Studio 22

[Tacoiardul]

well,i got it solved.one of the tubes was slightly out of his socket,i put it back carefully and now it works like a charm.god bless Mesa \m/

 

[moondawg]

I just got my first boogie ever. A 91' 22+

After many combinations found the loudest and ( IMHO ) best clean before breakup..
V1= 12au7
v2= 12at7
the rest 12ax7

the power tubes are siemens E84Ls. ( didnt have a chance to measure the current yet).
I have a good collection of NOS preamp tubes and dont get caught in the bane brand thing.. s they are all quality tubes.
I love this little amp. Can't wait to do my first gig with it.
Next is a recap and a bias pot.

 

[NunoVanBamSteen]

I just got my first boogie ever. A 91' 22+

After many combinations found the loudest and ( IMHO ) best clean before breakup..
V1= 12au7
v2= 12at7
the rest 12ax7

the power tubes are siemens E84Ls. ( didnt have a chance to measure the current yet).
I have a good collection of NOS preamp tubes and dont get caught in the bane brand thing.. s they are all quality tubes.
I love this little amp. Can't wait to do my first gig with it.
Next is a recap and a bias pot.

Not sure what you meant, as far as brands, but I assure you, there are some turds out there.
The GT's I got were the most microphonic tubes I'd ever heard.
I have an audio sample somewhere...
Found it:
Groove Tubes Microphony
Listen to the spots where you hear the guitar stop and start, you'll hear the tubes ping and rattle. They were in a Mesa Triaxis and 20/20 power amp.

 

[Tacoiardul]

does anyone have more info about the stock speaker on a Studio 22+ ? Mine is rated 50w and it's codename is Vs-12 , a 12 inch speaker.I would very much like to know its Db rating....i would like to buy an extension 1x12 cabinet and the stock speaker's db rating would help me to make a perfect pair

 

[igfraso]

The stock speaker was an Eminence VS-12 (aka Vintage 50's).
Maybe you can try an extension cab with a Black Shadow C90.

 

[Tacoiardul]

Thank you,the Specs for this eminence vs12 speaker still remain elusive.Outside the fact that it has 50w and 8ohms there's nothing i can find on the internet.
In Romania there is no Mesa Boogie dealer ,so a Black Shadow C90 is kinda hard to get.I was hoping to find out the vs12's Db rating,so i can pair it with a modern production Eminence speaker .
All the best

 

[igfraso]

The Vintage Black Shadow VS-12 looks similar to the Eminence Legend GB-12.
If they happen to be the same speaker, the sensitivity is 101 db.

 

[bigbean]

I work at a music store with a service department. We aren't a Mesa dealer but we stock a number of tube amps. We sell a couple hundred dollars worth of tubes a week. We quit selling Groove tubes about 5 years ago.

Their quality became very bad and their response to questions about the quality was "Hey Chump - of course we suck. What are you even buying tubes for". At one time it was a good operation but that's way gone. As a coincidence, it happened at the time they started showing up in new Fender product and they came out with a line of mics.

There is a lot of online information and misinformation about tubes. I won't bother to restate who owns what brands at this point.

(rant setting on) I'll say for my opinion: Sovteks are the best value - JJs make good 12ax7s - Winged Cs are very good outputs, the Chinese stuff seems to be trash. Also my opinion: tube tweaks who spend hours and hours sitting around listening to NOS tubes should stop sitting at home jerkin off and spend their time playing music with some other actual people and go out and perform somewhere. And another thing: We should support companies that are currently in production who are trying to build good product instead of bidding up the price of the "long dead and ain't coming back" stuff. Except for amps 'cause old amps are cheap and fun to rebuild. (rant setting off)

Uh Oh! it's Monday again. Time to go make a living.

 

[tonejam]

Wow, Bigbean.......I just bought a heap of Sovtek tubes, had mostly JJ's in my 2 Boogie amps. Spent a couple of hours tonight mix and matching, and came to the same conclusion. Sovteks are good value (I like the EL84m's), but for 12ax7s, JJ's are what I'll be buying. I then came upstairs, and I've just read your post. Makes me feel I haven't wasted the night!
cheers, Bill.

 

[NunoVanBamSteen]

Sovteks seem to be the bulk of what Mesa installs in their amps. Early on, they were putting a heat shrink material ove r the tubes with the Mesa logo on them, and now they are printing right on the tube. AFAIK they are still Sovtek, though.

Never had an issue with a Sovtek.

 

[SloppyGoat]

Well, I am new here and the proud owner of two Studio .22's. One is a plus, without the EQ. They both hiss like a ***** when I use my Tube Screamer. The pedal has been modified by me (I do have an Electronics degree and am very good with soldering and at least some repairs, but have little component level troubleshooting capability. I went to a freaking tech school in AL! LOL) It's the best sounding Tube Screamer I've ever heard, since it has the TS808 modifications. I always hated that pedal until I modified it, via a MohoMods kit. It comes with both of the earlier chips so you can choose, or even put both in and a switch, if you're crafty. I just chose the one like best.
Anyway, I know this has been discussed to death in this thread, and I don't know where to start. I love these amps, despite how noisy they are. You don't hear it when you're blasting away the clouds! :wink:
But what's the first thing I should check? The tubes have all been replaced with Mesa Boogie genuine ordered tubes. Are all these bastards just that noisy? I never use the amps' overdrive. I am an analog man and I have a pedal board full of pedals. I know that is always a recipe for noise. If I play with nothing, the amps are pretty clean. Perhaps it's my pedal series layout? Maybe I could have them ordered better? All pedal mods were found on guitar forums and other tutorials and tested pretty thoroughly. All of them improved the sound of them. I'm very resourceful that way and a still an electronics hobbiest.

I have an SKB pedal board, and here is the list and the order they're hooked up in. All input/output...no send receive. It's too much of a pain (with them on the back) and I've never really noticed any difference when I tried it that way.

1) Output to Behringer Tuner Pedal
2) Crybaby Wah Wah (Also modified, but out of the equation when not active anyway)
3) Boss Compression (CS-3)
4) Tube Screamer (TS808 modded...beautiful distortion at high volume)
5) Boss Metal Zone (MT-2 also modded to take some of the mid out)
6) Boss Chorus (CE-5)
7) Boss Super Octave (OC-3)
8) Banshee 2 Talk Box (not usually engaged unless I'm mic'd)
9) Morpheus Drop Tune
10) Arion SAD-1 Streo Chorus (which gives me my two outs)

I do use the send and receive for my mixer sometimes, when I am singing...sometimes mixed into the Boogies, and sometimes through a separate amp. I just got a Peavey XR 8600 though! 1200 Watts and some nice monitors!!! Have not had a chance to use it with my setup yet. I just had to move into an apt. It sucks!!!

Anyway, after all that...any suggestions? Where to start? I've already eliminated each pedal, one at a time, and they all seem fine.

I do tend to play very loud. Could I just be over doing the volume? I love to make it squeal, ya know? Love my distortion! I usually don't go over like 7 on Volume and Master, and that's pushing it, I know.

How do you run yours and what kind of setup do you use? It seems rather pointless to me to go digital if you have vintage tube amps. Kind of defeats the purpose, IMO. :?

 

[gummx97]

I just also received my 22+ the other day, it was my very first mesa amp back in the 90's. I went the opposite way during my last gig. All I had was a Wah and a TS808 on front of the amp, used the amp's distortion, and placed a nova system in the loop. Pretty quiet set up. I also paired the 22+ with an old recto sealed 1 x 12 cab, amp sounded really good to my ears, no need for compression since the amp's natural compression was all that I needed.

for boosts on the solos, the nova system had a boost so it was a good match up.

 

[&drew]

Hi
I bought my .22 23 years ago and had a hiss problem. Tried the obvious (new valves) & reluctantly had it serviced.
The only thing that solved it was cleaning the pots and contacts with Faderlube (deoxit) - made the tone in both modes as i remembered it back when it was new (punchy and vocal). Rhythm with higher Gain (>6) is now lovely and Lead is more focussed.

i have a Nomad too and it's almost hiss free even with massive OD - noticed there is a Ferric Bead on the input wire (internally) which (just like a USB cable) removes EM noise. Easy to add to any amp. Check all your earth wires too.

Finally i've been considering the Lead Master and Lead Gain mods you'll find here. Will allow me to set less OD on the lead channel without making the Rhythm sound thin. Or vice versa.
I hope this is of some use.

 

[SloppyGoat]

So, it could be all just old pots? None of them crackle or anything, as would when they're normally worn out. They're all as clean as can be when I twist them...unlike my old Fender M80. I'll have to get some of that cleaner. I guess it can't hurt. One head was already sent off for repair a few years ago when it just stopped working altogether. I can't remember what the diagnosis was, but Mesa Boogie provided quick and reasonably priced repair service. I think it cost me a little over $100 bucks.

Is there a place I can buy this stuff, or do I have to order it online?

 

[&drew]

I can't be sure, but this is what worked for me. My Rhythm mode was hissy & the Lead mode was like a white noise generator. The amp's tone just didn't have what i remember it had when new even after a service & using good fresh valves checked in another amp.

Pots: mine were smooth & didn't crackle but after cleaning, the tone was instantly better. i imagine a layer of beer and smoke fumes had built up over the 20 years. i agree crackley pots are a sure sign of dirt on the contact or being worn out. i'd always try cleaning first before replacing. Deoxit is US brand. It was $30 her in UK and a can will last forever. put on my guitar pots too. lovely and smooth and should clean & cut down wear on old guitar pots.

Contacts: i cleaned the input socket contacts with contact cleaner eg D5. i've used a fine file in the past. i checked resistance was close to zero between a plugged in cable and where the wires are soldered to the pcb.

FX Send/Return socket contacts: the pre-amp signal takes a detour through these contacts. Worth cleaning too.

Earth: i checked all the metal parts' point to point earth wiring had no resistance to the mains earth plug. Good safety check anyhow but poor earth screening sounds like hiss too.

 

[SloppyGoat]

Thanks. I guess it can't hurt to give it a try, and it looks like Guitar Center has it here. Did you just remove the knobs and spray in the stems, or open it up and spray into the back of the pots?

 

[&drew]

Pots: yeah - open it up and spray into the back of the pots.
i removed the aluminium chassis from the amp and sprayed a little Faderlube into the holes on the pot body near the contacts. Wait 10 minutes. Spray again. Now turn pot spindle gently round. If gritty spray some more.
Also allowed for cleaning of Input/Send/Return socket contacts.

Warning
Valve amps can kill you even if they've been unplugged for a while. The capacitors hold a lethal current even when unplugged.
Never touch anything inside an amp unless you know what you're doing regarding safety.
Never hold a guitar plugged into an open chassis amp and touch anything inside the chassis. Current will go through your chest.

Be safe

 

[StratoSalo]

Hi everybody, I resurrect this old post to ask your help.
I recently traded my Fender Hot Rod with a Mesa Studio .22 which came only with electronics mounted on an economic rack.
No old chassis, no black shadow speaker.
the serial number is 10329SS and in the internal of the elecronic it is dated 1981.
I built up a new "dress" for my little beast in order to turn it in a head, I hope you like it

I would like to make the two famous mods to my Mesa, the Lead Mod and the Drive Mod:
I tryied to look at the link posted on previuos pages (acapella.harmony-central etc..) but it redirect me to a dead page.
So, I gently ask if someome woul be so kind to explain me what I have to do to make the mods.
Every help will be very appreciated.
Sorry for my bad English, I'm from Italy and I do my best...

Greetings from sunny Italy,
bye bye

 

[&drew]

I would like to make the two famous mods to my Mesa, the Lead Mod and the Drive Mod:
I tryied to look at the link posted on previuos pages (acapella.harmony-central etc..) but it redirect me to a dead page.
So, I gently ask if someome woul be so kind to explain me what I have to do to make the mods.
Every help will be very appreciated.

Hi - nice work. Try searching this forum for combinations of "Studio Lead Master Mod" & "Studio Lead Drive (or Gain) Mod"
Find .22 and .22+ schematics online. The .22+ has the Lead Master as standard. You can copy this change and add to .22.

From my previous post:
Looking at the schematics for the .22 and comparing to the .22+ I have concluded the following which you may find useful:
1. Lead Master: Replacing R241 (47K which dumps to ground) next to LDR4 with a POT. The schematic shows a 47k resistor so try a pot that will give a reading of 47k at half throttle - ie at 5 on the dial. This should allow for fine tuning to balance the volume level of the LEAD boost. The Output level of the amp in the Lead mode will be determined by the settings of both Master controls. Using the Lead Master should allow fine balancing in Lead mode.
NB: As you may know, this is a single channel amp with a LEAD boost which switches in Valve 1 to give overdrive.

2. Lead Gain: Replacing R292 (the un-named 470k between C5 and LDR2 which dumps to ground) with a POT again giving 470k dialled at 5. This should allow the output of V1 to be cut or boosted to alter the Lead Gain.

ALSO worth upgrading the MESA rated 1/4W R131 resistor which may well fail - with a 2W version. This is only the Foot Switch power supply so not signal-critical - but will save you the repair cost if you swop while you do mods.

While you have the chassis open i would strongly recommend cleaning inside the pots with Deoxit Faderlube (or equivalent) on any old amp. Amazing results to tone and less noise. Brought my 23 year old .22 back to life. ALSO clean all contacts with Deoxit D5 (or equivalent).

Good luck!

Warning
Valve amps can kill you even if they've been unplugged for a while. The capacitors hold a lethal current even when unplugged.
Never touch anything inside an amp unless you know what you're doing regarding safety.
Never hold a guitar plugged into an open chassis amp and touch anything inside the chassis. Current will go through your chest.

Be safe

 

[StratoSalo]

Very kind of you &drew, I will definitively follow your advices. Thanks a lot.
I have another question. I'm building by myself a 2 x 12 cab which I want to use with my modded Studio 22.
I have no idea about speakers.. I do play blues and rock, I love sweet clean sounds and overdrive saturations, not high gain. Anybody have advices about speakers to mount?
The cab is gonna be a closed back with an oval back panel to switch to open back.
thanks a lot and excuse me if I am OT.
Bye