I have had my Mark IV short head for 14 years without a glitch playing regularly (both gigging and heavy practice), except for two operator induced circumstances.
1. Years ago, during practice, I unplugged my guitar, then plugged it back in, without putting it on standby. Blew the fuse. $2 to replace.
I never did that again, and subsequently it hasn't either.
2.Again, years ago, I knocked a knob off walking through a sliding glass doorway
, I definitely never did that again...
On top of that, I played through the
exact same tubes it came with until last year without changing them. I decided to retube (power tubes) it when I sent it in to Mesa to finally fix the broken knob.
and OMG did it sound better with the new power tubes :shock: .
I will definitely be doing that again, and more often...