Studio .22+ question

[voodoo_child]

Im thinking of buying a used studio 22 which the owner says is in mint cond.
However, he doesnt have a footwsitch for it, and says he cant remember ever having one.

Two questions -
1) What king of footswitch do i need for this amp? Is it just a commonly available type? How much will I have to spend, roughly?

2)Does this sound weird? Owning a studio 22 for 7/8 years and never using a footswitch?

Also, the guy claims to have bought it new, and never changed the tubes (has a lot of amps, never really used it he says). He doesnt even know what brand are in it. It doesnt really matter to me whether his story checks out or not, but what kind of tubes should i be looking for to check if hes telling the truth ? (ie that he genuinely did buy it new and is the only owner). Its more a curiosity thing.

Thanks

 

[RR]

1) What king of footswitch do i need for this amp? Is it just a commonly available type? How much will I have to spend, roughly?

Its a common SPST footswitch, generic type should work.

2)Does this sound weird? Owning a studio 22 for 7/8 years and never using a footswitch?

That does sound weird 'cause I'm not sure how he was able to get to the distortion (drive) channel. You would have to rig something up where you ground the hot on the footswitch jack on the front panel (the bottom input jack).

Not sure how you would accomplish this without a footswitch although a 1/4" jack grounding the tip to ground would do it.

Never-the-less, a cool low volume amp, easy to dial in not like other Boogie amps where it can be a struggle on the learning curve to dial in your tone.

 

[plumptone]

I used to own a Studio .22 years ago. You can get an original footswitch directly from Mesa/Boogie. $59

http://store.yahoo.com/mesa/fccsiii.html

*Note - this is for the .22+*

It's impossible to use the coolest function of the amp (footswitchable dual channels) without the footswitch. So it does sound odd - although if he rarely used it, he may never have had the need to run the drive. You can engage the drive channel, as suggested above, by grounding a standard 1/4 inch plug to the chrome on the amp handle.

These units came stock with Mesa tubes. I don't remember how many 12ax7s it had, but I know there are two EL84s in there. They have the Mesa logo on them.

He is NOT the original owner. They stopped making the studio series more than 8 years ago as far as I know.

I still have the original manual and a catalog from the year I bought the amp (1988), so if you have any more questions that you think I may be answer, please just let me know.

Cheers.

 

[voodoo_child]

Thanks for the replys guys.

If im buying a amp of someone and he says he has a blue car, but i turn up and hes got a red one, it doesnt make a **** bit of difference to the amp, but its a bad start for a trade relationship.

In the same was, what you guys are saying kind of makes me a little wary about this guy. I mean, i dont really care if hes the original owner or not, but i dont like someone telling me something that isnt true, it makes me wonder what else about the deal is dishonest. Ditto about him never having a footswitch. I'll definitely ask a lot of questions and keep my eyes open.

Thanks again.

 

[LHanson]

Thanks for the replys guys.

If im buying a amp of someone and he says he has a blue car, but i turn up and hes got a red one, it doesnt make a **** bit of difference to the amp, but its a bad start for a trade relationship.

In the same was, what you guys are saying kind of makes me a little wary about this guy. I mean, i dont really care if hes the original owner or not, but i dont like someone telling me something that isnt true, it makes me wonder what else about the deal is dishonest. Ditto about him never having a footswitch. I'll definitely ask a lot of questions and keep my eyes open.

Thanks again.

Then again, he might THINK he's the first owner, and the dealer sold the amp for new. Maybe the dealer is legit, the amp sat in the store for 10 years, got retubed, and the f/s got lost.

What does it really matter, if the amp is good and is priced right. Would he let you get the amp checked out by a pro?

 

[voodoo_child]

Yeah, like i said, it doesnt matter to me at all if it was bought new or not, provided he isnt deliberately telling me a lie, just to help swing the sale (because then i wonder if he's telling the truth that the amp has never given him trouble etc). Anyway, i just wanted to get a feel for what people thought - ill try the amp out next week, and simply ask a few questions about the age, the lack of footswitch etc. Hopefully it will be all good, and i'll be a boogie owner

 

[RR]

Hi voodoo_child:

Bring along a parallel speaker type cable. (Actually an effect patch cable work fine, its that MESA Boogie footswitches, well the 3 Boogie I do have were supplied with parallel speaker type cable).

Anyway, when you plug this cable into the footswitch jack input (the bottom below the guitar input jack), at the other end of the 1/4" plug, tape a bare cable to the tip and to the sleeve of this 1/4" plug. This will activate the drive channel. Remove the cable to go back to the clean channel.

If you want you actually could make your own footswitch if you know where to get a Carling footswitch and a Bud metal cast box, and a 1/4 input jack.

...

No wonder if this owner knows about this drive channel? :?

Good luck. :wink:

 

[Bren10]

I made a switch that has a male 1/4" plug on the bottom. I plug the whole thing right into the front. It works great. I wouldn't worry about not having it. You have many options, as you've read above.

As far as tubes go: I have a '92 model that I recently re-tubed. Here's what I used.
For Preamp tubes:
V1: JJ/Tesla ECC83 S
V2: JJ/Tesla ECC83 S Graded for high gain
V3: JJ/Tesla ECC83 S
V4: JJ/Tesla ECC83 S
V5: JJ/Tesla ECC83 S With matched Triodes
These are available from Eurotubes.
For power tubes I used a pair of the Mesa EL84 type.

This is a great amp. I would say that if it's not too much money and it works, take it and run. I sure love mine.

 

[Mach1andy]

How much is the .22+ guy asking and I'll tell you what I paid for mine last week...

 

[PeeMonkey]

I just bought one a month ago with the EQ, and its really great for my uses.

Regarding the footswitch, the guy probably just plays cleans, or maybe he bought a Mesa thinking he would play guitar and never got around to it. The options are limitless so that all depends on the seller.

You can find a manual on the Mesa site, it should be .pdf format, however it doesnt really tell you too much about the amp, but it does give you some sample settings for different genre's of music. So bring that along to dial in some nice tone quickly while testing it out. You gotta crank the sucker and let it roar!

 

[voodoo_child]

Thanks for all the advice guys - i bought the amp yesterday. The owner was a sound engineer of some description, and didnt really know anything about the amp, or even amps in general. I dont think he was a guitarist himself, or if he was, just a casual, 'not-too-bothered-about-gear' type.

Anyway, the amp seems pretty mint, it was serviced 6 months ago by the same guy who does my amps. To look at it, you could easily mistake it for a brand new one (except for the age obviously..) I'll post any updates as i get more use out of it, but from what i can see, its perfect.

I just need a footswitch now-will this do the job?

Regards

 

[RR]

Cool ...

At first with your impression I got the feeling it was stolen.

But it seems legitimate that he probably doesn't use it often.

That Marshall footswitch should work.

The lead drive channel has alot of grind. But if you are looking to "mellow" the lead drive channel, exchange V1 tube with a 5751[?] or 12AT7. That will lower the preamp gain and actually have a better balance between the drive channel and the clean channel.

But this is only a suggestion 'cause its not necessarily an improvement but rather an option that's available.

 

[LHanson]

Congrats.

For reference's sake, the .22 is pretty much the same as the .50 preamp-wise, so you can search the board for both amps to get ideas. I agree with RR, and have a 12AU7 in my V1 of my .50 cal + Still plenty of gain, and pretties up the cleans.

 

[RR]

Opps, yeah, the 12AU7 not the 12AT7 I'm refering to what LHanson said. I probably got this from you LHanson.