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

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Summary of Contents for Mesa/Boogie Express series

  • 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 GAIN _____________________________________________________________________________________ 5 TREBLE __________________________________________________________________________________ 5 MID ______________________________________________________________________________________ 6 BASS _____________________________________________________________________________________ 6 REVERB __________________________________________________________________________________ 6 MASTER __________________________________________________________________________________ 7 CH1 / FTSW / CH2 SWITCH ___________________________________________________________________ 7 CONTOUR_______________________________________________________________________________ 7-8 STANDBY _________________________________________________________________________________ 8 POWER ___________________________________________________________________________________ 8...

  • Page 5: Overview

    Operating Instructions verview Congratulations on choosing one of the Express models as your amplifier and welcome to the MESA Family! These amplifiers rep- resent the latest generation of a time-proven circuit that has been evolving over the last 22 years. With inspiring Tone and a layout that’s intuitive and easy to navigate, it’s no wonder this model has become one of our most popular line of instruments.
  • Page 6 (Continued) verview synonymous with huge guitar sounds and this CONTOUR feature puts all the authentic power of this circuit into one easy to dial control. Rich all-tube REVERB enhances the spatial quality of your Express and each Channel provides an independent Reverb Mix control so you can get the perfect blend of this beautiful effect for each of your footswitchable sounds.

  • Page 7: Front Panel Controls & Features

    FrONT PANeL: C & F ONTrOLS eATureS THe MODeS CHANNEL 1 CLEAN: This is the lowest gain of the four modes in your Express 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 sequentially, the other three.
  • Page 8 FrONT PANeL: C & F (Continued) ONTrOLS eATureS CHANNEL 2 BLUES: Channel 2 is aimed more at single note soloing, although both of the modes contained in this channel work well for rhythm playing as well if the GAIN controls are set in their lower regions. BLUES is the lower gain of the two modes in this Chan- nel and owns the zone between the CLEAN and CRUNCH modes.

  • Page 9: Gain

    FrONT PANeL: C & F (Continued) ONTrOLS eATureS GAIN: As with all tube amplifiers, especially those with higher GAIN circuits, the GAIN control is by far the most powerful control in the amplifier. It determines the overall GAIN amount you will be working with (how clean or saturated the signal is) in any given channel or mode by metering the signal in the beginning stages (first tubes) of the preamp.

  • Page 10: Mid

    FrONT PANeL: C & F (Continued) ONTrOLS eATureS 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. It is capable of changing the feel dramati- cally as it blends in a group of frequencies that tend to soften or stiffen the way a sound feels to play.

  • Page 11: Master

    FrONT PANeL: C & F (Continued) ONTrOLS eATureS MASTER: This control is the master feed from the end of the pre-amp to the driver stage and the Effects Loop. As you can see each Channel is fitted with its own MASTER control, enabling both channels relative volumes to be matched regardless of their extremely different sound styles and gain signatures.

  • Page 12: Standby

    FrONT PANeL: C & F (Continued) ONTrOLS eATureS CONTOUR: (Cont.) maximum, the EQ effect becomes extreme and a realm of sounds that are hard to believe appear. Tight, percussive lows and rich layers of chirping upper harmonic expression make the sound and feel dangerously addictive to play.

  • Page 13: External Switching

    reAr PANeL: C & F ONTrOLS eATureS EXTERNAL SWITCHING: These four ¼ “ jacks trigger the Channels, REVERB and CONTOUR feature of each Channel when you want to control your Express with a master external switcher. In this way you can call up the sounds on your Express remotely without connecting the Footswitch and have your effects and amp sounds respond to a single button (possibly midi) program change command.

  • Page 14: Power Select

    reAr PANeL: C & F (Continued) ONTrOLS eATureS POWER SELECT: As mentioned in the OVERVIEW, your Express features our patented Duo-Class™ Power which allows you to switch between two power ranges that run in both a different Class of Operation and a different Wiring Configuration. 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: Speakers

    reAr PANeL: C & F (Continued) ONTrOLS eATureS SPEAKERS: These jacks handle the output to speaker cabinets or the internal combo speaker in your Express. There is one 8 Ohm and two 4 Ohm jacks here and between these outputs, most popular speaker combinations can be accommodated. You’ll find that different impedance loads change the way your amp sounds and feels - and though it is usually best to match the load you are using to the matching SPEAKER impedance output –...

  • Page 16: Factory Sample Settings

    FACTORY SAMPLE SETTINGS Roots Clean / Texas Lead Spankin’ Clean / Vocal Lead Pushed Clean / Thick Crunch Tight Crunch / Soaring Lead Alternative Clean / Huge Crunch PAGE 12...

  • Page 17: Personal Settings

    PERSONAL SETTINGS PAGE 13...

  • Page 18: 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 19 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 20: 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 21 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 22 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 23: 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 24 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 25 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 26 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 27 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 28 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 29: 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 30 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 31 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 32: Tube Task Charts: 5:25 & 5:50

    PAGE 28...
  • Page 33 PAGE 29...

  • Page 34: Part Sheets: 5:25 & 5:50

    PAGE 30...
  • Page 35 PAGE 31...
  • Page 36 NOTES...
  • Page 37 ® ®...
  • Page 38 ® 09/14/09...

This manual is also suitable for:

Express 5:25

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