Mark III sounds terrible

[dave62]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the board but have been lurking for quite some time. I have a Mark III that I have not used in awhile and it just sounds terrible! It almost sounds like the speaker is blown, but it's not the speaker, I plugged it into a different cab and also get the same horrible distorted sound through the direct out into the board. I tried swapping tubes around and replacing with others that I had and it didn't get any better. So I bought a brand new complete set and it still doesn't seem to make much difference.
I think I need to either take this amp to a tech or send it to Mesa for repair. The closest authorized Mesa repair shop is about 60 miles away. Would it be better to just send it to Mesa? I imagine it would be more expensive. Does anyone else have any ideas what might be wrong with my amp?
I can maybe try to post a clip. I get this noise even when the amp is on a clean setting and when I plug directly into the effects return also. It's kind of like a buzz or rattle that attaches itself onto the notes.

 

[Boogiebabies]

Time for a Cap job.

 

[dave62]

Hey thanks for the quick reply. Any idea of what this might cost? And do you think it would be best to send it to Mesa? I've seen a bunch of posts on here about cap jobs but couldn't find anything that descibes the symptoms.

 

[akamouzis]

i have a similar problem with my IIC+. the distortion sounds very unfocused and has that rattling buzzing sound, especially noticable when playing powerchords and palm muting notes. i had my caps changed as well as changing the tubes and mine still sounds the same. im not really sure what to do with it. if you figure out your problem let me know too.

 

[Boogiebabies]

It would not hurt to talk to Mike Bendinelli at Mesa. I think he is on vacation this week, but he is the man who would know best what may be wrong.

 

[dave62]

Ok, I'll give them a call. To give you an idea how bad this sounds, I just recorded a short clip. I should have turned off the reverb though. This is recorded with all settings on 5 master on 1. It sounds kind of like the signal is clipping but it is nowhere near clipping. I was hoping the new set of tubes from Dougstubes would have fixed this but it's the same no better.
http://www.berkstonight.com/badboogie.mp3

Thanks again for your help.

 

[JOEY B.]

Have you tried to see if this noise changes when any of the pull knobs are pushed in? I had a weird crackle in my IIc+ when the bass knob was pulled out. It had something to do with a braided copper wire connected to the pot.

 

[dave62]

Have you tried to see if this noise changes when any of the pull knobs are pushed in? I had a weird crackle in my IIc+ when the bass knob was pulled out. It had something to do with a braided copper wire connected to the pot.

It's always there no matter what settings I use. The high gain settings really sound bad also. Can't seem to find any good sounds from this amp.

 

[akamouzis]

did you just buy the amp? or have you had it for a while and it just started doing this? howexactly do the higher gain stage sound like? is the distortion really loose and rattling? like i said i think i might have a similar problem and ive been pulling my hair out over it. i sent it to mesa HQ as well as 2 other local mesa techs and everthing seems to check out but it still sounds like ****.

 

[Boogiebabies]

Have you tried to see if this noise changes when any of the pull knobs are pushed in? I had a weird crackle in my IIc+ when the bass knob was pulled out. It had something to do with a braided copper wire connected to the pot.

Thats the ground wire or the small stranded wire Mesa uses to complete the Pull Deep circuit. It's just two bits of exposed wire from the SPST switch on the back of the pot to the circuit board. Not a very impressive way to wire it, but it works.

 

[Boogiebabies]

Have you tried to see if this noise changes when any of the pull knobs are pushed in? I had a weird crackle in my IIc+ when the bass knob was pulled out. It had something to do with a braided copper wire connected to the pot.

It's always there no matter what settings I use. The high gain settings really sound bad also. Can't seem to find any good sounds from this amp.

It could be a worn out cathode cap or plate load resistor or who knows. It
probably just needs a tune up. Unless you have a schematic and try to attempt a bluprinting of the amps circuit you will never know. It could be a bad LDR or relay and it's bleeding the R2 into the other two channels.
Speculation is always the most dreadful time when your amp is down. The thought of the problem is usually worse than the problem itself.

Hang in there. 8)

 

[dave62]

I think I will probably end up sending this amp to Mesa and let them fix what is wrong with it.

 

[dave62]

did you just buy the amp? or have you had it for a while and it just started doing this? howexactly do the higher gain stage sound like? is the distortion really loose and rattling? like i said i think i might have a similar problem and ive been pulling my hair out over it. i sent it to mesa HQ as well as 2 other local mesa techs and everthing seems to check out but it still sounds like sh!t.

I've owned this amp for about 10 years. Actually soon after I bought it , I quit playing for awhile so the amp sat for most of the time I've owned it. It did sound ok when I started playing again , but then I bought a Boss GT8 and didn't use the amp again. Now it just doesn't sound nowhere near what it did before. Yes the distortion is really loose and rattling at higher gain settings. Sounds real bad.

 

[akamouzis]

hey boogie babies, u said your a mesa tech right? do u work at mesa HQ? would you u take a look at my amp if i sent it to u?

 

[stokes]

Wow!A while back Akamouzis described a similar symptom and when I suggested a cap job,boogie babies jumped all over me,accusing me of being on an ego trip of some sort (still dont know where he got that).Here it is a few months later,a guy describes similar symptoms and your first response is"Time for a cap job"?

 

[akamouzis]

hey stokes. whats up bro?