Mesa Boogie Subway WD-800 Bass Head vs Peavey MiniMAX 500W Lightweight Bass Head
The Mesa Boogie Subway WD-800 Bass Head and the Peavey MiniMAX 500W Lightweight Bass Head are both amplifiers sharing gritty. Current prices: $1199 vs $499.
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Blended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.38% — somewhat different
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Derived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.- gritty
Mesa Boogie Subway WD-800 Bass Head
Mesa Boogie · amplifier
Peavey MiniMAX 500W Lightweight Bass Head
Peavey · amplifier
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$1199via Reverb
$499via Reverb
The Mesa Boogie Subway WD-800 is a compact bass amplifier head from the Subway series, Mesa's line of lightweight, high-power bass amps. The WD-800 is a hybrid design pairing a tube preamp stage with a class-D power section, an arrangement intended to give tube warmth and response with the weight and efficiency of modern solid-state amplification. Like the rest of the Subway range it is aimed at gigging bassists who need substantial output without carrying a traditional heavy head. Mesa has built bass amplification alongside its guitar amps for decades, and the Subway line is its current compact platform. It suits bassists across rock, funk and session work who need portable power.
The Peavey MiniMAX 500W is an ultra-lightweight bass amp head packing 500 watts of solid-state power into a chassis small enough to fit in a backpack, weighing well under 10 pounds. It includes DDT speaker protection circuitry, a 3-band EQ, Peavey's TransTube gain-boost circuit for adding drive character, and psychoacoustic low-end enhancement that adds perceived bottom without over-stressing connected speakers. It's aimed at gigging bassists who want serious power output without the weight of a traditional bass head, trading a small amount of maximum output versus the 600W version for a lighter package.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Funk
- Rock
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Occasions this gear suits — judged per model, or derived from its wattage, connectivity and category.- Live
- Live