What year is my Trem'O'Verb from?

[peterc52]

Hi,

Can anyone help me date my tov?

The serialnumber is R 003139x

Thanks in advance.

/Peter from Denmark

 

[94Tremoverb]

Do you mean the x is another number? If so, I don't know and it will be quite late on towards 2000. If not and the number is R-003139 then it's slightly earlier than mine so it must be a '94, unless they came out in '93, which I didn't think they did.

The date (month/year) should be written by hand in gold pen on the inside of the chassis, if you want to know accurately.

 

[peterc52]

Do you mean the x is another number? If so, I don't know and it will be quite late on towards 2000. If not and the number is R-003139 then it's slightly earlier than mine so it must be a '94, unless they came out in '93, which I didn't think they did.

The date (month/year) should be written by hand in gold pen on the inside of the chassis, if you want to know accurately.

On the plate inside the chassis does it actually have an "x" in the end of the number - whatever that stands for? But on the small card from Mesa it dosn't have that "x".

So it's an early one, does that make any difference? (price, components etc.)

Thanks for the response!

/The danish dude Peter

 

[94Tremoverb]

Older ones are always better. It's in the rules .

As far as I know there is no 'revision history' with the Tremoverb. But I have to say that mine does seem to sound better than a couple of later ones I've played - whether due to just age, or the speakers being more broken in, or something else, I'm not sure.

The one thing to be aware of is that older amps may need more service attention - if it's a '94 or '93, it's getting closer to the point it will need an overhaul, in particular the electrolytic caps replaced. I don't think this needs doing as soon as some people recommend (10-15 years, which to me is completely unnecessary), but I tend to think about 20-30 years is a good guide, and it's worth doing then if the amp needs work for any other reason. I certainly wouldn't do anything if it's sounding good now though. The other potential problem with this amp is LDR failures, which do seem to be age-related (as well as to a particular bad batch of them that Mesa used right near the end of production, so yours won't be affected by that) - mine had two dead ones when I got it.

I will have a look at mine and see if it has an x too - I don't remember it, and getting at the back of my amp at the moment involves lifting it, so it may be some time before I get around to it ;-).

 

[guitarzan1143]

the only "revision" is that they took the ground switch off the later models. the LDRs will go, and go hard. my amp was perfect for a few weeks, then i turned it on, and it was done. your best bet is to just send it to mesa, it about 200 bucks with shipping to get it completely looked over, LDRs replaced, and everything cleaned out. well worth it.

 

[mixtery]

only $200 with shipping to send it to mesa for an overhaul? that is a steal.

 

[peterc52]

only $200 with shipping to send it to mesa for an overhaul? that is a steal.

Yes it is.

If only I didn't live Denmark.. :twisted:

 

[mbmesa]

My T-Verb is an older one as well. How can you tell if the LDRs are going or gone ? Is the amp just not gonna work at all or could it still work but not perform as good as before ? I am trying to chase down a low bass response problem. My combo used to thump the bass really massively but I retubed it a year or more ago and it seems that right around that time the bass response went away. Could a bad LDR be responsible or could it be pre-amp or power amp tubes ? I have TAD long bottle 6L6 and a mix of pre-amp tubes (Tung-Sol, Mesa, other chines ones, Penta) basically a mix I got from Doug's tubes.

Can a bad LDR be responsible for bad bass response or is more pre-amp or power amp based ?

 

[94Tremoverb]

If the bass response went away when you changed the tubes, it's probably a tube issue! Did you replace all of them, or only some? Did you keep the old tubes? (If not, why not?! You always need spares.)

Just to update Peter's earlier question, yes my Tremoverb does also have an x after the serial number.

 

[peterc52]

If the bass response went away when you changed the tubes, it's probably a tube issue! Did you replace all of them, or only some? Did you keep the old tubes? (If not, why not?! You always need spares.)

Just to update Peter's earlier question, yes my Tremoverb does also have an x after the serial number.

It's because ours is different than the others.

and better!