Speaking of a guitar amplifier following Marshall and Fender? Perhaps Mesa/Boogie gives that name. Another representative of American amplifiers is a long -established store that has created the sound of the times, and MK series with the first -class tone that was loved beyond the genre from Santana to Metallica, and then modern Heavy. It will be one of the best brands in the United States, such as the RECTIFIER series that has described the system sound, and the high -quality sound and compromise without compromise. The design of a power amplifier with a unique output structure, which is said to be a small class, has created a number of models that are unprecedented for performance and sound quality. It also manufactures a two -channel model that can switch clean/drive prior to Marshall, and is said to be the first in the world. This time, while following the history of Mesa/Boogie, I will focus on the initial MK series, especially the uniqueness of the design.
The beginning is from Fender Princeton
Landor Smith, the founder of Mesa/Boogie and the designer of Mesa/Boogie amplifier, began repairing/remodeling amplifiers in the late 1960s. Born in San Francisco in the 1940s, he had a clarinet player as his father, and has been familiar with the sound of musical instruments -especially woodwind instruments since childhood. Also, since he was a boy, he was interested in the most advanced vacuum tube audio circuit, and was enjoying the radio and other places when he entered a garage shop run by a nearby engineer. In this way, Landor Smith grew up with the sound of high -quality instruments and good engineering.
And in the 1960s, the world was in its heyday of rock and roll music, and the fender was already a central person in the American music in the black face amplifier, and in the UK, Marshal amplifiers gave birth. However, in the music scene at that time, the role of the electric guitar was still rhythm part, and many of the solo parts between songs were occupied by wind instruments such as saxophone. In this era, many guitar players at the time wanted to be the center of the lead play, but were suffering from the necessary enough gain and sustain shortage. Fender amplifiers, which were the mainstream at the time, were powerful in chordwork, but it was difficult to get a tough and singing tone like wind instruments, and the marshalls were still not very penetrated in the United States. It was an era. For this reason, the master volume remodeling to the fender amplifier was also remodeled, but it was not possible to get a good quality lead tone.
In such a scene, Landor Smith, a high school student, is of course hooked on rock and roll. He played as a drummer (strangely the same as Jim Marshall), but at this time he seemed to have had a lot of engineering, and he seemed to have undertaken the amplifiers of the band members. Eventually, his repairs became widely known, and he established a repair shop in the Bay Area in San Francisco with his friends. His shop has become a hot topic locally, and many musicians, including Jefferson AirPrain and Deby Brothers, have come to appear.
In such days, he was particularly repaired/remodeled with fender amplifiers, but one day in 1969, a mischievous spirit, "It would be interesting if a tremendous loud noise came out of a small practice amplifier." The amplifier is equipped with a large transformer with a large trance and incorporated a baseman circuit with two 6L6 power tubes. After replacing the baffle board, the speaker uses a JBL 12 -inch (the original baffle board was used for the door of the workshop at the time, which was called DOG Yard). A customer who happened to pass by playing this was a word, "Shitman, That Little Things Really Boogies !!" The customer was Carlos Santana, who had a break at the time with a bird drop.
Thanks to Santana, this boogie/Princeton attracted a lot of attention, and a considerable number of orders flooded Landor. He produced about 150-200 boogies/principal, but it was difficult to respond to the increasingly increased requests because it was based on the old amplifier of the fender. For this reason, Landor has established a company called Mesa Engineering and starts developing and manufacturing original amplifiers. (However, Mesa, which was dexterous, was necessary in the name of the work of repairing the car that was performed on a side job, and the name is also ideal ...) Anyway, the first original amplifier is Mesa/Boogie. About 3,000 units were manufactured (a nuance like Sony/Walkman). This is MK-I in the later era.
The first lead guitar amplifier?
In this way, MK-I appeared in 1972. One more printtube has been added to the Princeton/Bogie model, which makes it possible to get more gain. Volume1 and Volume2, and the masters and three volumes have achieved a wide range of gain controls. It is said to be the world's first model equipped with a voluminous volume for gain -ups. Even Marshall has a master from 75 years, so it's hard to imagine how early it was. And the enclosure with a built -in 12 -inch speaker is made of hardwood specifications made of luxurious wood, such as core and maple, and the style of luxury instruments that was not in the previous guitar amplifier drifts. Did the singing singing tone and the rich wooden sound remind the sound of a clarinet that was familiar to Landor since childhood? Needless to say, it was in the heyday of Carlos Santana, but the rise of hard rock and the movement of crossovers, etc., has changed to a scene where the lead guitar is becoming more and more central to music. increase. In Japan, many lead guitar players, including Masayoshi Takanaka, were fascinated by the stretchy tone of this model, establishing a global evaluation.
Postscript: Mk-I's Reissu Model was completed at the end of August 2008.
In 1979, MK-II with a lead/rhythm switching function appeared. (Conversely, with the appearance of this MK-II, the previous MESA/BOOGIE model will be called MK-I.) The channel switching at this time is revolutionary, and it is still realized in both Marshall and fender. It was when I wasn't. From a global perspective, it is subtle to which the Japanese YAMAHA F series is faster, but it is probably the world's first tube amplifier. The following year, the world's first effect loop and MK-IB equipped with a Simal class appeared. This is a unique operation method that mixes the class A movement of the power tube and the class AB operation, and succeeds in drawing out the strengths of both, and gives a delicate and responsive "Suzu -no -tone" with high output. It is possible. This feature is only a mesa/boogie patent, and has been used to the MK series so far. In 1983, Mk-IIC, which made the effect loop can be switched, appeared. In this way, MESA/BOOGIE has a stronger image of the later era than Marshall and fenders, but it certainly developed a function that would be a foundation for the later era ahead of other brands, although it was a little later. You can see that it was an extremely sharp manufacturer. This MK-II model is also a high-gain tone as if you had read the times, and it was used not only by fusion players, but also from a heavy music scene such as metalica, and later the high-gain = BOOGIE scheme. It can be said that it was the foundation to make. In fact, in the heavy metal scene that occurred from the mid-1980s, the MK-III's stack with a remodeled Marshall or Iron Ami cabinet was a trademark.
I often hear Class A and class AB a bit, but what?
What does this word often see in the specifications of the amplifier? This indicates the operation status of the power tube. The power tube is a vacuum tube that has the role of amplifying the signal from the preamplifier to the level of sounding the speaker, but there are various factors to operate stably, and the operation status is various.
If you explain it in an easy -to -understand figure, the voice signal is a waveform, so it is as follows.
Class A is an operation in which all vacuum tubes (regardless of input or not) are amplified at any time. Each vacuum tube is always full -driven and operates fully open before the input signal is entered, so it has a good response to the input signal, and the tone of expressive power reflects the nuances of the touch sharply. On the other hand, the vacuum tube is always full -driven, so the heat generated is large and the clip is fast, so it is not suitable for large output. There is also a drawback that the life of the vacuum tube is short for the same reason.
In order to eliminate this, the operation method called class B was the operation method, first divided the waveform in the figure above from the center.
Then, it will be like this, so if one vacuum tube is amplified on the upper side with multiple vacuum tubes, and the other vacuum tube amplifies the other side, the amount of work of each vacuum tube is half, and this operation is only. This is called push pull. In addition, in Class B, in Class B, the vehicle B flows, and the vacuum tube is rested in Class B, and in class B. The life of the vacuum tube has increased much.
However, in this class B, the poor response caused by the rising tube after the signal is entered, the low -volume reproducibility in the small signal, and the noise, etc. are increased, and is not suitable for acoustically. It was. For this reason, the class AB is a small bias current to this push -pull operation and improved the response. This class A has given a little class A role in class B, and most of the recent fenders, such as Marshall and fenders in recent years, use this method.
And the Simal class that appears in the MK series of MESA/BOOGIE is to output two of the four power tubes in the class AB and mix them with 15W output in class A. This is a successful blend of the attractive elements of both the high -power output in the class A and the high -power output of the class AB. Class A Operating power tubes can also be replaced with EL34 in addition to 6L6, which are usually used, and you can also select a slightly European -like sound.
As a matter of course, the maximum output and vacuum tube life are not as good as the class AB. For this reason, a 60/100W model with a class AB output is also manufactured at the same time.
* Regarding class A
Regarding class A, there is a debate about how far the pure A -class operation is in the world of audio, and there is a belief that there is almost no strict class A operation amplifier, but the class A mentioned here is normal guitar. It shows what is called in the amplifier world, and includes cases where it is "class AB that is as close as possible to class A" or "class A class AB".
Mk-III ~ MK-IV
Return to the history of the MK series. In 1986, MK-III, the most major in the MK series, appeared. This model is a three -channel specification with a built -in "rhythm 2" channel clipped in a rhythm channel in addition to the two channels of conventional lead/rhythm. In this era, even the two channels switched, it was a model that was too sharp. Standardly, 60W of 6L6X2 is the standard, a 60/100W option using four power tubes and an optional EQ and Riverb with foot -switching are also available. While you can also select the exterior of the traditional hardwood, an EX cabinet with a fearless and hard image of the black iron grill is also prepared, and alongside Marshall, it became a face of the 80's hard scene. 。
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In 1989, MK-IV, an independent 3 channel specification, appeared. Equipped with three independent channels of clean/crunch/leads and six foot switches that enable switching between EQ, EQ, effect loops, etc., can be operated from other switchers by controlling the external. In addition to the familiar class A/Simaru switching, triodes/pentudo can be selected, and the power amplifier can be mixed recording out. It is a mainstream function now, but it is surprising that it was equipped with these nearly 20 years ago. This MK-IV is still produced and can be obtained even with new ones. Postscript: MK-IV was completed at the end of August 2008. |
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In this way, I have been looking at the flow that can be reached from the fender remodeled Princeton/Boogie to the MK-IV, but the model I often saw in the studio is still MK-III. I think many people have played MK-III. When I talk to such a person, I sometimes hear, saying, "Mk-III has good distortion, but clean ..." In fact, I once thought so until a certain time. However, at one point, I had the opportunity to play a new MK-III, and the new American tube was used, but the impact at that time was vivid, and it was "I personally heard the three big cleans I have heard so far". It was enough to enter. (The other two are Callaham's EL84V and Fender twin twins). The overtones are heard beautifully and three -dimensionally from all directions, and the "bell sound" sound is still burning at that time.
For the reasons I explained this time, the MESA/BOOGIE MK series is especially designed to express the tone of the vacuum tube more straight, and the sound when using a high quality vacuum tube is exceptional. However, for the same reason, the exhaustion of the vacuum tube is faster than other models, so not everything is in perfect condition. Because it is more obedient to the sound of the vacuum tube, the exhausted tube has the honestness that the sound is sent out as it is, and it seems a little wasteful if this area is subtle the evaluation of the MK series. 。 (Rough stories, marshalls, etc. have a brute force that produces "marshall sounds" even in moderate tubes, and I think that is the greatness of Marshall ...).
If you have the MK series and have any questions about the clean tone, we recommend that you replace the power tube. Also, when you see it in a studio, the sound is quite different for each of the 60W, 60/100W, or Simal (written on the back), so it is fun to look at the back. I think.
In addition, we look forward to your opinions on this amplifier comic book, such as your wishes and the project you want to take up. I'm still studying, but I would like to respond (and spread it) as much as I can.
