To those of you who have looked for a TA-30: my price might be among the higher ones you've seen, but read on and let me tell you about this great amp and how I’ve refined it. (I wrote the following for anyone not very familiar with this amp. I assume that you guys are, so bear with the basic parts.)
If you’ve informed yourself about the TA-30, you’ve seen a lot of positive notices – the ones that assert that it can stand among any vintage or boutique EL84 amp are not hyperbole – but you’ve also probably seen some mentions of its flaws, namely its susceptibility to tarnish/fingerprints on its silver-painted surfaces (particularly the top/front panel) and its noisy reverb circuit. Long story short: I’ve fixed both of these problems and made this amp the best possible version of itself. (I invite you to look at other listings and decide which one you'd like to buy.)
Regarding the top/front panel: When I got this amp, this part didn’t look good – it bore the characteristic smudging that’s often seen on TAs, stains that strangely are impossible to clean off. The front and back control panels, however, looked great. I eventually removed the top panel and took it to a local powdercoating shop, where it was stripped of its old finish and refinished with a semi-gloss black (a level of gloss that I thought most closely matches that of the remaining silver-finished panels). I was inspired by the look of the Mesa Strategy bass amp, which appeared to me to be the cooler big brother of the TA amps, and I think it is a totally successful transformation. Not only does the black panel improve the looks of the amp, but you now can actually touch it and not fear tarnishing it permanently. This was a real win on an appearance level as well as future-proofing it for many more years of use.
Regarding the noisy reverb circuit: the informed shoppers among you know about the “technical service bulletins” (TSBs) issued by Mesa for the TA-30. There were three of them: a “Reverb & FX Noise Mod,” a “Buzz/Dropout Update,” and a “Reverb Hum Update.” In its previous state, this amp didn’t really exhibit problematic performance – the reverb circuit produced only the slightest hum on maximum settings, and I never experienced the problem that the buzz/dropout update was meant to fix (“buzzing and intermittent dropouts when switching among wattage modes”). In any case, to completely fortify this amp, I took it to a local tech officially authorized/certified by Mesa to have all the TSBs done. It was discovered that the first TSB already had been done (explaining why I didn’t hear much noise in the first place), and doing the remaining two brought the amp up to the latest spec. I think the third TSB had a noticeable effect – it involves rotating the power transformer 45 degrees and mounting it on an L-shaped bracket, changing its orientation relative to the reverb tank and eliminating the aforementioned slight hum. This amp already performed excellently, and the TSBs knocked out practically everything else that people would be bothered by. The reverb circuits on both channels now exhibit incredibly minimal audible noise, if any, and that’s listening to it in isolation with all levels cranked. (I’m hyper-focusing here – this is stuff you’ll never notice in any playing setting. You wouldn’t expect many other amps of any kind to function so well.)
So how does it sound? First, you shouldn’t worry about this small amp not packing a punch – this is a 4xEL84 power section, after all, and with the Mesa wattage-mode voodoo, it can be bumped up to 40 watts. The wattage modes are among the TAs secret weapons – they make more of a difference than you might think in tone and feel. 15w is chewy and chimey and 40w is tight and bold, but the 30w mode is where this amp shines. There’s not much out there like the roar of the green channel’s Top Boost mode at 30w – you’ll hear that classic tone rippin’ down the block – and the straight-up clean mode is the TB’s pristine partner. Mesa also put two great overdrive modes in the TA-30, one more British and the other more American, but the best-kept secret on the red channel is the Tweed mode. Don’t tell anyone else about it! It’s a world of edge-of-breakup in itself. Just park that toggle on Tweed, lose track of time, and thank me later.
All in all, this is a special TA with all the things you might think about doing already done for you. Add up the time/trouble/technical work that’s gone into it and you might agree that my price is objectively reasonable. It’s clean as a whistle, ready to rock, and dressed to impress everyone who sees it out of the bag. Oh yeah, the Mesa carry bag – it’s included, of course, and is also clean and intact. A power cable will be in the front zip pocket.
*I'm planning on listing this amp on Reverb, but I'd much rather make a person-to-person transaction – considering the fees and the dangers of shipping, you should too.
More photos of any angle on request.
If you’ve informed yourself about the TA-30, you’ve seen a lot of positive notices – the ones that assert that it can stand among any vintage or boutique EL84 amp are not hyperbole – but you’ve also probably seen some mentions of its flaws, namely its susceptibility to tarnish/fingerprints on its silver-painted surfaces (particularly the top/front panel) and its noisy reverb circuit. Long story short: I’ve fixed both of these problems and made this amp the best possible version of itself. (I invite you to look at other listings and decide which one you'd like to buy.)
Regarding the top/front panel: When I got this amp, this part didn’t look good – it bore the characteristic smudging that’s often seen on TAs, stains that strangely are impossible to clean off. The front and back control panels, however, looked great. I eventually removed the top panel and took it to a local powdercoating shop, where it was stripped of its old finish and refinished with a semi-gloss black (a level of gloss that I thought most closely matches that of the remaining silver-finished panels). I was inspired by the look of the Mesa Strategy bass amp, which appeared to me to be the cooler big brother of the TA amps, and I think it is a totally successful transformation. Not only does the black panel improve the looks of the amp, but you now can actually touch it and not fear tarnishing it permanently. This was a real win on an appearance level as well as future-proofing it for many more years of use.
Regarding the noisy reverb circuit: the informed shoppers among you know about the “technical service bulletins” (TSBs) issued by Mesa for the TA-30. There were three of them: a “Reverb & FX Noise Mod,” a “Buzz/Dropout Update,” and a “Reverb Hum Update.” In its previous state, this amp didn’t really exhibit problematic performance – the reverb circuit produced only the slightest hum on maximum settings, and I never experienced the problem that the buzz/dropout update was meant to fix (“buzzing and intermittent dropouts when switching among wattage modes”). In any case, to completely fortify this amp, I took it to a local tech officially authorized/certified by Mesa to have all the TSBs done. It was discovered that the first TSB already had been done (explaining why I didn’t hear much noise in the first place), and doing the remaining two brought the amp up to the latest spec. I think the third TSB had a noticeable effect – it involves rotating the power transformer 45 degrees and mounting it on an L-shaped bracket, changing its orientation relative to the reverb tank and eliminating the aforementioned slight hum. This amp already performed excellently, and the TSBs knocked out practically everything else that people would be bothered by. The reverb circuits on both channels now exhibit incredibly minimal audible noise, if any, and that’s listening to it in isolation with all levels cranked. (I’m hyper-focusing here – this is stuff you’ll never notice in any playing setting. You wouldn’t expect many other amps of any kind to function so well.)
So how does it sound? First, you shouldn’t worry about this small amp not packing a punch – this is a 4xEL84 power section, after all, and with the Mesa wattage-mode voodoo, it can be bumped up to 40 watts. The wattage modes are among the TAs secret weapons – they make more of a difference than you might think in tone and feel. 15w is chewy and chimey and 40w is tight and bold, but the 30w mode is where this amp shines. There’s not much out there like the roar of the green channel’s Top Boost mode at 30w – you’ll hear that classic tone rippin’ down the block – and the straight-up clean mode is the TB’s pristine partner. Mesa also put two great overdrive modes in the TA-30, one more British and the other more American, but the best-kept secret on the red channel is the Tweed mode. Don’t tell anyone else about it! It’s a world of edge-of-breakup in itself. Just park that toggle on Tweed, lose track of time, and thank me later.
All in all, this is a special TA with all the things you might think about doing already done for you. Add up the time/trouble/technical work that’s gone into it and you might agree that my price is objectively reasonable. It’s clean as a whistle, ready to rock, and dressed to impress everyone who sees it out of the bag. Oh yeah, the Mesa carry bag – it’s included, of course, and is also clean and intact. A power cable will be in the front zip pocket.
*I'm planning on listing this amp on Reverb, but I'd much rather make a person-to-person transaction – considering the fees and the dangers of shipping, you should too.
More photos of any angle on request.
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