Mesa Boogie M-Pulse 600

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.