Little help needed...

[jdurso]

So i plug in my roadster before and i get nothing coming out, well only a little sound if i'm on channel 4 modern and i put the output to 12 oclock. All tubes seem to be lit and i've tried all my cables twice. Right now i'm plugged in guitar>amp>cab and i've tried all my guitars with the same result.

Now before i start swapping out every tube and/or taking the amp to a tech i want to ask here to see if anyone can help me get this amp running again. My gut tells me its a preamp tube but its such a bitch to swap them one at a time....btw if anyone knows an easy way other than having to unplug the power amp tubes then swap a preamp tube then pu the power tubes back in and then repeat, i'm all ears (other then removing the amp from the shell). I know i wont have that time until the weekend so if anyone knows if there is something i can key on until then i'd much appreciate it.

 

[jdurso]

Ok i figured it out and I'm somewhat worried. It was bothering me so much i had to start checking the preamp tubes and i noticed the siemens ecc83 i had in v2 didnt have the grayish top, it was clear/white. So i take out the power tubes pull the Siemens out and sure enough.... a chunk of the bottom is blown out.

Now here's what worries me.... i think the piece of blown out glass is in the amp :shock: I did carefully put back the stock mesa 12ax7 and turned on the amp to see if that was the issue and sure enough it was. As soon as i heard that it was working again i turned it off (it was on for no more than 10 seconds).

So want to know what makes it worse? I was looking for the warranty paper to see if something like this would be covered and you know what i found? The warranty card your suppose to send in 30 days after purchase in the envelope with the stamp on it.... almost 2 years now its been sitting there, i feel like the biggest idiot in the world.

So now do i try and open the amp up to retrieve the peace of glass or do i take it to the tech and get raped on the bench fee? I know better safe then sorry and i do think the roadster needs a checkup anyway because its never left my house since i got it, but what do you guys think? Does this warrant taking to a tech? I'm not sure what damage if any has been done. Note, none of the pins were stuck in the amp, the whole bottom of the tube was fine except for a small chunk that blew out (near the bottom curve of the tube).

WTF do i DO!!!!????

 

[Laskyman]

First- contact Mesa- if you have the original receipt, or if you are "in" with the dealer that you bought from- ask him to call his Mesa rep and get advice on how to resolve this- you may be looking at laying down some scratch, but
in my experience, Mesa is all about customer service- and I cant imagine they wouldn't do something to help you work on this....
Good Luck- I will be curious what you find out

Laskyman

 

[MetalMatt]

Thats good you found the problem.

Just call up Mesa as if you sent in the warranty card. Hey... things get lost in the mail :wink: but I'm sure they hear that all the time :lol:

When I wanted to replace a preamp tube, I called Mesa asking if taking the chassis out (I have big hands) will void my warranty, they told me no. Since you used a non mesa tube...thats where things get "iffy". If you send it in and they find out, you could be screwed, you will lose your warranty. If you take the chassis out and are able to get the glass out with out removing the board you keep your warranty. Now this all depends if Mesa believes you sent it in the card.

Either way Mesa takes care of their own.

Keep us posted!

 

[jdurso]

quick how do i unhook the reverb tank? the white wire doesnt look like its easily removed and i havent found anything on the forum of how to do it!!!!

 

[lerxst88]

well to take out the reverb tank you should disconnect the two RCA plugs from the head. on my nomad one is covered in rubber and the other one is bare. the bare one is (ironically) a bear to get out with just my hands. use a pliers to get the bugger out.

once you remove the chassis out of the cabinet its in look inside the chassis where all the candy looking things are (dont touch!!!) there should be two big blue cylinders that are about the size of a 6L6 or EL-34. DO NOT TOUCH THE LEADS ON THESE!!!! they will in fact kill you or at least shock you very badly. if you have a multi meter, set it to read volts and connect the black wire to the negative side of the big tube thing (called a filter capacitor) and then being extremely careful connect the red wire from the multimeter to the positive side (usually has a little notch on the + side). now look at your multi meter and see how many volts you could be shocked with from these! since the multimeter has a bit of resistance current from the capacitor will flow through it and gradually it will be out of juice. do this to all the capacitors that are at least as big around as your finger and then you should be safe to look around for that piece of glass. oh yeah make sure to have the amp unplugged haha

 

[jdurso]

nevermind i'm an idiot, i thought the white wire couldnt pull out... it was just a little stubborn.


Sucess i got the piece of glass.... everything looked purdy under the hood, nothing looked burnt or fried, so thus far everything seems fine. Now I have to reassemble and hook her up and see how she sounds. I'll post some amp porn a little later... i couldnt resist getting the camera out while the hood was open.

 

[jdurso]

Fixed it!! Found the shard of tube and everything looks good.

Ok here comes a lot of pictures:

1. Removed the amp from the headshell (after finally figuring out how to remove the reverb tank... i'm an idiot)

2. The culprit

3. This is what a blown out tube looks like. I didn't know a tube could blow with enough force to blow out its side.... and in the amp no less.

4. Took a few picks under the hood. Is it me or does this look like an aerial view of city or base? They should call it Tone City!

5. This is what a happy Mesa owner looks like

 

[jdurso]

well to take out the reverb tank you should disconnect the two RCA plugs from the head. on my nomad one is covered in rubber and the other one is bare. the bare one is (ironically) a bear to get out with just my hands. use a pliers to get the bugger out.

once you remove the chassis out of the cabinet its in look inside the chassis where all the candy looking things are (dont touch!!!) there should be two big blue cylinders that are about the size of a 6L6 or EL-34. DO NOT TOUCH THE LEADS ON THESE!!!! they will in fact kill you or at least shock you very badly. if you have a multi meter, set it to read volts and connect the black wire to the negative side of the big tube thing (called a filter capacitor) and then being extremely careful connect the red wire from the multimeter to the positive side (usually has a little notch on the + side). now look at your multi meter and see how many volts you could be shocked with from these! since the multimeter has a bit of resistance current from the capacitor will flow through it and gradually it will be out of juice. do this to all the capacitors that are at least as big around as your finger and then you should be safe to look around for that piece of glass. oh yeah make sure to have the amp unplugged haha

Luckily i didnt really need to look around or touch anything. As soon as i removed the amp, the piece of glass was just sitting on the bottom of the headshell. What scares me is I didnt know any of what you just wrote and man that would have sucked if i accidentally killed myself.

 

[jdurso]

only thing that sucks is that stock preamp tube makes the amp sound stiff, lacks the smooth mids and sounds a little brittle at times. That Siemens tubes really sounded amazing... i must search for another now.

 

[Jacko123]

Happy to hear what appears to be a happy ending. Thanks for the pics.