Mesa/Boogie M-2000 Basis Head

Yeah if you've read this far you know it has a lot of features. having the footswitch is a MUST to get the full funcitionality of this amp.
2-stage tube preamp, FET preamp, tubedriven MOSFET power section, 2 graphical EQs, 2 AWESOME shelving compressors, 2 rotary EQs, blend...ummm...and a bunch of other stuff.

I'm pretty sure that this is the most versatile bass amp EVER.

I play Indie Rock, Jazz, Progressive, Groove/Jam music...pretty much whatever I feel like.

I primarily use an '95 Ibanez ATK305 [awesome bass btw]. Sometimes a P with flats, sometimes a fretless J.

The tube channel gets a real nice round rock tone. I put a pair of long plate JJ ECC803S in the V1 and V2 and now the amp is BASSY. before i did notice that I had to EQ in a fair amount of bass to get it to sound to my liking. No other reviewer seemed to consider swapping tubes, but it makes a BIG difference. The FET channel is super smoove. It can also be excruciatingly funky. The compressors really tighten up the tone.

Blending the two channels can get you a real interesting full sound. The gain circuit is actually pretty nice, but you need to know how to use it. Turn down the rotary bass slider and up the gain, lower the master on the tube channel and you will get a real nice grind.

I have also played my cello [attached with a realist pickup) through this amp. The tube channel gets a really warm organic sound that I could not get with other amps. Another plus for me!

This amp will suit every style I will ever play.
The cooling fan is a little bit loud, but in a band setting you won't hear it. The amp itself is very quiet- I get no extraneous noise at all. My only other beef is that the rotary bass EQ on the tube side is at 50Hz. I think they should have gone a bit lower like 40Hz. I have solved this issue with the tube swap [now it gets a much clearer beefier low end].

No problems whatsoever so far. I've had it for a few months. The previous owners have taken good care of it so far as well- not a scratch on it! Considering it's over 15 years old at least, I figure it's going to continue working just fine.
Evidently some people have had issues, but not me!

Not been an issue.

This amp will be with me for a long time. I really enjoy having a huge sonic palette to work with, and this amp delivers that in spades.
If it were stolen I would look around for another one, but I might consider a Mesa Bass 400+ (also unfortunately discontinued).

I've played out of ampegs, GKs, MarkBass, pretty much everything on the market. This amp stacks up really nicely to amps that would have cost 2-3 times as much. I really like the mesa tone.

All in all, there is nothing I seriously dislike about this amp. I like versatility at my fingertips/feet. This amp was made for people like me.

I also like the looks of this amp. I sometimes play in the dark with just my rack lights above it. Looks AWESOME--Very retro-future. If I was in a steampunk band this would be the most appropriate looking amp ever.

I believe its 16 years old or so. Puts outs 625 watts @4 ohms. 2 seperate preamp channels. One Tube channel, one mosfet channel, and a third channel that mixes the tube and mosfet for a gnarly sound with some hi-gain in it. Sounds great if you ask me. It has a fantastic effects loop in which i run a bbe 482i sonic maximizer through just to clean it up a bit. It comes with a foot controller that i find very handy because it has a tuner mute switch on it. I have only owned the amp for a few months now but i love it.

THIS AMP ROCKS. straight up. i've read every single review on harmony central and even talkbass forums to decide whether or not to get this amp. Fortunately i went with my gut feeling and got it. I had originally owned a behringer then a ampeg b2r and then got my ampeg svt 4 pro. I had liked mesa stuff for awhile but was never quite satisfied with the break up on the amp. This mesa has great hi-gain and i just think mesa makes a great amp period. I normally don't review products, this is actually my first review ever but i felt compelled to write one after playing this amp. i've played for 7 years and this is my favorite amp. Next to my markbass amp that is :)

Hasn't let me down yet. Mesa boogie has great customer support. Very helpful!. This amp was built like a tank and even though im the 2nd owner and the amp is over 16 years old i still feel safe onstage with the m-2000.

Great customer stupport! never needed any repairs yet but their customoer support is a pleasure to deal with. im only giving a 9 because i haven't needed them for repairs. so i don't know how that would go yet. hopefully i won't need to anytime soon.

I've been playing bass for about 7 years now and play a 4 string Tobias Killer B with active pickups and run it through a rat distortion pedal then a bass eq then to my mesa m-2000. i also run a sonic maximizer through the effects loop of my mesa to clean up things a bit. I run my whole rig through a ampeg 4x10hlf cab and this baby cranks. i never need to turn it up more then half way and get plenty of low end, great mids, and some great natural distortion to the amp. This bass amp inspired me to leave this review, this has been such a great amp and couldn't imagine what i'd do if it broke down or got lost or stolen. Luckily i've got a great markbass 2x10 combo amp i could use if that happen but even that amp doesn't compare to the greatness of my m-2000 amp.

I paid 850 for one used on ebay and i definitely got more bass amp for my buck than any other amplifier in its price range, new or used. I have also put it up against an Ampeg SVT-Pro, SVT-IV, and an Aguilar and I like the mesa best. I am into Progressive Metal/Funk/Fusion/Jazz and i can use this amplifier for any of them, although for Jazz i usually bring a smaller combo.

This amplifier has one solid state preamp channel, one tube preamp channel, solid state power (600 watts). Both channels have a 9 band graphic eq, parametric EQ, Compression, Effects Send/Return, and are foot controllable. The Tube channel also has a distortion/overdrive setting. Both channels can be combined for one massive sound. This is a late 80's version. It has no headphone jack (that ive noticed, its over at the practice space.) I never use the compressors live but i do use them in the studio. It has more than enough power for just about anything that any bass player could want, unless touring on a huge stadium gig. Even then, it does have a really nice dedicated DI for sending to front of house.

This amplifier is very versatile. I set the tube channel for a more laid back rock/blues sound with a rounder tone, and the solid state for slap/funk. I use both channels extensively and the overdriven mode on occasion in my progressive metal band.

Basses: Conklin Bill Dickens Model 7 strings, Groove Tools 7 string fretless, Ergo Electric Upright.

Cabinet: Mesa 6x10 Road Ready? Sounds great. Big mean and threatening but way more maneuverable than an 8x10.

I didnt like this amplifier at first because i thought it sounded pretty normal. Dont take this the wrong way, it was a good sound, but it sounded like everyone else. It took me about a month of tweeking and fiddling at band practice to start to get "my" sound out of it. I am used to amps that i plug in, fiddle with a few knobs and go, and at first i was disappointed. After i started getting the sounds i wanted out of it i realized how flexible it was and i am completely awestruck y the sound i get out of it. It is pretty quiet, i have recorded with it through a cabinet, but i had to keep the amplifier in a different room because it does have a noisy cooling fan.

The clean channel stays pretty clean at high volumes, but if you want you can overdrive it with either the tubes or just by tweeking it for that really punchy bass sound. The Overdrive/Distortion gets pretty freakin raw and aggressive.

I have had it for 9 months without a single concern. Being a mesa i know its built to survive world war three, and since its safely in my rack, i dont worry about it getting messed up. I have and will gig without a backup. It is bulletproof.

I have never called mesa for tech/customer support so i cannot comment first hand.

This amp is mainly used for Rock, Blues, and Progressive Metal. I have had it out on one funk gig and it owned. I would use it for any situation and while it weighs a fair ammount (50 pounds?) I wouldnt trade it or get rid of it for anything. If someone stole it i would track them down, beat the crap out of them and then take my mesa back home.

I will never sell it. I Love this amplifier. You can find them on ebay for arround 850 dollars, and they blow anything else away in that price range.

Holy cow, this amp had tons of features - the major reason I was interested in buying it. I ended up spending more time tweaking settings during soundchecks than I ever imagined. It was fabulous in the studio but required much adjusting live depending on the room. I bought it new in 1996 and paid over $1500, regretfully.

I used a 1970 Fender P-bass and a 1995 custom (4 string P-bass style) with active DiMarzio split coils, and powered an ampeg 4x10 and a MESA/boogie 1x15. The band was playing alternative rock. The amp had less variety than I imagined and I could never get it to sound beefy enough. It certainly was loud, responsive, and punchy, but the sub-lows were never satisfying enough. The mid-range was a bit honky as well. The compressor worked well and the DI was great in the studio. The sound quality was good, but not my taste. It would be a great amp for a mid-range fretless type tone or a jazz player. It can hurl out plenty of volume for sure. I dislked the MESA road-ready 1x15 cab as it was way to honky sounding and did not have a low enough frequency response.

I sent the first one back to MESA during the first year of owning it becuase of issues with one of the channels not working and they sent a replacement in a timely manner. The second one had issues with the graphic eq's cutting in and out. I had my tech repair it and covered the cost myself as I needed it for a tour. At that point I installed a GK as a back-up in my amp rack but never ended up needing it.

MESA/boogie folks were very responsive and easy to deal with. My first M-2000 was a lemon, and the second amp just didn't suit my (all-tube tone) taste.

I've been playing professionally for over 15 years and used the M-2000 on several US tours during the mid to late 90's. I sold it a few years ago and have used a 1970's (all tube) Ampeg v4b with Ampeg 2x10 & 1x15 cabs since. I also use a GK mb-150 for upright and smaller club gigs, and a mid 1970's Sunn 2000s, but prefer the old tube Ampeg stuff. I have a 1972 v-4 head as well and a 1965 Ampeg M-15 combo which I a/b as a distortion amp. The M-2000 may have been better if there was only ONE pre-amp and an overdrive. There are too many features and the overall tone was too mid-range focused for my taste, and the distortion was not 'tube-like' enough. Power, volume, and response is great, but this is not a good choice for someone who loves the pure all-tube fat bass tone. I like GK's and am looking at Ashdown amps.

Not Sure what year it was made. This amp is almost too versatile. It can be very confusing when you are first trying to figure it out. It Has a tube pre amp channel and a fet pre amp channel And with the foot switch you can switch between these also you can switch in or out the 7 band eq for either of these channels. It has a vresatile effects loop you can control the vol and the ammount of the wet/dry signal. It also has active and passive inputs.There are so many connections on the rear it is not funny. But they are all labled so it is not too bad.This amp has more power than I need but I love having that much power available.

I use this amp with A 2003 american Jazz bass, a 1990 Fendre J/P-90 with Seymour Duncan Base line Jazz and p Pickups. A 1990 Fender J/P-90 With active EMG'S . A 1980 Peavey T40 With Dual Humbuckers.A 2001 Fender Deluxe Zone bass(active) And a 2002 Fender MIM p-bass. This amp will suit any style I attempt. It can do hifi Funk,Blues Classic rock And jazz with the right tweeking. This amp is capable fo just about any style and sound if you take the time to learn how it works.It can also do the overdriven tube thing very well. The clean channel is clean all the way up.

This amp does have some issues. The biggest of which is the pots, All of them they are very weakly made and tend to push apart so they do not function properly they might go from no volume to full bore in a fraction fo a turn. the good thing is if you or a decent tech knows what they aree doing it is a supre easy fix just squeeze the tabs tight again. this head was meant to be rack mounted (protected) from any form of abuse. Other than that the occasional tube replacement would be required.

I have been playing about 2 years. I also have a mesa boogie diesel 2x15, Peavey firebass 700II head swr Workingmans 4x10,Peavey tfx 4x12,Kustom 2x15 (2) cabs. Kustom 1-18B 1x18 bass cab. and two Kustom k-200-1b bass heads. And a line-6 bass pod, and a Boss ME-50b. effects. I use BayouCables for my guitars and speaker connections.
If this amp were lost stolen I would definately get another one. I compared it with the Ampeg B5R and there was no comparison the mesa won hands down. It does not need anything more than what it has.

I dont feel like writing all of the other stuff.. I just want you all to know I had many problems with this amp, and my amp tech had a lot of problems fixing it.

When my amp tech talked to the tech guys at Mesa, one of the supervisors there said "...yea, the m2000 has issues." They admitted that this amp is predisposed to break. Just thought you all would like to know that.

You know the amp. w/foot controller

Tube to Hi-Fi. Anything in between. No noise, whisper quiet fan.
Sounds unbelievable thru my EA VL-208's. Clear as a bell. Good quality instruments are rewarded.

Purchased used, recently overhauled so no worries. No issues so far.

Best service in the industry, them and Lakland.

It sold originally for $1,699.00 and is one of the few amps in that price category worth the cash on build quality and quality of materials alone.

i bought this gear used from Atomic Guitar, so i'm not sure of the year but, this amp has everything but, the kitchen sink. I really like this amp but, with all the knobs, buttons, switches, inputs and outputs on it i kind of thought it would have had (looking at the front and rear)stereo outputs in the back because i love running my rig in stereo even when i'm playing bass. I guess they figured bass has to always be mono because of frequency and sound.

basically i use Tobias, Ken Smith 6, a Carvin 6, Ibanez 905, a Carruthers Uprightand a Ken Smith soprano bass, all using stock pickups, i have to alter sounds for each to keep up with their natural signal. I never use it for any type of distortion (that's what a distortion pedal is for)but, i do have the Boss SE Pro effects going through the effects loop and i still keep the tone of this amp along side the effects unit. But, on the down side you will find yourself tweaking all night long. The cabinet is use if a cabinet that some guy left and i just play out of it it is a 4x10 no name cabinet without a tweeter. So i really have to use the highs. it is a very loud unit because, i'm still getting complaints from the pa guy that i'm not in the house because i an too loud from the cabinet so he turns me off in the house and just use the xlr for recording purposes but, thats cool, no biggie. since i play for various churches, low volume is great and it saves the amp and speakers and you can play and don't really have to worry about blowing your amp, well blowing this amp!!!

i haven't had a problem so far i did have a problem with my eden Vt-90
blowing on my second gig but, no problem yet, not to say that one might be brewing in the future, no amp last forever even with service ttake my PEAVEY for instance, once it goes in the shop the first ttime, It's time to sell it cuz, it will never be the same after that

if it breaks, it goes to Central Electronics.

i have been playing for over 25 yearsand i have owned just about everything out there except the Mo'Bass which by my opinion is a gyp. i also have a rack unit that is called BABY, it is the best rack there is took years to build and i finally have it settled in. But, the BABY is used for road gigs and large concerts. But, the Basis M-2000 is really a good amp used mainly for playing everything from blues to soft rock, from jazz to gospel(no hard rock, acid rock, metal, or any head banging stuff that type of music needs trace eliots or mesa boogie 400+, and 600) Too bad it's not stereo (sniff, sniff):-(

This amp has 2 preamps (tube and solid state) which can be used seperately or combined. It has a Solid state power amp section.

Each preamp has its own Graphic Eq, compressor, volume, and tone controls.

It has an effects loop, footswitch for selecting preamps, eq on and off, and boost.

It is rated at 650 watts into 4 ohms.

It is full of features. The number of controls will scare you at first, but it is very easy to use.

I use this amp with a Ric 4003S/8, Ric 4003S, Alembic Series 1, and a 59 Fender Precision bass. The amp brings out the different tones of each bass very well. It is very clean, no distortion at all.

You can get a wide variety of tones with the 2 different preamps and individual eq sections.

The amp has never broken since I've owned it, and probaly never will. THis amp seems to be built like a tank. Very heavy construction. It also has an internal fan to cool the power amp section. THe fan is very quiet.

Never dealt with Mesa/Boogie

I would definately buy this amp again. It is so versatile. You can get tones that range from vintage tube to modern solid state.

www.mesaboogie.com USED to feature this amp, but it has since been discontinued and the M/B Hollywood store is offering some NOS in box for GREAT deals- I'm almost tempted to sell mine and get a brand new one! Mine's a 1996 version and I bought it either from Bassgear.com or right here on H/C's Classifieds. Don't believe it was eBay. :) Those things get WAY too high. I got a killer deal on mine, $800 used, shipped WITH the footswitch (invaluable). 2 separate preamps, Tube and FET, regular Treb/Mid/Bass knobs plus a few more that are preamp-specific, such as Gain for the Tube and Bass Freq for the FET. I hardly ever use the 9-band EQ's for each side, mainly because I sound good enough without them! I have them set about the same as the regular 3-knob setup, so I only turn the EQ's on each preamp on when I play live, just to give me more definition. During practice, not that big of a deal. Plus, MAN do they add volume! 600 watts @ 4 ohms- are you kidding? I can play my Spector NS4CRFM (active), w/ the volume knob all the way up, and have the amp running through my Mesa 2x10 Diesel and 1x15 Powerhouse, have the Master Volume OFF, and still be almost loud enough to play in my apartment. Insane-loud. :) Gain and Mix Mode are probably my favorites. Mix gets a tad loud though, at times. As has been said previously, every time I need a new amp, I just hit the footswitch or flick some knobs, and I'm all good to go. And about the footswitch: Tube, Mix Mode, FET, Gain/Mute and Tube EQ and FET EQ- for this, Mesa deserves an extra 10,045 in ratings. My footswitch is possibly my favorite piece of gear. It's like having a Custom Audio Electronics system right there- and thousands less!!!

Sound is of course the best thing about this amp. Again, ANY sound you want, you can get it. I've owned Ampeg, Eden, vintage tube Ampeg, SWR, and this thing just embarrasses everything else. I have the Tube preamp set on a sloping-down to the right, with the Compression on, giving it of course, that "tube amp" sound. Sounds BETTER than the '68 Ampeg V4-B that I sold to partially pay for this. The Gain option again on the Tube is a definite favorite. Gritty, powerful, and reacts wonderfully to every dynamic of your playing. The Tube preamp gets my fretless (into the Passive input, one of the two: Active and Passive- great option since I have both!), and probably 60% of the playing time. The FET is used w/out Compression, and is for songs that need more clarity and fuller sounds. I've never gotten bored w/ this amp. I've had it for about 7 months, and have just NOW gotten EVERYTHING right as far as settings go. It may be intimidating for some, but Mesa of course has a great User's Manual that even a 12-year old newbie can figure out.

This is my only bitch about the amp. When I first got it in the mail, via FedEx, it was wonderfully boxed and all that, but when I plugged it in, and hooked up the Spector, nothing happened. So, took out like all THIRTY screws for it's dang cover, everything seemed fine, put the top back on, tried agian-nothing. So, I went and picked up my crappy fretless which is PASSIVE, plugged it into the according Passive input, and viola`!!! Bass tone galore. :) However, after about 3 months, I took it in for a tune up and a few repairs. One day while playing, it started fuzzing out. As I'd hit a hard or loud note, is only when it'd "scream" and just blare noise. So, I took it in and told the guitar guys my problem, and they asked if it sat right on top of my cab, to which I said yes. So I was told that something probably just came loose from the board, as does happen from time to time, even if the amp's in a rack, if nothing takes the shock of the waves from the cab, this type of thing can happen. Plus I'd been moving it around a lot, so after a good tune up, tightening of knobs, cleaning and few fuses and tubes replaced, I was only out $80, and it sounds better than ever. No probs whatsoever. Wasn't a big deal since I got a good deal on it in the first place. Guy said it needed a tune-up anyhow. I travel w/out backup easy now. No worries or second guessing. Also, I don't know if it's me or the amp, but when I plug my Tuner out into my Boss TU-2, the tuner doesn't turn off. Possibly just me. Also, had probs w/ the FX Loop if you turn it up to 100%, which is probably the amp telling you you don't need THAT much extra crap. ;) I just go through my few Boss pedals into the front of the amp and it sounds just as good. I have a BBE 362 Sonic Maximizer I run in the FX loop at about 60% and so that works out great anyhow.

Never had to call about this particular product. My Powerhouse 1x15 bass cab (EXCELLENT!!! All 10's!!!) was bought new from G.C. during a closeout for a STEAL- but the washer holding the input in place had been stolen (go figure), so Mike from Mesa sent me one of EVERY washer ever put on a Mesa cab. Can you beat that? I think not. :)

Even though it needed a well-deserved tune up, that was months ago and I hardly ever even think about it.