MESA BOOGIE Owner's Manual
Greetings from the Home of Tone Congratulations on your choice of the M-PULSE as your Bass amplifier and welcome to the MESA/Boogie family! As a discriminating player you probably know that you have purchased the most comprehensive instrument for amplifying Bass that is available. What you might not realize is that this entitles you to all the experience, resources and commitment our twenty-five years of service to musicians world wide has to offer.
Table of Contents Precautions Overview 0 1/2 Instant Gratification 2 Helpful Hints 3 FRONT PANEL: Instrument Inputs: ACTIVE & PASSIVE 4 GAIN BASS MID TREBLE 4 5 5 5/6 PARAMETRIC EQUALIZER GAIN CONTROL: Parametric EQ FREQUENCY CONTROLS: Parametric EQ COMPRESSOR THRESHOLD RATIO MAIN Output SOLO Output 6 6/7 7 8 8 8/9 9 9 POWER SWITCH 9 REAR PANEL: FUSE 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: 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. WARNING: Do not block any ventilation openings on the rear or top of the amplifier.
OVERVIEW: Congratulations on your choice of the M-PULSE as your Bass amplifier. This latest offering is our most comprehensive amplifier for electric bass and it brings together both new and old technology, solid state and vacuum tube design to create an instrument of unparalleled performance and soulful sound. M-PULSE amplifiers start with an all-tube pre-amp for the most musical response and this feeds the three standard rotary tone controls BASS, MID and TREBLE.
OVERVIEW: Continued This power is interfaced to you via a pair of Output controls that serve as overall MASTER VOLUMES. These are MAIN and SOLO and the two astound bassists much as they did when we began including them on our guitar amplifiers. The logic is in their names MAIN and SOLO. When players get this scheme they say “why hasn’t there always been two”. There will be from now on as imitators follow, but right now we are giving you another footswitchable feature in the form of this SOLO control.
HELPFUL HINTS: 1. Connect your A.C. Power Cable to a grounded outlet. Avoid ground lifts (3 to 2 prong adapter) whenever possible. 2. The optimum speaker load for your M-PULSE is 4 Ohms. You may use a cabinet (s) of a higher rating safely (8 Ohm) with no degradation in tone, however the amplifier will not produce its full rated wattage. Minimum load rating is 2 Ohms and while the MPULSE will handle this lower load condition - and in fact produce more than its rated power, it is not recommended.
FRONT PANEL: INSTRUMENT INPUTS: ACTIVE / PASSIVE These are the Instrument Input jacks and between them you can match the signal output level of virtually any instrument. The ACTIVE Input is padded down for greater input stage headroom and this works well with basses that use an on-board pre-amp with an active tone control circuit. Usually these instruments put out a much hotter signal than conventional basses, even when their tone controls are set “flat”.
FRONT PANEL CONTROLS: (Continued) BASS: This control is responsible for the basic mix of low frequencies in the tube pre-amp. As mentioned earlier in the Helpful Hints section, the BASS control is an active shelving type control as opposed to a passive style control. This means that a center Q point has been chosen and this control allows you to either boost or cut that frequency.
FRONT PANEL CONTROLS: TREBLE: Continued (Continued) retaining all the necessary cut and focus associated with a traditional passive TREBLE control. As the control is dialed below 12:00, it begins a 6db per octave cut from 3.2Khz to the shelving point at 723Hz, where it continues to attenuate all frequencies above 723Hz until - 20db is reached where cut gain remains constant until the control reaches 7:30 (off).
FRONT PANEL CONTROLS: (Continued) GAIN CONTROLS: Parametric EQ Continued expect to have a great sound. Make small moves and then allow your ears time to adjust to the difference. With controls this powerful, EQ Hangover is a part of the buzz. Don’t be surprised if after tweaking for an hour with the PARAMETRIC, you go back to your starting point and think the amp is broken...it’s not...your ears are suffering from an overdose of EQ. May we suggest the old saying “less is more” applies here beautifully.
FRONT PANEL CONTROLS: (Continued) COMPRESSION: This section of your M-PULSE controls the processing of dynamics and this in turn, feeds the SIMULSTATE power section. It is another powerful tool that should be used with taste as it also has the power to be easily misused resulting in an unnatural sound with slaughtered dynamics.
FRONT PANEL CONTROLS: (Continued) RATIO: Continued From 12:00 on up to the maximum setting of “00” (Infinity) is reached at 5:30, an extremely powerful compression effect is produced - at which point the signal is fully compressed. There are very few times you will ever need this much compression, but if you ever do, it is all here in this upper range.
REAR PANEL CONTROLS: CAUTION:Unplug power before removing fuse or bolts holding chassis M-PULSE TM SIMUL STATE BASS AMPLIFIER TUBE DRIVEN-MOSFET POWER SLAVE OUT LEVEL DIRECT OUT EFFECTS HANDBUILT IN PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA LEVEL FUSE GROUND LIFT SPEAKER OUTPUT FUSE 12A SLO BLO ON F.S.
REAR PANEL CONTROLS: (Continued SLAVE OUT: This 1/4" jack and control provide a signal derived from the speaker jack. Perfect for using the M-PULSE as a master pre-amp, or slaving to additional power amps for more power when needed. Some players use the SLAVE to derive an FX Send Signal and go to other amps for their wet sound.
REAR PANEL CONTROLS: (Continued EFFECTS: The EFFECTS LOOP section of the M-PULSE is responsible for handling the interfacing of external signal processing. It is also comprised of four elements and they are; (1) a SEND jack, (2) a RETURN jack, (3) a MIX control and (4) a Program switch. Their functions are as follows; EFFECTS SEND: This is the output of the pre-amp and allows you to send a signal to your effects for processing. ON F.S.
FACTORY SAMPLE SETTING Huge & Round (Parametric EQ Optional) ACTIVE SIMUL STATE POWER 0 db 0 0 0 0 ON INSTRUMENT INPUTS ON OFF OFF FS GAIN BASS MID 40 Hz TREBLE 30 PASSIVE 120 400 90 250 1.
FACTORY SAMPLE SETTING Super Push (Parametric EQ Optional) ACTIVE SIMUL STATE POWER 0 db 0 0 0 0 ON INSTRUMENT INPUTS ON OFF OFF FS GAIN BASS MID 40 Hz TREBLE 30 PASSIVE 120 90 400 250 1.
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...
PERSONAL SETTINGS PAGE ACTIVE SIMUL STATE POWER 0 db 0 0 0 0 ON INSTRUMENT INPUTS ON OFF OFF FS GAIN BASS MID 40 Hz TREBLE 30 PASSIVE 120 90 400 250 1.4K 900 FS 6K THRESHOLD RATIO COMPRESSION ACTIVE 0 0 0 POWER ON OFF OFF FS GAIN BASS MID 40 Hz TREBLE 30 120 90 400 250 1.
PERSONAL SETTINGS PAGE ACTIVE SIMUL STATE POWER 0 db 0 0 0 0 ON INSTRUMENT INPUTS ON OFF OFF FS GAIN BASS MID 40 Hz TREBLE 30 PASSIVE 120 90 400 250 1.4K 900 FS 6K THRESHOLD RATIO COMPRESSION ACTIVE 0 0 0 POWER ON OFF OFF FS GAIN BASS MID 40 Hz TREBLE 30 120 90 400 250 1.
MID POT # 592151 TREBLE B A S S A M P L I F I E R BASS POT # 593737 TM GAIN POT # 592151 HANDBUILT IN PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA WARNING: To reduce risk of fire or electric shock, Do not remove cover. No userserviceable parts inside. Refer servicing to qualified personnel. ON FS 0 POT # 593737 0 1.
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.
