Treble - Mesa/Boogie Mark Five Owner's Manual

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We suggest using the lower to middle range of the PRESENCE (9:00 – 12:30) for the best (most balanced) sound in all of the Modes
and venturing outside this only for specific applications – perhaps where you need more of an aggressive top-end point or a darker,
more compressed and wider sound.
Clean sounds in Channel 1 can generally benefit from a bit higher settings (10:30 – 12:30) than sounds in this – or any Channel - that
has overdrive involved in its makeup. Once saturation begins the frequencies carried in the PRESENCE control can make things edgy
or brittle... even buzzy, real fast if you aren't careful. Overdriven chording sounds can tolerate higher settings (10:30 – 12:30) better
than can single note sounds, which usually want to roam the zone below 11:00 to stay round, focused and vocal.
NOTE: The EXTREME Mode in Channel 3 radically re-voices the negative feedback in the power section - among its many changes
- and inherently contains much more of this upper harmonic region than any of the other Modes. This increase in top-end cut and ag-
gression renders the PRESENCE control somewhat less active than in the other Modes because there is so much bite there already
in the EXTREME Modes' character.
NOTE: High settings of the PRESENCE (2:30 – 5:30) can put extra stress on even borderline microphonic preamp tubes (ones that
are susceptible to high pitched ringing and noise) and cause them to begin ringing or show other signs of instability. Many tests were
run on the set of tubes that shipped in your MARK V to ensure they were stable at the time of construction. However, tubes are not
perfect devices – much like light bulbs – and can change over time and become more microphonic. Luckily you can remedy most
tube problems with a simple tube swap. Avoid these settings (especially in Combo amplifiers – where the added sympathetic and
vibrational forces put even more stress on the tubes) to ensure trouble free performance.

TREBLE:

If the VOLUME is the most powerful control in the MARK V, the TREBLE comes in a close second. The TREBLE is
responsible for shaping the character of the entire amp. It can overpower the rest of the Tone controls easily and therefore its setting
CLEAN
F
A
T
TWEED
CH 1
NORMAL
EQ ON
CH
GAIN MASTER PRESENCE
O
TREBLE MID BASS
1
EQ FS BOLD
90 W
45
10 W
BASS heavy and overly dark as a very large amount of signal is shoveled toward the MID and BASS controls. So you can see that
setting the TREBLE with care and taste in mind is critical for the Tone control string to work in harmony.
In all the Channels and their Modes the middle region of the TREBLE delivers the best balance and creates sounds that are plenty
bright enough but still rich and warm. We suggest that you start with the TREBLE at 12:00 and adjust up or down slightly until the
desired blend is achieved. Remember that you can use the PRESENCE to add additional (and slightly higher) top end with no penalty
in regards to the effectiveness of the other Tone controls as the PRESENCE is works in a part of the circuit that is much farther down
the line in the signal path.
NOTE: One of the times you may want to throw caution to the wind in regards to the TREBLE control is when you are looking for
clipped Blues sounds in Channel 1 with the GAIN cranked. The additional gain that is added by running the TREBLE high (1:30 –
2:30) can help to saturate the Modes in Channel 1 enough to get some great pushed sounds. You will have to run the BASS rather
low (8:30 – 9:30) to keep things tight.
NOTE: In the EDGE Mode of Channel 2 it may be necessary to run the TREBLE a little lower than normal(10:30 – 11:30) to achieve
a warm balanced sound as there is a substantial amount of aggressive top end inherent in this Modes' character.
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Continued
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is crucial to a rich and balanced sound in all three Modes. In fact, the TREBLE feeds the signal to the
MID and BASS controls and acts like a valve for their signal strength.
When the TREBLE is set in its higher regions (2:00 – 5:30) it is sending a smaller signal to those con-
trols and they will be less active and the dominant character will be one of very bright, TREBLE-heavy
frequencies. Conversely, a very low setting on the TREBLE will produce sounds that are perhaps a little
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