Mesa/Boogie Mark III Operating Instructions Manual

MESA-BOOGIE MARK III

OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS

MESA
ENGINEERING
CONGRATULATIONS! You've just become the proud owner of the world's finest guitar amplifier. When people come up to compliment
you on your tone, you can smile knowingly ... and hopefully you'll tell them a little about us! This amplifier has been designed, refined
and constructed to deliver maximum musical performance of any style, in any situation. And in order to live up to that tall promise, the
controls must be very powerful and sophisticated. But don't worry! Just by following our sample settings, you'll be getting great sounds
immediately. And as you gain more familiarity with the Boogie's controls, it will provide you with much greater depth and more lasting
satisfaction from your music.
THREE MODES
For approximately twelve years, the evolution of the guitar amplifier has largely been pioneered by MESA-Boogie. The Original Mark I
Boogie was the first amplifier to offer successful lead enhancement. Then the Mark II Boogie was the first amplifier to introduce
footswitching between lead and rhythm. Now your new Mark III offers three footswitchable modes of operation: Rhythm 1, Rhythm 2
and Lead.
Rhythm 1 is primarily for playing bright and sparkling clean (although a little crunch is available by running the Volume at 10). You
might think of Rhythm 1 as "the Fender mode".
Rhythm 2 is mainly for crunch chords, chunking metal patterns and some blues (but low settings of the Volume 1 will produce an
alternate clean sound that is very fat and warm). Think of Rhythm 2 as "the Marshall mode".
The third mode is by far the most radical, and its two separate knobs will deliver the most lethal crunch or the smoothest, most vocal
sounding lead sustain. This mode is pure MESA-Boogie. Try as they might, no one else can touch this sound!
THE CONTROLS
Let's review the controls now, one at a time, to learn their various functions and see how they interact. Remember that the settings
listed are approximate.
VOLUME 1 This control is active in all three modes. It establishes the amplifier's basic gain, or sensitivity to your guitar's output. Most
players find a "sweet spot" around 7 which enables the amp to footswitch best between all three modes. Generally speaking, you
should find the highest setting possible that still gives you the desired degree of cleanliness in the Rhythm 1 mode. This allows you to
have the strongest possible signal feeding into the other two modes.
The response of the Volume knob increases rapidly above 7. You can also back off your guitar's volume slightly if you want to run the
amp Volume higher or if your pickups are real hot. Adjusting your pickup height from the fret board can make a big difference. Higher
settings (of everything) unleash a stronger response from Rhythm 2. All-out metal die-hards (who probably won't use Rhythm 1
anyway) may want to dial the Volume up to 9 or 10 for a heavy grinding "krang" similar to a great (or customized) Marshall. And yet
lower settings of the Volume will enable both rhythm modes to play clean, each with its own distinctive voicing.
The PULL BRIGHT adds sparkle to a clean Rhythm 2 sound and adds shimmer to a clean Rhythm 1 sound, producing the ultimate
Fendery Strat sound for funk riffs, country and pop rhythm playing. The effect of the Pull Bright diminishes as Volume 1 is turned up
and has no effect when the Volume is at 10
RECOMMENDED SETTING: 7, pulled out.