My first boogie

[conrad79]

I recently picked up an S.O.B. (60w combo w/ MS-12 spkr).

anyone else playing this rig (or similar?) I have a few questions, in no particular order:

The output transformer may have been replaced...it looks newer than the power transformer & has a similar looking serial number to the power transformer & the choke, but it doesn't say Mesa on it like they do. Is there a way to tell for sure?

Tubes: it definitely needs new tubes. Should I just get Mesa branded tubes or can anyone recommend something else?

There's a pretty large amount of white noise when the guitar is not being played. Turning the "limit" knob up makes it go away, so I'm assuming that the white noise is just a byproduct of the higher gain settings - to an extent, at least. The amp is exactly 30 years old (8/83) & I intend to play it regularly so I'm going to have a tech give it a good once-over. I'm in Maryland - is it worth sending back to Mesa itself for this, or will one of their licensed repair shops found on their website be OK?

any other info anyone has offhand about this beast is more than welcome!

 

[rvschulz]

as far as tubes, you are certainly not limited to Mesa-branded tubes. many Mesa users have 'pet' tubes they like for different tone - you have not stated what tone you are trying to hear. I personally use 'Dougs Tubes' as my vendor of choice and person I like to bounce questions off of.

I have shopped tubes on eBay - especially really cool old tubes for 12AX7 models. your power tubes should be matched equally. good luck. I love that speaker.

 

[conrad79]

Thanks...we play a lot of blues rock - Skynyrd, Hendrix Band of Gypsys stuff, SRV, etc. I've used JJ's in the past & they are nice so I might stick with them if it doesn't matter. I'm assuming the Mesa-branded tubes are just that - made by someone else & branded with a Mesa logo.

The amp itself is pretty good - LOUD. I like it. Really good/clean condition too - it still has the hand-written factory card with some settings suggestions; "fat, clean, & mean", "soulful lead", "lethal metal", etc.

 

[Markedman]

Not so fast thinking mesa tubes are just voodoo. As mentioned, it depends on what you want from your amp because finding the right combo is the critical difference between a "grailtone" amp and a "I never really liked boogies anyway" amp. Your noise problem will most likely go away with the right tubes. I myself have found mesa tubes to my liking, especially the spax7 in V1. If you spend a few dollars and take an afternoon rolling tubes, you'll have rewarded yourself for buying a boogie, otherwise you will always wonder why guitarist praise and live by boogie amps. Doug's tubes might help, antique electronic supply has a couple of tutorials, there's a whole section here on the boogie board dealing only with tubes if you want some opinions. Do this now, don't hesitate and then think "it ain't broke, I kinda like it," trust me. Thumbs up on the MS-12 by-the-way.