MESA/Boogie Subway® WD-800™ Bass Amp Official Demo

[@ShynAwkward]

A High Pass Filter & USB Power?! Finally, somebody is listening - this is what you call innovation & forward thinking! Kudos from The UK!

[@svtbass]

Actually the USB port was my idea that I sent in email to Genzler and Andy this amps designer while they were both asking me my idead on one of Genzler new amps years ago. I still have that email exchange. At the time Tinear Andy said it would NEVER work.. But apparently I was correct once again and he incorporated my idea. It's handy item to have on these lightweight amps. Just the FACTS . I should post that email on my social media..

[@kennethyoung430]

Was in the market for 1 of these with a 2-12. Watched many demos and cant say that I like the way it sounds.

[@CordScott]

Much better in person.

[@DEKADZ]

Don't go by this demo:)

[@rmbryan9863]

I have gigged for 35 years and have owned recorded and played through everything at just about every venue indoor and outdoor. This class D is very refined and transparent live and in studio applications. IMHO..it has the most transparent DI on the market. I own it and the sound guys love it! I agree with Terry Tarpening. This is a bad demo... not the bass playing though. It seems like more than not everything is leaning towards in ear and PA support more and more. We all have our opinions on gear and what sounds good to one may not sound good to another. There is a lot of great gear out there. At the moment this is what I have been waiting for and I thoroughly enjoy the flexibility of the amp.

[@52goldtop]

Got my D800+ and Subway cabs and have never been happier playing with a band or alone. Gotta get to the Mesa store & see what Andy & the team have done with this monster.

[@MrWuggles]

I was always interested in a walkabout head but was worried about not having enough power, and wanted a headphone jack and aux in... and I was interested in the D-800 and D-800+, but wanted a tube preamp, and lots of eq without a super wide amp... and now my interests have been fulfilled. Props to whoever had the great idea of combining classic mesa tube tone with a modern 800 watt class d power section!

[@Theospeak1]

Love the use of multiple different basses to demo the amp

[@NoCoverCharge]

Just bought the TT 800 as a present for my bass player who has a ampeg b2r or something that is always buzzing .. hope he likes it

[@blairhicks2740]

Damn, I wish I were in your band!

[@DEKADZ]

@@blairhicks2740 No shit...

[@MrToonfish]

I do not really think that playing using palm mute technique to demo a bass amp system and cabs is a good thing. Like that any amp will do the trick ! ;-)

[@pman7154]

Well, the demo definitely gets better past the first minute. Watch the full video folks

[@F.BERTOLOTO]

Show de bola. Cada dia mais completo a linha da MESA. Abraços e bends

[@Bukowskithedog]

What is the Walkabout supposed to sound like? What is supposed to be its distinctive character that distinguishes it from the other models?

[@Pepper-cd9yr]

I come back to this demo often. I've been researching the Mesa WD-800 for over 2 years now and the way people talk about it, and with its feature set, it really seems like my dream amp. And yet, this demo is just bafflingly bad. The playing is decent but feels unrefined, the lows, mids and highs (for the most part) are all there, and yet... it just doesn't sound good. And yet, rave reviews for this amp, absolutely rave reviews, everywhere! It's so strange. I still want one. I can only imagine that it sounds a million times better in person - based on the reviews, it would HAVE to be so.

[@jmsmikey]

I was thinking the same thing~ it almost sounds like all these basses have 10 yr old strings.

[@DEKADZ]

I Love Mine, and who cares what other's think, their loss:)

[@MatthewtheBassPlayer]

Gotta love when random people feel the need to talk shit on the internet about a well known, world class touring bassist...less typing and more shedding, then maybe Mesa will be calling YOU to showcase an amp and you can show the world how it's supposed to be done ;)

[@MatthewtheBassPlayer]

@@CordScott If that's the objection, then the appropriate comment would be, "Hey Mesa, can we hear some clean finger style samples, since that's what most of us play?" instead of "This sounds like shit/This bassist sucks". One is a helpful suggestion, for both the commenter and the company, the other is pointless shit talking for the sake of the commenter's ego alone.

[@MatthewtheBassPlayer]

@@CordScott I'm specifically talking about all of the comments that DO say exactly that: if they were looking to be helpful, they should have just made a request.

[@Pepper-cd9yr]

@@mcloathin3354 I looked him up after watching this demo and not liking his playing. He plays like I would play if I never worked on my time feel. The big picture is there, the little details and tricks are there, but his time feel could use work.

[@gutbucket260]

This demo doesn't show what this amp is capable off. Muting and harmonics don't cut it. All I hear are clicks and tricks. Shit !!

[@DEKADZ]

Bad vid...not sure where his ear is at but this head is the BEST in over 30 years for me. Was an old school tube guy, then a back injury had me look at lightening up the load. Went Dclass and had to create my tone with a SansAmp to ANY head...in the last week I have played with 2 x different bands and man the tone is just awesome...some people really do not know how to create/capture their tone...swear many are tone deaf:)...Great Amp!!!

[@gcvrsa]

Please tell me this will fit into the Walkabout Scout combo cabs!

[@mesaboogie]

It is the exact same footprint minus two inches of depth so it will definitely fit. The speaker output from the Walkabout will require an adaptor since the Walkabout combo output is 1/4" and the WD800 requires Speak-On. Thanks for your interest, Gemma!

[@gcvrsa]

@@mesaboogie Brilliant! You just made my day, and it is actually my birthday, now (Dec 5)!

[@TheFreebasslessons]

Sweeeeeet!

[@mesaboogie]

Thanks, Andy! :)

[@kevinwolwer8586]

When is the release? Or when / where can I buy it in Germany?

[@derwinmoss5709]

I know this is a video demo, but overall this amp sounds very modern/Hi-Fi. I was hoping for more of a fat, tube amp sound. I guess there's only so much that can be done with a single preamp tube. My Demeter HBP-1 preamp sounds very similar to this amp, which isn't a bad thing, I just don't see this amp offers me anything new that I don't already have. I know Mesa stopped manufacturing the Prodigy and Strategy tube heads, due to tube failures. What's the chance Mesa is designing another all tube head, along the lines of the venerable D-180 or 400+ heads? Those amps had tone for days, and were incredibly reliable, especially for an all tube amp.

[@52goldtop]

Derwin Moss you should hit up Andy on TalkBass. I am kinda fiending for one of these and currently running the D800+ which is just fat as hell, thick, heavy, syrupy and my favorite head on the planet. Cabs are made to run in any config, new cabs like the 212 and 215 are monsters... My other head is a Fender Super Bassman 300 run thru an 810. I know there were some issues with the tubes early on with the Strat n Prod, but from what I recall they addressed them on the later releases. This demo thru studio monitors sold me on the Mesa Class D sound: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qpvJe3uKetGilac Andy’s insight & service plus the warranty sold me on Mesa for life. Looking fwd to picking one of these up as a number 1.

[@geekguitars]

Hmm do I sell my M6 carbine for this?? Nah I'll save up and get both

[@derwinmoss5709]

@@geekguitars I wouldn't. I'd definitely keep the M6.

[@jacypeckham]

Does the Power Amp Damping affect the direct output or overall frequency response of the amplifier in any way?

[@mesaboogie]

Hi Jacy - Power amp damping does not affect the DI, but it does have an effect on Frequency Response - IE - it changes the responsiveness of the speaker and power amp relationship and it's a fairly deep interaction so it's not easily explained in one or two sentences. The manual does the best job of explaining how the Power Amp Damping work and the differences in feel and tone that you'll get from different settings: mesa-boogie.imgix.net/media/User%20Manuals/070556_Subway_WD800.pdf#page=9&zoom=auto,-84,761 Thanks for your interest!

[@Alex69eyes]

Amazing, as usual... :-)

[@bumblesnowmonster]

An 800 watt WalkAbout. Ooooh! I hope so. I LOVES me my WalkAbout. Can't wait to try it!!! Re: the demo… Yeah. Cudda, wudda, shudda been better, really.

[@mesaboogie]

Thanks for the kind words, Bumble. Would you care to share your thoughts on how the demo could have been better? Constructive comments appreciated. Thanks!

[@CordScott]

@@mesaboogie First of all, this amps is awesome and you will sell a ton of them. I own a d800+ and its the best amp I've ever played. In my opinion, the demo has too much palm muting. I would say us bass players spend less than 10% of our time playing palm-muted, slapped, overdriven, or chorded passages. Most of us are playing clean fingerstyle, or clean pick (with fingerstyle probably being way more common), so the demo should focus on that. Nothing wrong with brief examples of those other styles, but they don't really showcase the amp in a way that is practical for most of us. I straight 8th note fingerstyle groove would be better. I understand that your company has its roots in the metal genre (or that's how I see it), but I think it might a negative perception sometimes in the bass community as there is a division between those that played overdriven metal bass or Lemmy-style stuff and everyone else. For years I would not even look at a Mesa amp because I thought it was "too metal" both in image and sound. That changed when I finally tried a d800+ and bought it that day.

[@CordScott]

@@mesaboogie First of all, this amp is awesome and you will sell a ton of them. I own a d800+ and its the best amp I've ever played. In my opinion, the demo has too much palm muting. I would say us bass players spend less than 10% of our time playing palm-muted, slapped, overdriven, or chorded passages. Most of us are playing clean fingerstyle, or clean pick (with fingerstyle probably being way more common), so the demo should focus on that. Nothing wrong with brief examples of those other styles, but they don't really showcase the amp in a way that is practical for most of us. I straight 8th note fingerstyle groove would be better.

[@mesaboogie]

Appreciate the thoughtful feedback, Cord. Thanks for taking the time to share. Glad to hear the D800+ is serving well, too. Cheers!

[@CordScott]

@@mesaboogie No problem. Keep in mind I'm not saying anything negative about anything. In fact I can say that my d800+ is the best amp I've ever owned or played, period. It is the one piece of gear that I'll never part with.

[@Alex69eyes]

When we'll see this beauty in italy??

[@mesaboogie]

Should be there within the month I would imagine. Please contact our distributor in Italy for more specific details: www.mesaboogie.com/support/locations.html?q=italy&t=dealer

[@juanticimo]

Uriah Duffy is a super nice guy, but I am just not a fan of his playing. So much of his tone sounds brittle.

[@fuzzyfarrell5485]

I've had this amp for 3 weeks now. I cant like the tone period. I've tried everything. My older mesa's sound great. They dropped the ball on this one. Has no soul no personality sounds like rubber bands. Returning this tommorow what a bad demo too.

[@KBP4]

Somehow they have convinced you that a 270 Watt amp is an 800 watts RMS amp.. To be honest they should publish the actual FTC wattage rating. But they wont

[@geekguitars]

I'm thinking that this amp will be a nice partner to my kick ass M6 carbine!.

[@cjruckus]

Yeah just take money.

[@skatedoof]

Playing bass or giving the strings a massage? swwwwvvv swwwvvvvv swvvvvvv turn down the highs or something

[@bassguy322]

Mesa couldn't find anyone better than this guy to play?

[@geekguitars]

Damn, need to find someone who has one of these bastards on the floor for me to demo. Always try before you buy.

[@ZombiePenguinStudios]

to the people trippin in the comment section, ya'll trippin.

[@phpowerstix]

Brandon Maciel trippin...got it

[@jlarrybrewer1149]

I’ve been a bassist for 34 years and have own several high end heads. A couple of months ago I bought a M800 plus and I love it. It sounds great and is very flexible tone wise. But this is the WORST demo of an otherwise great amp. This guys “tone” is awful.

[@placeoutofplace]

Was very high treble with all settings.. I wonder if there will be a plus model with an mpulse 600 type control panel. Have you put a tube pre amp pedal in front of the d800+ ? Wondering if it would take away some ‘digital’ sound and replace it with more of that classic earthy full ‘tube’ sound ?

[@bumblesnowmonster]

After listening a dozen times or so I gotta say it just leaves me wanting. I'm a SERIOUS WalkAbout fan! Uriah's bass clearly needs a setup. It buzzes all over the place. I get what Mesa's trying to demo but… where's the sexy?

[@KBP4]

Now i can sell my beloved WA scout.... Looks nice

[@terrytarpening9456]

Bad demo. I own this. Plenty loud on my gigs and sounds better than this. Not chest punching mind you but I don’t need it. But, I CAN get it with added effects if I want it. We always have PA support as well. I use in ears, bass is for the guys on stage to hear.

[@samrees275]

This has got to be the worst demo ever

[@someonesomewhere8805]

the worst? that's saying a lot.

[@ltfunko]

[@chrisbja79]

Eich T-1000 has more intensity, more punchy and cheaper. Too bad for the Mesa, I waited more After more than 10 years of Mesa Boogie Bass, I will change manufacturer I stay at Mesa for the guitar

[@someonesomewhere8805]

i don't think they're hurtin at all by you not purchasing one of their products.

[@johnnyvonline1862]

want

[@chrisbja79]

Darkglass Alpha Omega 900 Is More Punchy !!! To do with time and more opinions. and with effects

[@oysteinhaugen7055]

The mesa has a much more refined sound. Darkglass is a good metal/rock amp for sure.

[@derwinmoss5709]

I'll stick with my Tech 21 GED-2112 preamp. Even though it's entirely solid state, it emulates an all tube sound far better than what I'm hearing from this video. This amp sounds a LOT like the M6 Carbine that I tried a few years ago. Kind of a Mesa-meets-Gallien-Krueger tone. Bright, punchy, and quick in response. I love solid state, for what it does, but I've always viewed Mesa Boogie as THE tube amp company. At this point, I'm kind of disappointed.

[@geekguitars]

@@derwinmoss5709 I have the M6, love it. Was wanting to do the GED 2112 and pair it with a stereo power amp. Have you had any issue with the sansamp? On the Sweetwater reviews some dude griped about noise and hum.

[@derwinmoss5709]

@@geekguitars I'm having no noise problems thus far, but I haven't played my setup in clubs yet. I've used it at home and rehearsal, and it's working well. I have read a post on Talkbass, where someone was experiencing noise and Tech 21 responded that it was possibly a ground loop issue and how to remedy it. I carry a Radial JDI DI box, which I've used in the past with other preamps on gigs, to eliminate ground loops.

[@geekguitars]

@@derwinmoss5709 thanks for the response. I've tried it out @ Sweetwater, it had the jumper mod done to it and was hooked into a gk mb800. Very cool little rack!! Would run the drive channel into my 210 and the deep into the 115. Have yet to try this wd800.

[@kurthumphrey4278]

Worst demo ever

[@gregbrooks2841]

Sounds like shit sloppy as hell .

[@333Lightspeed]

Are you jealous? Playing a fender rumble 100W. There are really shit sounding amplifiers around, but mostly not the Mesa's.

[@gregbrooks2841]

@@333Lightspeed well I own 6 mesa boogie amps guitar amps and ya you can Shure make them sound like shit and well he did that sorry my opinion

[@laurentresearch0227]

I don't like the sound!

[@KBP4]

This amp sounds like crap here.. None of these mesa class D amps have any balls live. They all are neutered. Who designed these? TIn ear guitar players?

[@dawndark1232]

This video does not show the true power and potential of this amp. I tried this amp in a store and it was awesome. Deep tone loud and powerful. Very impressed with it. I played it thru a Mesa subway 4 x 10 cab.

[@KBP4]

@@dawndark1232 Play it on a GIG.. Playing it in a STORE is NOT the same as a GIG.. Do you even gig???? It is NOT as DEEP and FULL since it is HPF (High Pass Filtered) too high.. You can hear the amp but you don't feel it .. They are stiff feeling .. The engineer Andy has a TIN EAR>. They work for the weekend warriors fine. Nothing wrong with that. .But if you're looking for a TONE MACHINE.. This aint it .. TERY GIGGIG for a few years Then come back and blow your FANBOI crap.

[@dawndark1232]

Been playing bass for many years and played gigs all over the world. Used many amps and played these class D amps live and they work great for a amp that fits in your bag. A full size amp is always going to have the edge on them but for what they are its a great Sounding amp that will blow away most mosfet amps. Do you gig? You must be a ampeg or hartke fan boy. I've had and seen ampegs blow up so much on stage and they are gutless.

[@dawndark1232]

@KPM yeah I have played these amps live many times and so have other musicians and they work great. I've played ampeg live and they blow up all the time. Seen it happen many times.

[@KBP4]

@@dawndark1232 It appears you have played without ear protection. Your ears may be SHOT... Go get checked. Amplifiers are designed and built to be listened to not measured in a lab. As most guitarists Know the best sounding amplifiers are without NEGATIVE feedback, whilst the result is not as pure technically as an amp with feedback it does sound more musical. There are a lot of contributing factors to this, one of which is the low damping factor (a measure of the output resistance) which governs how the amplifier controls the speaker . it appears that the lower the damping factor the bass frequencies appear to be more musical and the greater the influence of the chosen speaker set up on the final sonic result. Even the High End HI Fi squad seem to favour low power tube designs , often pure class A (with quite appalling distortion figures) because of the listening pleasure derived from such designs.. The class AB standard amplifier designs have a damping factor far less than that of a Class D amplifier which may go some way to explaining why the actual sound of the low frequencies appears more palatable. As regards the power question most of today’s crop of class D amplifiers are rated at 1/8th power , the continuous power rating is often well below the stated out power. For example there are several Class D bass amplifiers rated At 700watts , they all use the same power module from a reputable manufacturer : interestingly the Continuous power output of this module is a miserable 270watts into 4 ohms. The amplifier has a headroom of 700 watts but only for a few seconds after that the amplifier power limits. Therefore it follows that you are not getting exactly what you are paying for when you buy one of these : Enter the FREDERAL TRADES COMMISION OR “FTC” For short, so concerned are they over this rip off they have a power rating system based on real world requirements , If you are in doubt or just wish to be sure about what you are getting ASK for the FTC power rating so you can make direct comparisons : Also check the power consumption on the rear panel , if it does not use 300 watts it cannot output 300 watts on a continuous basis Here is just one such comparison Class AB amplifier , linear transformer power supply . FTC rated at 300 Watts , will in fact supply 300 watts continuous sine wave all day VS class D 300 watt amplifier , it turns out that the 300w class D unit has an FTC rating of 140 Watts VS class D amplifier of 500 watts with an FTC rating of 70 Watts So how do they stack up, well in terms of performance volume the Class AB unit blows them all away both tonally and for bass low extension . Users found that the class D amplifiers were “Harsh and produced large amounts of listener fatigue “ compared to the Class AB units. It took an 800watt Class D amplifier with an FTC power rating of 290 watts to directly compare with the standard 300W AB unit , however although the sound of the Class D was improved compared to the earlier units tested and it had more headroom it was still a bit harsh and far less musical in the opinion of the listeners at the time than the standard Class AB unit. Another major problem with the class D designs at the present time is that they do not like severe overload whist a standard amplifier will stand being severely overloaded and played as such with a lot of distortion, it is therefore possible to overrun a conventional amplifier and get more useful volume out of it if some distortion can and usually is tolerated. As with all things there are pros and cons the weight penalty being the major factor, it amazing how much a reduction in quality people will tolerate for the trade of not having to lug around a 30 lbs amp. For me I can partly see the attraction but could not live with the sound, I find the same thing with digital Audio I rarely finish a CD ,i get distracted and tired after a while and the sound begins to agitate whereas I will sit and finish an album and enjoy being enveloped in the experience, I am sure you know what I mean