mesa walkabout took a crap?

[seungkoo]

I was at an outdoor gig yesterday and my amp suddenly starting making lots of noise. Thought it mightve been a bad power line. Amp still worked but just very noisy. Today I turned on the amp at home, very loud staticy noise. Is this a bad tube? I just bought the amp from gc 3 weeks ago.

[jetofuj]

I really don't know what is wrong with Mesa Boogie these days. 50% of threads about amps' problems is about current Mesa stuff...

BTW, good luck with solving your problem.

[seungkoo]

Ok I stared banging on the head while turned on and after like 10seconds of good banging the noise went away.
Wht should I do here? I have a chance to exchange it for another since it's only been 3 weeks. Or should I keep it? I love the amp but I don't want to run into more problems later down the line.
I paid $1540 after taxes and I want an amp I can rely on for a long time. Is that too much to ask for?

[lomo]

could simply be a tube. try changing them if you have any around.

[seamonkey]

Could be a loose connection. I'd take it back and get another.
Loose connections are impossible to track down sometimes and they fail hard at the worst times.

[seungkoo]

I took the amp apart and definately not a tube. BEfore I unscrewed the casing I shook it around and I heard something loose inside. Like a small metal piece rattling around. I took the cover off and I guess something fell out. Small I couldnt find it in my mess but after I shook it again no sound.

So something definately came loose inside. The loud buzzing went away but Im afraid itll happen again later during a gig or maybe something even worse can happen?

Im taking it back tommorow before they say I cant return it. If I cant get another new one through mesa than I will jsut opt for my money and maybe look into the TC RH450 or RH750?

[vin*tone]

3 weeks old? I wouldn't even be opening the case. Return it - exchange for a fully functional unit.

[seungkoo]

3 weeks old to me but that guitar center had this amp in their inventory for well over a year and a half because underneath the price tag was the original price tag of $12xx which I asked them to honor but they wouldnut budge and blamed an idiot for not removing the old price tag. The old price tag had a date of 8/30/09.
Who knows how many people played on this amp and how many hours of abuse it took.

[jordie65]

I'm having a similar sort of problem, its hugely frustrating, i shelled out just over $2000 AU for the 12 inch combo as i thought if i bought quality i would never need to buy another small amp and i could totally depend on it for a very long time.

2 months in and now i have to take my gig rig to rehearsal as the head has lost a huge amount of volume and now cuts in and out with constant static in the signal.

I had to buy from out of state as there were no dealers in my state with a functional unit (there's an alarm bell i missed)

I'm shelling out for some new tubes to try in the pre and driver slot as the symptoms fit but i mean damn Mesa..

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by seungkoo

3 weeks old to me but that guitar center had this amp in their inventory for well over a year and a half because underneath the price tag was the original price tag of $12xx which I asked them to honor but they wouldnut budge and blamed an idiot for not removing the old price tag. The old price tag had a date of 8/30/09.
Who knows how many people played on this amp and how many hours of abuse it took.

it's still under warranty, though. and honestly, i'd demand a new in box amp if they don't budge on the price.

[TN WOODMAN]

Markbass

[vin*tone]

Originally Posted by jordie65

I'm having a similar sort of problem, its hugely frustrating, i shelled out just over $2000 AU for the 12 inch combo as i thought if i bought quality i would never need to buy another small amp and i could totally depend on it for a very long time.

2 months in and now i have to take my gig rig to rehearsal as the head has lost a huge amount of volume and now cuts in and out with constant static in the signal.

I had to buy from out of state as there were no dealers in my state with a functional unit (there's an alarm bell i missed)

I'm shelling out for some new tubes to try in the pre and driver slot as the symptoms fit but i mean damn Mesa..

There are no dealers in Victoria because they're really rare amps, not because Mesa quality is bad. I assume you got it from the distributor Pro Audio in Canberra? Did you contact them? If it was new it would be under warranty, yes?

Sounds like a tube issue to me. Same thing happened to my 15 y.o Walkabout - tube crapped itself. Replaced tube, good as to go.

In fact - what I should say is.... Mesa quality is crap. Buy a Markbass..... and let me know when you sell your Scout cab - I need one for my crap amp..

[jordie65]

Originally Posted by vin*tone

There are no dealers in Victoria because they're really rare amps, not because Mesa quality is bad. I assume you got it from the distributor Pro Audio in Canberra? Did you contact them? If it was new it would be under warranty, yes?

Sounds like a tube issue to me. Same thing happened to my 15 y.o Walkabout - tube crapped itself. Replaced tube, good as to go.

In fact - what I should say is.... Mesa quality is crap. Buy a Markbass..... and let me know when you sell your Scout cab - I need one for my crap amp..

I guess my post did come off a little harsh, i'm just a bit frustrated by it all i guess. I went to two dealers in Vic and both had 15 inch models of the combos, one that wouldn't give any volume and the other just cut in and out. Both being floor models probably didn't help. I bought mine from Downtown guitars in Sydney.

I left a message for them and once we get through these public holidays i'm sure i'll get a call back but i'm under the impression tubes aren't covered by warranty for me (its been about 2 months or just a little over since i bought it)

haha ill trade you the scout for the B-15! heck ill even throw in the slip cover

On the topic of tubes did you buy the pre tubes locally? if so where did you go?

[JimmyM]

most companies will give you 90 days on the tubes.

[vin*tone]

I bought a pair of JJs on the net. Forget where. Tube Depot?? Possibly ebay. If I lived a bit closer I'd bring one over to do a bit of rolling and see if it fixes it.

[brocco]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

it's still under warranty, though. and honestly, i'd demand a new in box amp if they don't budge on the price.

+1!!!!!!!!

[metron]

Originally Posted by jetofuj

I really don't know what is wrong with Mesa Boogie these days. 50% of threads about amps' problems is about current Mesa stuff...

BTW, good luck with solving your problem.

50%? maybe look again?

Originally Posted by seungkoo

Ok I stared banging on the head while turned on and after like 10seconds of good banging the noise went away.
Wht should I do here? I have a chance to exchange it for another since it's only been 3 weeks. Or should I keep it? I love the amp but I don't want to run into more problems later down the line.
I paid $1540 after taxes and I want an amp I can rely on for a long time. Is that too much to ask for?

You did what? what would posess you to pound on your amp in hopes of fixing it?!? If there is a loose connection or component then that will guarantee worsening the problem.

Finding the piece that fell out will be a start. Unfortunately you will probably have to be dishonest to get them to take it back.

[Kael]

Originally Posted by metron

50%? maybe look again?

There are three types of lies.

1 Lies.
2 Damned lies.
3 Statistics.

[metron]

Its like when i bought a honda civic. Suddenly i started noticing them everywhere. In no time it looked like 1 in 3 cars i saw were civics which by then was my mind playing tricks on me. Its a real phenomenon though.

[jetofuj]

You took these 50% too serious.

But look how many people have/had problems with Fathoms, Walkabouts, Titans. Mesa Boogie is not Beringher, it's a top gear for top dollar, but it looks like players are in fact beta testers.