Before I call Mesa tech support to hopefully not sound dumb, and considering they're now closed until Monday, I figured I would post here first. I just received today the Badlander combo amp. while taking it out of the box and moving it to the living room I heard a noticeable rattling sound coming from the amp. After looking around, I traced the sound to the chassis tension screw. It is loose and rattling against the tube cage. The screw itself moves up, down, left, right, side to side, etc. I can physically push the screw up about 1/8 of an inch with the free play in it. I read that the screw should be hand tightened and to be careful not to over-tighten it. I used a hand screwdriver and it is a little difficult to turn, and I've already progressed the screw about half an inch up but theres still a lot of slop and play in the screw. Should this screw be tight? When is it "tight enough"? It feels like the screw isn't touching anything as it moves in all directions but it's clearly attached to something, and I don't want to mess up a brand new $2,000+ amp.
Loose chassis tension screw?
- Thread starter ajfavale
- Start date
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That screw should be in contact with the cabinet above it, just snug enough to provide a bit of tension to stop the chassis from rattling, just tight enough to keep it from coming loose.
You should not have to force the screw at all, it should thread in easily until it contacts the cabinet.
I’m surprised that its threaded insert is so loose in the chassis, can you see the ‘nut’ moving with the screw? When you pushed it up did it feel like it hit something solid?
That screw should be in contact with the cabinet above it, just snug enough to provide a bit of tension to stop the chassis from rattling, just tight enough to keep it from coming loose.
You should not have to force the screw at all, it should thread in easily until it contacts the cabinet.
I’m surprised that its threaded insert is so loose in the chassis, can you see the ‘nut’ moving with the screw? When you pushed it up did it feel like it hit something solid?
I cannot get a good enough view to see up into the hole that it goes into, but when I push up on the screw with my fingers it does sound like it's hitting something solid and metallic. and I know the term "force" is subjective, when I turned it with a screwdriver I felt resistance, but the kind of resistance that a nylon nut feels like.
Not sure if you have the 25W combo but here is a shot of that screw in a 25W combo. Looks like you have maybe 14-15 threads exposed and in this one there are about 9-10 exposed threads. There shouldn’t be any rattle at all when moving the amp. So, yeah, that screw probably needs to be aligned with the nut and then hand tightened a bit.
