Blue Angel pot replacement

[Mincer]

The thread about the Mesa Blue Angel had me using mine a lot over the last week. I noticed a few of the pots were pretty scratchy, and jumping in value. Deoxit didn't work, so my guess is that they should just be replaced. Having worked on thousands of guitars, but never an amp, is replacement as easy as it sounds? I know tube amps can store voltage, but I wouldn't be going near the caps. Forgive my amp ignorance, but are amp pots similar to guitar pots? I have a schematic, but, again, looking at amp electronics, I am not as familiar with what I am looking at as guitar electronics.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Blue Angel pot replacement

Yea basically the same
They may have terminals that solder onto a pc board tho

On the amp let it sit overnight unplugged
The caps should dissipate by then

 

[zzmoore]

Re: Blue Angel pot replacement

Do you have a meter.?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Blue Angel pot replacement

Yes, I do.

 

[LReese]

Re: Blue Angel pot replacement

Tried the De-oxit in the oiler bottle? The spray only temporarily helped my old vibrolux. Worth a try before replacing the pots. I used the one called faderlube, $6 on Amazon for the small oiler..

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Blue Angel pot replacement

Deoxit usually works if you soak the pots as much as possible and turn them back and forth about 100 times. If Deoxit can't bring them back to life, I'd suggest ordering OEM pots, especially for PCB amps. You'll save yourself potential headaches.

Sometimes, it's hard to heat up each connection to the board in unison, so you may have to cut the pots off the board with wire cutters, and desolder each remaining terminal individually. This will prevent damage to the PCB traces.

 

[glassman]

Re: Blue Angel pot replacement

DeOxit has a hard time cutting through years of baked on crud; in those cases, it actually can make things worse. I use CaigKleen or Brake cleaner to get the baked on crud out of there and follow up with DeOxit. In 18 years of repairing amps, I can count on one hand the number of pots I couldn't resurrect...and I've seen some really bad ones. A shot of Caig ProGold really helps after all of the cleaning and oxidation removal.

 

[zzmoore]

Re: Blue Angel pot replacement

Yes, I do.

It is just good practice to either check or drain the caps.
By the time you check...you could probably just Zero the big voltage caps.
best

 

[Mincer]

Re: Blue Angel pot replacement

These pots are easy to get to- not soldered to the board directly, but flown via the connections. They are branded with just the Mesa part number, so I asked them if I could order directly from them. I don't know if they are some weirdo taper or custom made, since I can't tell by any markings on it...and you never know with Mesa/Boogie. Replacing them is actually easier than replacing a pot on a guitar...just in this case, I need to figure out the right pot.

 

[zzmoore]

Re: Blue Angel pot replacement

If you put your meter across the two outside lugs...that will give you the resistance of the pot.
I would just assume you are wanting audio taper pots.
best

 

[Mincer]

Re: Blue Angel pot replacement

Yeah, I can get the resistance- but I am not sure if these are custom taper pots or not. They are the normal size of guitar pots, but are stamped with a Mesa part number. Maybe they are normal, maybe not...lets see what Mesa says. I'd hate for them to charge me a crazy amount for 2 pots that I already have in my parts box.

 

[zzmoore]

Re: Blue Angel pot replacement

How "custom" could the taper be.?
When all said and done...will it matter much to you if what was 3 is now 4 on a knob.?
If Mesa turns out to be a pain and/or expensive...I would just install new pot(s) and see what you think...you can always pull them out.
best

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Blue Angel pot replacement

You can get the Mesa part number off the parts sheet in the Blue Angel Owners Manual.

Give the guys at Mesa a phone call and they can ship them right out. I would definitely use their parts.

The replacement procedure is easy, if you can solder. You probably will need a Dremel tool with a cutting bit. When I did a pot replacement on my Maverick 212, a couple of the plastic pot shafts were too long, and I cut them off with a Dremel cutting wheel.

Piece of cake.

Bill

 

[Mincer]

Re: Blue Angel pot replacement

Yeah, it uses some weirdo pots that I don't have and are difficult to find...with those solid D-shaped shafts....I will try Boogie directly, since I'd. Waste a lot of time trying to makes something else work. It is funny that you'd have to cut them to the right length- you'd think they would have come the right size. I did find the right part number in the manual.