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

[MesaGod666]

I've played this amp in 90Watt Simul-Class power setting (mostly in channel 3) the entire time.

Pretty fukkn LAME, but at least MESA is paying for the shipping costs.

 

[Iconoclysm]

You should be here to smell this fart... :shock:

Is it leadless?

 

[cam]

Pretty fukkn LAME, but at least MESA is paying for the shipping costs.

That I should have given them credit for... shipping to and from! Just picked my chassis up from UPS at lunch... we'll see....

 

[MarkIVwidebody]

I was expecting all of you to jump me for complaining. Well, my dealer ran out of power tubes which is inexcusable. They are a Mesa dealer after all. The tubes came in, replaced two of them and the fuse. For now everything is okay.

 

[primal]

Wow, that just freaking blows.

I had already decided against picking up a Mark V since I tried the electradyne.

But this crap makes me scared to pickup the electradyne as well. The only comfort I have is that the electradyne is such a basic amp, I would hope the odds would be less that it would have problems.

I feel for you guys. I have been going through a run of bad luck with my Road King as well. At this point I am sinking money into it just so I can sell it!

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

Some of you guys are weird. After all, it turned out to just be a bad case of valves, which may happen when the amp doesn't get handled well sometimes...

 

[MarkIVwidebody]

Some of you guys are weird. After all, it turned out to just be a bad case of valves, which may happen when the amp doesn't get handled well sometimes...

We are handling these heads better than your girl's tittie balls. So much for Mesa Q.A. on power tubes.... :mrgreen:

 

[MesaGod666]

Some of you guys are weird. After all, it turned out to just be a bad case of valves, which may happen when the amp doesn't get handled well sometimes...

Understandable for sure. I just replaced the tubes in my combo and haven't yet had a problem. However, after hearing some popping and other strange issues, I found that the tubes were shifting out of their sockets while the amp is in use. I'm still sending it back to Boogie to have them check it out, but as far as I'm concerned it's headed to Craigslist. Also, I have only been using it in my living room at moderate to loud volumes.

 

[pokerrules47]

http://engineeringethicsblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/losing-by-whisker-lead-free-solder-and.html

Yes we all know that lead free solder is the root of all problems in our amps, thank you very much for bringing that to our attention. Thank god no other amp manufacturers use lead free solder because all the amps in the world would quit working 2 months after purchase.

 

[4406cuda]

http://engineeringethicsblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/losing-by-whisker-lead-free-solder-and.html

Yes we all know that lead free solder is the root of all problems in our amps, thank you very much for bringing that to our attention. Thank god no other amp manufacturers use lead free solder because all the amps in the world would quit working 2 months after purchase.

I thought we got rid of that douche after not seeing any of his posts.

 

[pokerrules47]

I thought we got rid of that douche after not seeing any of his posts.

sorry couldn't help myself

 

[MesaGod666]

I thought we got rid of that douche after not seeing any of his posts.

That's rich. :lol:

 

[rabies]

One of the reasons I am Mesa-less now is b/c of the pathetic experience I had with the only brand new Mesa or Marshall I have ever bought. A brand new Stiletto II deuce from MB Hollywood. Took it back 3 times. Got a refund. Kept blowing tubes and fuses.

That robo-tube **** is b.s. Mesa has good customer service and eventually gave me a refund (which is basically against their policy - it's 7 days exchange only).

But yes, if that Robotube does all these QA checks, then you can't keep blaming the tubes on the 3rd defect, right?

I was so pissed back then.

And now I have a Rivera that never gave me any problems...

 

[MesaGod666]

And now I have a Rivera that never gave me any problems...

I'm actually highly considering a Rivera. What amp do you have?

 

[rabies]

And now I have a Rivera that never gave me any problems...

I'm actually highly considering a Rivera. What amp do you have?

In this pic, the chassis was firmly jammed inside the headshell. I dropped this off the ledge in my garage and it landed flat on the concrete floor to dislodge. No problems (I pulled the tubes prior).

It's a stereo chorus 120 watt head (stereo) down to 8 watt (mono) with pentode/triode and hi/lo switch. EL34 loaded, I don't like any other power tubes for leads/rhythm (other than KT77). You can run one side @ 60 watts or less w/o plugging the other into a cab. It has some special circuitry that most amps don't have that allow you to do that. Very large trannies!

I bought it for $900 used in decent shape, they're $2700 new custom order only.

One of the most flexible amps out there. Lots of switches but not way too many like Mesa amps to get you confused.

Rivera S120. It's a hot-rodded JCM800 with better cleans and tons of low-end. pretty sick dude.

Funny thing with Rivera is that they depreciate a lot in the used market. Not sure why but they're made in USA and **** good sounding.

They're adjustable bias as well so more control in your hands!

quote from manual:

If the bias adjustment pot does not have enough range, the 18k resistor next to the adjustment pot can be replaced with a higher value for Increased bias range.

Tube Voltage
6CA7 USA 39 VDC
6L6GC USA 45 VDC
6550A USA 52 VDC
EL-34 (American) 39 VDC
EL-34 (English or German) 37 VDC
KT-77 39 VDC

http://www.rivera.com/manuals_html/ms-manual.html

Their customer service is difficult to get a hold of, unlike Mesa which is fantastic in that regard.

 

[MesaGod666]

rabies...a Rivera is officially on the list.

 

[cam]

Got mine back from Mesa who said... nothing is wrong. Played it for 2 mins just fine, then hit a G chord and nothing... no sound. The only thing not tested to any extent was the speaker... so I threw a v30 in the combo... haven't had a problem after several hours ... what are the odds a defective speaker acting like that? Better it than the amp I guess.

 

[MesaGod666]

Got mine back from Mesa who said... nothing is wrong. Played it for 2 mins just fine, then hit a G chord and nothing... no sound. The only thing not tested to any extent was the speaker... so I threw a v30 in the combo... haven't had a problem after several hours ... what are the odds a defective speaker acting like that? Better it than the amp I guess.

Yeah. Just another reason to get a head I guess. :lol:

 

[rabies]

In my case with the stiletto it wasn't the cable or speaker/cab. It worked fine with my Mark IV..

 

[cam]

Yeah. Just another reason to get a head I guess.

Why... does a head not use a speaker? :shock: LOL. Actually I can ( or i think I can ) hear a tonal difference in the 2 amps... the Combo sounds slightly better.