Mesa/Boogie DC3 - Manual (Page 13)

PAGE 9
This 1/4" jack and control provide a signal derived from the speaker jack. Perfect for using the DC-3 as a master pre-amp, or
additional power amps may be connected for more power when needed. Some players use this to
derive an FX Send Signal and go to other amps for their wet sound.
NOTE: Once a signal is taken from the SLAVE it can not be inserted back into the FX Loop Return jack
or a feedback loop will occur. Much like holding a microphone into the PA system’s cabinets...a loud
high pitched squeal will result.
One 8 ohm and two 4 ohm speaker jacks are provided. The DC-3 is not overly sensitive to speaker mismatches and will not be
damaged by them, except that very low ohmage loads will cause the power tubes to wear faster. A single twelve-inch 8 ohm speaker
should generally be connected to the 8 ohm output. When using two 8 ohm speakers, connect them
both to the 4 ohm outputs provided (because the total load is 4 ohms in that case.)
4X12 cabinets may be 4, 8 or 16 ohms; if you are not sure of the impedance of your cabinet, you may
need to remove the rear panel to see what the ohmage of the individual speakers are. Mesa/Boogie
4X12 cabinets come standard wired to 8 ohms. They have four 8 ohm speakers wired in series-parallel.
Some Non-Mesa 4X12 cabinets are wired 16 ohms using four 16 ohm speakers. By wiring all four
speakers in parallel, you can reduce the cabinet to an impedance load of 4 ohms (assuming the speak-
ers are 16 ohms each.) No matter how unusual your speaker setup, it is always possible to get good
performance. If you need two 8 ohm speaker jacks (in order to run two 16 ohm cabinets at the same time), you can use a Y-box and
daisy-chain the cabinets together.
Feel free to experiment with the speaker jacks, trying different loads. Many great sounds and feels may be achieved by experimenting
with different combinations of speaker impedance. Keep in mind the greatest clean headroom is always achieved with proper imped-
ance loads...i.e. an 8 ohm speaker connected to an 8 ohm jack.
NOTE: Always use a load on the DC-3 when playing, unless you are recording direct and have the silent recording switch set to the
Mute position.
REAR PANEL: (continued)
SLAVE:
SLAVE
SPEAKERS:
8 OHM 4 OHM 4 OHM
SPEAKERS
SLAVE