# Mesa Boogie M-Pulse 600, anyone?



## DLG (Feb 7, 2011)

Hi guys, 

I found a good deal on one of these babies along with a 6 x 10 mesa cab and am wondering what the general consensus on this amp is. 

I've read nothing but good things, really powerful and clear, and that it can get a nice tube growl if needed, though it's not really the amps specialty. 

Much like all Mesa's, I've read that it takes time to dial in exactly what you are looking for, but that it is very versatile and can pretty much produce any kind of bass sound you are looking for. 

anyone play one of these? experiences?


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## nephilymbass (Feb 7, 2011)

A local friend of mine has one. He doesn't use the pre amp in it. HE uses a sans amp RBI for the pre but he powers an 810 with the impulse so a 610 it should sound even better with the extra headroom. If its a mesa cab I'd definitely go for at least the cab. They make good cabinets. 

Personally IMO bass heads and pre amps have already evolved away from tubes though(even tube pres). I'd much rather have Sans Amp RBI or an all solid state GK head. The reason for that is every bass amp I've owned to the point of having to replace the tubes never sounded the same with new tubes. The sans amp RBI is a cheap pre amp only 300. You can get those tube type sounds you can get with the mesa 400+ and SVT all tube heads without all the hassle of carrying heavy tube amps or having to ever change tubes or it picking up massive interference at gigs. I know some people would say that's crazy but I've opened for a lot of signed bands and they've gotten away from tubes on the bass side of things. I just opened for Taproot this past wednsday and Phil ran a Sansamp PSA Which provided the PA signal and powered it with an SVT4(bypassing the ampegs pre amp) to power his 810. I run a similar rig with the RBI, an SWR 750x and an ampeg 810e. The PSA is a little more expensive but it has midi channel switching if you need the versatility and man did Phils tone sound great in the PA. Cory from Eye Empire (formerly Dark New Day) runs a Sans amp PSA as well and has a massive live tone. The Sans amp RBI is the standard from what I've seen a lot of signed bands use them. I've found with the RBI that if you set everything at 1 o'clock and adjust the gain based on how hot your pickups are the only thing you have to change to play different styles is the "blend" knob. Which I back off some If I'm going to be playing a lot of slapping but is also normally at 1 o'clock for rock and metal stuff

I haven't opened for Tool but Justin from Tool is uses all solid state GK heads. Just like Flea.


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## TemjinStrife (Feb 7, 2011)

I like the Walkabout for Mesa tubey sounds. The M6 is nice, but not quite as much my style.


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## DLG (Feb 8, 2011)

nephilymbass said:


> A local friend of mine has one. He doesn't use the pre amp in it. HE uses a sans amp RBI for the pre but he powers an 810 with the impulse so a 610 it should sound even better with the extra headroom. If its a mesa cab I'd definitely go for at least the cab. They make good cabinets.
> 
> Personally IMO bass heads and pre amps have already evolved away from tubes though(even tube pres). I'd much rather have Sans Amp RBI or an all solid state GK head. The reason for that is every bass amp I've owned to the point of having to replace the tubes never sounded the same with new tubes. The sans amp RBI is a cheap pre amp only 300. You can get those tube type sounds you can get with the mesa 400+ and SVT all tube heads without all the hassle of carrying heavy tube amps or having to ever change tubes or it picking up massive interference at gigs. I know some people would say that's crazy but I've opened for a lot of signed bands and they've gotten away from tubes on the bass side of things. I just opened for Taproot this past wednsday and Phil ran a Sansamp PSA Which provided the PA signal and powered it with an SVT4(bypassing the ampegs pre amp) to power his 810. I run a similar rig with the RBI, an SWR 750x and an ampeg 810e. The PSA is a little more expensive but it has midi channel switching if you need the versatility and man did Phils tone sound great in the PA. Cory from Eye Empire (formerly Dark New Day) runs a Sans amp PSA as well and has a massive live tone. The Sans amp RBI is the standard from what I've seen a lot of signed bands use them. I've found with the RBI that if you set everything at 1 o'clock and adjust the gain based on how hot your pickups are the only thing you have to change to play different styles is the "blend" knob. Which I back off some If I'm going to be playing a lot of slapping but is also normally at 1 o'clock for rock and metal stuff
> 
> I haven't opened for Tool but Justin from Tool is uses all solid state GK heads. Just like Flea.




thanks for the imput man. I am interested in this exactly for the fact that I don't feel like lugging around a huge tube head all of the time. 

This mesa unit is about 25 pounds light, which is probably even lighter than your swr.

And yes, the cab is Mesa too, I should be picking it up on Saturday and will let you guys know. 

I'll look into the RBI as well, though already with this stack I am waaay over budget and will be borrowing some money, but I couldn't pass up this deal.


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