Mesa will not cover replacement of screen resistor(s)?

[Kyemack45687]

Talked with the CS rep at Mesa about my '08 LSC Head blowing a tube and then a screen resistor(s). He tells me that because the tubes were out of warranty, they won't cover the replacement of the resistor(s). This doesn't really seem fair to me...am I getting shafted here?

Update: Mesa flat out refused to cover any part of the bill and when Michael Taylor at Mesa talked with the tech who repaired my amp, Michael told my tech "only $85? He's getting off easy.". If that comment is indicative of Mesa's attitude towards me after I've spent thousands of dollars on their amplifiers over the years, they have lost my business for good.

It blew the rectifier tube, fuse, resistor and the resistor burned up a 12V relay in its vicinity because it arched so badly. Here's a picture of the relay:

 

[Jared Purdy]

Yes. Those fuckers only warranty the amp so long as you use their tubes and then they pull that kind of ****?? I'd start writing some letters, and you can add my name to the list of customers who have bought one of their products, and recently, only to discover that it blows rectifier tubes lefty right and centre. You should start a petition, right here on the BB.

 

[Vogelsong]

Yes. Those f%&# only warranty the amp so long as you use their tubes and then they pull that kind of sh!t?? I'd start writing some letters, and you can add my name to the list of customers who have bought one of their products, and recently, only to discover that it blows rectifier tubes lefty right and centre. You should start a petition, right here on the BB.

+1, and when they tell me they wont warranty it because I switched to a 5v4 I'll tell them to go to hell and take their amp with them.

I'm thinking about a Mark V but am a little gun shy due to the posts on that forum. Although I gotta be honest, if I would have found this board before buying the LSS I may not have bought it. I guess in the end it's really a crap shoot.

 

[J.J]

Come on guys, take a deep breath.

I can understand why you are upset, but why should Mesa replace fried screen resistors if it is not a fault of the amps and the utbe is out of warranty ? Mesa don't make tubes, if a non Mesa tube fails and takes out a screen resistor do you expect the tube manufacturer to replace it ?

As far as I know Mesa have the longest warranty on their branded in the industry, but lest face it, tubes made today are just not any where near as reliable as the old ones.

Mesa does recommend that power tubes be replaced about once a year or after 1000 hours. Doing so will rather than letting them fail will give you the best chance of not having screen resistor and other problems.

 

[Jared Purdy]

I'd copy and paste a bunch of these complaints and tell them that if they don't fix it you'll start an on-line petition. If the number of complaints about Mesa amps that I have seen is any indication, there will be a ground swell. We're not talking about $500 amps. These things are expensive. Tell them that they ought to take a look at the service that is provided by real boutique builders, like Goodsell, who stand behind their products for life, they even do mods to older versions just to bring them up to spec - for no charge at all. Randal, get your **** together. I base my repeat business with a company precisely on issues like this. I guess I know where I'll be shopping next.

 

[screamingdaisy]

I'd copy and paste a bunch of these complaints and tell them that if they don't fix it you'll start an on-line petition. If the number of complaints about Mesa amps that I have seen is any indication, there will be a ground swell. We're not talking about $500 amps. These things are expensive. Tell them that they ought to take a look at the service that is provided by real boutique builders, like Goodsell, who stand behind their products for life, they even do mods to older versions just to bring them up to spec - for no charge at all. Randal, get your sh!t together. I base my repeat business with a company precisely on issues like this. I guess I know where I'll be shopping next.

People complain about Mesas because they don't like them. You see the same **** about every other amp that's semi popular.

The sad irony is that if Mesa offered the industry standard 90 day limited warranty and shitty customer service you people wouldn't be able to ***** like this because the company wouldn't care anyway, but because they actually try to put an effort into to post-sales service you want to leverage it against them for your own personal interests.

You dudes can go **** yourselves.

 

[Jared Purdy]

Come on guys, take a deep breath.

I can understand why you are upset, but why should Mesa replace fried screen resistors if it is not a fault of the amps and the utbe is out of warranty ? Mesa don't make tubes, if a non Mesa tube fails and takes out a screen resistor do you expect the tube manufacturer to replace it ?

As far as I know Mesa have the longest warranty on their branded in the industry, but lest face it, tubes made today are just not any where near as reliable as the old ones.

Mesa does recommend that power tubes be replaced about once a year or after 1000 hours. Doing so will rather than letting them fail will give you the best chance of not having screen resistor and other problems.

Is there another amp company in the universe that makes these kinds of recommendations? No. Why? Because they don't have to. They know that their amps won't fry if a tube blows. Mesa is full of excuses. I'm beginning to feel the depth of that as I ponder my new LSS blowing 3 5Y3 tubes in 5 weeks, and being told by the "tech" at Mesa that it was a bad batch of tubes! Ha! What a fraud! They should call themselves, born again idiots. My commitment to a product and company is as deep and sincere as their's is to me.
After reading your post, if they were to offer me a full refund, I'd take it. I hate hearing crap like this about companies that have these Holier than thou reputations, which really translate into: their word is about as good as the strength of a wet paper bag.

 

[Vogelsong]

I'd copy and paste a bunch of these complaints and tell them that if they don't fix it you'll start an on-line petition. If the number of complaints about Mesa amps that I have seen is any indication, there will be a ground swell. We're not talking about $500 amps. These things are expensive. Tell them that they ought to take a look at the service that is provided by real boutique builders, like Goodsell, who stand behind their products for life, they even do mods to older versions just to bring them up to spec - for no charge at all. Randal, get your sh!t together. I base my repeat business with a company precisely on issues like this. I guess I know where I'll be shopping next.

I'm off to do a little research on Goodsell. Never heard of them, but it never hurts to read up.

 

[Vogelsong]

You dudes can go f%&# yourselves.

This is a little harsh don't ya think.

 

[Jared Purdy]

Seriously, our own personal interest? Are you for real? I paid $2000 for an amp that has had a continuous problem since I got it, and I have found a floatila of repeat issues by other purchasers of the same product, and now this! Go water some daisies and stop acting like a mouth peice for Mesa. For Christ's sake, you sound like a born again Mesa fool.

 

[Jared Purdy]

You dudes can go f%&# yourselves.

This is a little harsh don't ya think.

Is he getting paid by Mesa? Or is he having a bad daisy day? Don't forget to feed the daisies.

 

[J.J]

Come on guys, take a deep breath.

I can understand why you are upset, but why should Mesa replace fried screen resistors if it is not a fault of the amps and the utbe is out of warranty ? Mesa don't make tubes, if a non Mesa tube fails and takes out a screen resistor do you expect the tube manufacturer to replace it ?

As far as I know Mesa have the longest warranty on their branded in the industry, but lest face it, tubes made today are just not any where near as reliable as the old ones.

Mesa does recommend that power tubes be replaced about once a year or after 1000 hours. Doing so will rather than letting them fail will give you the best chance of not having screen resistor and other problems.

Is there another amp company in the universe that makes these kinds of recommendations? No. Why? Because they don't have to. They know that their amps won't fry if a tube blows. Mesa is full of excuses. I'm beginning to feel the depth of that as I ponder my new LSS blowing 3 5Y3 tubes in 5 weeks, and being told by the "tech" at Mesa that it was a bad batch of tubes! Ha! What a fraud! They should call themselves, born again idiots. My commitment to a product and company is as deep and sincere as their's is to me.
After reading your post, if they were to offer me a full refund, I'd take it. I hate hearing crap like this about companies that have these Holier than thou reputations, which really translate into: their word is about as good as the strength of a wet paper bag.

So you don't think other amps fry screen resistors if a tube fails ? Well, let me tell you, they just about all do and there is very little that can be done about it. If it happens it is the tubes fault.

Why even care about a screen resistor, they are 2 dollar parts and very easy to change. If say the $400 power transformer was failing, then yes I would be upset, but that is not the case.

Seriously, if this is all so much trouble I'd have to say go sell your Mesa and get a line 6. Then when that blows up, we won't have to listen to the complaints around here.

Nothing is perfect, but Mesa is a good company and at the end of the day they need to make some money so they can survive. does anyone think the guys at Mesa are all fat cats sitting around in piles of money becuase they rip everyone off ?

 

[Jared Purdy]

Come on guys, take a deep breath.

I can understand why you are upset, but why should Mesa replace fried screen resistors if it is not a fault of the amps and the utbe is out of warranty ? Mesa don't make tubes, if a non Mesa tube fails and takes out a screen resistor do you expect the tube manufacturer to replace it ?

As far as I know Mesa have the longest warranty on their branded in the industry, but lest face it, tubes made today are just not any where near as reliable as the old ones.

Mesa does recommend that power tubes be replaced about once a year or after 1000 hours. Doing so will rather than letting them fail will give you the best chance of not having screen resistor and other problems.

Is there another amp company in the universe that makes these kinds of recommendations? No. Why? Because they don't have to. They know that their amps won't fry if a tube blows. Mesa is full of excuses. I'm beginning to feel the depth of that as I ponder my new LSS blowing 3 5Y3 tubes in 5 weeks, and being told by the "tech" at Mesa that it was a bad batch of tubes! Ha! What a fraud! They should call themselves, born again idiots. My commitment to a product and company is as deep and sincere as their's is to me.
After reading your post, if they were to offer me a full refund, I'd take it. I hate hearing crap like this about companies that have these Holier than thou reputations, which really translate into: their word is about as good as the strength of a wet paper bag.

So you don't think other amps fry screen resistors if a tube fails ? Well, let me tell you, they just about all do and there is very little that can be done about it. If it happens it is the tubes fault.

Why even care about a screen resistor, they are 2 dollar parts and very easy to change. If say the $400 power transformer was failing, then yes I would be upset, but that is not the case.

Seriously, if this is all so much trouble I'd have to say go sell your Mesa and get a line 6. Then when that blows up, we won't have to listen to the complaints around here.

Nothing is perfect, but Mesa is a good company and at the end of the day they need to make some money so they can survive. does anyone think the guys at Mesa are all fat cats sitting around in piles of money becuase they rip everyone off ?

Which ones? seriously, which amps tell you that you can only use their tubes for the duration of the warranty, and then when a tube fails, if another compoment fails too, it;s your fault if the tube is passed it's monthly period? Are you kidding? Which company does this?

 

[Kyemack45687]

I'm not trying to start anything against Mesa. I like their products.

But there a few things that bother me.

For one, the CS rep I spoke with had a bad attitude about my issue as soon as he called me back. I felt that was unneccesary.

He told me that they wouldn't cover it because the tubes were out of warranty and older than 6 months or something like that. How does he know that for sure? He just automatically assumed that I have never replaced the tubes in an amp that is coming up on 3 years old?

The tubes were put in by the previous owner a few months ago and they are Mesa tubes.

And yes, it blew the ever living @#$! out the rectifier tube and the undergraded resistors they use went right with it.

I've always been a big Mesa fan, but I am not a happy customer right now.

I went ahead and took the amp to the repair shop today because I couldn't afford to go without it for any longer while I get the run around. Not really sure what is going to happen from here, but I don't plan to go down without more of a fight.

Sorry to see that some of you guys have had the same experience.

 

[screamingdaisy]

Which ones? seriously, which amps tell you that you can only use their tubes for the duration of the warranty, and then when a tube fails, if another compoment fails too, it;s your fault if the tube is passed it's monthly period? Are you kidding? Which company does this?

Off the top of my head;

....The use of non-authorized Bogner tubes and replacement parts may void this warranty....

....Matched sets of C-Wing Svetlana SED power-tubes must be used in SHIVAS. Ecstasy and Uberschall amps can be used with Tesla or C-Wing Svetlans SED power-tubes....

http://www.bogneramplification.com/customshop/FaqInfo.php

I believe Diezel does something similar, although I couldn't find any warranty info on their website. Fender makes it so that FMIC Authorized Repair Centers are the only people who can service your amp, implying that having your amp serviced anyone other than a FMIC amp tech using non-authroized parts will void your warranty. Those are the only three I looked into, although there's probably similar stipulations with most other large or medium companies.

 

[Vogelsong]

I'd copy and paste a bunch of these complaints and tell them that if they don't fix it you'll start an on-line petition. If the number of complaints about Mesa amps that I have seen is any indication, there will be a ground swell. We're not talking about $500 amps. These things are expensive. Tell them that they ought to take a look at the service that is provided by real boutique builders, like Goodsell, who stand behind their products for life, they even do mods to older versions just to bring them up to spec - for no charge at all. Randal, get your sh!t together. I base my repeat business with a company precisely on issues like this. I guess I know where I'll be shopping next.

People complain about Mesas because they don't like them. You see the same sh!t about every other amp that's semi popular.

The sad irony is that if Mesa offered the industry standard 90 day limited warranty and sh!t customer service you people wouldn't be able to ***** like this because the company wouldn't care anyway, but because they actually try to put an effort into to post-sales service you want to leverage it against them for your own personal interests.

You dudes can go f%&# yourselves.

Heres the thing, I worry about a companies service department only when I think Im gonna have a problem. And if the I think Im gonna have a problem then the service still isn't an issue because Im not buying.

You mentioned Mesa having good service, who cares how good the service is if the amp is always in need of their "great" service. Build the thing so it doesn't have rec. issues, and whatever else and you wont need to loose sleep at night wondering if your service is up to snuff.

Sometimes I think companies put products out half assed to save R&D. And when the customers come bitching they just figure they'll do some *** kissing on the back end.

Well I don't want my *** kissed to soothe me over from an issue, I want an amp that I don't have to call your service dept. about.

I'd rather have an amp from a company with crappy service that I don't need to worry about, then an amp from a company with great service that always has my amp in their shop.

 

[screamingdaisy]

Heres the thing, I worry about a companies service department only when I think Im gonna have a problem. And if the I think Im gonna have a problem then the service still isn't an issue because Im not buying.

Then what you want is a solid state amp. They're the pinnacle of reliability since they don't use the one component that all tube amps suffer from.

 

[Jared Purdy]

I'd copy and paste a bunch of these complaints and tell them that if they don't fix it you'll start an on-line petition. If the number of complaints about Mesa amps that I have seen is any indication, there will be a ground swell. We're not talking about $500 amps. These things are expensive. Tell them that they ought to take a look at the service that is provided by real boutique builders, like Goodsell, who stand behind their products for life, they even do mods to older versions just to bring them up to spec - for no charge at all. Randal, get your sh!t together. I base my repeat business with a company precisely on issues like this. I guess I know where I'll be shopping next.

People complain about Mesas because they don't like them. You see the same sh!t about every other amp that's semi popular.

The sad irony is that if Mesa offered the industry standard 90 day limited warranty and sh!t customer service you people wouldn't be able to ***** like this because the company wouldn't care anyway, but because they actually try to put an effort into to post-sales service you want to leverage it against them for your own personal interests.

You dudes can go f%&# yourselves.

Heres the thing, I worry about a companies service department only when I think Im gonna have a problem. And if the I think Im gonna have a problem then the service still isn't an issue because Im not buying.

You mentioned Mesa having good service, who cares how good the service is if the amp is always in need of their "great" service. Build the thing so it doesn't have rec. issues, and whatever else and you wont need to loose sleep at night wondering if your service is up to snuff.

Sometimes I think companies put products out half assed to save R&D. And when the customers come bitching they just figure they'll do some *** kissing on the back end.

Well I don't want my *** kissed to soothe me over from an issue, I want an amp that I don't have to call your service dept. about.

I'd rather have an amp from a company with crappy service that I don't need to worry about, then an amp from a company with great service that always has my amp in their shop.

+1 However, the chances of you finding a really good amp from a company that has terrible serive, is not likely to happen, though I have heard that Browne Note's service is not all that it is cracked up to be. Seriously, this kind of reporting makes me very uneasy, as a customer. I am loyal to a fault with products that I endorese, but if I feel that I am being slighted, I will dump said product as quick as I can. I have ordered a Swart AST MkII, and assoon as it coms in, which willbe in about two weeks, I'm taking my LSS in to the servie shop were I bought it to have it looked at to see what the problem is. Once it's checked over, I'll be seriously thinking of selling it.

 

[Vogelsong]

Heres the thing, I worry about a companies service department only when I think Im gonna have a problem. And if the I think Im gonna have a problem then the service still isn't an issue because Im not buying.

Then what you want is a solid state amp. They're the pinnacle of reliability since they don't use the one component that all tube amps suffer from.

Or how about this put a better rec tube in it. There's an idea, or even better when people ask ya if a 5v4 will work which we all know it will don't give us the bullshit line it'll void our warranty.

Thats a crock if I ever heard one.

Oh and Daisy I think you owe everyone in this thread an apology. We should be able to voice our displeasure without being told to get F'd. Our dissatisfaction is not unfounded whether you like it or not.

 

[Jared Purdy]

This thing has really got me unnerved. I mean seriously, they tell us that we have to use their tubes for the duration of the warranty, which is five years, or we void the warranty on the amp. And then when one of their tubes blows, and takes out components, that are technically still under warranty, they won't warranty the amp if the tubes are more than 6 months old? That's like dancing on the head of a pin. Most people that I talk to on these forums have tubes in their amps that have been in there far longer than six months. In many cases, decades, without any issues.

What kind of crap service is this? And my loyalty and dedication as a customer is supposed to be instilled by this?

And as a side note, Bogner is not even in the same league as Mesa, their amps are made in China, and can't compete. They aren't even in the same price range. I expect crappy serive and crappy warranties from crappy products, not by amp companies that boast about being "boutique", being "hand made in the USA". What load of rubbish.

I will be calling Mesa today to clairfy the OP, and if what he says is true, I am dumping this amp immediately, and Mesa will be added to my list of companies that I will not be doing business with. I will make this known, and why, every time I see a thread where someone is asking about Mesa amps, this thread will be reiterated. And if what the OP stated is not true, or misinformed, that will also be noted.