MESA BOOGIE MARK 1 RE -ISSUE Owner's Manual
Hello from the Tone Farm ...You, smart player and all around intuitive human, have put your trust in us to be your amplifier company. This is something we do not take lightly. By purchasing and choosing this unit 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 now the owner of a great amp, bred of fine all tube amp heritage...
MK-1 Table of Contents FRONT PANEL: Precautions Overview Inputs 1 & 2 / Volumes 1 & 2 Treble Bass Middle Toggle Switches 60 / 100 Standby Switch Power / Tweed Switch 1 2 2/3 3 3 3 4 4/5 REAR PANEL: A.C.
PRECAUTIONS & WARNINGS Your MESA/Boogie Amplifier is a professional instrument. Please treat it with respect and operate it properly. USE COMMON SENSE AND ALWAYS OBSERVE THESE PRECAUTIONS: WARNING: EU: permission from the Supply Authority is needed before connection. WARNING: Vacuum tube amplifiers generate heat. To insure proper ventilation always make certain there is at least four inches (100mm) of space behind the rear of the amplifier cabinet. Keep away from curtains or any flammable objects.
MARK 1 Operating Instructions OVERVIEW: CONGRATULATIONS ! You’ve just become the proud owner of one of the most influential guitar amplifiers ever made - the Boogie MARK 1 ! This is the legendary amp that introduced all of the features most in demand by players today ! The Boogie MARK 1 gave birth to the Multi-Stage High Gain Preamp, the 100/60 or Half Power switch, Direct or Line-Out the Preamp In/Out Jacks (Effects Loop) and Pull Shift functions, too name just a very few.
FRONT PANEL: 32 4 65 32 98 7 98 7 4 10 10 INPUTS 1 & 2 - VOLUMES 1 & 2: These are the instrument Input jacks for the MARK I and their respective Volume Controls. They are not designed for use with two instruments, but rather to access two very different gain stages. INPUT 2 is a relatively normal preamp channel with qualities reminiscent of early Fender “black face” amplifiers.
FRONT PANEL: (Continued) 65 76 5 32 32 65 32 32 4 4 65 4 98 4 10 98 7 98 7 98 7 98 7 10 10 10 10 10 BASS: This control determines the amount of low end present in the sound. Unlike most amplifiers, the BASS Control on the MARK I is extremely powerful. Although it is fed by the TREBLE Control and is subject to its settings, the BASS Control is less sensitive to the TREBLE than in other amplifiers.
FRONT PANEL: (Continued) STANDBY SWITCH: The STANDBY switch turns off the high voltages in your Boogie, while allowing it to idle, keeping the tube filaments warm. It should be used during power-up to keep from “shocking” cold power tubes. Simply flip the POWER switch to the ON position while leaving the STANDBY switch in the standby position (toggle down) for about a minute. ON POWER This reduces the strain on your power tubes and prolongs their toneful life substantially.
FRONT PANEL: (Continued) POWER / TWEED SWITCH: Continued From hard rock to insane metal, the MARK I can be your essential ingredient to achieving any tone imaginable! Those players who want that British “crunch” tone can try replacing the output tubes with four European - style EL34 power tubes. Greatly enhanced, shredding top end and the grinding lows so important to a great metal sound result from this tube change.
REAR PANEL: (Continued) 4 32 98 7 10 OUT EFFECTS LOOP & LEVEL CONTROL: This control and the two adjacent 1/4” jacks comprise the Effects Loop of the MARK I. When Effects devices are connected to the Loop, they are inserted between the pre-amp and the power section and loss of gain and signal strength due to impedance or input voltage mismatch is minimized. The FX LEVEL Control can increase or decrease the signal strength from FXFXLEVEL LEVEL unity gain present at the SEND and RETURN jacks.
REAR PANEL: (Continued) 65 4 32 4 98 7 10 98 7 32 10 OUT PRESENCE: The primary function of the PRESENCE Control is to attenuate the high end and control dynamic compression in the power section. High settings produce more sparkle, cut and lend a more open quality to the Channel. Low settings of the PRESENCE Control compress the sound and enhance the more vocal like qualities of single notes.
MARK I TUBE TASK CHART NOTE: Before changing tubes, flip the POWER SWITCH to the off position or to STANDBY. CAUTION: Tubes are HOT when they have been in use.
MK-1 Personal Sample Settings Sheet 100 RMS ON POWER 1 2 60 RMS STANDBY TWEED VOLUME 1 VOLUME 2 MASTER TREBLE BASS MIDDLE MARK I 100 RMS ON POWER 1 2 60 RMS STANDBY TWEED VOLUME 1 VOLUME 2 MASTER TREBLE BASS MIDDLE MARK I 100 RMS ON POWER 1 2 60 RMS STANDBY TWEED VOLUME 1 VOLUME 2 MASTER TREBLE BASS MIDDLE MARK I 100 RMS ON POWER 1 2 60 RMS STANDBY TWEED VOLUME 1 VOLUME 2 MASTER TREBLE BASS MIDDLE MARK I 100 RMS ON POWER 1 2 60 RMS STANDBY TWEED VOLUME 1
TUBE MAINTENANCE & 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.
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...
BIAS ADJUSTMENT: ( A continuing series...) NOTE: An article written by Randall Smith that we thought you might find interesting. CATHODE ( ) GRID ( , ) SCREEN GRID ( ) BEAMCONFINING ELECTRODE ( ) .. ..... .... .. ... . .... PLATE ( , ) Here’s a question we often hear: Structure of a 6L6 / 5881 Beam Power Pentode. “Why doesn’t Mesa put bias adjustments in their amplifiers?” Well, there’s a short answer and a long answer to this question.
BIAS ADJUSTMENT: (Continued) When you set the bias (whether it’s by selecting the right resistors, as we do, or adjusting a trimmer — which is quicker) what you are doing is establishing the correct amount of idle CURRENT that flows through the power tubes. But you can’t adjust the current directly, you can only change it by adjusting the amount of bias VOLTAGE that goes onto the tubes’ control grids. Voltage and current are NOT the same.
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.
ON TRIODES, PENTODES & IRISHMENN 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 & IRISHMENT: (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 stricly enforced at Irish pubs: During normal operation, the traffic flow is similarily unimpeded and uni-directional toward the bar and this process rectifies the work-day negativity.
PENTODES: (Continued) stopping them. The influence of the plate takes over and - being solid metal and of the highest positive attraction - it is at this final destination that the electrons congregate. 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.
MARK I Front View JACK pt# 610130 SWITCH pt# SWITCH pt# 601073 605373 100 RMS ON POWER 1 POT pt# POT pt# POT pt# POT pt# POT pt# POT pt# 591047 591047 591047 591048 591278 591048 2 60 RMS STANDBY TWEED VOLUME 1 VOLUME 2 MASTER TREBLE BASS MARK I MIDDLE KNOB pt# (all knobs) 408109 PILOT LIGHT pt# 703120 BLUE ONLY PAGE 24 JACK pt# 610110 MARK I Rear View FUSE HOLDER pt# 790342 JACK pt# 610115 KNOB pt# 408109 JACK pt# (all three) 610110 KNOB pt# 409124 FUSE pt# 3A SLO BLO
MESA BOOGIE The Spirit of Art in Technology Thank you for trusting MESA/Boogie to be your amplifier company and we wish you many years of toneful enjoyment from this handbuilt all tube instrument.
The Spirit of Art in Technology (707) 778-6565 FAX NO.
