Mesa/Boogie Mark Five Owner's Manual download pdf (Page 23)

MID/BOOST: CHANNEL 1

This is actually two controls in one, hence the two names. In addition to the power of a standard

MID control, this “ganged” two-element pot endows Channel 1 with a whole region of dial-to-taste extra gain in the warm round middle

frequencies and is found on this control’s upper region (5.0–10). This feature ﬁrst appeared on Original MARK I

models of the seventies as an ON/OFF switch. Here we’ve given you an adjustable pot where once you had to

choose from opposite extremes with an On/Off switch. As a switch this produced a huge increase in gain achieved

by lifting the Tone Controls and allowing the entire signal available in the Rotary Tone Control string to “run free”.

It was a great and innovative feature, especially for its time, but it had two shortcomings; One, it was all or nothing

(normal or boosted) and these two were wildly different sounding due to the saturation that occurred in the BOOST

position. Two; once the whole signal was unleashed by the BOOST, there was nothing much left gain-wise in the

Tone Control string for the Tone controls to work on and there was little to no shaping power available in them in

the BOOST Mode.

Back then everyone was so mesmerized by the newfound gain available, this trade-off seemed a small price to pay for SUSTAIN! But

Here at MESA/Boogie, Tone never sleeps, so we’ve endowed this MARK model with an adjustable BOOST found here on the upper

half of the MID control! It doesn’t completely solve these issues, but it does provide a middle region previously unavailable that allows

incrementally added gain WITH incrementally decreasing Tone-shaping power in the Tone control string. When the MID/BOOST is

maxed (set at 10), there is still very little gain left for the Tone Controls to operate on and hence they do very little. But this scheme

allows YOU to choose the desired balance between the added gain and Tone-shaping power on the Tone Control string and there are

some truly magic sounds in this new middle range of incremental MID gain.

From 0–5.0 the MID/BOOST works like a normal MID control, albeit with a little more condensed taper. A general settings tip for this

narrower taper might be to set the MID two or three numbers below where you think your desired sound might be with a traditional

style MID control.

NOTE: The “normal” range of a MID control appears between 0 and 5.0 in a condensed taper. Above 5.0 the BOOST feature takes

over and adds incremental gain in the midrange frequencies while diminishing the effectiveness of the Tone Controls.

Above 5.0 the MID morphs into an adjustable BOOST control that incrementally lifts the Tone controls and allows their full signal

strength to come through unbridled. Granted, some players will opt for the maximum gain possible here, and for those folks there

will be the same limited power in the Tone Controls as found in the original MARK I’s BOOST Mode available to shape with. But for

those players who may not the need the maximum gain BOOST at all times, there is a really usable range of enhanced gain over a

broad, warm sounding region of midrange.

We are extremely pleased with the Tonal possibilities this simple but powerful improvement has made in both sound and dial-ability

for lower gain “CLEAN” Modes and have applied for a patent to claim its obvious beneﬁts as a MESA Exclusive. The simplest ideas

are often the best... and easiest to walk right by for 40 years. If only the folks at the patent ofﬁce played guitar... we’ll cross our ﬁngers.

Use this valuable enhancement at-will in any of Channel 1’s three Modes to craft some amazing threshold of clip chording or Blues

solo voices or apply it to already overdriven sounds to thicken them up or put them over the top. Just be aware that there is more gain

here than can feasibly be applied to some GAIN settings and still retain a balanced sound with a coherent attack characteristic. In

other words... don’t dial yourself into mush by adding so much gain there is no Tone left. A simple but often ignored concept.

MID: CHANNEL 2

The MID control acts much more like—and IS—a standard tone control here in Channel 2. It doesn’t have

quite the massive global shaping power of the GAIN and TREBLE controls, yet the MID setting does impart a strong character on the

sound of all three Modes. It brings in and out a broad band of midrange frequencies and, as we have mentioned

earlier, along with these rides a fair amount of higher “low treble” range frequencies. These highs are lower than that

of the TREBLE or PRESENCE but they are important for the punch and cut of the ampliﬁer in a mix.

For rhythm playing in the CLEAN and FAT Modes of Channel 1, a lower MID setting (7:30–10:00) scoops some of

this midrange attack and makes the bottom end breathe more. This range will also make things more resilient and

create an easier to play, more elastic feel on the strings. Single coil guitars work very well here for the slinky, rubber

band attack and bouncy bass character associated with Blues, R&B and Country clean styles.

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MID BOOST

MID

MID BOOST

MID

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Mesa/Boogie Mark Five Owner's Manual Page 23

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