Mesa Boogie RA100 - Power Board burned

[rbraga]

Hi guys,

I need some help from you as my RA100's power board got burned.
Can you kindly advise me where I can find a new power board? I already sent an e-mail to Mesa and I'm currently awaiting for a response.
Is there any other place where I can find it?
I'm really worried about it as I live in Brazil and we do not have official repair stores around here.
Follows some pictures below.
I would be very grateful if you could help me.

:|

http://ap.imagensbrasil.org/image/gnpU5D
http://ap.imagensbrasil.org/image/gnpbvm
http://ap.imagensbrasil.org/image/gnpz05

 

[barryswanson]

I would say your going to have to deal with Mesa. But out of curiosity do you know how or why this happend?

 

[rbraga]

I would say your going to have to deal with Mesa. But out of curiosity do you know how or why this happend?

Barry, sorry for the late response and thank you for replying it.

Just to give you an update (I'm still having trouble with this amp).

Unfortunately, Mesa does not have this board for sale. I guess they don't produce it anymore not even as a replacement kit.

I called a famous amp maker here in Brazil and he replaced the power tube board with some cables and solder direct into the other boards. The amp worked for a while but with a hum, noisier than before, the other techs could not bring a solution to this issue. Did some tests with him and he said the power session was ok. Replaced all the 7 preamp tubes without success, the noise was still there.

Problem #2: Now the amplifier is turning on, all the tubes are working, it is not burning any fuse but no sound at all. Replaced the fuses, plugged the guitar in the return as a test and no sound. I tried everything I could. The tech will be taking a look at it again.

The first problem started when my wife was cleaning the room and by accident she left the standby switch on, I did not see it and turned the power on to start playing. That is it.
The tech said a power tube failed. Replaced the pair with Winged C.

 

[rbraga]

:|

I love the tone of this amp, this is sad :|

 

[J.J]

Sorry to hear about this. The RA is a great amp. I bought two or three sets of the winged c 6L6 tubes for my Electra dyne from their final production. 6 of them went out of spec within hours and often exhibited red plates while operating. I checked the bias and they were running well in spec. Had to give up on those tubes as a total failure and possible damage to the amp was inevitable.

In my RA I have not run any other power tubes than the Mesa EL34s. After about 3 years the original set were replaced just as routine maintenance. Now at the 5 year mark the second set are still in and gong strong. The amp gets played at home for an hour or so most days. Most of the time it isn't loud, but it does get a work out at gigs.

I'm surprised Mesa can't supply any spares for your amp. The RA has not been out of production all that long. Mine still has about a month of warranty left and many others would have years to go. Surely they have the parts to honour warranty repairs ?

 

[YellowJacket]

I'm surprised Authorized Boogie hasn't responded here yet.

This sounds like a package and ship into Mesa kind of a repair.

 

[elvis]

Your best bet is always to call Mesa. They are much better on the phone than via email in my experience.

As for the hum, by removing the board and hand-wiring, the tech has probably introduced inductive interference into the amp that was shielded on the original board. This is one of many problems with hand-wiring. It usually takes multiple tries to eliminate the noise and oscillation.

If Mesa will not make new boards, perhaps they will release the Gerber files for their board (software design). There are many inexpensive ways to have very nice boards made if you have a design already.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

Sorry to hear about this. The RA is a great amp. I bought two or three sets of the winged c 6L6 tubes for my Electra dyne from their final production. 6 of them went out of spec within hours and often exhibited red plates while operating. I checked the bias and they were running well in spec. Had to give up on those tubes as a total failure and possible damage to the amp was inevitable.

In my RA I have not run any other power tubes than the Mesa EL34s. After about 3 years the original set were replaced just as routine maintenance. Now at the 5 year mark the second set are still in and gong strong. The amp gets played at home for an hour or so most days. Most of the time it isn't loud, but it does get a work out at gigs.

I'm surprised Mesa can't supply any spares for your amp. The RA has not been out of production all that long. Mine still has about a month of warranty left and many others would have years to go. Surely they have the parts to honour warranty repairs ?

Who did you buy those Winged Cs from btw?

 

[rbraga]

I appreciate all the recomendations you are providing.
Have some good news about my RA.

I brought it, last week, to the same tech (he was a mesa boogie authorized) and he solved the problem.
My RA was with an annoying noise after the power board failure.
He only changed one preamp tube. And I had tried all tubes I have at home, without success.
I don't think it was only a preamp tube, but...anyway.

Answering the replies on this post:

I'm from Brazil so I can't call Mesa Boogie directly, unless they have a skype ID or something like that. I wish I could explain my situation. But, at least they replied stating that they don't have a spare board. Other brands simply don't give a s...

Now my RA is 100% working fine. I'm not getting noise anymore and it's better than never.

Planning to replace all tubes soon. It's an extremely underrated amp, and you guys know better than me... this issue was letting me insane.

Thanks for all the replies... take care!

 

[rbraga]

Your best bet is always to call Mesa. They are much better on the phone than via email in my experience.

As for the hum, by removing the board and hand-wiring, the tech has probably introduced inductive interference into the amp that was shielded on the original board. This is one of many problems with hand-wiring. It usually takes multiple tries to eliminate the noise and oscillation.

If Mesa will not make new boards, perhaps they will release the Gerber files for their board (software design). There are many inexpensive ways to have very nice boards made if you have a design already.

Elvis, I guess you are right.

That may be the cause of the hum as at the second attempt he repaired it.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

That's great to hear that everything turned out alright. Touch wood, I hope I don't have much issues with some of my discontinued Mesa Boogies. They sound great and are so unique to anything else they offer that losing them wouldn't be easy as in finding a similar replacement