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amplifier has when not heavily manipulated with the Graphic EQ before passing judgment on, or passing by,
less EQ’d sounds.
This is true for all frequencies; however 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 frequen-
cies. 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 Ex-
tension 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 these 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.
CABCLONE SETTINGS FOR OPTIMIZED LEVELS Set the individual Channel MASTER controls below 11:00 (to avoid
clipping of the CabClone’s Input circuitry.)
Next, set the CabClone DI’s Input Level to where the Yellow LED is illuminated on your highest/loudest dynamic
peaks, but so that they don’t light up the Red LED. Remember that high gain sounds/Modes usually have lower
dynamic content overall (due to natural tube compression as gain is increased) while Clean sounds can have
higher dynamic peaks.
Then, starting with all Output and Console Input Levels zeroed out, increase the CabClone’s OUTPUT to the
desired level for your Headphones or a Console’s Input.
FUSE REPLACEMENT The Mains Fuse is there to help protect your amplifier from spikes or power surges in the AC
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