MESA BOOGIE 20/20 "DEEP MODIFICATION"

I finally figured out how to do the "Deep" modification a lot of reviewers talk about. If you own
this amp and its out of the warranty period, I HIGHLY recommend this modification. If you do it
while the warranty is still active, you will void it. If you don't know already, the 20/20 has a
"boost" above 200 Hz (high bass and above) that is double the low range of the amp. Sounds
good and cuts, but not "ballsy" enough. Doing this modification will give more low end "oomph",
add richness, and open the treble a bit more. I find it gives you a more "modern" mix of vintage
EL84 chime and new metal sound. This amp is a little too washed in the mid frequencies as
stock. Here's how you do it (if you aren't tech / electronically inclined, find somebody who is!!
Amps store high voltages even when unplugged and if you poke or prod the wrong thing, you
can be electrocuted)

1. Take off the cover

2. Locate the 12ax7 input tube closest to the input jacks, this will be the farthest tube to the left if
standing behing the amp with the tubes pointing to you.
3. Look at the circut board the input tube is mounted on. Slightly below the tube on each side of
it, you'll see a series of capacitors / resistors. These are miniature "sausage" looking things
about a 1/4" long, running up and down. Some are tan/brown with stripes, some aren't.
4. You'll see one in each grouping per side that is different. They are a bit smaller than the rest,
NO STRIPES, and are a yellowish/tan color, and have tapered ends. THESE ARE THE ONES
YOU WANT TO REMOVE.
5. One is very easy since its by itself to the left of the input tube. The other one on the opposite
side is in between the other "sausage" looking devices (resistors).
6. I removed them by heating the back side of the circut board where its soldered in. Using very
long, thin needle nose pliers (or a long thin screw driver). I disconnect on side of the capacitor
from the circut board. Gently pry out the connection while applying the heat to the connection.
7. Repeat on the other side. Be careful not to damage the resistors next to it.

Enjoy the sound. If you don't like it, re-solder the connection. Thats why its good to only remove
one end, its easier to re-connect.

You'll notice the perceived volume drops a bit. Thats because your ears aren't getting
"slammed" with all the previous midrange. I like that because now I can open up my amp and
preamp a bit more and not blow out my ears. You will have to modify your current bass and
treble/presence settings since you've changed the overall sound.
I recently modded mine. Very easy to do.

First off, I recommend that the last time you power off your amp, don't hit standby first, just hit
the main power. In fact, you should always do this. (When powering up, however, have standby
enabled so that the filaments warm up first). Helps to drain the caps.

Now then, remove the top cover with the 20 or so screws. Looking in from the top, you'll see two
small rectangular circuit boards standing on end. You can actually follow the wires leading from
the inputs to these boards. You see on each board a very small round yellowish capacitor,
smaller than a dime. Only one each per board.

All you need to do is carefully clip one of the leads.

Move the clipped lead away from contact with anything, including the top once it's replaced. Do
NOT clip any of the larger mylar(I think) orange caps !!!Frankly, you'd have to be retarded to
confuse them, but I wanted to mention that anyway. Be careful to stay away from the power
supply area, you don't want to touch any of the components there either, in case it's still holding
a charge. That's really all there is to it. Snip, snip.

I'd say it sounds more responsive than before. I haven't had a chance to really crank it up
though to test the lower end or headroom claims. It's easy enough to reverse the mod, in any
case. I'd use needle nose pliers to form tiny hooks on the snipped lead ends, hook 'em back
together, and solder. But I don't think I'll be doing that, frankly. It sounds pretty good.

To anyone that has opened their 20/20 amp:

Did you notice that either of the output trannies were loose? This was the case with me so I tried
tightening up the screws underneath but they were already tight. It turned out the screw head
was too small for the hole drilled into the chassis causing it to not be secured properly. I put a
washer around the screws to give them a chance to grab the outside of the chassis which made
it look a little ugly but stopped any potential rattles.

Mesa designed this amp for use with their preamps. To do so they cut quite a bit of bass out of
the 20/20. Don't worry, it's very easy to undo. You simply need to remove 2 cathode bypass
caps (one per channel). They are very small 1uF capacitors that are located at the bottom of the
tube circuit board, on each side of V1. They are smaller than the resistors. These caps boost
the mids & highs to about double the level of the bass. So removing the caps will flatten down
the mids & highs, to make them even with the bass. You may need to increase your 20/20
volume settings slightly to compensate. This mod will make your non-Mesa preamp sound the
way it was intended to. Heck, it makes my V-twin sound way better through this amp. (Note: If
you need extra volume then replace the 1uF caps with 10-22uF caps, but I find this
unnecessary).

I also have a tip regarding the presence controls. They are cut only controls. So if you set them
counter clockwise you are choking out your extreme highs. Turn them all the way up and they
won't affect the highs. I like to set them around 12 o'clock. This setting is very subtle, and helps
take the edge off of the EL84 tubes. It makes them sound like EL34's.

OR

Get the Mesa 20/20, but do the following fat mod to it: Mesa put a 1uF Cathode bypass cap on
each channel's input stage. This cap gives a boost to the mids & highs, and makes the low end
sound a bit wimpy. Simply remove the cover, locate these two caps, and remove them. They are
on the tube circuit board, below the tube that is closest to the input/output jacks. They are
probably beige or tan colored, and about the same size as the 1/2 watt resistors in this amp. DO
NOT ATTEMPT THIS MOD UNLESS YOU ARE QUALIFIED TO DO SO - LETHAL VOLTAGES
INSIDE COULD KILL YOU!!! You don't need a resonance control, because the Chameleon has
one in its speaker simulator - I think it calls it a reactance control. You can use the speaker
simulator with guitar cabinets as long as you set its speaker to full range. Also, set the mic
placement to zero (off). The 20/20 has 2 inputs - 1 per channel. You can use its slave outs if you
ever want to hook up to another amp. I think you'll really appreciate its great tone (especially
with my mod), and compact size. But don't let the small size deceive you, this amp plays as loud
as a 50 watt Marshall.

But Why?

I never understand that mod, I like mods, but coherent mods, in my point of view trying to get
more bass on the 20/20 is a nonsense in my opinion. I think that before you do any mod you
must to look all your enviroment, for example 20/20 uses the el84 tubes, that tubes are the
british classical tubes in class A amps. The british sound is a totally balanced tone between
bass, middle and treble. On the other hand tubes like 6v6 or 6l6 has a rock standard tone, with
great highs and strong push bass ( the V eq settings ). One of the nice tones of the british tubes
designs are the presence middles. Once a time I test the 20-20 power amp from marshall, with
the same tubes. That amps sounds great but when you activate an extra low frecuencies punch
it sounds amazing the first minute ( " hey mom It sounds like Steve Vai ") but the later minute I
said " wait, wait, wait, where are the singing mids that are on every el84 tube ", that extra punch
circuit killed all the feeling of the el84. I think that if mesa wants on the 20/20 an american rock
tone they will designed the 20/20 with the 6v6 like fender amps. But I think that they were
looking for a more british sound. The tone of the 20/20 is perfect, it is warm and vintage and this
tone is the only reason to buy that amp, the triaxis with that amps achieve the perfect clean and
semisaturated tones for country, funk, blues and jazz. And I think that if the tone is not correct
for you, try to test a 2:90, because it has million functions than the 20/20 except that pretty
vintage tone. If you really want more low end response I could recomend to you replace the
boogie el84 tubes and try the jj el84.

I've had this mod on my 20/20 for some time now. (I've also installed a circuit to allow the TA to
switch the deep mod in and out) I find that the deep mod makes the amp's sound more
subdued. The lows do increase, but the mids level out as well, and the highs stay the same,
which makes them somewhat more prominent, since the bass and mids have decreased some.
One thing I noticed is that the amp's "snap" is decreased as well, as if the dynamics are a bit
subdued as well. This works great for a mellow, jazzy sound (but with crisp highs) on the neck
pickup, or an acoustic with piezo pickups.

I think that if you really want a bit more bass with the jj are enough, enjoy the 20/20 in my
opinion is the best tube power amp of mesa

Once you get the 20/20 I suggest retubing with JJ EL84s as they are one of the better EL84's
produced today.

There is one thing you may be interested in as far as mods go. Mesa put out a "Deep" mod for
the 20/20 and most of the people that have done did not go back to stock. Now, don't get this
associated with typical "deep" mods that one would think increases bass this actually just
reduces a mid hump that makes the tone more linear instead of a bit mid heavy. It just balances
the tone a little better and sounds great to my ears. If you want you can even make this feature
switchable.

The schematics and photos on how to perform the mod are on the Triaxis yahoo group.

It's a great combination and I believe that, the 20/20 is the better deal. I have had my 20/20
modded though:
it has the so-called deep-mod in the input filter section and my amp tech put a variable bias
circuitry in it. The fixed bias thing Mesa raves about is basically a hoax designed for you to
always buy Mesa tubes. My power tubes (EL 84) are running way hotter now (like they should
be) and that makes them sing like they've never done before. This applies to most Mesa
combos and poweramps.
Yes, this deep mod works and makes a pretty big difference. The 20/20 has a
cut in the low end when it leaves the factory. By removing the 2 capacitors
(1 for each channel), the virtual mid boost (due to less bass) is being
reduced resulting in a deeper sound. As always, it's a matter of personal
taste. When I modded my 20/20, I removed only 1 capacitor and compared the
channels, 1 being original and 1 being modded. I liked the modded channel
better and removed the other cap as well.

Oh, if you want to stick your hands in a tube power amp, there's a serious
risk of being electrocuted - even when it's disconnected from the AC outlet!
Here's a useful trick:

- connect the poweramp to the AC socket and to one or more speakers

- turn the amp ON (standby switch also ON)

- set the volume anywhere above 0.

- pull the AC plug out with all switches still ON and wait for at
least 1 minute. This should drain all charges.

Robert