Mesa/Boogie TransAtlantic TA-30 Owner's Manual
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Mesa/Boogie TransAtlantic TA-30 Owner's Manual

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Summary of Contents for Mesa/Boogie TransAtlantic TA-30

  • Page 1 Owner’s Manual...
  • Page 2 Hello from the Tone Farm Congratulations on your choice of the TransAtlantic TA-30 and Welcome to the MESA/ Boogie Family. The instrument you have chosen may well redefine the Brit amp genre by including preamp and power options that seem near impossible for an amplifier with such a humble footprint and manageable poundage.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    TABLE OF CONTENTS OVERVIEW _______________________________________________________________________ 1-2 HELPFUL HINTS __________________________________________________________________ 2-3 FRONT PANEL CONTROLS & FEATURES THE MODES: NORMAL, TOP BOOST ____________________________________________________3 THE MODES: TWEED, HI 1, HI 2 ______________________________________________________ 4-5 POWER MODES: MULTI-WATT POWER ________________________________________________ 5-6 INPUT _____________________________________________________________________________7 FOOTSWITCH_______________________________________________________________________7 VOLUME / GAIN ___________________________________________________________________ 7-8 GAIN / PULL BOOST _________________________________________________________________8 TREBLE _________________________________________________________________________ 8-9 BASS ______________________________________________________________________________9...

  • Page 4: Important Safety Instructions

    Make certain grounding conforms with local standards. YOUR AMPLIFIER IS LOUD! EXPOSURE TO HIGH SOUND VOLUMES MAY CAUSE PERMANENT HEARING DAMAGE! Your Mesa/Boogie Amplifier is a professional instrument. Please treat it with respect and operate it properly. READ AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS OF PROPER USAGE.

  • Page 5: Overview

    Instruction Manual Overview: While the TA-30 control layout is rather sparse (for a MESA), there is a lot more going on internally than might be apparent at first glance. Make no mistake, this is not a low line offering, but rather a power experiment in the world of simplicity. In every way the TA- 30 stands proud alongside our larger multi channel offerings with the same components, build quality, versatility and performance…...

  • Page 6: Helpful Hints

    (Continued) verview The 15W position on the Multi-Watt™ mini toggle in each Channel captures the old world magic of 15 watts running in Class A which - along with being ultimately clippable - emphasizes a truly precious blend of warmth and lined-up, chiming harmonics at low playing volumes.

  • Page 7: The Modes: Normal, Top Boost

    HELPFUL HINTS: (Continued) You will experience more footswitching noise (pop) when switching between Channels when only one is set to the 15W power setting. This is due to the more radical voltage changes that occur when knocking the power section down to the 15W level from one of the higher power modes.

  • Page 8: The Modes: Tweed, Hi 1, Hi 2

    Odes ontinued best balance of volume versus clippability. If you’ve ever played an AC 15 or AC30 you will instantly fall into familiar territory where the subtle changes in your picking can push things in and out of clip with amazing expression. The 15W and 30W Power Modes also work well with TOP BOOST for using the guitar’s Volume control to take you from clean to varying degrees of saturation by rolling up and down without losing the sweet harmonic top end spectrum.

  • Page 9: Power Modes: Multi-Watt Power

    Odes ontinued HI 2: Grab your suitcase, as again we cross the Atlantic on our tour of the world’s most classic guitar sounds. This time we’re back to Sonoma County, famous for wine and high gain guitar sounds. HI 2 is all about Boogie. Smooth, round attack, molten sustain and lined up layers of harmonics.
  • Page 10 Odes ontinued Be sure to check out the 40 Watt Mode for clean sounds in Channel 2 TWEED and tight-tracking crunch rhythm in HI 1. The headroom and faster response of Dyna-Watt™ really empowers these two Modes and creates some bold, punchy and tight-tracking sounds. 15 WATT This setting uses two of the four power tubes wired in CLASS A to produce the ultimate in sweet vintage clip-ability.

  • Page 11: Input

    FRONT PANEL: Controls & Features INPUT: This is the instrument INPUT jack. This jack feeds the preamp and since the T is a high gain amplifier and rans TlanTic therefore very sensitive, always use a high quality shielded cable between the instrument and the amplifier. This will prevent unwanted noise and microphonic cable sounds.

  • Page 12: Gain / Pull Boost

    FRONT PANEL: Controls & Features (Continued) don’t expect the same type of response you would find with these heavier sounds as you would from a 100 watt amp. The TA-30 is indeed mighty in its class… but those little EL84’s can’t handle massive amounts of both preamp gain and huge low end like an amp running the larger octal-based 6L6 or EL34 type power tubes.

  • Page 13: Bass

    EFFECTS LOOP must still be in the circuit for the REVERB to work and triggering this REVERB jack with the FX & REV switch in BYPASS will not turn the REVERB On. NOTE: REVERB Footswitches are available through your local MESA/Boogie Dealer or if you live too far from one, from us directly. NOTE: USE ONLY SHIELDED CABLE FOR THE REVERB BYPASS FOOTSWITCH.

  • Page 14: Fx & Rev / Bypass

    FRONT PANEL: Controls & Features (Continued) FX & REV / BYPASS: This mini-toggle is responsible for engaging both the EFFECTS LOOP circuitry and the analog all-tube REVERB circuit. With a simple flick of a switch the entire signal path is re-routed at the end of both Channel 1 and Channel 2’s preamp and additional tube stages are inserted to accommodate the EFFECTS LOOP’s SEND and RETURN stages as well as the REVERB’s send and return path.
  • Page 15 FRONT PANEL: Controls & Features (Continued) modern circuitry. Perhaps this is why other builders rarely – if ever - attempt it. We took the challenge and are able to get the two extremely different styles of circuits to co-exist beautifully - and after much toil - have removed 99% of the objectionable idiosyncrasies created out of this tricky melding of opposites.

  • Page 16: Cut / Pull Master

    FRONT PANEL: Controls & Features (Continued) CHANNEL SELECT: This toggle switch allows you to select the desired Channel when the Footswitch is not in use. As you’ve probably discovered, this switch operates left to right (horizontally) whereas the Mode switches operate vertically. NORMAL TWEED Select the center “FTSW”...

  • Page 17: A.c. Receptacle

    REAR PANEL: REAR VIEW: T TA-30 Head / Bottom Panel Combo rans TlanTic SPEAKERS C A U T I O N ! W A R N I N G ! PATENTED Unplug power to service chassis. Unplug power to change fuse. 120 V 6,621,907 60 Hz...

  • Page 18: Speakers

    LOOP, the REVERB circuitry stays in the signal path all the time and the jack just mutes the REVERB effect at its return mix stage. While not included, a separate REVERB Footswitch can be ordered either through your local MESA/Boogie 8 OHM REVERB Dealer or directly from us by contacting our Customer Service Department.

  • Page 19: Factory Sample Settings & Personal Settings Sheets

    SAMPLE SETTINGS Spanky Clean / Blues Vibe NORMAL TWEED ® FX & REV BYPASS FX & REV BYPASS ™ HI 1 TOP BST HI 2 INPUT POWER FT SW STANDBY PULL PULL VOLUME TREBLE BASS REVERB CUT / MASTER GAIN/ BOOST TREBLE BASS...
  • Page 20 SAMPLE SETTINGS AC Solo / Vintage Clean NORMAL TWEED ® FX & REV BYPASS FX & REV BYPASS ™ HI 1 TOP BST HI 2 INPUT POWER FT SW STANDBY PULL PULL VOLUME TREBLE BASS REVERB CUT / MASTER GAIN/ BOOST TREBLE BASS...

  • Page 21: User Settings

    USER SETTINGS NORMAL TWEED ® FX & REV BYPASS BYPASS FX & REV ™ HI 1 TOP BST HI 2 INPUT POWER FT SW STANDBY PULL PULL VOLUME TREBLE BASS REVERB CUT / MASTER GAIN/ BOOST TREBLE BASS REVERB MASTER NORMAL TWEED ®...
  • Page 22 USER SETTINGS NORMAL TWEED ® FX & REV BYPASS BYPASS FX & REV ™ HI 1 TOP BST HI 2 INPUT POWER FT SW STANDBY PULL PULL VOLUME TREBLE BASS REVERB CUT / MASTER GAIN/ BOOST TREBLE BASS REVERB MASTER NORMAL TWEED ®...

  • Page 23: Tube Maintenance & Diagnosis

    TUBE ACCESS: Both preamp and power tubes are easily accessible on both Combo and Head versions of the TransAtlantic TA-30 through the removal of a few standard Phillips head screws and removal of the Tube Access Panel (Combo) or top Hood (Head). This means that should you ever need to replace a noisy or microphonic preamp tube or change out worn power tubes, you can do so in a matter of minutes with the only tool required being a Phillips screwdriver.
  • Page 24 TUBE ACCESS: HEAD VERSION: Preamp tubes sit vertically upside down on the bottom of the circuit board and are accessed from the bot- tom of the chassis by turning the head upside down (with the handle in its stowed position) and removing the Phillips head screws in bottom panel and removing it.
  • Page 25 Removing the T Cover for Power Tube Replacement rans TlanTic **** Before removing cover make sure the amplifier is powered off and the AC cord is unplugged. Power tubes sit vertically on the top side of the chassis and can be accessed by removing the Phillips screws on both the left and right sides of the upper protective Hood.
  • Page 26 TUBE NOISE & MICROPHONICS: You may occasionally experience some form of tube noise or microphonics. Certainly no cause for alarm, this quirky behavior comes with the territory and the Tone. Much like changing a light bulb, you don’t need a technician to cure these types of minor user serviceable annoyances and in fact, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to cure tube problems...by simply swapping out a pre-amp or power tube! First may we suggest that you set the amplifier up on something so that you can get to the tubes comfortably without having to bend...
  • Page 27 DIAGNOSING PRE-AMP TUBE PROBLEMS: Because your amplifier is an all tube design, it is quite possible that you will at some point experience minor pre-amp tube noise. Rest assured - this is no cause for alarm and you can take care of the problem yourself in a matter of minutes by simply swapping tubes.

  • Page 28: Bias Adjustment: A Feature Article By Randall Smith

    BIAS ADJUSTMENT: (Part of a continuing series) BEAM- CONFINING An Article written by Randall Smith that ELECTRODE CATHODE we thought you might find interesting. GRID ..SCREEN GRID ..
  • Page 29 in amperes. Voltage is the degree of electric charge — like the “pressure” to use the old water analogy. Let me illustrate how different voltage and current are: When you scrape your feet across a carpeted floor in dry, wintery conditions, your body can become charged with 50,000 to 100,000 volts of static electricity.
  • Page 30 How much money and trouble that has saved MESA/Boogie players you couldn’t estimate. Our rigorously tested and hand selected tubes are available at your nearest MESA/Boogie Pro Center or from us directly. Nobody offers better price, quality or warranty than we do ... so why swerve? Cheers! MESA/Boogie Ltd.

  • Page 31: Speaker Impedance & Possible Hook-Up Schemes - Amps To Speaker Cab

    MESA/Boogie amplifiers can handle 4 and 8 ohms effectively. Never run below 4 ohms in a tube amplifier unless you are absolutely certain that the system can handle it properly; this can cause damage to the Output transformer. A few amplifiers can handle 2 ohms effectively without damaging them ( for example the MESA’S Bass 400+ ).

  • Page 32: Speaker A Speaker B

    SPEAKER IMPEDANCE MATCHING & HOOK-UP GUIDE: (Continued) PARALLEL: When wiring in parallel, the resistance of the speakers decreases. Two 8 ohm speakers wired in ( hooked-up ) Parallel results in a 4 ohm load. It’s easy to calculate the effect of a resistive load when all the speakers are all the same resistance. It is really not suggested to wire different resistive load values in Parallel ( 8 and 4, 16 and 8 etc.
  • Page 33 WIRING SCHEMES...Amplifier to Speaker Cabinets Partial back view of amplifier Partial back view of amplifier 8 OHM 4 OHM 4 OHM 8 OHM 4 OHM 4 OHM 8 Ohm Cabinet Partial back view of some Mesa amp 8 OHM 4 OHM 4 OHM 4 Ohm Cabinet 8 Ohm Cabinet...
  • Page 34 WIRING SCHEMES...Amplifier to Speaker Cabinets Partial back view of amplifier Partial back view of amplifier 4 OHM 4 OHM 8 OHM 8 OHM 4 OHM 4 OHM 8 Ohm Cabinet 16 Ohm Cabinet 8 Ohm Cabinet 8 Ohm Cabinet SAFE MISMATCH CORRECT MATCH Partial back view of amplifier Partial back view of amplifier...
  • Page 35 WIRING SCHEMES...Amplifier to Speaker Cabinets Partial back view of amplifier 16 Ohm 4 OHM 4 OHM 8 OHM SERIES BOX 8 Ohm 8 Ohm 8 Ohm Cabinet 8 Ohm Cabinet 8 Ohm Cabinet SAFE MISMATCH Partial back view of amp Partial back view of amplifier CORRECT MATCH 8 OHM...
  • Page 36 WIRING SCHEMES...Amplifier to Speaker Cabinets Partial back view of amplifier 16 Ohm 4 OHM 4 OHM 8 OHM SERIES BOX 8 Ohm 8 Ohm 8 Ohm Cabinet 8 Ohm Cabinet 16 Ohm Cabinet SAFE MISMATCH Partial back view of amplifier 8 OHM 4 OHM 4 OHM...

  • Page 37: Triodes, Pentodes & Irishmen: A Feature Article On The Workings Of Tubes

    ON TRIODES, PENTODES & IRISHMEN: With apologies to Friends and Relatives from the Emerald Isle - who will make their appearance soon enough - the humor which follows is dedicated to the memories of Spec McAuliff and Fae (Rafael) McNally, two of the True Greats. As their numerical references suggest, the terms Diode, Triode and Pentode indicate the number of elements within the vacuum tube i.e.
  • Page 38 ON TRIODES, PENTODES & IRISHMEN: (Continued) Thus a diode tube - one with a cathode and an anode - is mostly used to rectify alternating current into direct current by passing it without restriction, but in one direction only. This also explains why closing time is strictly enforced at Irish pubs: During normal operation, the traffic flow is similarly unimpeded and uni-directional toward the bar and this process rectifies the work-day negativity.
  • Page 39 PENTODES: (Continued) Thus the proper cocktail waitress - visible through the louvers - is scantily clad so as to be all the more effective at reinforcing the attractive influence of her bar and by being located in between the door and the bar, she serves as bait to lure customers past the door’s negative influence.

  • Page 40: Tube Description & Task Chart

    PAGE 36...

  • Page 41: Parts Sheet

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  • Page 42 NOTES:...
  • Page 43 OOGIE The Spirit of Art in Technology Thank you for trusting MESA/Boogie to be your amplifier company and we wish you many years of toneful enjoyment from this handbuilt all tube instrument.
  • Page 44 The Spirit of Art in Technology (707) 778-6565 FAX NO. (707) 765-1503 1317 Ross Street Petaluma, CA 94954 10/23/12...

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