Rectifier Woes

[Levitys]

Hey guys,

I want to spin a story to you and see if anyone has had similar experiences as me.

I bought my mesa 3 channel dual rectifier about 5 years ago. It was used but like new. Over the years I have had an issue here and there but nothing like what I have been experiencing recently. This past month or so I have had some pretty strange things going on. Let me explain…

I am a pretty simple player. I don't get too fancy as far as effects and pedals go. I go straight into amp and my settings stay pretty much the same. The other day I was on the clean channel (which NEVER has any distortion added to it. Usually Just a nice fat clean) was acting "Pushed" had a lot of Grit in it. None of the controls had been moved nor the amp. It just decided that I was going to play dirty that day. :shock:

No matter what I did i couldn't get it to go away unless I backed off on the guitar volume. I just dealt with it as I was at practice. Then all of the sudden my channel 2 distortion started to sound muddy and undefined. No punch at all.
Both of these happening on and off.

I figured it was a power tube or preamp tube so I went to guitar center and got a couple of each. Went through each the way mesa explains to. I ended up replacing Power 1&4 Preamp 1&2.

When I turned it back on I was getting some VERY Strange Results. (Now I know how to replace tubes so I promise that is not the issue.)

I turned on the amp and i was getting a huge hum. Im talking Channel 2 on. Channel Master Noon. Output Master 9am ! so much hum I had to turn output Master all the way down. When I did this I had even a stranger result. With the Output volume ALL the way down. I could still hear the **** guitar! I couldn't believe it. I'm not saying it was very loud but you could make out anything and everything I was playing. It was a nice listening level for an elevator.

After that I figured I better get a tech to look at it.
Well They've looked at it. And can't find anything wrong with it!?! :shock:
They can't recreate these problems.

Has anyone had any of these issues? What do I do here?
I know I'm not crazy. These things are happening!

Thanks guys,

Look Forward to hearing from you.

 

[screamingdaisy]

The huge hum sounds like a failed/failing power tube. Sometimes it happens intermittently. When it happens you'll see one of the power tubes glowing cherry red.

I've also had it happen with loose power tubes (installed thin pin JJs into an amp with sockets that were stretched out to accommodate the thick pins used by Sovtek).

If you've been using the same power tubes since you bought the amp I'd probably play it safe and replace all four.

 

[MichaelC4]

(installed thin pin JJs into an amp with sockets that were stretched out to accommodate the thick pins used by Sovtek)

Thanks for posting this. I've been thinking of trying JJs, got Sovteks in now.

 

[bendo]

The huge hum sounds like a failed/failing power tube. Sometimes it happens intermittently. When it happens you'll see one of the power tubes glowing cherry red.

I've also had it happen with loose power tubes (installed thin pin JJs into an amp with sockets that were stretched out to accommodate the thick pins used by Sovtek).

If you've been using the same power tubes since you bought the amp I'd probably play it safe and replace all four.

+1. As stated, you should retube the entire amp. Make sure your power tubes are matched. I would highly recommend getting a matched quad for the power tubes.

Check out dougstubes.com. He has a great rectifier kit.

 

[Levitys]

The huge hum sounds like a failed/failing power tube. Sometimes it happens intermittently. When it happens you'll see one of the power tubes glowing cherry red.

I've also had it happen with loose power tubes (installed thin pin JJs into an amp with sockets that were stretched out to accommodate the thick pins used by Sovtek).

If you've been using the same power tubes since you bought the amp I'd probably play it safe and replace all four.

+1. As stated, you should retube the entire amp. Make sure your power tubes are matched. I would highly recommend getting a matched quad for the power tubes.

Check out dougstubes.com. He has a great rectifier kit.

Thank you for everyone's input. I appreciate the help.!

So If I were to replace with some tubes from dougs "Rectifier Kits".
Would I be able to just stick these in or would I need to get the Bias mod done?
and then have it biased?

Thanks again guys!

 

[screamingdaisy]

Thank you for everyone's input. I appreciate the help.!

So If I were to replace with some tubes from dougs "Rectifier Kits".
Would I be able to just stick these in or would I need to get the Bias mod done?
and then have it biased?

Thanks again guys!

If you tell Doug (or most any other reputable tube vendor) that they're going into a Mesa he'll select tubes that operate within Mesa's specs.