FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Mesa Boogie Walkabout

Question:
I tried the Mesa Boogie walkabout scout in my local guitar center, and I loved it. It has tube pres, 300w, and a killer tight sound. But it costs $1200, which is a little more than I wanted to spend. I'd like to keep it around/under $1000. Are there any comparable combos to this? I'd like to keep it small and lightweight, but with a great tone. Here's the link to that Boogie combo: http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Bass_Amps/walkabout/WalkaboutS...

Answer:
don't get too excited. That 13 pounds is ONLY for the head! The whole unit together weighs about 50 pounds.(which the Mesa Website sort of neglects to mention!) But that Mesa Boogie in spite of the giagantic price does seem like THE small unit to get. Two reasons: 300 watts and Passive radiator. A while back the salesguy at the local guitar store really tried to put the arm on me to get an SWR Kickback. He insisted that I try it. So I did. My assessment was that that is was small, light, cheap, and good sounding...BUT it was clearly underpowered, (a little over 100 watts) deficent on the deep lows (expected for a cab that small) and tended to sound bad as you drove it into overload which you tended to do a lot because of the insufficent output. Clearly Meas Boogie has dealt with these problems. They boosted the power, added the passive radiator to get some more lows out of a tiny cab and as a bonus made the head removable from the combo cab so it could be used with your fav 4x10 etc. if you wanted to. Very, very nice, but of course, you end up paying for nice! The GK units are also very nice, but they do just seem to be sort of clones of the SWR kickback with a similar size, price, weight and power. It if were me I'd consider the 115 size unit to try to maximize output for the given power in spite of the additional strain on your back. But the advantage of these kind of units is they cost a fraction of the Mesa rig. So it's like it always is with gear, the Mesa is tops but it REALLY costs you to get that last edge! Only your wallet knows the answer for sure.