Bias update for TA-15 available from Mesa Boogie

[talltxguy]

So I was perusing EBAY the other day and saw a TA-15 head for sale. The owner stated that it had the "bias update" and "mute circuit update" for the TA-15. I have never heard of such a thing. I emailed him and he said that it was an older TA-15 and that Mesa tweaked it for him.

I called Mesa this morning. Marcus wasn't sure about the update and sent me to Rich in repair. He was quite obnoxious when he said, "So you think Mesa should send out information every time we do a little tweak to your equipment?" I kept my polite tone and didn't get nasty as I wanted to. I did tell him that since I registered my amp with them, it would have been nice to receive something from them.

So anyway, I finally got him to tell me about the "bias update." Apparently, any TA-15 with a serial number before 1289 is eligible for the update. He claimed that the update lowered the voltage by 1 volt to the power tubes.

When I asked him if he meant mA, he asked me if I was a tech or something, of which I responded that I was not.

I expressed a concern that is there anything else running a bit warm besides the power tubes, and he said that I can choose to get the update or not, that it is up to me. He totally dodged my question.

When I asked him to repeat which resistors would be changed, he refused to repeat himself and again told me that I can have the update done or not.

It doesn't sound like this update is a really big deal, but what I do find to be a big deal is that a Mesa loyalist as myself, who registered his amp with Mesa, was not notified about an update. And I'm not happy with the way I was treated by Rich in repair. I will be talking to somebody at Mesa about the lack of notice and Rich's jerkish attitude.

This was the first negative customer experience I've had with Mesa.

 

[purpledc]

Sounds like a guy I talked to once. I usually get someone that is always very polite and eager to please. But on a couple occasions I get this total wad that really acts like hes gods gift to the amplifier and really has an attitude with every single question you throw at him as if he is appalled that you dont take everything on mere faith. You know the type. The kind of guy who's every word drips with sarcasm attitude. You just want to choke the guy through the phone. I love my amp, but that guy needs a freakin time out.

 

[mule#1]

I had a similar experience with Marcus on a MK V problem. I had the amp for two weeks and had it go down and felt his attitude could have been a little more understanding. Then I got sent to Michael Taylor who was awesome and understanding. I had 2 problems and both were fixed. One was a bad V1 tube.

I'm sure it sucks dealing with us tone snobs all day but it is customer service. And I suppose we are all human and have bad days and who knows maybe his girlfriend left him or his wife was on him about not fixing the toilet handle or something :lol: I do feel their customer service has faded since 1990!

 

[jsabo]

ive spoken to kris dilbeck before, he was kind of a jerk too

 

[HaggertysMusic]

I can't do anything about the poor service you received from Mesa, other than to say that maybe someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. We've all been there, right?

About the changes to the TA 15. One resistor was changed to a slightly higher value which resulted in less than a 1v drop in the bias circuit. This causes the power tubes to run slightly cooler in the 25 watt mode. But this change is very minimal. I wouldn't mess with changing it.

To stabilize the mute circuit, two capacitors were added. No tonal difference here, so unless your amps mute is going crazy, I wouldn't worry about this one either.

If you PM me, I can give you the values of the caps and resistor, but be forewarned just in case you don't know, if you crack open your amp and start modifying it, you risk serious injury or death. Capacitors can hold a lethal charge, even when the amp is unplugged. If you don't have experience with this, just take it to a tech. Doing it yourself would void your warranty too.

 

[talltxguy]

Thanks for the info, Don.

On a side note, I appreciate the pride you take in your job by doing some very good demonstrations of the amps you sell.