Gain channel dead on my amp

[sonicexplorer]

Hey guys, went to a gig yesterday and my Mesa DC-5 combo had no sound coming out of the gain channel. The clean channel worked fine. About a year ago I changed the power tubes cuz the the clean channel would go off and on, but the gain channel always played. So I'm not sure if it's the power tubes or something else. I did use the amp at practice the night before without any problems, but I know it got knock around a little in the back of my suv after practice. I hoping it didn't get damaged.

Since I needed distortion, I quikly ran home and grabbed my Sansamp pedal, and went on. I don't really use my distortion pedals too much cuz I love the amp distortion I get from my Mesa amps, but I'm going to start carrying one again just in case!

Back to the subject, any advice will be greatly appreciated. I'll get a new set of power tubes next week, and try that route. In the meantime everybody have a safe and Happy New Year!!!

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Gain channel dead on my amp

It's probably not a power tube problem as those are common to both channels. It might be a preamp tube or a problem in the switching. swap around your 12ax7s and see if anything changes or insert a shorted closed 1/4" jack into the switching jack and see if the amp triggers.

 

[wixomwhat]

Re: Gain channel dead on my amp

Hey guys, went to a gig yesterday and my Mesa DC-5 combo had no sound coming out of the gain channel. The clean channel worked fine. About a year ago I changed the power tubes cuz the the clean channel would go off and on, but the gain channel always played. So I'm not sure if it's the power tubes or something else. I did use the amp at practice the night before without any problems, but I know it got knock around a little in the back of my suv after practice. I hoping it didn't get damaged.

Since I needed distortion, I quikly ran home and grabbed my Sansamp pedal, and went on. I don't really use my distortion pedals too much cuz I love the amp distortion I get from my Mesa amps, but I'm going to start carrying one again just in case!

Back to the subject, any advice will be greatly appreciated. I'll get a new set of power tubes next week, and try that route. In the meantime everybody have a safe and Happy New Year!!!

The clean channel on my amp made very little sound when i had it on. We opened it up and it was a broken pot.

 

[FireBros.]

Re: Gain channel dead on my amp

On the DC series amps they use something called a LDR to do the channel switching instead of a relay or transistor. If one of them goes dead you will have a dead lead channel. I experienced this with my studio caliber. I called mesa and told them the problem, they explained what was probably wrong. I bought the part from them for about $10, soldered it in and was good to go. That sounds like the most likely problem, because you have the same symptoms as me.

BTW you should still check the tubes first.