How the MESA/Boogie Bass-800D channels 50 years of bass amp innovation

MESA/Boogie bass tone for a whole new generation of bass players 

MESA® has always been a bass amp company.  In fact, the very first amplifier wearing the MESA Engineering® badge, the snakeskin-covered MESA 450 Head, was a bass amp built for Randall Smith’s longtime pal, Patrick “Buzz” Burke. This first boutique all-tube bass amp is still in service today and sounds as inspiring as the day it was built, more than 50 years ago. Alongside early Mark I snakeskin and hardwood guitar combos of its vintage that still sound amazing, it stands as a testament to Randall’s integrity, design vision, bulletproof build ethic, and musical ear.

A half century later, MESA Engineering is still very much dedicated to bass amplification. In the generations since the MESA 450, we have led a bass amp revolution that has never given an inch to lesser tone or quality. First with tube heads such as the mighty D-180s, Bass 400, and cult classic Bass 400+™ through the 70s, 80s and 90s, next with M-Pulse, Carbine, Big Block™, Titan™, and Walkabout™ MOSFET Series through the 90s and early 2000s, again with the Prodigy and Strategy™ tube heads in the mid-2000s, and now with bass amp designer extraordinaire Andy Field on our team, the current and wildly successful Subway™ series of lightweight Class D bass amplifiers. 

While the music, the sounds, the number of strings, the power and cabinet requirements, and the expectations for all the above have changed throughout the decades, a couple things at MESA have not: Our commitment to bassists everywhere to deliver the highest quality, most musical sounding and most relevant bass amplifiers possible, and our commitment to treating each player we meet as we ourselves would wish to be treated. These founding principles laid down by Randall Smith all those years ago have served us in good stead, and our customer base (for bass) has grown to where we are number one in the premier bass amp category. This is something we are exceedingly proud of and committed to protecting and serving without end.

We are now excited to introduce the latest amplifier in the MESA bass bloodline, the Bass-800D hybrid bass amp with tube preamp. This ultra-simple to operate, fully featured, modern update to our original Bass 400+ Tube Head brings forward the rich, lush tube tone and many of the drive characteristics of the cult-classic and joins it with the stunning power and featherweight portability of the popular and proven bass amplifiers in our Subway line, such as the TT-800 and WD-800.  

While the power block is the same as these other icons in our stable, the tuning of it, along with the tube preamp design and voicing, is not, and these differences add up to the Bass-800D possessing a character and personality all its own—one aimed at both fat, old school classic tone and big-venue rock bass tone with some overdrive for the modern era. This is an amplifier that’s as at-home pumping out round, thick R&B grooves as it is mixing it up for a moshpit at a modern thrash, punk, or metal show. The requirements may be a bit different for these styles, but the need for huge, round bass tone is not, and the Bass-800D packs the girth, punch, pitch, and power to command the groove in both and beyond, adeptly and with ease.

Add essential upgrades like Selectable Impedance Matching and speakON® type locking outputs, a fully comprehensive DI section with Source switches, Level and Ground Lift, a Series Effects Loop, Aux In, Tuner and Headphone Outputs, Footswitchable Mute, and a handy USB port for charging your favorite USB-powered device, and you have all the essential features and then some. This is an incredibly powerful and simple to drive hybrid bass head with 55 plus years of bass amp design experience and musical heritage behind it, waiting to catapult your playing to a whole new level with quick dial-up and go-to ease.

With similar dynamic control and the fast-tracking attack envelope of our TT and WD, this new model places further emphasis on round, filled-out notes that can be pushed more easily into soft clip and overdrive reminiscent of our coveted all-tube heads. Meanwhile, critical modern features like our Hi Pass Filter, selectable Gain, Bass/Deep, and Treble/Bright switches add versatility beyond the classics, taking their strengths to whole new depths of fundamentally inspiring bass sound and joining them with the portability and modern gig-ready features needed to cover any situation from home practice to pro performance. The Bass-800D… Retro, upgraded!

And just in case the features, portability, and fine pedigree aren’t enough, here in no particular order are a few bass legends that have found their sound at one time or another in the MESA Book of Tone: Stanley Clarke, Mark King, Jermaine Jackson, Billy Cox, Michael Anthony, Jack Blades, Les Claypool, Mike Dirnt, Blasko, Bootsy Collins, Lige Curry, and Ben Kenney. 

Find out more about the MESA/Boogie Bass-800D and shop now.