tubes replaced. When I got it back I was Blown Away with the tone!!!. Then I started playing solid state next to tube to compare. It was no contest for me. I've tried many of the solid state boggie amps and they all sound great until I compare side by side to a tube amp like 400+, ampeg fliptop etc... Yes there is love for the subway but there is nothing like the real thing imo..

 

[Jeff Hughes]

It must be nice to be able to do the "practice amp to Mesa" course. Most of us probably took the "practice amp to Peavey to Hartke to Ampeg to Mesa" path.

There stuff is great. You may want to asses whether you want all of the controls of the tt800 right off. If you haven't been playing bass that long, that may be more tone shaping than you need. I use the Subway D-800 and love it for its simplicity.

I sold a Mesa amp once because it had too many controls.

But you know you better than me.

 

[dbase]

You know you want it...

 

[Smooth Operator]

I would recommend a D800+ or a WD800 along with a 1x15, or 2 15s. WD800 is more "musical" to my ears than the D800+ and has good overdrive tones, but both are fantastic.

 

[i_must_destroy]

It must be nice to be able to do the "practice amp to Mesa" course. Most of us probably took the "practice amp to Peavey to Hartke to Ampeg to Mesa" path.

There stuff is great. You may want to asses whether you want all of the controls of the tt800 right off. If you haven't been playing bass that long, that may be more tone shaping than you need. I use the Subway D-800 and love it for its simplicity.

I sold a Mesa amp once because it had too many controls.

But you know you better than me.

Well I didn’t start playing until I was almost 40 so I missed out on a lot of time.

 

[agedhorse]

They are cool but... I've had a boogie 400+ all tube amp since '89. I switched to solid state with tube preamp for about 10-15+ also at times using simulator amps. I thought it sounded great, lightweight, easy on the back, and sounded just like the real thing. About 6 yrs ago I dusted off the old broken boogie tube amp and had it serviced and tubes replaced. When I got it back I was Blown Away with the tone!!!. Then I started playing solid state next to tube to compare. It was no contest for me. I've tried many of the solid state boggie amps and they all sound great until I compare side by side to a tube amp like 400+, ampeg fliptop etc... Yes there is love for the subway but there is nothing like the real thing imo..

You might want to try the TT-800's Boogie channel, it's modeled after the 400+ but with updates that addressed what players struggled with (based on extensive discussions here on TB). There are quite a few players who prefer the TT to the original 400/400+, so at least give it a listen. It's quite different from the other Subway amps and all of the Subway amps are different than the legacy hybrid Mesa amps (with the exception to the WD-800 which was modeled after the Walkabout but with the same TB player driven updates).

 

[VincentGrim]

Walkabout's are readily available for less and, imo, sound better. That's me trying to talk you out of it, but the subway is a high quality amp that sounds great and has made many folks here happy. Follow your dreams.