New mesa Prodigy

Dave W · October 17, 2013, 08:59:56 PM

I hope it works well for you, especially with your ThunderJet.

Two 15's rule.

drbassman · October 18, 2013, 04:19:24 AM

Quote from: Dave W on October 17, 2013, 08:59:56 PM
I hope it works well for you, especially with your ThunderJet.

Two 15's rule.

For sure. HOG let me try a Mesa 15 and a 2x10. I took the 2x10 back and swapped it for a 15. Much better sound IMHO. I got a bonus on one of the cabs. It was used and someone put an EV in it and it is super strong. I didn't think Mesa did that. I love that cab!

Dave W · October 18, 2013, 11:25:27 AM

Quote from: drbassman on October 18, 2013, 04:19:24 AM
For sure. HOG let me try a Mesa 15 and a 2x10. I took the 2x10 back and swapped it for a 15. Much better sound IMHO. I got a bonus on one of the cabs. It was used and someone put an EV in it and it is super strong. I didn't think Mesa did that. I love that cab!

My two Mesa 1x15s came with EVs stock. No idea what's standard now.

drbassman · October 18, 2013, 03:16:42 PM

One cab you can see the EV logo through the grill, the other I can't. I'll have to pop it open and see. Either way, they make great bass cabs.

drbassman · October 25, 2013, 06:14:24 AM

OK, I use the Prodigy at practice last night and it was great. The guys loved the sound and I had a lot of fun with it. The 5-way tone switch is super and I used two different settings, one bassy and the other with enhanced mids, giving me nice quick flexibility from song to song. The treble, mid and bass controls can essentially be left at 12 o'clock for the most past and used to fine tune the 5 way settings. The middle setting is neutral and you use only the other knobs to dail in your desired tone. I gotta get their foot switch and then I can switch between the 5 settings without messing with the amp.

There's also a solo setting that is foot switchable and you can use it up your volume when you want and then drop back down. There are lots of great features on this amp. There are also 3 speaker jacks, 2 of them 4 ohm and one 8 ohm. You can do a ton of combinations depending on your speaker set up.

The combination of the amp with two Mesa Powerhouse 15" cabs is super. The ThunderJet, with TI rounds, growls like crazy. I really had to back off on the bridge pup and use the pup switch in the top position. As for power, wow, there's plenty. Kept the gain at 12 o'clock and the volume at 10 o'clock.

It's still early yet, but I'm loving it so far. I usually leave my amp at the club between practices, but I'm bringing this baby home to play with in between.

drbassman · October 31, 2013, 08:59:00 AM

Here she is, my dream rig. All tubes and two 15s. It sounds so good in our little club. I run the volume just under 9 o'clock and the power is more than enough to fill the room. Saturday night the club will be full of people, so it will be interesting to see how it performs then. The other night I wasn't as happy as I could be with the sound and then I tweaked the bass knob and bang, it boomed to life. I was running things a bit too flat and the tone was harsh, but the additional bass gave it the sound my brain was craving.

If you look close, you can see the cabs are a bit different. The bottom cab is speaker only, no horn or crossover. The top cab has all of that. They are like new, not a mark on them. Got them at the HOG, used to belong to the bass player for Gary Lewis and the Playboys. He traded them in for an all Orange rig. Can you believe it, he's still out there playing? Doing the casino circuit mostly. Bubble gum lives!!!!

Anyway, here they are........

Dave W · October 31, 2013, 09:57:23 AM

Looks great! I'm partial to the Mesa look, of course.

I recall reading that Gary Lewis lives in Rochester.

drbassman · October 31, 2013, 12:40:25 PM

Quote from: Dave W on October 31, 2013, 09:57:23 AM
Looks great! I'm partial to the Mesa look, of course.

I recall reading that Gary Lewis lives in Rochester.

I agree Dave, their designers are pretty darn good. I believe he does, I don't remember which town, but he is local. I suppose some of his band is too. Nice of the bass payer to trade in some great stuff so I could get it for a huge discount!

Pilgrim · November 01, 2013, 09:56:23 AM

Those look GREAT!

drbassman · November 01, 2013, 10:50:40 AM

Quote from: Pilgrim on November 01, 2013, 09:56:23 AM
Those look GREAT!

And the sound is amazing, top notch.

jumbodbassman · November 03, 2013, 06:59:25 PM

damn GAS pains...

drbassman · November 04, 2013, 11:48:19 AM

Played the rig at a gig on Saturday night. All went really well! She performed without hardly any effort in a crowded club. I've very happy! Thank you Mesa.

Psycho Bass Guy · November 12, 2013, 03:00:55 AM

I'm glad to hear Mesa is doing well with these. It would appear their solid state bass amp years weren't too kind to them, even though they're still nice amps.

drbassman · November 12, 2013, 09:23:21 AM

Yep, so far so good. Have another gig this Saturday, so we'll see how it goes. Gonna try some different basses this time.

drbassman · November 19, 2013, 08:17:42 AM

OK, things have been going well with the new rig, but I do have one small dilemma. The Mesa powerhouse 15s are huge sounding speaker cabs but they are difficult to tame. I can plug a hollow body bass with flats on it in and the darn thing growls like a j bass with rounds. I cut back on the highs on the one cab that has a switch and I've tried adjusting the amp, but I seem to be missing something. I'm beginning to think the cabs are a bit too modern and I need to work more with the EQ on the amp.

Otherwise, all is good. Several other bass players who attended my last 2 gigs loved the sound of the rig, so I know it's that little "expectation filter" in my brain that is telling me it's not what I expected!