Mesa Boogie Quality Control

[RalfT85]

Hi guys!

something to discuss...What are your opinions about Mesa Boogie quality control? The reliability of the amps?

To get things started...
I always thought Mesa Boogie had a one of a kind quality control with their checklist provided with each amp and the use of high quality components (that's out of discussion). But here is why I doubt their quality control:

First my Mesa Dual Rectifier...Got it brand new, right out of the box I had to change two preamp tubes and after a year the master poti of the clean channel died.

Second, my first Mini Rectifier...Got it brand new, came scratched right out of the box (knobs, diamond plate), tubes were not properly set in their sockets, the handle touched the V2 tube that it pulled it out of its socket. Called my dealer, they sent me a replacement.

Third, my second Mini Rectifier...Also brand new (replacement for Mini No. 1), V1 humming right out of the box (changed it), but then a loud hum occured when I touched the front panel switches. No guitar connected...Called my dealer, they now work on my second replacement!

So what are your thoughts?

Just to be clear, I trust Mesa and it's components...But I wonder how and why such amps work their way through that control?Is it transportation?Shipping?

 

[Jak0lantern01]

I wouldn't hold Mesa Boogie accountable for tube defects, they could easily be damaged during shipping being that they're really not much more than over-glorified lightbulbs, to be simple about it. The fact that Mesa will replace the tubes within a certain timeframe of purchase date indicates their level of customer support. I never had a single problem with a Mesa Boogie amp that I didn't inflict upon myself (tube amp newbie days). I've since moved on to Marshall amps as my primary go-to's, but I think Mesa Boogie is easily one of the best in terms of product quality and support. (FYI - I own 2 Mesa's and 1 Marshall at this point).

 

[talltxguy]

I've heard nothing but good things about their quality control. I have owned many Mesas but have never bought a new amp. The only new thing I bought was a Roadster 1X12 cab, which was flawless. I have, however, dealt with their customer service a handful of times and was very impressed. Their customer service is second to none. The guys at Mesa have helped me out with their vintage stuff as well as their newer stuff. Plus my local Mesa tech is a cool guy who represents Boogie well.

Disclaimer: I don't work for Mesa although I wish I did.

 

[CoG]

Modern tube construction is just really bad, especially preamp tubes. It's easier to QC power tubes because with those kind of voltages stuff either works or it goes south real fast. I wouldn't hold Mesa responsible for tube flaws.

I've had an RA, a Recto Pre, and a 20/20 that were all brand new and have been flawless; the RA has had the living **** played out of it, I got it in August '11 and I bet it has 1500 hours on it since then. I am on my fourth set of power tubes, lol. My buddy's Roadster is the same with even more miles on it though one of the bulbs on the footswitch is gone. Our cabs are trouble-free but, c'mon, they're cabs.

 

[RalfT85]

As I said...I would not hold Mesa accountable for tube issues, although compared to their otherwise life-lasting components even the tubes should hold up better. But why does a Mini Rec like mine pass through QC? All blaming it on shipping?

Customer Support at Mesa is one of a kind, really...Nothing can compare to their support...They have answered all my questions over the years and helped me setting up my rigs, getting my tones and troubleshooting.

Mesa Amps are built to last a lifetime, but the recent events made me wonder...

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

Of all the Mesa Boogies I've owned, only one so far had given me a bit of grief. It's my Roadster head. Treble pot on channel 4 died. The whole irony is that I hardly use the amp. Spends more time in storage than being played (not because I don't like the tone, but it's my first ever Mesa Boogie, so I guess I baby it a lot). Also, I use channel 4 very sparingly. Unfortunately I bought the amp many years ago, and at that time, the amp warranty only covers the first year of ownership. In the end, I had to send it to an authorised Mesa Boogie repairer. Cost me AUD 145.20 to get that treble pot replaced. All fixed now, but I'm still kinda unhappy over the fact I had to repair an amp that I don't use much. Even the repairer said it was a weird one, and he has never seen such a problem before. Take that for what you will...

 

[domct203]

Of all the Mesa Boogies I've owned, only one so far had given me a bit of grief. It's my Roadster head. Treble pot on channel 4 died. The whole irony is that I hardly use the amp. Spends more time in storage than being played (not because I don't like the tone, but it's my first ever Mesa Boogie, so I guess I baby it a lot). Also, I use channel 4 very sparingly. Unfortunately I bought the amp many years ago, and at that time, the amp warranty only covers the first year of ownership. In the end, I had to send it to an authorised Mesa Boogie repairer. Cost me AUD 145.20 to get that treble pot replaced. All fixed now, but I'm still kinda unhappy over the fact I had to repair an amp that I don't use much. Even the repairer said it was a weird one, and he has never seen such a problem before. Take that for what you will...

The fact that you hardly use the amp may have contributed to the pot failure. It may (or may not) have been oxidation in the resistive material from non-use, but that is just my theroy.

As far as a one year warranty, that I don't understand. I have been playing Mesa's since 2001, and they came with a 5 year warranty then, well before the Roadster came out.

For the OP, I've owned quite a few pieces of Mesa gear over the years and all of them have performed flawlessly. I have never been let down at a gig!

I wish I could say that for the Marshall's I've owned.

Current-production tubes, regardless of brand or who tested them, have always been hit or miss for me.

Dom

 

[Tommy_G]

The worst thing for pots is if something hits the knob it pushes the stem back, and puts the wiper out of commission, and the pot is history.

My Nomad (bought new) and Heartbreaker (bought used, 2001 model) both flawless reliability of the major components. Pots seem to need de-oxit every 5 years. The Nomad's knobs started cracking because it looks to me like the knob manufacturer never properly annealed the knobs to relieve cooling stresses, or alternatively, just cooled the knobs too quickly to begin with. Mesa, of course, relies on the QC of their component suppliers. But, I'm not about to go crazy complaining about knobs. Minutia.

My used Mesa Formula had some issues with the push/pull pot on Ch1, which Mesa sent me a replacement and it arrived in less than 3 days and about 10 minutes of taking the cover off and un/resoldering that component (eg. get a soldering iron for $20, and make yourself $125 using the DIY model). I also think that the Formula production PCB had a incorrect component value (coupling capacitor) which may have been a design to production interface issue (oopsy, draftsman missed a decimal place) which is likely a legitimate QC issue. That is a more serious infraction of QA/QC, but for about $1.25 and a half hour of time, I replaced it according to the Formula "andrew mod" instructions and the formula came to life, and has a great and fairly unique tone.

So, in short, every business relies on their employees, supplies and outsource contractors to do everything with the utmost perfection, and quite frankly, it's rare for perfection to occur given the complexities involved. I'd rather have access to decent quality amps at the $1500-$2000 price point with some risk of flaws than a $100,000 amp produced by NASA and thoroughly tested to the nth degree.

 

[igfraso]

When you hardly use the amp, you contribute to the pot failure with dust accumulation in the resistive material.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

Of all the Mesa Boogies I've owned, only one so far had given me a bit of grief. It's my Roadster head. Treble pot on channel 4 died. The whole irony is that I hardly use the amp. Spends more time in storage than being played (not because I don't like the tone, but it's my first ever Mesa Boogie, so I guess I baby it a lot). Also, I use channel 4 very sparingly. Unfortunately I bought the amp many years ago, and at that time, the amp warranty only covers the first year of ownership. In the end, I had to send it to an authorised Mesa Boogie repairer. Cost me AUD 145.20 to get that treble pot replaced. All fixed now, but I'm still kinda unhappy over the fact I had to repair an amp that I don't use much. Even the repairer said it was a weird one, and he has never seen such a problem before. Take that for what you will...

The fact that you hardly use the amp may have contributed to the pot failure. It may (or may not) have been oxidation in the resistive material from non-use, but that is just my theroy.

As far as a one year warranty, that I don't understand. I have been playing Mesa's since 2001, and they came with a 5 year warranty then, well before the Roadster came out.

For the OP, I've owned quite a few pieces of Mesa gear over the years and all of them have performed flawlessly. I have never been let down at a gig!

I wish I could say that for the Marshall's I've owned.

Current-production tubes, regardless of brand or who tested them, have always been hit or miss for me.

Dom

You may be right. My case was the signal was grounding to the chassis from the treble pot. The repairer never mentioned anything about oxidation in the pot causing said grounding. I guess oxidation could happen, but I keep it stored in a cool and dry place, not to mention the climate where my amp is stored at is dry...

 

[screamingdaisy]

I've owned about 11 Mesas since 2003.

The only issue I've ever had that wasn't tube related was a failed on/off switch on a 20 year old Mark III. It took me 10 minutes to solder in a new one.

 

[MBJunkie]

I have owned many Mesa's over the years and still own 4 (including the Mini Rec). All have performed flawlessly without any issues whatsoever!

I also own several other brand amps...some of which have been great in terms of quality and reliability, but many have not.

Mesa IS the best production amp company in terms of quality and reliability as far as I am concerned. Oh yes, I almost forgot.....I also love their tones!

 

[Big Block]

I sent my C+ to Boogie a while back to be fully serviced. Not only did it come back basically new, but it left getting the same burn in/QC tests as the new amps. My Mark V works perfect after 4 years of HARD use (200+ gigs). Maybe your delivery driver is "going downtown" in the ways of Ace Ventura.

 

[THTH]

Mesa's service department is generally very responsive, from what I've experienced. Only had to send an amp back once for service in over 20 years, my Triaxis had a dead relay after 13 years. Not bad. Mark II I owned never had an issue, Mark IV no problems, Coliseum 300 zero issues.

 

[Blaklynx]

Any product can have failures. Consider all the individual components that make up the amp. All (at least most) of the components are supplied to Mesa from other companies. There's bound to be 1 (or more) failures 100000 or 1 (or more) failures per 1000000. It's the same in the auto industry. Any industry in fact.

Some components are more prone to regular failures more than others due to the nature of their design. Tubes come to mind. They're not super-robust and they can't be, much like lamps. You buy a lamp rated at 100000hrs life and it blows at 2000hrs. Then you have a lamp that lasts 10+yrs. Sounds like tubes, right?

I will say this: US companies (the few I've dealt with - Peavey, Mesa, some shops) really take the time and effort to make sure that the customer comes first. Some shops go out of their way. A recent example: a friend bought a Fender guitar while in the US. Got home - back to Australia - and one pickup was suspect (he couldn't test the guitar as it was delivered to his hotel because he was on busines trip). He contacted the shop and they sent a complete pickguard/pickup assembly and two Fender t-shirts at no cost to him. THAT is service....across the world. Unfortunately, here in Oz, it's the rare few companies / shops that would just say "here you go, plus something extra, for your troubles", no questions asked.

If Mesa's QC and service were bad, the world would know about it quick smart. The internet will make sure of that.

 

[babow2]

Hi, I am going to add my +1,000. I have played mesa's exclusively since I ordered my first Mk IIB in 1981. I probably have owned over 20 of them. I live in Petaluma. I know the guys at Mesa and have been to the factory many times. I can say that I count several of their top folks as "friends" and am on a first name basis with more than a handful. I've had the chance to walk the assembly line, the QC line, the testing rooms and to play some amps built and ready to ship. I can say this- their construction process, people and QC process are top notch. They have checks and double checks on construction quality. Just one example- They've got a guy whose job it is to hit newly built chassis' with a mallet to make sure there aren't any shorts, loose connections or buzzes. FYI, the President sits in an office overlooking the assembly area, not in an admin area!

So, while it is impossible to catch every and all possible "defects", Mesa certainly goes to amazing lengths to check the quality of every amp and cabinet. I say this because I've seen it first hand. In my 30+ years of buying Mesa amps, the only "defect" I had was on the footswitch to a Lonestar.

Sorry you've had such a frustrating time, though.
Brent

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

Any product can have failures. Consider all the individual components that make up the amp. All (at least most) of the components are supplied to Mesa from other companies. There's bound to be 1 (or more) failures 100000 or 1 (or more) failures per 1000000. It's the same in the auto industry. Any industry in fact.

Some components are more prone to regular failures more than others due to the nature of their design. Tubes come to mind. They're not super-robust and they can't be, much like lamps. You buy a lamp rated at 100000hrs life and it blows at 2000hrs. Then you have a lamp that lasts 10+yrs. Sounds like tubes, right?

I will say this: US companies (the few I've dealt with - Peavey, Mesa, some shops) really take the time and effort to make sure that the customer comes first. Some shops go out of their way. A recent example: a friend bought a Fender guitar while in the US. Got home - back to Australia - and one pickup was suspect (he couldn't test the guitar as it was delivered to his hotel because he was on busines trip). He contacted the shop and they sent a complete pickguard/pickup assembly and two Fender t-shirts at no cost to him. THAT is service....across the world. Unfortunately, here in Oz, it's the rare few companies / shops that would just say "here you go, plus something extra, for your troubles", no questions asked.

If Mesa's QC and service were bad, the world would know about it quick smart. The internet will make sure of that.

I guess the ideal situation for me would be for someone to cover the cost of repair in my case. Unfortunately, Mesa can't do that because it does not involve the US market, and Pro Audio won't cover the cost purely because the warranty only covers a year from date of purchase when I purchased mine...