Mesa Boogie Bass Guitar Amp Heads

The M9 is the big brother to the M6 with a few more features and more power, which is always good. This power house bass rack mountable head is a thundering and yet defined resonant sounding amplifier. You can either lay it on top of your bass cabinet or run it in your rack effects case for easy transportation. This will be your standard hybrid bass head which most bass guitar player rely on night after night of gigging. These allows the wattage to sore up to 900 watts which this one is without putting 20 power tubes in the unit. You get a great tone either way with the preamp tube in the front. Mesa/Boogie M9 Carbine 900-watt Rackmountable Bass Head Features: * Handbuilt in Petaluma, California * Rackmountable - 2U * 900 Watts @ 4 or 2ohms (450 @ 8), Trans-Class Power with 8/4 or 2ohm Impedance Switch for optimum Power to Load Performance * 10 Power MOSFET's, 1x12AX7 * Active/Passive Input Switch * Vacuum Tube Preamplifier * Controls: Gain, Active Bass w/Pull Deep, Passive Mids, 5-Position Active Mid-Voicing Switch, Active Treble and Master Volume w/Pull Mute * Footswitchable, Assignable or Bypassable 9-Band Graphic EQ with Mid-Voice Active/Defeat Switch (Voice Active Mode combines 9-Band Graphic EQ with Selected 5-Position Active Mid-Voicing Switch EQ * Assignable or Bypassable Compressor with Independent Threshold and Ratio Controls * Tuner Output w/Footswitchable Amplifier Mute * FX Loop w/Automatic Hard-Bypass to completely remove when not in use * Balanced XLR Line Out with Pre/Post Switch & Ground Lift * 2 Combination Speakon-1/4" Speaker Output Jacks * Fan Cooled * 2 Button Footswitch (EQ & Mute) UTILIZATION Details Type Hybrid Number of Channels 1 Power 900W No Effects Compression EQ Bass, Mid, Treble, 5-position Voice No Amp Modeling Number of Tubes 1 Preamp Tubes 1 x 12AX7 No Power Tubes Inputs 1 x Instrument Outputs 2 x Speakon, 1 x Tuner, 1 x XLR Footswitch I/O Effects Loop Height 3.5" Width 19" Depth 14.5" Weight 28 lbs. SOUNDS This amp is a fantastic amp with the mosfet circuitry inside. You a very organic and warm bass tone that will compliment the band mix successfully. Mesa Boogie has not been known for their bass equipment like their guitars amps have been. However, they have a stellar lineup up rich harmonic low end bass units. What ever your guitar of pleasure is it will sound amazing through this unit. I recently saw a band use this bass amplifier and I commented on how articulate and warm sounding his tone was. To my surprise I saw he was using this unit. He has a fantastic tone that filled in the rhythmic gaps of the band. OVERALL OPINION I only wish they put a few more preamp tubes in this unit. I think having a few more would allow for a better saturation of tube overdrive. The good thing is you never have to bias this amp because it doesn't have any power tubes in it. At new these amps come in at around $1350, which may be high for some people. This is a professionals bass guitar amplifier and you will hear the noticeable difference when playing a GK or Beringer. The bass is extraordinarily better than any GK bass amp that I have played or heard out there.

(Originally written by Valerypellegrini/translated from Audiofanzine FR) See below. UTILIZATION Very easy and effective use. You just turn a knob and the sound changes notably. It's a very intuitive amp head, you'll immediately find the sound you want. SOUNDS The EQ is quite useful to shape the sound, the input gain is perfect to get a very round sound or a punchy tone with a slight saturation. I use it with an active Ibanez for a full and accurate sound or with a Jazz Bass for a vintage tone. The tube preamp has a strong influence on the overall sound of the amp. OVERALL OPINION Excellent value for money. The amp head is easy to transport thanks to its small size and light weight, the slip cover and the shoulder strap.

The Mesa Boogie M-Pulse 600 is a high end bass guitar amplifier that's tube based. Like the name states, it boasts 600 watts of power at 4 ohms and also comes as a 2x12 combo amp if desired. The tubes that it has include 8 Simul-State MOSFET's and two more traditional 12AX7's. It also has four vacuum preamp tubes. It has a versatile collection of connections, including both active and passive 1/4" input in front for your instrument, two 1/4" speaker and two Speakon outputs, an XLR direct output and a 1/4" output, as well as an output for a tuner, footswitch and even an effects loop. The head is actually rack mountable in a traditional rack casing, taking up two spaces. UTILIZATION You get a lot of great control with the Mesa Boogie M-Pulse 600, which is something that I love to have. The preamp section has parameters for gain, bass, middle, and treble, while there's also an in depth five band EQ. There's a built in compressor with parameters for threshold and ratio, while the master section has main volume and solo control. It's not at all hard to use but still maintains a very high level of control available here. A manual isn't something that should be necessary - if you're feeling lost it's probably best to study up on what each of these processors will do. SOUNDS The sound of the Mesa Boogie M-Pulse 600 is nothing less than outstanding. Without a doubt this is one of the best sounding bass amp heads that I've used for recording or otherwise. It has a super fat tube driven tone that is highly controllable and capable of getting a wide range of sounds. The built in compression and EQ not only is great to have, but sounds great and really expands the palette of possible sounds. This really is the best of both worlds when it comes to getting a tube sound without the fragility of tubes... OVERALL OPINION Beyond the large price tag, there's nothing I can find wrong with the Mesa Boogie M-Pulse 600. Even the price isn't too much of an issues as most people understand you're going to have to pay some to get quality gear like this. This is the type of bass amp head you get that will last a lifetime. It's certainly an investment but if you're serious about your sound and are recoding and gigging frequently, it's great to have a top notch amp head at your disposal at all times.

(Originally written by Thom_bass/translated from Audiofanzine FR) All-tube bass amp (12 x 6L6 power tubes + 4 x 12AX7 preamp tubes) Output power: 3000 watts regardless of the speakers' impedance. Two instrument inputs for two channels (active/passive bass), two speaker outputs for each impedance (8, 4, 2 ohms), two FX loops, one XLR output, one jack line output, one footswitch connector to activate/deactivate the graphic EQ. Controls: volume for each channel, bass, mid, treble, master + 7-band graphic EQ. UTILIZATION Very easy configuration, it's a plug 'n' play amp. You easily get a good sound: bring all controls to the center position and switch off the graphic EQ... There you go! The controls interact and the sound possibilities are huge. Very clear user's manual. SOUNDS This amp is great for all music styles but for especially rock, blues, heavy metal, etc. No gain control to overdrive the amp. If you want an amp with distortion choose the SVT2Pro which has a drive control. I play 4 and 5-string bass guitars. This amp perfectly reproduces the sound of each instrument. It provides a warm sound with rich harmonics and a lot of tube power. It's also good for slapping. You can get virtually every possible (clean) sound. Shaping your personal sound is very easy using the knobs. After that the graphic EQ will allow you to fine tune your tone or to create a second sound which you can control with the footswicth. OVERALL OPINION UPDATE to the review of 07/27/2003: I sold my first one after a year, but I bought it secondhand again nine months ago. It's the best sounding amp head along with the SVT2Pro which has a very different sound. Pros: Excellent tube sound, output power headroom, reliability (it's unbreakable). Cons: Weight (55 lb.) but you'll forget about it once you hear its sound. I bought it again secondhand so the value for money is excellent but it was expensive when new (it's now discontinued). I don't think I will sell it again.