A Little History; Bass; Master; Front Panel - Mesa/Boogie Heartbreaker Owner's Manual

A Little History...Congratulations on your choice of the HEARTBREAKER as your amplifier! Its fine all-tube heritage is apparent
in each soulful note you play, but you may not be aware that this amplifier was created as the 25th anniversary tribute to the amp that
put Mesa/Boogie on the map and changed guitar amplification forever...the Boogie.
The Mark I Boogie burst on the scene in late 1970 as the first amplifier ever to contain a high gain pre-amplifier that could be
overdriven at any output volume. By ingeniously using a cascading series of pre-amp stages, Randall Smith brought to life the (until
then) latent potential of the 12AX7 and changed the sound of electric guitar. No longer would the saxophone be the most likely
instrument to grab the solo spotlight...now guitar had a singing voice! With its liquid sustain and bold authority, the early Mark I
immediately won the hearts of the worlds' top players and was soon an international smash hit. Overwhelmed by orders for this
compact, high performance 1x12 giant killer, Randall made plans to leave the store he had co-founded, (Prune Music,) where he had
been modifying and repairing amps (for the stars of the Bay Area's music scene) and move the operation into a converted shack
behind his house.
In this shack in the mountains north of San Francisco, every part of these first Boogies were made by hand! The chassis was formed,
circuit boards were etched, front panels were silk screened and the first exotic hardwood and rare snakeskin cabinets were made...all
with relentless attention to detail. Mesa Engineering was now in full swing with world wide acclaim. High gain was born back then
and seemed to be here to stay, as proven when the Mark II's introduced the world to channel switching in late '78. The next
important development came in 1986 when Mesa pioneered the first Tri-Modal footswitchable amplifier, the Mark III. The rest of the
amplifier world soon followed suit.
Now, the Mark IV's offer fully expanded footswitchability...and high gain, multi mode, channel switching amps are everywhere. The
many innovations (seen for the first time) included on these early Mark I's have since become standard features on virtually all major
brand amplifiers of today. All these modern amps have a common ancestor in the original Boogie...the missing link between vintage
(one sound) and modern high gain, footswitching (multi sound) amplifiers.
The HEARTBREAKER assembles all these early innovations (along with many more recent ones) and showcases them in a 2
channel, 5 mode footswitching package that pays ultimate tribute to the soulful voice of these vintage Mark I Boogies. Enough
history for now...we thought you might find your new HEARTBREAKERS' lineage interesting - and possibly give you a sense of
pride knowing that its bloodline figures prominently into amplifier history.
FRONT VIEW HEARTBREAKER
INPUT
SWITCH
HI MODE
TRIM
VOLUME
TREBLE MIDDLE
REAR VIEW HEARTBREAKER
1.5 A
USE 6V6's WITH TWEED POWER
WARNING: Replace
AND TUBE RECTIFIER ONLY
Unplug power fuse with
FUSE
before replacing same type
FULL
fuse or removing and rating NORMAL
bolts mounting only.
3 A SB
chassis.
TWEED
VARIAC
117 V.
3 A. POWER
60 HZ.
SOURCE
CH 1 CH 2
*
LOVE
HI
CH 1
LO
HI
HI MODE
CH 2
BOOST! NORMAL
FAT
LO

BASS

MASTER

BIAS SETTING MUST
MATCH TUBES IN USE!
VACUUM
6L6 6L6
TUBE
6v6 6v6
SEND
RETURN
SILICON
EL34 EL34
DIODES
RECTIFIER BIAS
SELECT SELECT
*
LUST
GAIN
HI MODE
GAIN
TRIM FAT
VOLUME TREBLE MIDDLE
PRESENCE PRESENCE
CH2 CH1
REVERB REVERB
REVERB
FOOT SWITCH
PAGE 1
HI & LO
BRIGHT WARM
BASS
MASTER
100 WATTS
60 WATTS
ON
ON
ALL
BOLD CURVACEOUS
LEVEL STANDBY POWER
SPEAKERS
8 OHM 4 OHM
SLAVE
16 OHM
2x12 COMBO