Nomad Issues

[NomadCE24]

This one's really difficult to explain, but as experienced as everyone here seems to be with boogies, I have no problem trusting you guys to know what it is. For starters, I have two amps. A B-52 AT212, and a Mesa Nomad 55 2X12. I got the mesa about a month and a half ago. Now, I understand Mesa's are "tweaker" amps, and have been messing around with the EQ for quite some time. With that being said, I'm able to find tons and tons of great lead sounds, and generally good rhythm sounds. My Schecter Omen 6 (Tuned to C standard, and strung with 12's) sounds phenomenal through this amp. No problems whatsoever. Now, all my other guitars, including PRS's, Fender, LTD, and Epiphone, sound like total crap. They sound fine on leads, and open chord playing, but any time I plam mute, it's just .. bad. The notes don't fade and die, they just die. There's no real note quality to them, it's just a metallic clank noise. I wish I had a way of describing it better, but I just don't :/

If anyone knows any more settings I should try, or any wires I should look at, anything, I'll be greatly pleased. Any advice at all is welcome. And thanks in advance.

 

[secretsoundz]

Try using some of the tone settings in your manual and then tweak them to suit your personal tastes. I was having trouble getting a good sound when I first bought my Stiletto Ace. After much tone tweaking I can honestly say that my amp now sounds just as good with a Fender as it does a Gibson.

 

[NomadCE24]

Yeah, I tried every setting in the book, is one of the frustrating factors. None of them gave me that palm muting clarity I wanted. I also tried Ultimate Guitar's Ultimate settings list, and anything that resembled a sound I liked, still gave me that problem. I'm beginning to think it could be a problem with the amp, but I'm not really one to say.

I doubt it would make a difference, but in case it might, I'll throw this in. I did buy it used, obviously since it's discontinued, but when I tried out the amp the Treble pot on Channel 2 was shot, and killed the entire channel, in a sense. I got them to fix it for me before I bought the amp, and I was told that the back of the pot had came off, and he just put it back on. The pot works totally fine, but maybe that could somehow throw something off? I could see it potentially damaging channel 2, but channel 3's giving me trouble, also.

 

[dennq45]

Have you considered re-tubing your amp?

I just re-tubed my F-50. It had been sitting in a store for who knows how long. Tubes were shot. I am not a big fan of Mesa tubes anyways.

The Tung-Sol re-issue 6L6's work very well in my F-50 for power tubes.

V1 = JJ 12Ax7. Seemed to give more clean headroom

V2 Tung Sol Re-issue 12 ax7

V3 Chinese 12ax7

V4 Electro-Harmonix 12ax7 matched and balanced.

I spent several hours going through my tube collection to get the sound I really like.

 

[secretsoundz]

I just re-tubed my F-50. It had been sitting in a store for who knows how long. Tubes were shot. I am not a big fan of Mesa tubes anyways.

Why not? I thought they tested them, etc?

 

[NomadCE24]

I'll definitely take re-tubing into consideration. I planned on calling Mesa today just to see of they'd be able to date the amp, and I might ask if they'd recommend the same thing. I appreciate the help, though, thanks!

 

[gearboy]

I have been running EL34B-STR's in my Nomad 100 with a NOS Sylvania, in V1, and Chinese for the rest and I think the amp sounds great. I think my 3rd channel is set with the gain around 2:30, Treble at 10:00, Mids at 9:00, Bass at 10:00, Presence at 11:30, but then I also have the Graphic on mine set to a soft V. No problems with palm muting or 'chugg'.....Fun amp that needs tweak time...

 

[NomadCE24]

Yeah, even with those settings I'm still not having any luck fixing it. I don't have the graphic EQ, though, the 55 watt models don't have it. Before I go out and pick up a new set of tubes, is it possible that something on my guitars could be causing the problems?

 

[NomadCE24]

Sorry for the double post, but where would I find the serial number at? I didn't see it on the back of the amp anywhere.

 

[gearboy]

I didn't look that hard for the serial number on mind, but it isn't prominently displayed. Maybe you have to drop the chassis?

 

[NomadCE24]

Yeah, I'll do that shortly. For the problem stated above, I've noticed the issue with palm muting isn't prominent with the gain less than halfway. (The sound I like has them set at 6 on channel 3, 6.5-7 on channel 2) Could it possibly be a bad gain pot on both channels? Maybe I'd only need to replace the pre-amp tubes for those channels?