Bands. This will keep some sense of reality in the mix. Give your ears and brain time to adjust to the natural
midrange content the amplifier has when not heavily manipulated with the Graphic EQ before passing
judgment on or passing by viable less-EQ’d sounds.
This is true for all frequencies; however, the guitar is a midrange instrument, and much character and a large
portion of the cut, impact, and definition needed to anchor your position in a mix is carried in the midrange
frequencies. If needed, perhaps even stop playing for a few minutes and come back after a period of
“recovery.” Your perspective will return to a more balanced one, and you’ll be in a better position to judge
your sculpting with the Graphic EQ in a fair, objective, and musical way.
One tip from the world of wise studio and live front-of-house engineers applies here as well: It’s a great
practice to begin your shaping with the Graphic EQ by cutting what you don’t want rather than boosting
what you think you do want.
This approach does a few things that are beneficial: One; it keeps the noise floor (hiss and hum) lower.
Two; it preserves headroom in the power section. The more radical the EQ curve, especially in the low
frequencies that take more power to amplify due to their longer wavelengths, the more power it takes to
amplify the sound. Three; it is easier to keep a fair perspective on what you are shaping, as boosting trains
your ear to hear more is better, and this is rarely true when it comes to music.
Applying the engineer’s method trains your ear toward balance and to add only what is needed for a great
sound. Using care and taste in your EQ’ing will preserve tonal balance and power and ultimately give you
the optimum control over your headroom (available power) and place in a mix..
• Coverage Beats Power! Adding additional cabinetry increases your (stage) volume and coverage far more
than increasing wattage in an amplifier’s power section. If you need to hear yourself better, try adding an
extension cabinet.
NOTE: When adding Extension Cabinet(s) make sure you keep the Impedance Load on your amplifier correct.
Most MESA Cabinets are wired for an 8 Ohm Load. Mesa Cabinets built post mid-90s feature a Parallel Jack
on the Cabinet’s Rear Jack Plate and this is one way to connect an additional cabinet. When doing so via
this method, be sure to move the cabinet connected to your amp’s 8 Ohm Speaker Output over to the 4
Ohm Speaker Output (assuming the cabinet you are adding is also rated at 8 Ohms).
You can also connect two 8 Ohm Cabinets independently, each to one of the two 4 Ohm Speaker Outputs
on your amplifier (and most MESA amps). In either case, the two 8 Ohm Cabinets together create a 4 Ohm
Load, so you want to connect them to the 4 Ohm Speaker Outputs in one of the two ways listed above.
Some MESA amplifiers have only one 4 Ohm Speaker Output to accommodate the internal Silent Load
feature. You can still connect two 8 Ohm Cabinets to this single 4 Ohm Speaker Output, but you will need
to do so either with the Parallel jack on the rear of your MESA Cabinet or if your cabinet is an older MESA
cabinet or another Brand that does not have a Parallel jack, a (non-shielded) “Y” Speaker Cable. You can
use a Shielded cable in a pinch, however, shielded instrument cables usually have smaller wire, and when
it comes to Speaker Cables, thicker gauge wire is preferable.
CHANNEL SELECT - PULL LEAD
There are two ways to access the Modes; The included Rhythm/Lead Footswitch and the PULL LEAD pull switch
on the LEAD DRIVE control.
• To use the Footswitch: Connect the supplied unshielded Footswitch cable and Footswitch to the Front
Panel FOOT SWITCH jack on the amplifier. Push in the LEAD DRIVE pull switch and select the desired Mode
on the Footswitch – Red LED o = Rhythm Mode, Red LED illuminated = Lead Mode.
• To use Mode Select on the Front Panel: Pull the LEAD DRIVE pull switch to activate the Lead Mode. LEAD
DRIVE Pushed in default ¬– Red LED o = Rhythm Mode.
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