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Mesa Boogie 400+ Settings

#22
Ok guys... here's an update to everyone who was involved with this thread.. Tim @ boogie did tell me that 'flat' on the 400+ is with everything at five. I don't agree. I have the schematic for the thing, as well as the duncan amps tone stack simulator.

The bottom line is this - the preamp is fender all the way. The 400+ is nothing but a fender bassman with a HUGE power section and a few other bells and whistles. Bass and treble are boost-only, and midrange is cut-only. The flattest frequency response achievable is 0-10-0, Bass-Mid-Treble.

I've had some luck so far getting the 'snarling rock growl' (which is what I'm after) with the settings at 2-8-2 through channel 2 with the gain around 7 (just a little overdrive with my '66 jazz) and the master around 3. I'd like to get a little more power tube overdrive, but it's holy**** loud already through 8-10's... I'm thinking I'm going to try fiddling with the graphic eq some to try and get some more low-mid snarl also...

Anyway, this explains why the thing has ALWAYS sounded mid-scooped to me. Crank up those mids if you're playing the rock bass...
 
#23
Hey RB.....my 400+ had nothing BUT mids. Maybe your axe is mid shy? All knobs a 5 is indeed flat. The pull shift on the bass knob does not add MORE bass...it merely shifts the freq. point a little closer to the mid setting; more "grunt. I like that you play both p/u's seperately through the different channels....great sound that way for sure. That said..the MB guys are helpful but I too have found myself correcting them over the phone when seeking tone-help. They don't have the bass gear circuits completely memorized or anything.... I do love being able to phone them up for help. Customer service is a big reason why I went for a Mesa in the first place.
 
#24
Madsub - I'm playing my all-stock '66 Jazz into channel 2 now... This bass does have more solid bottom than many, but it's not mid-shy by any means...

My amp has nothing but lows and highs with all knobs on 5, that's why I'm so interested in learning exactly how this thing works...

No, all knobs at 5 is NOT flat. 0-10-0 is flat (or as close to flat as possible anyway) according to the schematic Tim sent me.

If you like, go to www.duncanamps.com and download the tone stack calculator. Once you get it up, click on the 'fender amps' tab and look at the response when you move the sliders. You'll see what I mean. The 400+ stack is not exactly the same, one cap is a tad larger, but it doesn't make much of a difference.
Also, I'm pretty sure the bass-shift moves the frequency center downward, not upward.
 
#25
Is it possible that this circuit design has been changed somewhat over the past decade? My bass shift definitely moved the point towards the LOW-MIDS, even my manual stated this. i realize the design is Fender-based, I am not disputing that, It is just that form everything the folks at boogie told me and from my own experiance 5 seemed awfully flat with the bass shift acting accordingly. It is prety hard NOT too get a great sound from this beauty, no? :D
 
#27
yeah...i switched to this amp from an svt and i had to play around with the eq a while...but once you find it this amp sounds better than any amp out there...my setting is:

master....4-6...depending on room

input 2....about 7 or 8 on the dial..i guess 10 wouldn't hurt...(you might get some overdrive turning it that high)

treble....6

mid...2..this confused me alot at first because i was used to running this on about 5 or 6 on other amps...once i turned it down my amp sounded a lot better...less harsh

bass....6-8 pulled out....8-10 pushed in...kindof depends on the room

eq settings:there are three lines you can use to reference you sliders....top...middle(flat) and bottom

40hz....all the way to the top line

100....halfway between the top and middle lines

250...halfway between the middle and bottom lines...this takes out that low mid rumble that can be harsh

625....a little below the middle line

1560.....flat...you could push this up a little...depends on your bass

3900...a little above the middle line...maybe more depending on your bass

6600...flat..i have a stingray so it's trebly anyway...other basses might need a little more of this frequency

i have a stingray bass and i play it through a mesa 2x15 cabinet...so different basses and cabinets will require a little tweaking
i may change my setting in the future but this is what i've figured out so far...i've only had this amp for a month...good luck....this is the greatest amp made...just be patient with it
if you pull the treble knob out it seems to boost more high mids than treble...if you want a treble boost pull out the volume bright switch
i found that turning the eq off wasn't good for me...it makes a lot more volume with it on and you can get a better detailed sound...you just have to mess around with it until you get it right...then once you do take a picture of it so you don't forget it...lol...oh by the way i play rock music so my setting may not work for everyone
 
#30
What I do is... I plug my active Lakland 5 into the 2nd input. The second one is for passive basses. I pull the treble boost on the volume knob and I run the eq. I set the dials at about Bass 7, mid 3, treble 4. Then in your slider eq I run the bass side below the "mid divider line" The next one a little higher above the line, I really like that 600 mhz low mid so I run it pretty high and taper off from there. That seems to work for me with my 6x10 cab. I'm sure with different cab configs it changes your mid hump. But I get a pretty sweet motown sound that way.
 
#32
i don't like a lot of low mid in my setup...my bass sounds like the bass on the nirvana nevermind album...which is good for rock music like that....oh and i know this is an old thread...if i turn the low mid slider up my bass just rumbles and sounds real harsh....keep in mind that i'm using input 2 on an active bass...if i use input 1 then i put the low mid slider above the middle line....there is a big difference in the sound of input 1 and input 2 on my bass...i have a stingray...i don't like input 1 because i don't get enough volume out of it....even though my stingray is active it acts more like a passive to me but i don't care ...i'm getting the sound i want.....better than my jazz bass with an svt and 8x10 cabinet...so i'm happy...oh and if you ever have a stereo with automatic eq settings for rock...the eq is set like i have my eq set...boost the bass...cut the low mids...boost the high mids a little and roll off the highs.....there's a reason for that....it sounds good
 
#33
kilgoja said:
i don't like a lot of low mid in my setup...my bass sounds like the bass on the nirvana nevermind album...which is good for rock music like that....oh and i know this is an old thread...if i turn the low mid slider up my bass just rumbles and sounds real harsh....keep in mind that i'm using input 2 on an active bass...if i use input 1 then i put the low mid slider above the middle line....there is a big difference in the sound of input 1 and input 2 on my bass...i have a stingray...i don't like input 1 because i don't get enough volume out of it....even though my stingray is active it acts more like a passive to me but i don't care ...i'm getting the sound i want.....better than my jazz bass with an svt and 8x10 cabinet...so i'm happy...oh and if you ever have a stereo with automatic eq settings for rock...the eq is set like i have my eq set...boost the bass...cut the low mids...boost the high mids a little and roll off the highs.....there's a reason for that....it sounds good
Click to expand...



I think the reason for your 'rumble' with added low mid, is that you've already got the main bass eq boosted almost to max. As I suggested with Dave's post, the main eq controls on this amp are the same as a Fender Bassman setup...FLAT on the main controls (with the graphic off) is :

Bass=0 Mid=10 Treble=0

So, with your current settings you've come close to maxing out the bass (full boost), scooped the mid(attenuated the mid way low) and pumped up the highs (boosted them to 1/2 above flat).

This probably sound pretty good solo'd but I'd think you might have a problem being heard (or hearing yourself) in a band setting. Once you add your graphic eq settings, you're scooping the mids and adding even more lows and highs...

But then...all that's important is that you like your sound, right?

:)
 
#34
yeah..i see what you're saying....with the dials and the eq there are several ways to get the same sound...like i could turn the bass dial down and turn up the low mid slider on the eq and basically get the same sound..i think that's what confuses a lot of people about these amps.....kindof what i was talking about with the bass knob on 8-10 pushed in or 6-8 pulled out....it's basically the same amount of bass ...just different ways of getting it.....i've only had this amp for a month so i'll probably be messing around with it for awhile...lol....with this amp you basically have 3 eq's...one on your bass....the dials...and the sliders.....so it's a combination of all three to get your sound which can get confusing....i kindof like a deep bass sound with a high mid growl....like you get on an svt when you push the utlra low button in.....it boosts the low frequencies and cuts out some of the low mids .....maybe that will help explain it a little better...this actually works really well in a band setting because the guitars kind of fill in the mid frequencies as well as the vocals and drums....and with this amp i have no problem hearing myself...lol....like i said i've only had this amp a month and my previous amp was an svt classic so i'm not saying my amp setting is perfect or anything...i don't even know if that is possible...lol....my svt had no eq and a flat setting was with the knobs in the middle so the mesa amp works differently...i just have to get used to it more...thanks for the help....oh and i forgot to say...i play with a pic so my sound will be a lot different than someone playing with their fingers
 
#35
kilgoja said:
yeah..i see what you're saying....with the dials and the eq there are several ways to get the same sound...like i could turn the bass dial down and turn up the low mid slider on the eq and basically get the same sound..i think that's what confuses a lot of people about these amps.....kindof what i was talking about with the bass knob on 8-10 pushed in or 6-8 pulled out....it's basically the same amount of bass ...just different ways of getting it.....i've only had this amp for a month so i'll probably be messing around with it for awhile...lol....with this amp you basically have 3 eq's...one on your bass....the dials...and the sliders.....so it's a combination of all three to get your sound which can get confusing....i kindof like a deep bass sound with a high mid growl....like you get on an svt when you push the utlra low button in.....it boosts the low frequencies and cuts out some of the low mids .....maybe that will help explain it a little better...this actually works really well in a band setting because the guitars kind of fill in the mid frequencies as well as the vocals and drums....and with this amp i have no problem hearing myself...lol....like i said i've only had this amp a month and my previous amp was an svt classic so i'm not saying my amp setting is perfect or anything...i don't even know if that is possible...lol....my svt had no eq and a flat setting was with the knobs in the middle so the mesa amp works differently...i just have to get used to it more...thanks for the help....oh and i forgot to say...i play with a pic so my sound will be a lot different than someone playing with their fingers
Click to expand...


Cool.

My suggestion is to start by playing with the amp set flat. Turn the graphic EQ off, and set the tone knobs at:

Bass=0
Mid=10
Treble=0 (or slightly above)

From there, start with the main tone contols...then I'd tweak the graphic EQ to make 'slight' chages from there.

My own personal settings are:

Bass=4 or 5 (shift out)
Mid=10 or 9
Treble=1 or 2 (shift out)
Graphic EQ off

I also run both pre channels at the same time.
 
#39
yeah maybe i have to cut the mids because i'm using a 2x15 cab.....i started out with the mids on 5 and it was just killing me how bad it sounded....i thought i had screwed up or something buying this head....lol.....also at first i had too much treble and bass too...i think i did it backwards...i worked from too much to just right rather than from not enough to just right....i may start over from not enough and see what i come up with...lol....isn't music wierd
 
#40
With the Eden 2x10/6x10 cabs I run the mid ~3 and pull down 625 HZ on the graphic. With the Eden's I set bass 5 pulled, treble 5 in, Mid 2-3, graphic in a V shape with 625 being the bottom of the V. Nice rock sound to my ears. I'll run pre channel 1 ~5 (pulled) and about half way through a set I'm getting a really nice power tube OD warmth.

On the other hand with an SVT 8x10 I set everything ~5 pull the bass and pre volume and maybe no graphic at all. I haven't played out as much with the SVT cab so I'm not as familiar with it as I am with the Eden's.

I find the 400+ to have pronounced mids and combined with cabs that also have a lot a mids, serious cutting in the mids (625HZ) yielded the sound I liked.
 

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