Mesa Fillmore 50 - Helpful Hints for Tone Shaping; Front Panel Gain Control Usage

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HELPFUL HINTS

NOTE: REDUNDANT INFORMATION: Throughout this Operating Guide you may encounter redundant information and sections that

are repeated for your continued awareness and as reminders. This is done so a person can read only the sections they are inter-

ested in and yet still get the important points they should know or NEED to know about the FILLMORE™. We apologize if this gets

annoying for the cover-to-cover reader, but even they may appreciate it some time in the future when referencing this Guide quickly

for a speciﬁc topic.

• Beware of high settings on the BASS control in the DRIVE and HI modes, especially when the GAIN is set high. Too much BASS

will produce a ﬂubby, indistinct attack and “slow” the response time. A basic rule regarding the BASS control might be this; As the

GAIN goes up...the BASS should come down.

• The GAIN and TREBLE Controls are the most powerful tone shaping controls in each Mode and should be used with taste. They

determine much about the attack characteristic and the overall personality of the sound in all the Modes. Many of the great sounds

found in all Modes will ﬁnd these two Controls in their middle ranges.

NOTE: Avoid setting the TREBLE high (above 2:00) when the GAIN is to be set high as this brings about the tendency for a slightly

microphonic tube to ring or squeal.

• Your ampliﬁer will sound better and feel better to play if you have at least one speaker cabinet touching the ﬂoor you are standing

on while you play. The coupling effect and especially the transmission of bass frequencies will cause the amp to sound fatter and

the strings to feel more substantial and tangible when the amp (or cab) sits on the ﬂoor. Wood ﬂoors (like stages) are really great!

Let’s face it... the guitar can be one of those weird instruments that rarely feels the same way two days in a row, night to night, from

room to room... and we can use all the help we can get. This usually helps... with the only exception being a stage ﬁlled with too

many live mics...sometimes then you are forced to lift the amp to avoid the coupling effect.

• Use the STANDBY switch every time you power-up (from cold or hot), during set breaks, cable hook-ups and anytime you are not

playing for a few minutes. Doing so will increase the toneful life of your tubes

• Circuits emanating from this “other side” of the MESA Line (as in non-MARK ampliﬁers) like your FILLMORE™ tend to favor TRE-

BLE and PRESENCE control settings on the lower side for sounds in the warmer domain. Depending on guitar woods, pickups

and technique, don’t be surprised if you ﬁnd great sounds below 12:00, or even all the way off on the TREBLE and PRESENCE,

with the MID’s broad Q that carries substantial top end providing all the top end cut you need.

• In the FILLMORE™, different and unique top end frequencies are found in the TREBLE, MID and PRESENCE controls. We sug-

gest becoming familiar with what each of these powerful controls bring out or bury in the mix and learn to “swap the top” as you see

ﬁt for different styles, characters, responses and attack center-points. Spending a little time early on with these three powerful Tone

and “dynamic” controls will allow you to dial up sounds quickly and easily and enhance your enjoyment of your ampliﬁer.

FRONT PANEL

GAIN

This is, by far, the most powerful control in the Tone Control string. Its setting determines the style and personality of the

selected Mode(s). It meters the gain in different tube stages depending on the Mode and it sets Input Stage headroom, which de-

termines whether the sound will be clean or overdriven. It also acts as a subtle Tone control as the tube stage’s gain is increased or

decreased and imparts its own “color” on the sound.

In all the Modes, there are three regions of the GAIN control; a low gain zone between 8:00 - 11:30, a warmer, more saturated zone

from 11:00 - 2:00 and a higher gain zone from 2:30 – 5:00. Each of these zones can be used for many different applications and all

can be used for both chording and single note solo work. As the GAIN control is swept throughout its range it imparts different textures

and tonal characteristics.

Generally speaking, the lower end of the control (8:30 – 11:30) in both Channel’s Modes produces a brighter, more open character

that has more dynamic content available. This region is great for clean, sparkling chording in CLEAN, where the maximum headroom

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