My POS head is blowing tubes and on its way back........

[MesaGod666]

OK!! Here was the problem with my MARK V.

My tech readjusted and tightened the power tube sockets, all input/out phone jacks, and did a full retube.

Apparently, the input and output jacks are used as the ground in the MARK V and when something get's loose or breaks then that can really F##K UP your amp, speakers, etc because the ground soldering or ground wire may touch the chasis or other part that could cause SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE to the amp itself or your speakers.

My tech said that it was still to early to tell if the amp had wiring issues or anything of that nature because it hadn't been out on the road, but he said that everything looks clean and very carefully assembled. He said that it must have taken several days just to build this one amp.

So there you have it. The Mark V Combo is back in business...and it sounds better than before!! I will post some METALLICA clips to show you the difference.

CHEERS!

 

[rabies]

Apparently, the input and output jacks are used as the ground in the MARK V and when something get's loose or breaks then that can really F##K UP your amp, speakers, etc because the ground soldering or ground wire may touch the chasis or other part that could cause SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE to the amp itself or your speakers.

glad it's fixed but that above sounds sketchy. is it not like that on a IV?

 

[MesaGod666]

glad it's fixed but that above sounds sketchy. is it not like that on a IV?

Have you seen the guts of a V compared to a IV?

I have and I can tell you that there is no comparison. The V is waaay more complex.

 

[Scary]

OK!! Here was the problem with my MARK V.

My tech readjusted and tightened the power tube sockets, all input/out phone jacks, and did a full retube.

Apparently, the input and output jacks are used as the ground in the MARK V and when something get's loose or breaks then that can really F##K UP your amp, speakers, etc because the ground soldering or ground wire may touch the chasis or other part that could cause SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE to the amp itself or your speakers.

My tech said that it was still to early to tell if the amp had wiring issues or anything of that nature because it hadn't been out on the road, but he said that everything looks clean and very carefully assembled. He said that it must have taken several days just to build this one amp.

So there you have it. The Mark V Combo is back in business...and it sounds better than before!! I will post some METALLICA clips to show you the difference.

CHEERS!

Glad to hear you got it all sorted out! Kind of a hassle but hopefully it's worth it for you. Don't forget to share your favorite settings as you tweak away.

 

[rabies]

glad it's fixed but that above sounds sketchy. is it not like that on a IV?

Have you seen the guts of a V compared to a IV?

I have and I can tell you that there is no comparison. The V is waaay more complex.

You'd wonder how amps that have that much circuitry in them maintain any semblance of organicity? is that a word?

you know, tubes = organic/mystical/harmonic; SS=inhuman/catatonic (good 4 metal!)

 

[CudBucket]

Hunk o' junk!

Really? Wasn't it you who said this?

IMO - the best sounding equipment that MESA has ever produced (next to the MKV) is the Quad preamp, and Studio preamp.

And...

The MKV has turned this Marshall, Cornford, Guytron, and Egnater amp loving man into a MESA convert! The MESA MKV anyway...

You're a joke.

 

[rabies]

leave him alone, he's entertaining himself...

 

[Scrapinger]

Hey,

I am new to the forum and found it when I googled "Mark IV blowing tubes". I have 2007 Mark IV, that I love the sound on, but have had lots of problems with and nearly identical your complaints: lots of popping and crackling, tubes glowing red and white like a flourescent light, blown fuses. My head has been back to Mesa now for third time. I love the sound of this head, but the performance and attitude I receive from their service manager have been horrible.

Back in May, I had horrible performance issue, with loss of power, tone and just flat out weird stuff. I called Boogie and their rep said send it back, so I did. Then I get the cocky attitude, from the aforementioned service manager like I'm an idiot and "maybe you just don't like the Mark IV". I couldn't believe it. They found nothing wrong, but when I got the amp back, I promptly replaced ALL the Boogie labeled preamp tubes with nice Russian Tung Sol 12ax7 tubes and it was like a totally new amp. I couldn't believe that these 'skilled technicians' at Boogie could call the tone coming from my Mark IV 'normal'. I called Boogie for help and they said send it in. It's not my fault. I would have gladly changed the tubes if I had known that would have solved the problems in the first place. But they didn't recommend for me to change tubes, but rather "send it in".

Well now it's back because it blew an EL34 in the outer class A slot. I pulled the Boogie labeled 6l6's from my Mark IIB and put them in the class A slots and within a week one of them blew as well in the same fashion...pops, crackle and glowing white and red.

So I send it back with a detailed letter of all that was done to the amp and the aforementioned service manager calls me, again with the same attitude. He says, 'you have a bad power tube'. No excrement Einstein, that's why I sent the bad tube back with it!!! The second thing out of his mouth is and I quote "We want you to pay the return shipping..It will help to mainitain our relationship with you"!! So what does that mean?!?!?! If I say the amp is bad and I don't want to pay shipping I'm going to get an even bigger attitude the next time it breaks under warranty?

I have had my Mark IIB since 1987. I have been a loyal Boogie customer, have bought their tubes for years and I have even toured their factory. But now.....the attitude coming from Boogie is horrible. The tubes they are selling are junk. Back when I bought the amp last year I had tons of microphonics, hum, and general poor performance. The retailer gave me 5 brand new Boogie labeled 12ax7's. It did not solve the problems, so it went back to Boogie. So Boogie found that 3 of those 5 NEW 12ax7's were bad!!

So what I am taking away from this is that Boogie is full of themselves. The tubes the sell are junk. From my research, power tubes don't normally fail in a blaze of glowing white and red, but should rather fade in performance. They have really shaken a 25+year customer relationship and I am not sure if I would buy from them again. My plan is to pull all the Boogie tubes, replace them with quality Russian tubes ( most all of what Boogie has been selling until recently have been Chinese tubes). If I contiune to see problems, I am putting it on Craig's List.

Scrapinger
--------------
2007 Mark IV Short
1981 65Watt Mark IIB
2008 Gibson Explorer
1981 Gibson Les Paul Heritage
1981 Ibanez Artist (335)

 

[CoG]

Hey Scrapinger, you sound an awful lot like a couple other recent posters, if you know what I mean.

 

[Scrapinger]

If you mean that there are lots of people having trouble with Boogie tubes then yes. If not then enlighten me oh great sage of the Holy Grail board.

 

[CoG]

If you mean that there are lots of people having trouble with Boogie tubes then yes. If not then enlighten me oh great sage of the Holy Grail board.

Assuming you're not part of someone's multiple personality disorder, if you have two separate power tubes blow in the same socket, and you've also blown fuses, it's not likely a problem with the tubes, it's probably in the power section (or possibly in the power you're feeding the amp-- did you by any chance do your own wiring in the basement?) This should be pretty obvious, especially to a tech doing warranty work because tubes are more expensive than components. It's cheaper for them to fix the problem than give you new tubes.

Actually, people generally don't have trouble with Mesa-branded tubes-- there's better sounding ones available, but if you are having consistent power tube problems it's unlikely to be the tubes' fault, it's either the amp or the power.

 

[Scrapinger]

I appreciate your reply. The power tube issue is just a new problem in a line of problems with my Mark IV. The head is at Boogie now and their 'skilled tech' says the only problem is a 'bad tube'!?!?!? The EL34 blew in the far class A socket and the 6L6 blew in the inner class A socket, both within a week of each other with the same symptoms of a loud hum, popping, crackling and then tube failure. When the EL34 went the fuse blew as well, not the case with the 6L6.

I am extrememly frustrated with this head. I love the tone of the Mark IV, when it works. But it's just problematic and Boogie doesn't really help me troubleshoot. They issue a RA and then I get condescending attitudes from the service people.

 

[Scrapinger]

True...true. Boogie does at least speak to us pee'ons. The shop where I bought the head here in the Black Hills of South Dakota has a fairly good amp repair guy, but I think Boogie would do a better job. It just pisses me off when the service manager at Boogie gives the attitude, when he's the guy who said I should send it back. Then he calls me and tells me that there's nothing wrong but one bad tube..but they hadn't done the play testing yet. He called me last week on Tuesday and here it is Monday and I haven't heard anything yet. My hope is that they actually found something and that's why it's taking so long. The last time they said they were going to play test it they did it that afternoon.

My tube issues have mostly been with the class A function. Both tubes blew in class A sockets. I love the sound of the amp with EL34's in the class A sockets, just has that edge I like and the "brown sound' in clean is amazing. I have brand new Tung Sol EL34's and 6L6's for it when it comes back.

Boogie said they will place 4 new 6L6's in there before sending it back. I asked for 2 EL34's, but there tech said they are not as reliable, but dammit they sound better in the class A that the 6's. So I am saying my prayers that they are going to find something. I just don't look forward to talking to that male-donkey service manager again. He is like a brillo pad...rough and abrasive. He needs to take a Dale Carnegie course. :lol:

 

[Jim Ed Love]

I am new to the forum and found it when I googled "Mark IV blowing tubes". I have 2007 Mark IV, that I love the sound on, but have had lots of problems with and nearly identical your complaints: lots of popping and crackling, tubes glowing red and white like a flourescent light, blown fuses. My head has been back to Mesa now for third time. I love the sound of this head, but the performance and attitude I receive from their service manager have been horrible.

You think the service manager has an attitude? Try talking to Chris customer service. I was asking about getting a new grill for my Mesa Boogie head and complained about the high price of $190.00 with shipping for a approx. 20X9 board with grill cloth and a name plate. Chris said. "well don't buy it then" in a snotty tone. He could have said, I understand but I don't set the prices here. I mean, it is their job to be polite to people on the phone. I know it isn't easy.

 

[Scrapinger]

Well sheep-dip that is attitude.

After going round and round with their service manager, I said well 'if you were me what would you do?". He says he can't answer that as he can't disassociate himself from where he is and what he knows. But earlier in the same conversation he was wanting me to see things from his point of view!!. Madness :!:

When I toured their factory back in '97 I remember the guy they picked to be my guide was not happy about having to take me and my buddy through their facility. He literally did not speak unless spoken to. He just walked us through room by room without any explanation of what we were seeing.

I guess success does go to the head. I did note on that tour that they had wide doorways to accomodate their swollen craniums. :lol:

 

[MesaGod666]

Hey,

I am new to the forum and found it when I googled "Mark IV blowing tubes". I have 2007 Mark IV, that I love the sound on, but have had lots of problems with and nearly identical your complaints: lots of popping and crackling, tubes glowing red and white like a flourescent light, blown fuses. My head has been back to Mesa now for third time. I love the sound of this head, but the performance and attitude I receive from their service manager have been horrible.

Back in May, I had horrible performance issue, with loss of power, tone and just flat out weird stuff. I called Boogie and their rep said send it back, so I did. Then I get the cocky attitude, from the aforementioned service manager like I'm an idiot and "maybe you just don't like the Mark IV". I couldn't believe it. They found nothing wrong, but when I got the amp back, I promptly replaced ALL the Boogie labeled preamp tubes with nice Russian Tung Sol 12ax7 tubes and it was like a totally new amp. I couldn't believe that these 'skilled technicians' at Boogie could call the tone coming from my Mark IV 'normal'. I called Boogie for help and they said send it in. It's not my fault. I would have gladly changed the tubes if I had known that would have solved the problems in the first place. But they didn't recommend for me to change tubes, but rather "send it in".

Well now it's back because it blew an EL34 in the outer class A slot. I pulled the Boogie labeled 6l6's from my Mark IIB and put them in the class A slots and within a week one of them blew as well in the same fashion...pops, crackle and glowing white and red.

So I send it back with a detailed letter of all that was done to the amp and the aforementioned service manager calls me, again with the same attitude. He says, 'you have a bad power tube'. No excrement Einstein, that's why I sent the bad tube back with it!!! The second thing out of his mouth is and I quote "We want you to pay the return shipping..It will help to mainitain our relationship with you"!! So what does that mean?!?!?! If I say the amp is bad and I don't want to pay shipping I'm going to get an even bigger attitude the next time it breaks under warranty?

I have had my Mark IIB since 1987. I have been a loyal Boogie customer, have bought their tubes for years and I have even toured their factory. But now.....the attitude coming from Boogie is horrible. The tubes they are selling are junk. Back when I bought the amp last year I had tons of microphonics, hum, and general poor performance. The retailer gave me 5 brand new Boogie labeled 12ax7's. It did not solve the problems, so it went back to Boogie. So Boogie found that 3 of those 5 NEW 12ax7's were bad!!

So what I am taking away from this is that Boogie is full of themselves. The tubes the sell are junk. From my research, power tubes don't normally fail in a blaze of glowing white and red, but should rather fade in performance. They have really shaken a 25+year customer relationship and I am not sure if I would buy from them again. My plan is to pull all the Boogie tubes, replace them with quality Russian tubes ( most all of what Boogie has been selling until recently have been Chinese tubes). If I contiune to see problems, I am putting it on Craig's List.

Right on man. I can totally tell that you're frustrated as we all are, to some extent, but that's business. They can't, and won't, please everybody. Personally, I have all the Mesa gear that I could ever want or need, so I'm starting to diversify with ENGL and DIEZEL AMPS.

 

[Shang Chi 66]

Well sheep-dip that is attitude.

After going round and round with their service manager, I said well 'if you were me what would you do?". He says he can't answer that as he can't disassociate himself from where he is and what he knows. But earlier in the same conversation he was wanting me to see things from his point of view!!. Madness :!:

When I toured their factory back in '97 I remember the guy they picked to be my guide was not happy about having to take me and my buddy through their facility. He literally did not speak unless spoken to. He just walked us through room by room without any explanation of what we were seeing.

I guess success does go to the head. I did note on that tour that they had wide doorways to accomodate their swollen craniums. :lol:

Wow, just...wow

I sure wish I had of known some of this before I purchased my amp.

If it's one thing I don't tolerate is some company treating high priced paying customers like they hardly matter, after they've gotten your hard earned...

Whatever the probelm is, it is my opinion that they should break their damn backs bending over to assist you to get it taken care...

Without fans of golf, who is Tiger Woods? Without the musicians who buy/play their gear, who is Randall Smith and his employee's?

And here I was in thinking Mesa was this highly company touted for excellent & courteous customer service...hmmm.

 

[Scary]

Well sheep-dip that is attitude.

After going round and round with their service manager, I said well 'if you were me what would you do?". He says he can't answer that as he can't disassociate himself from where he is and what he knows. But earlier in the same conversation he was wanting me to see things from his point of view!!. Madness :!:

When I toured their factory back in '97 I remember the guy they picked to be my guide was not happy about having to take me and my buddy through their facility. He literally did not speak unless spoken to. He just walked us through room by room without any explanation of what we were seeing.

I guess success does go to the head. I did note on that tour that they had wide doorways to accomodate their swollen craniums. :lol:

Wow, just...wow

I sure wish I had of known some of this before I purchased my amp.

If it's one thing I don't tolerate is some company treating high priced paying customers like they hardly matter, after they've gotten your hard earned...

Whatever the probelm is, it is my opinion that they should break their damn backs bending over to assist you to get it taken care...

Without fans of golf, who is Tiger Woods? Without the musicians who buy/play their gear, who is Randall Smith and his employee's?

And here I was in thinking Mesa was this highly company touted for excellent & courteous customer service...hmmm.

I've called Mesa a number of times over the years for help with hookups and general questions. They've always been awesome to me on the phone. I'm thinking thegaindeli has made himself a character account.

 

[phyrexia]

I've dealt with Mesa for five years and never had a problem. Both as a customer and as a dealer employee.

 

[bpm91]

Well sheep-dip that is attitude.

After going round and round with their service manager, I said well 'if you were me what would you do?". He says he can't answer that as he can't disassociate himself from where he is and what he knows. But earlier in the same conversation he was wanting me to see things from his point of view!!. Madness :!:

When I toured their factory back in '97 I remember the guy they picked to be my guide was not happy about having to take me and my buddy through their facility. He literally did not speak unless spoken to. He just walked us through room by room without any explanation of what we were seeing.

I guess success does go to the head. I did note on that tour that they had wide doorways to accomodate their swollen craniums. :lol:

Wow, just...wow

I sure wish I had of known some of this before I purchased my amp.

If it's one thing I don't tolerate is some company treating high priced paying customers like they hardly matter, after they've gotten your hard earned...

Whatever the probelm is, it is my opinion that they should break their damn backs bending over to assist you to get it taken care...

Without fans of golf, who is Tiger Woods? Without the musicians who buy/play their gear, who is Randall Smith and his employee's?

And here I was in thinking Mesa was this highly company touted for excellent & courteous customer service...hmmm.

Shang Chi 66, it is foolish for you to be swayed by, as far as you or I are concerned, hearsay. Take it with a cup of salt.