Front panel controls – Mesa/Boogie Walk About Bass Amplifier User Manual

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FRONT PANEL CONTROLS:

(Continued)

DI LEVEL:

This rotary control determines the amount of signal present at the Rear Panel DIRECT OUT XLR jack. You will ﬁ nd

ample gain here and should be able to dial in the appropriate amount of signal for most any live or recording console. It is a good idea
to get in the habit of powering up your WalkAbout with the

WalkAbout

DI LEVEL control Zeroed out, to avoid damaging the console, speakers

or an unprepared set of ears in the event you strike a big note or chord before the console input level has been set.

NOTE:

NOTE: The DIRECT OUTPUT signal is derived from the driver stage and the MASTER
control is active at this point, affecting the overall signal strength available from the

DI LEVEL

control. While this may, at times present an inconvenience under certain live performance
applications, the added tonal beneﬁ ts of this toneful stage at the DIRECT OUTPUT are well
worth the occasional compromise. If you must have true independence between these two
controls - and cannot learn to work with the stock scheme, contact us directly and we can
fax you a simple modiﬁ cation you can do that will remove the MASTER and its associated
stage from the DIRECT signal path. However, this will result in degradation of the sweet tube
character and while you will gain independence of the controls...you will trade a substantial
measure of tone.

MASTER:

This basic control determines the overall ﬁ nal output level of your WalkAbout so that you can adjust the front end GAIN

WalkAbout

control to your tonal needs and then push the SIMUL-STATE power section to the desired listening level.

SIMUL-STATE

NOTE: Use the MASTER output level control with care. The

MASTER

WalkAbout is capable of very

WalkAbout

loud output volumes that could potentially cause damage to your hearing or the hearing of
others. May we suggest always beginning your set-up by zeroing-out the

MASTER output

MASTER

level control to avoid accidental volume attacks on unsuspecting bandmates, engineers or
audiences.

PARAMETRIC EQUALIZER:

Your WalkAbout is equipped with a powerful in-line 3 BAND SEMI-PARAMETRIC EQUALIZER that

allows you to shape your signal to achieve virtually any sound. Anything from subtle enhancement to extreme notching or boosting

is possible with the only limit being your imagination. As mentioned earlier, the

EQ is an in-line type,

which means that it is in the signal path at all times. If you do not wish to shape your signal with the

section of the preamp, simply leave all the controls set to 12:00 (straight up) and the

EQ will pass the

signal unaffected. This 12:00 setting would be considered “ﬂ at” or in other words, basically bypassed.

GAIN:

These

3 GAIN controls adjust the amount of whatever frequency has been zeroed-in on for

manipulation with the FREQUENCY control. Each of the

3 GAIN controls allows a full 30db of gain adjust-

ment with 15db of cut and 15db of boost from the center 12:00 (0db) position. When searching for sounds
it is sometimes faster to either notch or boost the respective

GAIN control radically and then sweep for the

desired frequency with the FREQUENCY control. This way it will be very apparent what you are doing to
the sound.

This is a good place to mention that, because of the strength of the

3 GAIN controls, it is possible to very quickly go beyond the

realm of balanced musical tone and blow holes in your mix. Therefor, start by building a great sound using the standard rotary TONE

POWER

DI LEVEL

MASTER

POWER

DI LEVEL

MASTER

0 db 0 0

60 Hz 340Hz 2K

PARAMETRIC EQUALIZER

30 300 200 2K 1.2K 12K

-15 +

- +

- +15