is purposeful as it allows for overdriven chords to sound “open”, expressive and dynamically unhindered, as is needed for much of
the Indy Rock and “Nashville Clean” styles. You will likely need to run the above three Tone Controls in their lower regions for smooth,
singing, single note soloing.
HI
HI delivers the highest gain of the three Modes in each Channel and like DRIVE, it features a wide range of saturation from
subtle expressive clip to burning overdrive. The overlap between DRIVE and HI is found near its middle region and from there on up,
HI begins to unleash more and more all-tube saturation until, at its maximum, it creates ample sustain, harmonics and compression
for almost anything save for perhaps extreme modern metal sounds. Its whole purpose and sonic signature pays homage to the
very best of the late 70s/early 80s Crunch Rhythm and Lead sounds used on so many records. It rides the line beautifully between
those created by us at MESA/Boogie back in the day and those produced by the classic Brit amps popular in that era. Circuit-wise
HI is all American, remaining closer to the wonderful tweed covered amps hailing from California in the 50s. We have taken our race
shop approach and our usual “tuning”, though we refer to it as “Toning”, to create a veritable beast when things are dialed up past the
12:00 midway point on the GAIN control.
HI is also voiced a bit more rounded off on the top end and the harmonics are shaped to produce better single note response and a
more voice-like character. This voicing excels at single-note soloing and allows a more vocal, pleasing tone for melody work. It can
grind and growl as well, but you may find the TREBLE, MID and PRESENCE set a bit higher to get closer to the voicing of the DRIVE
Mode. At times this may strike you at first listen as choked, rolled off or “not open” sounding, especially when coming from a sound
you’ve created in the DRIVE Mode. This is likely an EQ Hangover, very familiar to us in our line of work. It often occurs when going
from brighter sounds to warmer, darker ones. It also occurs with the midrange frequencies; a sound with very little mids present in
the mix can make a sound with some midrange content intact sound “boxy” or “nasal”. Just give your ears a little time to adjust and
you’ll discover that most sounds have their attributes and it’s all just a matter of recent reference and the application.
Some players find they can use HI as both a clean and overdrive sound simply by rolling up and down the instrument’s volume control.
Depending on the guitar and how bright the pickups sound as the volume pot is rolled back, this is certainly a viable method of at-
taining both signatures. However, due to the less trimmed harmonics in the DRIVE Mode and depending on the amount of saturation
you need for your optimal overdrive sound, you might find better results in the DRIVE Mode for this approach of using one Mode for
your cover-all gain structure. Don’t forget. While this can, in effect, add an extra sound to your 2 Channel configuration here in the
Fillmore, we did after all include a duplicate Channel so you wouldn’t have to sacrifice one beloved sound for another very often, if ever.
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