Mesa CabClone, Owner'S Manual

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no ground loop created from the CABCLONE’s circuit and chassis ground.
VOICING SWITCH
The CABCLONE offers three classic VOICING options created from our 45 years of experience co-designing custom speakers
with the world’s top makers and designing Speaker Cabinets to load them in. These “virtual-cabinet” options allow you to tailor the EQ response for
different Cabinet styles, gain regions and/or different instruments and pickups. The choices range from bright and open with enhanced top end that buff
clean sounds, to more compressed with the upper harmonics shelved for warm singing single note sounds.
CLOSED BACK is voiced to deliver a similar response to a closed back 4x12 with British-style 60 watt speakers and pays tribute to our Rectifier® Tra-
ditional cabinet. Here the mids are scooped and the top end is for the most part intact to create a huge, wide sound. This position shines for overdrive
and crunch rhythm work where you need big “tuned” lows and smooth vintage-inspired lead sounds. The CLOSED BACK mode is the first thing to
try when using the CABCLONE for high gain sounds, especially when using the THRU jack for a combination of live speaker and CABCLONE direct.
The added top end a reactive load (speaker) may impart on the sound is nicely balanced by the fatter, tuned response of the CLOSED BACK mode.
OPEN BACK retains the midrange focus but enhances the upper harmonics to create an open, chiming sound that’s perfect for clean rhythm work and
dynamic clean and/or mildly overdriven solo sounds. This mode can also bring out the attack on higher gain sounds—especially chording—but beware
of the buzz! The extra top end in this voicing can become detached pretty quickly and sound trashy when used with the wrong amps, guitars or pickups.
Use care when dialing the TREBLE and PRESENCE in higher gain scenarios in combination with the OPEN BACK setting.
VINTAGE CABINET rolls off the upper harmonics and compresses the sound to create a warm, round voicing that’s perfect for Jazz Cleans, Blues
and Rock soloing—and most especially—high gain single note work for Fusion and Rock and Metal styles. This mode allows greater freedom with the
controls on the host amp, enabling you to dial in more TREBLE and PRESENCE (and the top two SLIDERS on the GRAPHIC EQ in MESA amps) to
add top end focus and cut.
Within these three selectable VOICING positions you‘ll find the ability to tune the CABCLONE’s response to work well for almost any sound style. As
mentioned earlier in the OVERVIEW, keep in mind that adding a live speaker to the THRU may affect the sound of these VOICING choices. Using a
live speaker imparts a more reactive, dynamically transient response and may often be brighter as well, depending on the speaker’s inherent EQ and
sensitivity characteristics.
Now lets take a tour of the Rear Panel and review the interfacing options located there.