Owner’s Manual
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. Your reward is that you are the new owner of an amp, bred of fine all tube heritage...benefiting from the many pioneering and patented Mesa circuits that led to the refinement of your new model.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS Read these instructions. Keep these instructions. Heed all warnings. Follow all instructions. Do not use this apparatus near water. Clean only with dry cloth. Do not block any ventilation openings. Install in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves, or other apparatus (including amplifiers) that produce heat. Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized or grounding-type plug.
Table of Contents Precautions________________________________________________________________________________ 0 Overview_________________________________________________________________________________ 1-2 FRONT PANEL CONTROLS & FEATURES MODES: CLEAN, CRUNCH, BLUES, BURN_____________________________________________________ 3-4 GAIN______________________________________________________________________________________ 5 TREBLE_ _________________________________________________________________________________
Operating Instructions Overview: Congratulations on choosing one of the Express models as your amplifier and welcome to the MESA Family! These amplifiers represent 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.
Overview: (Continued) 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. The Reverb effect can be triggered on and off via the included Footswitch.
FRONT PANEL: Controls & Features 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. Because of this more traditional gain structure, many players that are looking for a vintage style response from the Express should be at home here.
FRONT PANEL: Controls & Features (Continued) 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 Channel and owns the zone between the CLEAN and CRUNCH modes.
FRONT PANEL: Controls & Features (Continued) 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. It is also a very important Tone control as well.
FRONT PANEL: Controls & Features (Continued) 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 dramatically as it blends in a group of frequencies that tend to soften or stiffen the way a sound feels to play.
FRONT PANEL: Controls & Features (Continued) 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.
FRONT PANEL: Controls & Features (Continued) 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. The possibilities are almost limitless when you combine the sonic personalities of the four Modes with the versatility and power of the CONTOUR feature.
REAR PANEL: Controls & Features 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.
REAR PANEL: Controls & Features (Continued) 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.
REAR PANEL: Controls & Features (Continued) 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.
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
PERSONAL SETTINGS PAGE 13
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...
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. Let us begin by saying; It is a “very good” idea to keep at least a couple of spare pre-amp tubes on hand at all times to insure uninterrupted performance.
BIAS ADJUSTMENT: (Part of a continuing series) An Article written by Randall Smith that we thought you might find interesting. CATHODE ( ) GRID ( , ) SCREEN GRID ( ) Here’s a question we often hear: “Why doesn’t Mesa put bias adjustments in their amplifiers?” BEAMCONFINING ELECTRODE ( ) .. ..... .. .. . ... .. ... PLATE ( , ) Structure of a 6L6 / 5881 Beam Power Pentode. Well, there’s a short answer and a long answer to this question.
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.
BIAS ADJUSTMENT: (Continued) Again, this has some merit .. but it’s still not as good as using tubes that are matched in the first place because compensating for the mis-match causes the push-pull circuit itself to become unbalanced. Two wrongs don’t really make a right. Some of the other recommended biasing, “methods” — such as -”.. tubes running red hot, increase the bias .. sounds harsh and runs too cool, turn it down ...” are guesswork at best.
SPEAKER IMPEDANCE MATCHING & HOOK-UP GUIDE: IMPEDANCE: Wiring up speakers to provide the most effective load and making sure that all of them are in phase will help in creating the best sound possible. This is not too difficult, as long as you understand a few things about loading and how to connect your speakers to provide an optimal resistive load. MESA/Boogie amplifiers can handle 4 and 8 ohms effectively.
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.
WIRING SCHEMES...
6 WIRING SCHEMES...
WIRING SCHEMES...
WIRING SCHEMES...
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. two, three or five. All tubes also require a filament or heater which is not included in the count.
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.
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.
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LED pt# 395438 590150 590151 590738 590740 590740 LED LED pt# 394251 pt# 394232 590736 590148 LENS pt# 703330 590148 590151 ALL KNOBS PT# 408015 590739 590739 2 SWITCHES LED pt# pt# 607233 394201 590737 SWITCH pt# 607233 3 JACKS pt# 619356 2 SWITCHES pt# 600631 590738 LED pt# 395735 LENS pt# 703330 SWITCH pt# 619357 590739 FRONT PANEL: Express 5:25 SWITCH pt# 607231 JACK pt# 610120 SWITCH pt# 607231 3 x DUAL JACKS pt# 619357 REAR PANEL: Express 5:25 DOM pt# 790100 EXP pt# 795080
LED pt# 395438 LED pt# 395438 590151 590738 590740 LENS pt# 703330 590150 LED pt# 394251 590736 590740 LENS pt# 703330 590148 590148 ALL KNOBS PT# 408015 590739 590151 LENS pt# 703330 LED pt# 395735 590739 2 SWITCHES pt# 607233 590737 SWITCH pt# 607233 590738 LED pt# 395735 LENS pt# 703330 SWITCH pt# 619357 3 JACKS pt# 619356 LENS pt# 703782 BULB pt# 703047 HOLDER pt# 703047 590739 FRONT PANEL: Express 5:50 SWITCH pt# 607231 JACK pt# 610120 SWITCH pt# 607231 3 x DUAL JACKS pt# 6
NOTES
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® 09/14/09
