Problems with the Mark V so far?

[Chewy]

***Please read this entire post - I hope it can help some of you with footswitch-related problems.***
Yesterday my 2nd head developed the exact same problem as my first - ch2 lost Reverb, Graphic, and FX Loop. :shock:
Long story short, it appears that the amp itself is fine, but the power conditioner/circuit I was plugged into was at fault.
Since the amp came on, stayed on, and Ch1 and Ch3 worked perfectly... I assumed it "had power", right? <<< so please no flames .
What I've learned, is that the switching in this amp (all amps?) is handled by internal relays.
If the relays don't see voltage in a range they expect, they don't work. Overall, the amp might sound/work great, but some components just might not switch in/out.
If you are having problems related to footswitchable functions not working, I highly recommend looking at the power going into your amp.
A very electrically-saavy friend of mine (killer player, too), and Tien Lawrence at Mesa both suspected low/poor power as the culprit, as it appears to have been.
BTW, Tien is the epitome of great customer service!!!
My faith in MB has been renewed/reinforced, and all is well with the world once again.

 

[th0rr]

Problem alright. Can't stop playing it. Have had mine almost a full year now. Get's almost daily play, 1 -2 hrs. More on the weekends. Honeymoon has long been over and I still love this amp. No physical problems so far. *knocks on wood* :!:

 

[lucidology]

I had a tube socket crack on me ... which was fixed quickly with warranty ..
Now I've a random popping noise which I can't stop/// Can't seem to track it down ... grrrrrrrrr///

 

[fr0sty]

I get that too, but can trace the pops to appliances turning on/off in my house. I heard them kick in, the the pop in my amp.

I had a tube socket crack on me ... which was fixed quickly with warranty ..
Now I've a random popping noise which I can't stop/// Can't seem to track it down ... grrrrrrrrr///

 

[NR2112]

Very reliable, gets daily use for an hour or 3. Spent most of the time tweaking it instead of playing for the first month.

I love it. My wife is the one that has a problem with it.... :lol:

hilarious. and true !!!!

 

[nickyboy]

Actually I am having problems with my second Mark V head
Been a tube amp player for many years and a boogie player for 10 years, dual rec, maverick, I am on my second Mark V head. I am not discouraged it is a great amp and company but it seems the second one is malfunctioning too. The first Mark V I bought (serial number in the 1600's) had the 3rd channel just stop working. Only thin low volume sound would come out of the 3rd channel. SO the store just gave me another. The second Mark V (serial # 2600's) I was using the solo button on the footswitch last night for the first time and intermittently when I press the solo button all three channels turn off. This may be a cable or something I don't know. Yes I went through trouble shooting and it still is like Russian Roulette when I hit solo I could be essentially turning it off! Oddly enough when it does this it is a lot like the 3rd channel malfunction in the first Mark V the sound of the amp goes to thin clean very low volume. I have to simply push a channel button and it comes back online but alas the solo feature is not working.

It is the best sounding amp in the world as far as I am concerned and under warranty so I am not worried but those are 2 problems that don't make me happy with the money I spent. My other mesa's have been absolutely reliable and I will still trust the rig I have just not the solo feature till I find out what is wrong.

UPDATE: ALL IS WELL
Just for the record it seems that all of the problems I had were tubes, multiple problems with the original set of tubes. I had really never had tube problems before so I got all those years worth of no problems in 2 months. I can wait another 10 years for more. I got my original Mark V (serial #1600's) back because a mesa tech checked it out and said it was fine...then it had another small problem so I sent to Jon Baily Sound to have it checked out. Baily is the local and becoming legendary mesa tech, knowledgeable and can put into laymen terms very technical issues. He worked on my old maverick head... I told him I was just not going to be comfortable with the amp until he hooked it up to all his doohicky's and gave it a clean bill of health mostly because I had so many "issues" since new. Low and behold another pre-amp tube was gone! He did check every pin and socket and It has run great for the past few weeks and is not showing a propensity to go through tubes either. He even said it sounded great and the only issues he has seen in the MV was a couple tubes which is very normal in tube amps. I do know how to trouble shoot and change tubes but I was at a point that I was not going to be comfortable till I got the ok from a tech with a bench. I am pretty sure this is all behind me. It was very odd that it just had 4 or 5 tubes just popping off including a powertube...warranty covered it...tone of my MV makes me fall down and die

 

[Jim Ed Love]

One of my power amps in my stereo system went on the blink. I checked the preamp tubes and one or more of them was bad. That was a relief because it is less time consuming and much cheaper to fix the problem when it is only a tube. I replaced all of the tubes because it was time.