anemiac 5:50

[gadgetfreak]

My 5:50 has sounded really bad lately and I have almost no eq when on the 2nd channel. Everything just sounds anemiac, about the best tone I can get is on the clean channel and still something is off, reverb is not as thick and lush as it used to be.

The 2nd channel is weird, I have lots of gain but the eq is not working correctly when I turn t,m,b knobs they barely make an audible difference.

I have put back all the stock tubes and nothing has changed.

One thing I can tell is about a week ago I went to put amp on out of standby and still had no sound, then I heard a bunch of static sounding noise then the sound came back, I also have a huge pop going in and out of standby.

I have tried many guitars, cords and am going directly to amp with guitar using brand new planet waves cord.

Does anyone know what this could be? I thought it was a tube but I'm thinking something more now just because of the popping sound and I have put in multiple new tubes and nothing. The fact that i have to flip the standby switch more than once to get sound must mean something right?

Just wanted to check here first before I call Mesa and see how I go about getting her looked at. Funny I started playing my Drri and i was like holy **** this amp sounds amazing, I think my ears were so used to hearing my Mesa being anemiac for awhile that when I actually heard what it sounds like for the notes to bloom I instantly kept playing the Drri.

This really sucks because amp was fine and I know I'm not crazy, Can any of you guys at least confirm that you have great eq response on the 2nd channel, I mean is it weak or do you have full spectrum when rolling bass from 0 to 10, on my clean channel the eq is fine, hell the amp almost sounds fine on that channel but there is still something missing. My les pauls sound like weak strats and my strats sound like there is no power at all, just weak and anemiac,,only words I can think of


Thanks ahead if anyone knows or have heard of something like this. One good thing is I still have original box and it's under warranty but it will cost an arm and a leg to ship and I worry about ups,fedex..etc.. screwing the amp up on the way there or back.

 

[tonejam]

Can't help you, but I did have the same problem with channel 2 on my 5:25. Tone knobs made next to no difference. I just thought that was how that channel was voiced! I bought the amp to replace my Studio 22, as I wanted the versatility of 2 separate channels. Ended up selling the amp and keeping the 22. Let us know how this comes out, and good luck!

 

[Nubbs]

it is the tubes.

 

[Don]

Sounds like tubes. Have you done anything besides experiment with preamp tubes in the amp? I had the amp serviced under warranty (bad reverb pan) by Butch in Providence. He did a great job.

Good luck!

 

[gadgetfreak]

freakin weird problem, I bought all new tubes for amp and got amp sounding unbelievable. Never had a problem then one day heard some static that sounded like a tube. The noise went away and then I started having popping coming out of standby and no sound for about a full minute.

I replace all the tubes i bought with the stock ones and same issue so I'm thinking ok I know these tubes were fine so it's got to be something internal that went. Just for shits and giggles I put back my new tubes because I know that noise I heard sounded like a bad tube and just wanted to reseat them and put on some contact cleaner, Haven't had a problem with it since and it sounds like it did after I initially retubed, wonderful... I don't know what to make of it other than maybe a tube got loose or I don't know, just don't know. It's fine now and the popping noise is gone. I'm just playing it and chalk it up to the unknowns with tube amps until something ultimately fails or hopefully I get years without an issue, I adore the amp. I mean I have no hiss at all, I put alot of time into trying a dozen different tube cocktails and have this amp nailed for tone.

I was nervous there for a minute just because I didn't want to ship it and have ups ruin something in transit and if Mesa got the amp they would have been like this dude is crazy it sound's great.. Funny thing is I did pull out each tube and reseat it when it first happened and problem was still there, it was until days later i revisited the amp and said let me try this one more time before I ship it out. So Far so good. Thanks for replies and yeah so far it's looking like some mysterious tube issue.

Edit: Don btw Butch is a beast when it comes to amp's I would have had him look at it, I know his work. He did work for a friend of mines vintage marshall and he really knows his ****. He wasn't listed as an authorized repair center on the website though, so I didn't even think to call him. If I do I will probably have him fix it, probably cheaper than shipping it to California, espcially if Mesa didn't find anything wrong and then it did it again, I hate those issues.

 

[Don]

He wasn't listed as an authorized repair center on the website though, so I didn't even think to call him. If I do I will probably have him fix it, probably cheaper than shipping it to California, espcially if Mesa didn't find anything wrong and then it did it again, I hate those issues.

He was when he worked on my amp. I tried to look it up on Mesa's site last night before recommending him but I couldn't find their listing.