Mesa/Boogie King Snake Owner's Manual
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Mesa/Boogie King Snake Owner's Manual

Mesa/Boogie King Snake Owner's Manual

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Owner's Manual

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Summary of Contents for Mesa/Boogie King Snake

  • 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 _____________________________________________________________________________ 1-3 INSTANT GRATIFICATION, HELPFUL HINTS ______________________________________________ 4-5 FRONT PANEL CONTROLS & FEATURES VOLUME 1 ________________________________________________________________________________ 6 VOLUME 2 ______________________________________________________________________________ 6-7 MASTER __________________________________________________________________________________ 7 TREBLE ________________________________________________________________________________ 7-8 MID/BOOST ____________________________________________________________________________ 8-9 BASS _____________________________________________________________________________________ 9 MULTI-WATT™...
  • Page 5 Randall Smith and MESA Engineering®. The Limited Edition KING SNAKE™ you have chosen is legendary in both sound and story because it is the direct descendant of the original Boogie that stood alone at that intersection so long ago. That amp was the transitional link between the low gain single channel amps of yesteryear and today’s high gain, multi-channel footswitching amplifiers.

  • Page 6: Overview

    On the KING SNAKE, the three-position Multi-Watt switch offers a choice of the full 100 watts of Class A/B power produced by all four 6L6s, 60 watts of Class A/B power that runs the inner two 6L6s and 10 watts of Class A Single-Ended power running the two left-most 6L6s for the ultimate in sweet, clip-able power.
  • Page 7 Of course, what would a re-creation of this iconic amp be without amazing Reverb? Not to fret, the KING SNAKE has ‘Verb... miles of it! And it’s all about vintage. We’ve voiced the all-tube, three-spring, long tank Reverb to include just the right amount of old school vibe.

  • Page 8: Instant Gratification, Helpful Hints

    POWER VOLUME 1 VOLUME 2 MASTER TREBLE MID/BOOST BASS ™ CLASSIC MK I LEAD PRESENCE = SET TO TASTE KING SNAKE HANDCRAFTED ™ VACUUM TUBE AMPLIFIER IN PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA BLACK FACE TUBE GUIDE 4 x 6L6 120V 5 x 12AX7...
  • Page 9 A/B switching can work in a small window of settings, there are MANY more settings and tonal options you’ll likely want to access where channel switching won’t work well. While this is possible at certain settings, the KING SNAKE is not set-up for Chan- nel Switching operation due to its optimization for a single channel platform.

  • Page 10: Front Panel Controls & Features

    Rear Panel PRESENCE choices, you will be able to achieve almost any style and tonal characteristic you wish. NOTE: The King Snake has SUBSTANTIAL BASS. One other important rule or scheme to follow is this; As the VOLUME (1 & 2) goes up, the BASS should come down.

  • Page 11: Volume 2

    USE WITH USE WITH TWO USE WITH COMBO For higher gain sounds in both Input 1 and Input 2, the KING SNAKE allows a little more room for experimentation with the TREBLE OTHER PATENTS 8Ω SPKRS, & 100 8Ω SPKR, & 60 PENDING than most of our other circuits.

  • Page 12: Treble

    HANDCRAFTED ™ VACUUM TUBE AMPLIFIER 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 BLACK FACE TUBE GUIDE 4 x 6L6 of the MID control! It doesn’t completely solve these issues, but it does provide a middle region previously unavailable that allows...

  • Page 13: Bass

    The KING SNAKE is one of the world’s warmest, fattest sounding amps and we encourage you to spend some time to learning the “give and take” skills needed to arrive at a well blended Tone with this huge sounding little amp. Once you spend some time, it will become second nature and you’ll be able to radically shape your sound, swap instruments, switch musical styles and craft truly in-...

  • Page 14: Standby

    POWER ™ POWER: This switch delivers the A.C. power to the KING SNAKE. Make sure the unit is grounded (all three terminals of the A.C. TUBE GUIDE 4 x 6L6 power cord must be connected to avoid injury to the user as well as to the unit) and that the proper voltage is present.

  • Page 15: Fuse

    PENDING NOTE: As the knobs used on the Rear Panel of the KING SNAKE are not numbered like those used on the Front Panel and use in- stead a white line as a pointer/indicator, throughout the Rear Panel Section of this guide we will use Clock Face settings (9:00–12:00, etc.) instead of numbers (9.0–12.0, etc.) to describe settings.

  • Page 16: Send/Return (Effects Loop)

    The EFFECTS LOOP SEND and RETURN provides an interface for effects process- ing between the preamp and the power section of the KING SNAKE. The jacks are switching type, meaning that when no plugs are inserted, the EFFECTS LOOP is bypassed. The Loop is wired in SERIES with the dry signal and therefor you will...

  • Page 17: Presence

    While the KING SNAKE is capable of tolerating mis- matches in the high direction (i.e. 16 Ohm Speaker/Load on the 8 Ohm jack of the KING SNAKE), it is not BLACK FACE TUBE GUIDE able to drive a 2 Ohm load without stressing the Tubes and Transformer.
  • Page 18 To use two external 16 Ohm cabinets (i.e. two 4x12 cabinets–each with 4x16 Ohm speakers wired Series Parallel), connect them to a “Y” cable or box and connect the “Y” to the 8 OHM Speaker jack. This scheme will provide a good impedance match as well. Consult the Speaker Impedance Matching &...
  • Page 19 NOTES...

  • Page 20: Factory Sample Settings

    STANDBY POWER VOLUME 1 VOLUME 2 MASTER TREBLE MID/BOOST BASS ™ CARLOS SANTANA LEAD TONE KING SNAKE HANDCRAFTED ™ PRESENCE = BLACKFACE @ 3:00 VACUUM TUBE AMPLIFIER IN PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA BLACK FACE TUBE GUIDE 4 x 6L6 120V 5 x 12AX7...

  • Page 21: Personal Settings

    PERSONAL SETTINGS 100 WATTS 10 WATTS STANDBY POWER VOLUME 1 VOLUME 2 MASTER TREBLE MID/BOOST BASS ™ KING SNAKE HANDCRAFTED ™ VACUUM TUBE AMPLIFIER IN PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA BLACK FACE TUBE GUIDE 4 x 6L6 120V 5 x 12AX7 60 Hz AMPLIFIER...

  • 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: 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 25 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 26 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 27 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 16 Ohm Cabinet 8 Ohm Cabinet 8 Ohm Cabinet SAFE MISMATCH CORRECT MATCH Partial back view of amplifier Partial back view of amplifier...
  • 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 8 Ohm Cabinet SAFE MISMATCH Partial back view of amp Partial back view of amplifier CORRECT MATCH 8 OHM...
  • Page 29 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 30: Tube Task Chart

    PAGE 26...

  • Page 31: Part Sheet

    PAGE 27...
  • Page 32 NOTES...
  • Page 33 ® ®...
  • Page 34 ® www.mesaboogie.com 14/02/14...

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