Mesa/Boogie Express Plus Owner's Manual
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Mesa/Boogie Express Plus Owner's Manual

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Summary of Contents for Mesa/Boogie Express Plus

  • Page 1 Owner’s Manual...
  • Page 2 Hello from the Tone Farm ...You, smart player and intuitive human, have put your trust in us to be your amplifier company. This is something we do not take lightly. By choosing this instrument to be a part of your musical voice, you have become part of the Mesa family...WELCOME! Our goal is to never let you down.

  • Page 3: 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 4: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents Precautions _______________________________________________________________________________ 0 Overview ________________________________________________________________________________ 1-2 FRONT PANEL CONTROLS & FEATURES MODES: CLEAN, CRUNCH, BLUES, BURN ____________________________________________________ 3-4 INSTANT GRATIFICATION, HELPFUL HINTS _____________________________________________________ 5 GAIN _____________________________________________________________________________________ 6 TREBLE __________________________________________________________________________________ 6 MID ______________________________________________________________________________________ 7 BASS _____________________________________________________________________________________ 7 REVERB __________________________________________________________________________________ 7 MASTER __________________________________________________________________________________ 8 EQUALIZER SECTION _____________________________________________________________________ 8-9 PRESET DEPTH CONTROL __________________________________________________________________ 9...

  • Page 5: Overview

    SLIDERS or the PRESET in each Channel with the EQ Assign mini toggle. The EQ, whether set to call up the SLIDERS or the PRESET controls, is also footswitchable as well and can be called up at any time via the Express Plus Footswitch.
  • Page 6 Power that creates a time-specific burst of headroom at the initial attack of the notes that far exceeds the rated power of the circuit and gives the 5:25+ an incredible sound and feel all its own. Now that you have an overall picture of the features in your new Express Plus, let’s move on to the specific modes and features. PAGE 2...

  • Page 7: Front Panel Controls & Features

    CLEAN: This is the lowest gain of the four modes in your Express Plus and it is voiced to deliver beautiful sparkling and warm clean chording sounds. The CLEAN mode has the greatest dynamic range of all the modes as the signal here is not compressed with any additional gain as are the other three sequentially.
  • Page 8 BURN: This is the highest gain of all the modes in your Express Plus and it is BURN that characterizes Channel 2 as the Lead Channel. As mentioned in the Overview, this circuit has been evolving over the last 27 years and after you’ve dipped your guitar into this river of undulating harmonics, you’ll come away a new soloist…baptized by gain that’s inseparable from the notes.

  • Page 9: Instant Gratification, Helpful Hints

    FrONT PANeL: C & F (Continued) ONTrOLS eATureS INSTANT GRATIFICATION Sweet Clean / Howling Blues EQ ON SLIDERS FT SW PRESET PRESET DEPTH SLIDERS PRESET EQ ON SLIDERS SOLO 25 W FT SW PRESET CH 1 CH 2 80Hz 2200 6600 Big Crunch / Burning Lead EQ ON...

  • Page 10: Gain

    TREBLE: As in most tube guitar amplifiers, the TREBLE control (in both channels of your Express Plus) is the most powerful of the rotary controls and is next in line only to the GAIN control as a shaping tool. Because it is first in the signal path of the tone controls - and from here the Middle and Bass receive their signal - it is by far the dominant tone control.

  • Page 11: Mid

    The MID control is responsible for the blend of midrange frequencies in the mix and though its effect is not as dramatic as that of the TREBLE control, it plays an integral part in achieving any sound in your Express Plus. It is capable of changing the feel dramatically as it blends in a group of frequencies that tend to soften or stiffen the way a sound feels to play.

  • Page 12: Master

    PRESET. The Lower position of each switch (FT SW) allows you to engage the EQ section from the Express Plus Footswitch. The Footswitch EQ button may not turn the EQ on or off if the EQ Control switch is set to either EQ ON or O (switch up or switch middle) as these positions override the Footswitch EQ button.

  • Page 13: Preset Depth Control

    Rock and Metal Crunch chording sounds. This sound has been a live power-tool as well as a much-recorded staple of Rock and Metal guitarists that have played our MARK Series models for decades. Now this dual-option EQ comes straight from our Flagship MARK FIVE to greatly enhance the flexibility of the Express Plus. PAGE 9...

  • Page 14: Channel Power Select

    As mentioned in the OVERVIEW, your Express Plus features our patented Multi-Watt™ Power, which allows you to switch between three power ranges that run in both dif- ferent Classes of Operation and different Wiring Configurations. You will only find this powerful feature on MESA amplifiers and it allows you to tune the power section for volume, Tone and feel…...

  • Page 15: Solo Control

    Simply set your desired overall playing level with the Channel MASTER Controls, Select SOLO on the Express Plus Footswitch and set the desired increase in volume level with the SOLO control. NOTE: The SOLO control may only be used to increase the volume beyond the level of that set by the Channel MASTER Controls.

  • Page 16: Power

    POWER: This switch delivers the A.C. power to the Express Plus. Make sure the unit is properly grounded (all three terminals of the A.C. power cord must be connected whenever possible and that the proper voltage is present. Follow the cold start procedure described in the ON/STANDBY section above when powering up your new Express Plus amplifier.

  • Page 17: Fuse

    These four ¼ “ jacks trigger the SOLO, CHANNEL, EQ and REVERB feature of each Channel when you want to control your Express Plus with a master external switcher. In this way you can call up the sounds on your Express Plus...

  • Page 18: Effects Loop

    SPEAKERS: These jacks handle the output to speaker cabinets or the internal combo speaker in your Express Plus. There is one 8 Ohm and two 4 Ohm jacks here and between these outputs, most popular speaker combinations can be accommodated.
  • Page 19 16 Ohms, connect it to the 8 Ohm SPEAKER output. Now that we’ve covered the features and operation of your Express Plus, it’s time to enjoy the best part…the sound and feel! We wish you many years of inspiration, fulfillment and musical satisfaction from your new Express Plus.

  • Page 20: Factory Sample Settings

    FACTORY SAMPLE SETTINGS Roots Clean / Texas Lead EQ ON SLIDERS FT SW PRESET PRESET DEPTH SLIDERS PRESET EQ ON SLIDERS SOLO 25 W FT SW PRESET CH 1 CH 2 80Hz 2200 6600 Spankin’ Clean / Vocal Lead EQ ON SLIDERS FT SW PRESET...

  • Page 21: Personal Settings

    PERSONAL SETTINGS EQ ON SLIDERS FT SW PRESET PRESET DEPTH SLIDERS PRESET EQ ON SLIDERS SOLO 25 W FT SW PRESET CH 1 CH 2 80Hz 2200 6600 EQ ON SLIDERS FT SW PRESET PRESET DEPTH SLIDERS PRESET EQ ON SLIDERS SOLO 25 W...

  • Page 22: Diagnosing Tube Problems

    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 23 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 24: Bias Adjustment Article

    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 25 BIAS ADJUSTMENT: (Continued) control grids. Voltage and current are NOT the same. Current is the AMOUNT of electricity, the “quantity” — and is measured 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 26 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? Next time we’ll talk about our part in developing the great Sylvania STR 415 type 6L6 and how we’re on the verge of seeing something...

  • Page 27: Speaker Impedance Matching And Hookup Guide

    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 28 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 29 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 30 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 8 Ohm Cabinet 16 Ohm Cabinet 8 Ohm Cabinet SAFE MISMATCH CORRECT MATCH Partial back view of amplifier Partial back view of amplifier...
  • Page 31 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 32 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 33: Feature Article: On Pentodes, Triodes & Irishmen By Randall Smith

    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 34 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 unidirectional toward the bar and this process rectifies the work-day negativity.
  • Page 35 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 36: Tube Task Charts: 5:25+ & 5:50

    PAGE 32...
  • Page 37 PAGE 33...

  • Page 38: Part Sheets: 5:25+ & 5:50

    SOLO SOLO PAGE 34...
  • Page 39 SOLO PAGE 35...
  • Page 40 NOTES...
  • Page 41 ® ®...
  • Page 42 ® www.mesaboogie.com 11/13/12...

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