Treble; Mid/Boost - Mesa/Boogie King Snake Owner's Manual

MID/BOOST and bump up the PRESENCE to compensate for brightness sacrificed. If you need a really bright TREBLE setting, try
to back down one or both VOLUME controls and possibly the MID/BOOST a bit. You get the idea... Just avoid extreme gain settings
on the VOLUMES with a really bright setting of the TREBLE... it's a lot for the (any) 12AX7s to handle.
We suggest spending some time with the two VOLUMES, MID/BOOST and TREBLE so you learn to identify the different frequen-
cies of gain these four controls offer you. They can be subtle, but musically speaking, they all have their place and offer some great
fine-tuning possibilities from which to craft your signature Tone.

MID/BOOST:

This is actually two controls in one, hence the two names. One big improvement from the original Snakeskin
MARK I that Carlos toured with in 1972/73 is the addition of an adjustable pot where there once was a two-position On/Off switch.
This produced a huge increase in gain achieved by lifting the Tone Controls and allowing the entire signal available
in the Rotary Tone Control string to "run free". It was a great and innovative feature, especially for its time, but it had
two shortcomings; 1)it was all or nothing (normal or boosted) and these two were wildly different sounding due to the
saturation that occurred in BOOST position. 2) once the whole signal was unleashed by the BOOST, there was noth-
ing much left gain-wise in the Tone Control string for the Tone controls to work on, and there was little-to-no shaping
MID/BOOST BASS
power available in BOOST Mode.
Back then everyone was so mesmerized by the newfound gain available, this trade-off seemed a small price to pay for SUSTAIN!
HANDCRAFTED
™
IN PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA
But Here at MESA/Boogie, Tone never sleeps so we've endowed this model with an adjustable BOOST found here on the upper half
of the MID control! It doesn't completely solve these issues, but it does provide a middle region previously unavailable that allows
incrementally added gain WITH incrementally decreasing Tone-shaping power in the Tone control string. When the MID/BOOST is
SEND RETURN SLAVE SLAVE LEVEL
maxed (set at 10.0), there is still very little gain left for the Tone Controls to utilize and hence, they do less at this extreme setting. But
this scheme allows YOU to choose the desired balance between gain and Tone-shaping power on the Tone Control string and there
are some truly magic sounds in this new range of incremental gain.
From 0–5.0 the MID/BOOST works like a normal MID control, albeit with a little more condensed taper. A general settings tip for this
narrower taper might be to set the MID two or three numbers below where you think your sound might be with a traditional style MID
control.
Above 5.0 the MID morphs into an adjustable BOOST control that incrementally lifts the Tone controls and allows their full signal
strength to come through, unbridled. Some players will opt for the maximum gain possible here and for those folks, there will be the
same limited power in the Tone Controls as found in the original MARK I's BOOST Mode available. But for those players who may
not the need the maximum gain BOOST there is a really usable range of enhanced gain over a broad, warm sounding region of mids.
We are extremely pleased with the Tonal possibilities this simple but powerful improvement has made in both sound and dial-ability
and have applied for a patent to claim its obvious benefits as a MESA Exclusive. The simplest ideas are often the best... and easiest
to walk right by for 40 years. If only the folks at the patent office played guitar... we'll cross our fingers.
Use this valuable enhancement at-will in either INPUT to craft some amazing threshold of clip chording or Blues solo voices or ap-
ply it to already overdriven sounds to thicken them up or put them over the top. Just be aware that there is more gain here than can
feasibly be applied and still retain a balanced sound with a coherent attack characteristic. In other words... don't dial yourself into
mush by adding so much gain there is no Tone left. A simple but often ignored concept.
NOTE: THE MID/BOOST control functions as a normal Middle control in the lower half of its range from 0.0–5.0. In its upper range,
gain is incrementally added–until fully maxed at 10.0–it saturates the notes almost completely. This upper range may be over-the-top
when used in Input 1 with the VOLUME CONTROLS set high, as it can over-saturate and compromise the attack characteristics. Use
the MID/BOOST sparingly and with taste.
NOTE: Again, avoid very high settings of these four controls; both VOLUME 1 & 2, TREBLE and MID/BOOST simultaneously, and
instead try a little give and take. If you need the gain really high from both VOLUME controls, back down on the TREBLE and MID/
BOOST and use the PRESENCE to compensate for brightness sacrificed. If you like the frequency of the MID/BOOST and want
100 WATTS
60
10 WATTS
BLACK FACE
TWEED
PRESENCE 8 OHM 4 OHM
USE WITH USE WITH TWO
100 W CAB 8Ω SPKRS, & 100
ON ON
STANDBY POWER
™
TUBE GUIDE
4 x 6L6
5 x 12AX7
PATENTED
7,173,488
4 OHM
7,412,064
USE WITH COMBO OTHER PATENTS
W 8Ω SPKR, & 60 W PENDING
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