Mesa/Boogie II - Manual (Page 9)

PAGE 5
FRONT PANEL: Controls & Features
(Continued)
DRIVE:
This is the pre-drive control for the high gain preamp in Channel 2. It may be switched out of the circuit, along with its
associated tube stages, to create a slightly higher gain clone of Channel 1 in (this bottom) Channel 2. When the DRIVE control is
activated (switch left, towards DRIVE), this control operates in conjunction with the GAIN control to meter the amount of preamp drive
that will be introduced into the circuit.
Generally speaking, you will fi nd better response and dynamics combined with smoother saturation
by setting the GAIN control higher than
DRIVE. In fact you might try leaving the GAIN set to 2:00
or 3:00 and just playing with the DRIVE to learn the regions of saturation.
You will probably fi nd the more blues oriented sounds between 9:00 and 11:00, while the really
saturated high gain sounds appear between 1:00 and 3:00.
Setting the GAIN control slightly higher than the DRIVE will produce a warmer quality to the sound and in most cases this is prefer-
able. By all means experiment with setting the GAIN lower than the DRIVE, as the brighter, thinner character may be desirable for
your application.
Learning the relationship between these two controls is probably the most important element to fi nding your signature lead sound.
They are extremely powerful, as they control how your guitar feeds the preamp and also determine the signal strength that is pumped
through the tone control string. This in turn affects how the tone controls will respond. At extremely high settings you will be hearing
mostly gain saturation as the tone controls become recessive due to over-saturation.
This is fi ne if complete saturation is the desired effect, but remember, many of the best sounds are found with more moderate settings
where the gain controls interact with the tone control string to produce a balance of frequencies.
CHANNEL SELECT:
This 3 position mini toggle allows manual selection of the Channels when the Footswitch is not connected.
Set it to the center FT-SW position to use the Channel Select Footswitch.
DRIVE / CLEAN:
This switch is responsible for activating the DRIVE circuitry in Channel 2. Set to DRIVE, the overdrive circuitry is
active and additional tube stages are added in front of the normal “rhythm” circuitry to produce a multi-stage high gain lead channel.
Set to CLEAN, all overdrive circuitry is removed and Channel 2 is a slightly higher gain clone of
Channel 1. Because of this additional gain in what is otherwise a “rhythm” circuit, Channel 2 is an
amazing solo channel for Roots style rhythm work or howling blues solo sounds.
Cranking the GAIN control in Channel 2 CLEAN is a wonderful alternative to the more saturated
sound of the DRIVE circuit.
You will fi nd ample gain to get notes to sound fat and singing, and still retain all of the urgent
dynamics of a clean sound that is driven to clip.
INPUT
CH 1
FT SW
CH 2
INPUT
FT.SW
DRIVE
CH 1
FT SW
CH 2
THICK
THICKER
CLEAN
MAL NOR
INPUT
FT.SW
DRIVE
CH 1
FT SW
CH 2
THICK
THICKER
CLEAN
MAL NOR