Mesa Boogie Mark II-C User Manual

MESA ENGINEERING INC.

MESA/BOOGIE LTD. 1317 ROSS STREET / PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA 94952 / TELEPHONE [phone]

MESA/Boogie Mark II-C
OPERATING MANUAL

Congratulations! You have purchased the finest music instrument amplifier that modern
technology and Old World craftsmanship can produce. Nothing has been spared in terms of
cost or care to make this unit the most versatile, most reliable, and best sounding amplifier
available. The MESA/Boogie itself is more like a fine musical instrument than a piece of
commercial gear, and as such it will continue to reward you richly as you gain more practice in
its use. With only reasonable care it should last a lifetime and, as experience has shown, a
well kept Boogie will maintain or increase in value as it ages.

Here is a list of controls and features and sample settings to help you gain familiarity with your
new amplifier. You are encouraged to experiment every way possible with speakers, controls
and external effects; your Boogie has been made virtually foolproof so damage in the event of
accident or misuse is quite unlikely. First, plug the AC cord into a wall socket and turn the
Power switch ON. It is not always necessary to have the three-pin power plug grounded, and
in some situations (such as multiple amp setups) a ground float adapter may reduce line
buzz. The Ground switch located on the amplifier rear panel should be set to the middle
position and switched to right or left only when buzzing line conditions warrant its use. With
the amplifier on STANDBY, plug the footswitch box into the lower front panel Jack using the
cord supplied, though any cord will work. If the red LED indicator on the footswitch box does
not light up, press the footswitch, also check that all five pullout switches on the control knobs
are fully pushed in. When the red LED is lit, the amplifier is in the Rhythm mode (Red =
Rhythm). Set Volume 1 to about 7 and Master 1 to about 2. These are the two gain controls
used primarily for rhythm playing. Generally you will want to run the Volume 1 control as high
as possible without causing unwanted distortion, in order to have available the most possible
sustain when switching into the Lead mode. The Master 1 will control the playing loudness
without changing the tone. The Bright switch pullout on the Volume 1 control has less and
less effect as the control is turned up higher and will have no noticeable effect from about 8 to

10. Set the Treble control to about 7. When the knob is pushed in, the tone control
equalization is similar to that on old Fender amplifiers; when pulled out, the Treble control
frequency center point is shifted downward to give a more robust sounding midrange. Treble
Shift, when pulled, is automatically switched on in Lead mode to give a hotter, fatter lead
sound. Set the Bass and Middle controls to about 2 each. The Master 1 control (already set to

2) also incorporates the Gain Boost pull switch that can be used for adding extra bottom to
the amp's tone as well as a slight increase in gain.

The Lead Drive controls the amount of overdrive sustain and distortion; set it to about 8. The
Pull Lead switch built into this control performs the same function as the footswitch, namely
triggering the relay. You will see the LED indicator on the box go out when the Lead Drive
knob is pulled. The Lead Master controls the playing loudness in the Lead mode, set it to
about 2. The Pull Bright on this control only has effect on the Lead mode and not the Rhythm
mode, and adds gain and sustain as well as brightness. So, to summarize briefly: Volume 1
and Master 1 regulate the gain and the loudness of the Rhythm mode, Lead Drive and Lead
Master regulate the overdrive distortion and loudness of the Lead mode where Volume 1 still
provides the initial signal strength. Or, in other words, the amp uses two volume controls for
Rhythm (Volume 1, Master 1) and three volume controls for Lead (Volume 1, Lead Drive and
Lead Master).

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With only a little Practice you should be able to work these controls to provide just the right rhythm tone
and just the right lead tone with the loudness of both independently adjustable by the Master controls. So
hit the Standby and go ahead and try it!

The Slave Level control and Slave Output jack located on the rear panel of the amplifier give you a direct
output feed which faithfully captures the entire sound of the amp and preamp and can be regulated to
properly match anything from a mixing board to a power amp to another Boogie for a linked up
arrangement. Although a few mixing boards (mainly Yamaha) won't properly accept the Slave Output
signal and cause distortion, an absolutely noise free recording can be made with most other mixers. Set
the amp normally. Start with the Slave knob off. While playing, turn it up to provide sufficient signal for
your power amp or Line In on your mixer. Higher Slave settings and lower Master settings will result in
lower overall noise. Always run the Boogie with a speaker or load resistor (8 to 20 ohms, 50 watts) if you
are using the Slave Out. A Pre Amp Out-Pwr Amp In jack is located on the bottom of the chassis and
provides access to the junction of the preamp and the output power amp. With it, another Boogie can be
linked up (Slave Out of the first amp to Pwr Amp In of the second), or it can allow you to use the Boogie
as a preamp only.

For weaker incoming signals, the Effects Return can be used as an input and then the Graphic
would be functional. For Effects Loop use the jacks Mounted on the back panel. The Effects Return Jack
will interrupt the signal flow while the Effects Send can be used as an output without affecting signal flow.
If your Boogie should ever lose power or die out, always first run a cable between the two Effects Jacks
before proceeding to test tubes, etc., as such a problem could likely be caused by faulty switch contacts
in the Effects Return Jack.

Also on the back panel are the Reverb (optional) and Presence controls. The Presence control used from
0 to 3 will cut highs resulting in a smooth, mellow tone at a lower overall volume. Used from 4 to 10 it will
boost both volume and highs. Three speaker jacks are provided: one 8-ohm and two 4-ohm. With 60
watts models, plug the single 8-ohm speaker into the 8 ohm jack for the most power and clarity. If two 8­ohm speakers are used, plug each one into a 4-ohm jack for proper balance. But you may also try other
combinations if you want one speaker slightly louder or happen to prefer the tone caused by a slight
mismatch; it will do no harm to the amplifier. With 100/60 watt models we recommend that when you run a
single 8-ohm speaker you use the 60 watt position and plug into a 4-ohm jack. This will give the strongest
possible output without damaging the speaker. You may get more clean power by switching to 100 watts,
and still more by also plugging into the 8 ohm jack but remember to avoid lead tone distortion as it
increases power dramatically (though not so much the apparent loudness) and may cause speaker
damage. With two 8-ohm speakers, one in each 4-ohm jack, the 100 RMS can be safely used. A cabinet
with four 8-ohm speakers can be wired in series-parallel to give a total load of 8-ohms, or a 16-ohm
Marshall box may be wired in parallel to obtain 4 ohms. Use a speaker jack for headphones. Again, no
harm can be done to the amplifier by mismatched speaker loads and we encourage you to experiment, if
you want, with various combinations.

Also located beneath the chassis is a stereo socket for the optional Dual Footswitch. This will be wired to
activate, when applicable, the Graphic EQ and Reverb. When an amplifier is built with only Reverb or
Graphic, a mono ¼” guitar jack is mounted for use with our Single Footswitch and Cable Set. If your
amplifier is equipped with a cooling fan and you wish to turn it off for quiet studio playing, then unplug the
fan power cord where it plugs into the chassis on the extreme left end. Most of all, this amp was made for
your enjoyment -- so go for it!!

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