Lone Star Special, Volume Drop Problem, HELP!

[Resonator]

Oh No! My new LSS has a problem. I'll be playing and the volume will drop down. It doesn't drop off altogether, it just drops down. It will drop down and come back up. It's happened on both the strat and tele, so it's not the guitar. I've checked to make sure the tubes are all seated well and can't make it happen by moving wires around or switches. It doesn't do this all the time. I can play for a short while or an hour before it pops up. Sometimes I can play for an hour and it doesn't drop off at all. When it does happen it seem to do it a couple times and then it's alright for a while. It acts like there's something loose and loosing good contact? This morning it did just the opposite. I turned it on and was playing for a while when the volume jumped up a little bit.

Has anyone had this problem with their LSS? The owner of the store where I bought it is out of town till Tuesday. He's also a friend of mine. So He's the one I want to deal with on this. I'm not worried about it. I know he'll make it right. I think I want Dave to replace it, rather than repair it since it's new.

This is the only disturbing thing about the Mesa Amps. I've read quit a few reviews about reliability issues. For a hand made Amp, This shouldn't be.

Res

 

[Barry]

Oh No! My new LSS has a problem. I'll be playing and the volume will drop down. It doesn't drop off altogether, it just drops down. It will drop down and come back up. It's happened on both the strat and tele, so it's not the guitar. I've checked to make sure the tubes are all seated well and can't make it happen by moving wires around or switches. It doesn't do this all the time. I can play for a short while or an hour before it pops up. Sometimes I can play for an hour and it doesn't drop off at all. When it does happen it seem to do it a couple times and then it's alright for a while. It acts like there's something loose and loosing good contact? This morning it did just the opposite. I turned it on and was playing for a while when the volume jumped up a little bit.

Has anyone had this problem with their LSS? The owner of the store where I bought it is out of town till Tuesday. He's also a friend of mine. So He's the one I want to deal with on this. I'm not worried about it. I know he'll make it right. I think I want Dave to replace it, rather than repair it since it's new.

This is the only disturbing thing about the Mesa Amps. I've read quit a few reviews about reliability issues. For a hand made Amp, This shouldn't be.

Res

Could be a rectifier tube going bad

 

[Platypus]

Silly question, have you tried a different guitar cord?

On the rectifier tube, that's a good possibility as well if you notice it sputtering or topping out and slowly coming back up to full volume.

It sounds tube related to me.. I know it's easy to claim these problems shouldn't happen on such an expensive amp but keep in mind that tubes are not made to the same standards as they were in the 60s.. probably 10 cents worth of chinese parts made in a chinese factory.. it's akin to blaming your new Lambo for getting a flat tire

Hope you get it worked out soon!

 

[Resonator]

Silly question, have you tried a different guitar cord?

On the rectifier tube, that's a good possibility as well if you notice it sputtering or topping out and slowly coming back up to full volume.

It sounds tube related to me.. I know it's easy to claim these problems shouldn't happen on such an expensive amp but keep in mind that tubes are not made to the same standards as they were in the 60s.. probably 10 cents worth of chinese parts made in a chinese factory.. it's akin to blaming your new Lambo for getting a flat tire

Hope you get it worked out soon!

The guitar cable was the first thing I tried.

"if you notice it sputtering or topping out and slowly coming back up to full volume." This is exactly what the amp is doing.

I understand the tubes being a necessary evil. I hope that's all it is. The reliability issues I've read about were issues other than "Tubes". Like I said, I'm not really worried about reliability with the LSS. Dave told me what a great company Mesa is for him as a retailer, to deal with. I know Dave is a believer in Customer Service being the number one priority for his customers. So, between Mesa/Boogie and Dave, I cant go wrong.

It's just aggravating to have anything go wrong with a brand new amp. After all, were not talking about a $100 Vox DA5.

Res

 

[tommyhawk13]

How often do you play?
I had that happen to me because I hardly ever played the thing, & once in a while I would crank it up. This caused a lot of static electricity to build up & attract junk on the circuits. A good cleaning solved the problem, & now I play it more often to burn off the crusties!

Give Mesa's customer service a call. They have always answered my questions & never acted like I was bothering them.

 

[Resonator]

How often do you play?
I had that happen to me because I hardly ever played the thing, & once in a while I would crank it up. This caused a lot of static electricity to build up & attract junk on the circuits. A good cleaning solved the problem, & now I play it more often to burn off the crusties!

Give Mesa's customer service a call. They have always answered my questions & never acted like I was bothering them.

It's brand spank'n new. I bought it a week ago Wednesday and have played the crap out of it ever since.

Thanks for the suggestion though, Res

 

[Barracuda]

This happened to mine, inconsistently, for the first 3 months or so. Mesa sent me new tubes. That did not solve the problem and I could not recreate it on demand so I chose not to take it to a tech. Anyway the problem went away...magically. Its almost as if some new component had to settle down and get used to being used

Every time it happened I had been slowly easing off the pick attack. So, volume would be dropping, as intended, but then the sound would just go away! It did come back to life after a few minutes.
I'm betting it will stop happening soon. Don't get a tech to mangle it up. Hope that helps.

Oh No! My new LSS has a problem. I'll be playing and the volume will drop down. It doesn't drop off altogether, it just drops down. It will drop down and come back up. It's happened on both the strat and tele, so it's not the guitar. I've checked to make sure the tubes are all seated well and can't make it happen by moving wires around or switches. It doesn't do this all the time. I can play for a short while or an hour before it pops up. Sometimes I can play for an hour and it doesn't drop off at all. When it does happen it seem to do it a couple times and then it's alright for a while. It acts like there's something loose and loosing good contact? This morning it did just the opposite. I turned it on and was playing for a while when the volume jumped up a little bit.

Has anyone had this problem with their LSS? The owner of the store where I bought it is out of town till Tuesday. He's also a friend of mine. So He's the one I want to deal with on this. I'm not worried about it. I know he'll make it right. I think I want Dave to replace it, rather than repair it since it's new.

This is the only disturbing thing about the Mesa Amps. I've read quit a few reviews about reliability issues. For a hand made Amp, This shouldn't be.

Res

 

[Resonator]

This happened to mine, inconsistently, for the first 3 months or so. Mesa sent me new tubes. That did not solve the problem and I could not recreate it on demand so I chose not to take it to a tech. Anyway the problem went away...magically. Its almost as if some new component had to settle down and get used to being used

Every time it happened I had been slowly easing off the pick attack. So, volume would be dropping, as intended, but then the sound would just go away! It did come back to life after a few minutes.
I'm betting it will stop happening soon. Don't get a tech to mangle it up. Hope that helps.

Oh No! My new LSS has a problem. I'll be playing and the volume will drop down. It doesn't drop off altogether, it just drops down. It will drop down and come back up. It's happened on both the strat and tele, so it's not the guitar. I've checked to make sure the tubes are all seated well and can't make it happen by moving wires around or switches. It doesn't do this all the time. I can play for a short while or an hour before it pops up. Sometimes I can play for an hour and it doesn't drop off at all. When it does happen it seem to do it a couple times and then it's alright for a while. It acts like there's something loose and loosing good contact? This morning it did just the opposite. I turned it on and was playing for a while when the volume jumped up a little bit.

Has anyone had this problem with their LSS? The owner of the store where I bought it is out of town till Tuesday. He's also a friend of mine. So He's the one I want to deal with on this. I'm not worried about it. I know he'll make it right. I think I want Dave to replace it, rather than repair it since it's new.

This is the only disturbing thing about the Mesa Amps. I've read quit a few reviews about reliability issues. For a hand made Amp, This shouldn't be.

Res

I'm glad your LSS solved the problem on it's own. But, I'd bet it's going to raise it's ugly head again sometime in the future. Even if it stops doing this, I'd be looking over my shoulder all the time. Murphys Law, It will happen again at the worst possible time.

Res

 

[Platypus]

Change your rectifier tubes for sure.. I had the same problem with my DR and it eventually blew my fuse while troubleshooting it. I saw a pretty blue arc flash inside one of my rectifier tubes.