These settings are for an approach to getting some vintage tones from a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. The Clean uses the ideas I’ve been developing about a higher gain setting against a lower Volume setting. It also has less Bass dialed in. This made the moderate use of Mid and Treble possible to control sizzle and distortion. The Presence is just an extra treble control, because Channel 1 has no negative feedback in the power amp. This setting is very full through the mids and has enough bass and treble to sound good, without either dominating.
The Dirty setting is copping a nice late-70s AC/DC tone. It sounded really good for many Classic Rock tunes that aren’t fuzzed up. Raw has a lot of top and bottom rolled off. It only needs a little nudge to move into Plexi territory, though it could take some more Mid if a person wished to do so. The Solo is engaged and dialed-in just enough to change the top frequency response. (more…)