Blew my Mesa?

Re: Blew my Mesa?

Have you tried swapping preamp tubes? I've had a bad preamp tube cause a similar loss of volume in another amp.
 
Re: Blew my Mesa?

Yeah it's far from quick and convenient to send it back to Cali lol, although they are known for fairly quick turnaround at very reasonable rates.

In the near future I'm going to be sending them a 95 Dual Recto for a check-up/new caps/sockets/chord ect..., just because I have no reputable mesa-techs within a few hour drive, and I just trust them more than anyone with whom I have no tech history with. I figure if I'm going to ship it then I might as well just ship it back to mesa. I'm hoping they can do me a series-mod as well while they're at it.
 
Re: Blew my Mesa?

Well it is my main amp. I have backups though and I did consider shipping it to them to get it straightened out. I probably need to call their phone support and get suggestions... mostly I just want it to work again as soon as possible...
I live in East Texas just south of Texarkana,I know what you mean by long way to the techs shop,for me its Dallas or H-town,both 230+ miles away,but if you are in H-town,you might be underwater from all the rain! Man I hope you get the Mesa up and running quickly !
 
Re: Blew my Mesa?

Have you tried swapping preamp tubes? I've had a bad preamp tube cause a similar loss of volume in another amp.
And spray some contact cleaner into the sockets. I had a problem that matches what you're describing, crank gain and volume and I got some sound but very low volume. I also cleaned all of the jacks while I was at it. I'm 99% sure it all came down to the preamp socket needing to be cleaned.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
 
Re: Blew my Mesa?

I know you stated you don't want to do it, but the tech that just had it should finish the job without further charge (assuming it's not under warranty). It doesn't instill confidence that he was testing it and still let it go home, but maybe he just missed something. My opinion only but it's at least worth a call to the guy. And a 30 minute drive isn't nearly as expensive as shipping. Mesa must have some type of decent qualification requirement to certify techs and/or repair facilities, so maybe the guy just had a bad day.
 
Re: Blew my Mesa?

And spray some contact cleaner into the sockets. I had a problem that matches what you're describing, crank gain and volume and I got some sound but very low volume. I also cleaned all of the jacks while I was at it. I'm 99% sure it all came down to the preamp socket needing to be cleaned.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

I've also had a dirty tube socket make volume randomly fluctuate between normal and nearly silent.
 
Re: Blew my Mesa?

I've also had a dirty tube socket make volume randomly fluctuate between normal and nearly silent.
You know, now that I think about it I did swap out the preamp tube at the same time since I was right there. So I guess I can't say I'm 99% sure it was cleaning the socket. But between cleaning the jacks, cleaning the sockets, and replacing the tube the problem went away.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
 
Re: Blew my Mesa?

I would be interested to know how this develops. I have a Mesa, too, and although it is working fine, I am always looking for things to check if something goes wrong. That effects loop trick is gold.
 
Re: Blew my Mesa?

I've tried switching around pre tubes and power tubes and spraying out the sockets with contact cleaner. Still no good. The amp makes sound but it's just very weak, especially on the clean channel.

I do have a whole other set of pre tubes for this amp, and I may try to swap them in just to be thorough, before I send this thing back to Mesa for servicing. I do know that at one point I was running on just one power tube (a tube had come out of the socket slightly and had gone dark, I didn't know it was loose until the amp cooled down). It worked for a bit like this, then fizzled out. Another thing is that the amp gives a pretty loud pop now when power scaling is switched on, or when the amp is turned off; it never did that before.

My suspicion is that the tech was right and that there's something wrong with the mute circuit, but that he didn't fix it properly. But we shall see....
 
Re: Blew my Mesa?

Have you called Mesa and talked to one of their techs? If you send it back, be sure to call them first; you may need an RA. But they may be able to guide you through some troubleshooting.

Swap in a new preamp tube one at a time, not all at once. Use a tube that you know is good.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Bill
 
Last edited:
Re: Blew my Mesa?

Have you called Mesa and talked to one of their techs? If you send it back, be sure to call them first; you may need an RA. But they may be able to guide you through some troubleshooting.

Swap in a new preamp tube one at a time, not all at once. Use a tube that you know is good.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Bill

Thanks Bill. I have a bunch of spare 12ax7s (if I can find them) and I will go through the procedure before I call Mesa.
 
Back
Top