Well I found mister angry-tech's post (I'd call it a rant but you gotta see most of MY posts...his looks like a condensed version of one of mine...different subject of course) pretty fun to read. Well...it was almost impossible to read without any indentations or spaces between...well without any paragraphs. Maybe he talks like that too and that's why the Mesa CS or tech team couldn't understand him or sent him the wrong parts.
Anyway (see? like THAT!!), I'm very new to MESA amps. Just got a used Stiletto Ace a few months ago and as an old Marshall guy (no no not just me, the amps too), I'm in LOVE with this head. I love it's clean tones, it's Marshall bark and crunch, the way it handles pedals, and I even use the tight gain channel and my band and I are not high gainers. The fluid drive channel is a little over the top for me but it's there if I ever need it.
OK..this is NOT an "I love the tone of my Mesa thread" ...sorry that's me doing my ranting and letting y'all know that I DO own and play a Mesa.
I hear (almost) nothing but great things about Mesa's Customer Service. I'm still not sure when my head was originally purchased but I have a feeling there might be some warranty left on it. Either way, while I haven't bought many new or even 5 years or less-old amps so I have no experience with anyone else's CS as far as repairs go. Being in Canada though...in a small town with no dealers or repair depots within hours of me, paying return shipping to send an amp to a manufacturer in the USA or Great Britain would cost just about as much as an amp so it sure is nice to hear about Mesa having paid for return shipping up front. Any company who does that can have my business...well as long as I like their product but again, not a thread about me liking the product.
There IS one thing I find greasy about Mesa and that is their "handy" non-adjustable bias. Hey, maybe if you're gonna offer such stellar customer service and warranty, you don't want people in there with screwdrivers and maybe running everything out of spec...but I have a feeling it has more to do with selling tubes.
Hey, I suppose if you're gonna have an amp with non adjustable bias it should be a high gain 6L6 mesa that likes a very cold biased power section. Mesa (now) though does sell some models that run on EL34s and want to emulate the British crunch and for that voice you kinda do need your (non-mesa awesome sounding vintage or not) powertubes properly biased.
I haven't yet installed a new resistor and trimpot, and if I still have a decent chunk of warranty left...ahhhh I'm gonna do it anyway.
ANYWAY....the point of this rant is...from what I've heard, Mesa's CS is just about second to none and I'm glad to finally be a member of the MBOG.
Sorry for the love-festy rant.
OH...another tube related issue I have with my Stiletto...the preamptube jackets are STUPID! This amp owes me $200 for a couple of broken vintage tubes (a Mullard and an RFT!!!) No more stupid Mesa preamptube sleeves for me man!!! Stupid Mesa!
