Mesa Boogie Setting's Meta-study

[Heady Jam Fan]

Also surprised he has the reverb at 0.

I was surprised too, but does he still use the rack reverbs?

I know he was using the Alesis Microverb in the Reverse setting as an ambient (more like a delay than a reverb) for leads. Not sure if he is using those for reverb otherwise. I swear there are some live shows where I can hear the distinctive springiness of a Fender reverb when he is using that amp. Not to mention, he has the Mesa Boogie reverb marked at 7 or 8 - I can't believe he use the Mesa's semi-decent reverb and not the Fender's superb reverb.

[Jkendrick]

Is that the mid pot to the far left where the input 2 is on my DR? These settings are pretty different from mine, but i don't have a mid pot.

[Heady Jam Fan]

Is that the mid pot to the far left where the input 2 is on my DR? These settings are pretty different from mine, but i don't have a mid pot.

Yep. And who knows why value pot it is, and whether the mid range resistor is still in there.

[Hoody]

Treys is not an active boost on his DR mid knob.  And it's a 25k.  The info on this site about it isn't entirely accurate.  And he used a celestion blue in the DR blew it, and then used a v30 sometime, and then the weber blue dog 50 watt alnico with light dope. 

Great pics of the settings whoever posted them.  Thanks so much for sharing.  Best I've ever seen.  He tinkered a bit with the settings from time to time but I'm pretty sure that volume must be 3.  He couldn't get that clean sound otherwise and the stage volume is usually not that loud.

I wonder how much he has the light dist ts9 on,  I don't think it's all that often.  The volume jump and distortion would just be too much to get that tone he has on clean songs.  Maybe if he really rolls back volume, which he does, but still would seem unlikely he has it on a lot.

[Heady Jam Fan]

Treys is not an active boost on his DR mid knob.  And it's a 25k.  The info on this site about it isn't entirely accurate.  And he used a celestion blue in the DR blew it, and then used a v30 sometime, and then the weber blue dog 50 watt alnico with light dope. 

Great pics of the settings whoever posted them.  Thanks so much for sharing.  Best I've ever seen.  He tinkered a bit with the settings from time to time but I'm pretty sure that volume must be 3.  He couldn't get that clean sound otherwise and the stage volume is usually not that loud.

I wonder how much he has the light dist ts9 on,  I don't think it's all that often.  The volume jump and distortion would just be too much to get that tone he has on clean songs.  Maybe if he really rolls back volume, which he does, but still would seem unlikely he has it on a lot.

Definitely interested in any info you think isn't right - and why!

Any reason you think its a 25k pot?

I know he switched the speaker around in the DR and that he used a Blue Dog at some point, but I thought the Bruno cab was probably loaded with Celestion Blues? Just a guess though.

[Heady Jam Fan]

The only thing I would add is that when the volume is at 8.5, "pulling it" should be less significant at that volume level/gain level.

I tried the Pull Bright my Red Stripe today with the volume at 8.5 and I agree with you - it doesn't make a difference when the volume is that high. I also decided I think I like my tone more when the volume is at 8.5 than at 7.

So, since the Pull Bright on the volume knob makes no difference when that amp is set to 8.5, do we think the "P" is written before the setting for the knob? So the treble, bass and lead master are pulled?

[Heady Jam Fan]

I put some 6L6's in place of the EL34's and I'm digging that tone. Class A is now a usable setting on this amp and, at least last night, I found myself preferring that over Simul-Class. It has a smooth, tight bass. Tighter than Simul-Class, and smoother than EL34's. I thought I liked the EL34's in combo with 6L6's in Simul-Class mode, but that mode has more bass than needed, and the EL34's have a nice warm low-mid, but they are less smooth (a slight rattiness or something). To the best of my knowledge, Class-A with 6L6's is the setup Trey uses (see my post on page 2, and this thread: http://strangedesign.org/forums/index.php?topic=2514.0).

[seriesnuns]

I recently thought my sound was off and I thought it may have been the power tubes Eurotube(JJ 6L6). I felt like I was swapping them to much. (I run half power so I swap the inside and outside from time to time).

I ordered a Big bottle EL34 from eurotube. It's supposed to have characteristics of both tubes. So far I'm pretty impressed. It was nice because eurotube can get the tube correct for Mesa bias and you don't have to worry about voltage affecting the life of the tube. (Supposedly you see less life with a  6L6 on the outside)

Only been a month but time will tell.

http://www.eurotubes.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=63

[Heady Jam Fan]

I recently thought my sound was off and I thought it may have been the power tubes Eurotube(JJ 6L6). I felt like I was swapping them to much. (I run half power so I swap the inside and outside from time to time).

I ordered a Big bottle EL34 from eurotube. It's supposed to have characteristics of both tubes. So far I'm pretty impressed. It was nice because eurotube can get the tube correct for Mesa bias and you don't have to worry about voltage affecting the life of the tube. (Supposedly you see less life with a  6L6 on the outside)

Only been a month but time will tell.

http://www.eurotubes.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=63

I talked with Eurotubes, Doug's tubes and some people on the amp tech forum on TGP. Per the thread I linked to above, Doug said he would only really suggest an out-of-spec set of Russian tubes that run cool (early distortion), so I was turned off of trying 6L6's. However, a thread on Grail Tone mentioned talking to a tech at Mesa and he said the 6L6's in the 90's were not durable, hence Mesa's change in their manual strongly suggesting not to use 6L6's in the outer slots, but current production 6L6's are more robust. The people on TGP all use 6L6's in those outer positions and had no concerns about running 6L6's. Likewise, Eurotubes folks are not hesitant in using 6L6's. In fact, they sell 6L6 quads without specifying a matched pair that runs cooler to go in the outer slot (akin to their suggestion to you to rotate the tubes). They told me the Mark series amps run the power tubes so cold anyway, it wouldn't be a concern. Those guys also said they don't know why I was asking and they wouldn't sell 6L6's for the outer slots of their was a risk to the tubes or amp, so I sent them the PDF manual that strongly suggests not using 6L6's. They never responded.

I'm looking forward to playing a bit more in Class A with 6L6's.

[dontpanic]

In regards to the reverb issue... I must say I really love the sound of a microverb in front of, or in the effects loop of my boogie (50 caliber plus). I also use I in front of my small rig (5f1 clone and 80's fender sidekick 15) with much success. In the latter rig, the champ clone gets the microverb alone, and I add a bit of the fender spring in the mix. To me there is something special about warm tubes and digital 'verb.

[Heady Jam Fan]

Those 3 black pedals must be for the R2 channel, EQ, and Reverb and this is why, Trey uses a Boss footswitch for the Mesa lead channel.


And if anyone's interested I think this is also from TAB 2012:

I like the MD409U3 on the Fender. I've been using an e906, which I believe is basically a reissue of the MD409U3, using the same capsule. Great mics, easier to use than the SM57, a little more open and natural sounding (while SM57 adds some mids that some guitarists like). Probably my favorite dynamic mic.

[Heady Jam Fan]

Those 3 black pedals must be for the R2 channel, EQ, and Reverb and this is why, Trey uses a Boss footswitch for the Mesa lead channel.

I think your right about the footswitches. Looking at concert pics, I only see those three footswitches when the Boogie is on stage. However, the GEQ Switch on the front of the amp seems to, relatively clearly depending on the specific pic, be set to "Auto" in every picture I can find. I tested this with the GEQ footswitch plugged in, and when the amp is in "Auto" the GEQ still automatically turns on with the lead channel. The GEQ footswitch can turn the GEQ on when in rhythm modes, or off when in lead mode, but the lead footswitch still toggles both the lead channel and the GEQ when the switch is set to Auto. Not to mention the "Boogie Lead CH" switch is front and center - Trey uses it often, for his leads - but the GEQ, R2 and REV switches are off to the side because I don't think he uses them much. Additionally - and this is really hard to see in pics - but I think the Lead Master switch is pulled in every pic I can find. The GEQ's curve (which takes out a lot of treble) is necessary when the Lead Master is pulled, or the amp would be WAY too bright, so I'm pretty sure Trey uses the GEQ and the Lead Master knob pulled at the same time. The only thing I'm confused about is that the Lead Master appears to be set to "6" which is REALLY loud when the knob is also pulled. Maybe that is fine in a band mix with compression from speakers, mics, and the sound guy's gear.

A few more images with the 3 custom toggle footswitches:



You can also see the Boogie Lead CH switch here too: