A Classic Updated! The MESA/Boogie® Bass 400+, the apex model of MESA’s long-running and storied tube bass amplifier line, reigned supreme throughout the 80s and 90s for those looking to upgrade their tone with a boutique-class tube Head. With a supremely musical tube preamp, powerful 7-Band Graphic EQ, mighty bank of 12x 6L6 output section, and a power supply ready to deliver instantaneous pitch, punch, and power on demand, amazing bass tone was a given. Top artists from jazz to R&B, funk, and blues to stadium rock, including Sir Paul, chose the 400+ for tone, on stage and in the studio, citing its defined attack, clear pitch, and exciting, lead-the-band dynamic content. Now, the classic gets an update, keeping pace with the times and modern bassists’ needs while retaining all the nuanced tone of the original, yet without the cumbersome size and weight.

Introducing the MESA/Boogie Bass-800D, the Class D-powered imagining of the B400+, with its sound and attributes combined with highlights from the successful Subway line of bass offerings. The tube preamp follows architecture and cues from the 400+, along with Boogie® Channel topography from the popular Subway TT-800. From there, added gain and further tweaks are included to achieve an even warmer, tube-enhanced character and further capability for subtle, musically relevant overdrive.

The 400’s Graphic EQ has been retired in favor of more relevant, simplicity-minded switches offering voicing options proven perfect and preferred by customers in the Subway line. These include Preamp Gain – LOW and HIGH – a DEEP with bypass and a BRIGHT with bypass, all perfectly positioned on the Front Panel and tailored for adding just what is needed quickly and succinctly without the finicky tweaking Graphic EQs can call for. These features are joined by the addition of the popular HIGH PASS rotary control, which allows the dialing out of sub-lows that can crowd a mix or pull down cohesiveness in the overdrive, as well as the time, accurately with a friendly, musical approach. Further upgrades from the original include speakON® style locking Speaker Outputs, a comprehensive Impedance Switch offering 2, 4, and 8 Ohm operation to cover cabinet choices, a HEADPHONE Output, a MUTE remote-triggering jack, AUX IN and TUNER OUT jacks, as well as a handy USB DEVICE POWER jack.

Now bassists can have the Bass 400+’s iconic tube tone and warm, musical character with added new overdrive potential, mated with the stunning power, clarity, and time-domain accuracy of the Subway line’s top Class D models. All these benefits come in a compact, travel-ready Head that won’t hurt the back to move or damage a vehicle interior en route to gigs. The MESA/Boogie BASS 800D brings forward tube design and Boogie bass tone for a new generation of bassists in a way that honors, and hopefully inspires, what they strive for and aspire to with their music.