Mesa Boogie Walkabout send and return sockets.

[jazzyvee]

I have a Mesa boogie walkabout head that I've had from new since about 2004. It's just had a repair to the send and return sockets as there was a problem with the signal breaking up. ( a common problem I've read).

I also have a separate pre-amp that I wanted to test out the repair with so I plugged the full range output of the pre-amp into the return socket at the back of the walkabout. The sound was fine however, whilst expected the pre-amp controls of the walkabout to be bypassed, the master volume also was bypassed so the only way of controlling the output volume was via my external pre-amp gain control.

My question is simply, is this correct for the walkabout?
I use this method with my pre-amp on many of my gigs where there is a back line because the back line amps are not usually to my liking and all of them bypass their internal pre-amp stages but always give me control of the master volume.

Does mesa do things differently or does this point to a problem with the repair of the send and return sockets?

At the moment I don't have a device I can use in the send and return sockets to see if the master volume is affected in that mode too but should get a chance over the weekend.
Jazzyvee

[Sean]

You seem to have sussed out the workings of the MB Walkabout as I understand them. I'm glad I'm not alone. They are definitely not conventional and all this is confirmed in the manual. I'm sure someone else will give some more insight.

Dennis Marshall (MB authorised repair chap for UK) told me all about the send/return problem and fixed it with a patch lead and it's been fine since.