OK...I think I've finally got this figured out.
I came back to the electric after a very long solo acoustic trek. While reacquainting myself with my Mark IIB, I read posts and articles about a little known feature, unique to the IIA and IIB: "Gain on the fly".
I could get this feature by hooking up a volume pedal to the "preamp to power amp junction", underneath the amp, and then to the "Send" input for the effects loop, in back (on the IIB...see the link below for the IIA). I tried this, but had no luck. To my ear, what I got was a great volume pedal, but not what I considered to be "gain on the fly".
Tonight I checked out this link:
http://thegenerationofmusic.wordpress.com/
After reading his explanation and then listening to his playing, I now think that my confusion has been a matter of semantics. By "gain on the fly", I thought this meant I could begin with a completely clean signal and, as I pushed the volume pedal down, hear an increase in the OD/Distortion until, with the pedal fully depressed, I was getting the Lead Drive at 10. This, for me, would be GREAT!
This, to my ear, isn't actually the case. The key feature to this configuration (which, btw, doesn't require the hookup to the "Send" input...just one cable from the junction to the volume pedal does the trick) (on the IIB, at least) is that the tone of the amp stays the same, regardless of volume. When we use the guitar's volume pot, we lose treble and nuance when we turn it down. "Cleaning up" the distortion tone, etc. The "Gain on the fly" feature allows you to maintain that tone, regardless of volume. I remember that it was a selling point of the amp, when it first came out.
I had called Mike B at Mesa about this, and he thought that was what it was about, as well. He also asked whether I noticed a sudden "shift" in volume with the volume pedal and I did. He said this was normal...and not the greatest thing in the world. However: in the link, above, I don't hear that volume spike. I'm wondering if I get it because I'm using a cheap Boss volume pedal or maybe because I use single coils? Or both? Or maybe it should be a powered volume pedal. Mine's passive. I don't know...but I'd like to find out.
Anyway: I'm very interested in hearing comments about this. As is, I think that this feature is one that fell between the cracks over the years. It was a big deal when the amp first came out. Very cool to be able to have that dirt stay the same from high to low volume. Then, if you wanted to back off on the distortion, you used the guitar's volume knob instead of the volume pedal.
I came back to the electric after a very long solo acoustic trek. While reacquainting myself with my Mark IIB, I read posts and articles about a little known feature, unique to the IIA and IIB: "Gain on the fly".
I could get this feature by hooking up a volume pedal to the "preamp to power amp junction", underneath the amp, and then to the "Send" input for the effects loop, in back (on the IIB...see the link below for the IIA). I tried this, but had no luck. To my ear, what I got was a great volume pedal, but not what I considered to be "gain on the fly".
Tonight I checked out this link:
http://thegenerationofmusic.wordpress.com/
After reading his explanation and then listening to his playing, I now think that my confusion has been a matter of semantics. By "gain on the fly", I thought this meant I could begin with a completely clean signal and, as I pushed the volume pedal down, hear an increase in the OD/Distortion until, with the pedal fully depressed, I was getting the Lead Drive at 10. This, for me, would be GREAT!
This, to my ear, isn't actually the case. The key feature to this configuration (which, btw, doesn't require the hookup to the "Send" input...just one cable from the junction to the volume pedal does the trick) (on the IIB, at least) is that the tone of the amp stays the same, regardless of volume. When we use the guitar's volume pot, we lose treble and nuance when we turn it down. "Cleaning up" the distortion tone, etc. The "Gain on the fly" feature allows you to maintain that tone, regardless of volume. I remember that it was a selling point of the amp, when it first came out.
I had called Mike B at Mesa about this, and he thought that was what it was about, as well. He also asked whether I noticed a sudden "shift" in volume with the volume pedal and I did. He said this was normal...and not the greatest thing in the world. However: in the link, above, I don't hear that volume spike. I'm wondering if I get it because I'm using a cheap Boss volume pedal or maybe because I use single coils? Or both? Or maybe it should be a powered volume pedal. Mine's passive. I don't know...but I'd like to find out.
Anyway: I'm very interested in hearing comments about this. As is, I think that this feature is one that fell between the cracks over the years. It was a big deal when the amp first came out. Very cool to be able to have that dirt stay the same from high to low volume. Then, if you wanted to back off on the distortion, you used the guitar's volume knob instead of the volume pedal.
