Filmore 50 Combo Tone Issues

[Guy Callari]

Hi all,
New member here.
I recently purchased a used Filmore 50 combo. This was after purchasing two Of the same, one had a popping sound when warmed up, the other made no sound at all. I returned both. Still determined I figured I might have better luck purchasing used.
Anyway, my used purchase sounds nothing like the new one i had in possession for a few weeks. The treble on the used one is extremely harsh in all channels and wattages. Pretty awful. I can’t dial it out no matter how i set the pots. My OCD pedal sounds horrible, yet sounded fine with the new amp and sounds fine with my Blues Jr.
The preamp tubes are currently all Ruby’s. I swapped them with the Mesa tubes that came with it as well, but made no difference.
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Guy Callari]

Hi all,
New member here.
I recently purchased a used Filmore 50 combo. This was after purchasing two Of the same, one had a popping sound when warmed up, the other made no sound at all. I returned both. Still determined I figured I might have better luck purchasing used.
Anyway, my used purchase sounds nothing like the new one i had in possession for a few weeks. The treble on the used one is extremely harsh in all channels and wattages. Pretty awful. I can’t dial it out no matter how i set the pots. My OCD pedal sounds horrible, yet sounded fine with the new amp and sounds fine with my Blues Jr.
The preamp tubes are currently all Ruby’s. I swapped them with the Mesa tubes that came with it as well, but made no difference.
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hey all, any advice as to whether I might have a specific issue affecting the tone? I’ve been wanting a Fillmore for years and loved the tone of the new one i had for a few weeks. I’d hate to unload this if there’s something I can correct.
Thanks
Guy

 

[rarebitusa]

The treble on the used one is extremely harsh in all channels and wattages.

So does switching between Hi/Drive/Clean make any difference? Have you tried running a different speaker/cab? Will assume you've toggled reverb off also.

Perhaps you can try isolating the power section. By using Send Out to anything that you can monitor a line level input with, see if the harshness remains or changes significantly. It's a series fx loop so the signal to the output stage will be disabled.

 

[Sinner's Swing!]

Why did you return the one that was working well? I don't know the Fillmore well, not sure how many versions there are, etc. I'd flip this one if you can and buy the one that had no issues before?

 

[Guy Callari]

Why did you return the one that was working well? I don't know the Fillmore well, not sure how many versions there are, etc. I'd flip this one if you can and buy the one that had no issues before?

The first new one, after about a week, created a popping noise every thirty seconds or so. The second new one didn’t work at all other than the red light.

 

[Sinner's Swing!]

Ah, ok I read that wrong then. That is strange, having bad luck with 2 amps that were bought new. I don't have experience with the Fillmore, just the Mark series. If the current model has an issue, I'd try to get some money back from the seller. Seems like you know how it is supposed to sound. Was the popping noise loud? Sometimes when there are computers, phones, and other electronic interference I get some noise through my amps. Kind of like a really low popping, could also be the cables. None of it is loud or annoying enough to bother me when I am playing though. There is sometimes some pop when I switch channels on my Mark.

 

[Guy Callari]

Ah, ok I read that wrong then. That is strange, having bad luck with 2 amps that were bought new. I don't have experience with the Fillmore, just the Mark series. If the current model has an issue, I'd try to get some money back from the seller. Seems like you know how it is supposed to sound. Was the popping noise loud? Sometimes when there are computers, phones, and other electronic interference I get some noise through my amps. Kind of like a really low popping, could also be the cables. None of it is loud or annoying enough to bother me when I am playing though. There is sometimes some pop when I switch channels on my Mark.

We tested it at the store when I returned it. It had a definite problem. And yeah everyone was kind of shocked when the second one didn’t work at all.
I figured I’d have better luck buying used at that point and save some money as well.
Three strikes.

 

[Sinner's Swing!]

See if some Fillmore owners chime in here - I have heard good things about them.

 

[Billy Hiwatt]

Likely got tossed around during shipping. Were the amps double boxed? Find an authorized Mesa service center and have them go through it. Great amps the Fillmores are!