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Mesa 1516 owners - need wiring and crossover help please

Bass_Pounder

Bass_Pounder

Jan 19, 2002
4,673
2,328
Palm Coast, Florida
#1
Hello fellow TB'ers


I just acquired a Mesa 1516BE. When playing through it before buying, all sounded like it was working.

Taking it home and opening her up for inspection was another story.

On the top end (10", 2X6", horn) - it is completely FUBAR.

All the speakers are there (and test OK on a multi-meter). It has the EV 10" (16 ohm), and both of the 6's are 8 ohm.

The driver for the horn is completely gone (just the cast flare with 3 screw holes for mounting the driver).

The only thing that was wired up is the 10".

Does anyone have a schematic or any idea how she should be wired back together ?
 
#2
I put a call into Mesa Customer Service. Still awaiting a call back to see if they can help.


In the meantime...............


If any of you TB'ers that have a 1516 are willing to take a bunch of photo's and give me a description of what wires go where - I would be deeply greatful.

First question:

On my input jackplate, there are only wires coming from the 1/4 jacks themselves. There are no wires to or from the rocker switch that is supposed to control the horn. Is this correct ?

Behind the 10" speaker, there is a crossover mounted to the back wall of the cabinet. Nothing is running through it. I would definitely need some pic and detail regarding that.

The only speaker connected in the top half is the 10", and it is wired directly to the input jack. Is that right ?

Someone out there in Mesa bliss land please help.
 
#3
Update...................


Marcus at Mesa Boogie e-mailed a sketch of the 1516 wiring (thats all they have).


What I find wierd is that the 10" and the two 6" speakers are wired directly to the input jack (no crossover protection for the small drivers).

Only a simple crossover for the horn.

This brings me to my next question:


HOW DO I WIRE THE CROSSOVER ?


All the crossover consists of is a coil, and two caps (each 4.7K wired together).

It looks like I only have 3 wires to play with. There is a wire soldered to the coil.
The other end of the coil is soldered to the two caps. Then there is a wire coming off each of the two caps.

How do I wire this ?

Don't I need a pos and a neg coming in, and the same going back out ?

According to the sketch, there should be a pos and a neg going into the x-over. Then a pos and neg coming out, and going to the control switch. Then finally from the switch to the horn.
 
#5
Maybe some pics would help:




1516%20bass%20cab[1].JPG



The above pic is the sketch that Mesa e-mailed me



The pic below is the crossover from the cab (which Mesa states is correct):



[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]



Any help would be deeply appreciated. I can't leave the cab in this condition. She deserves to be brought back to her former glory ! :crying: :crying: :crying:
 
#6
What I find wierd is that the 10" and the two 6" speakers are wired directly to the input jack (no crossover protection for the small drivers).
Click to expand...
Its been a while, but I think that is how it it really is for the small drivers.

I wish I had easy help here, but my 1516 is the 80's version with a single input jack, and a separate 3-way toggle switch for the horn.

Yours is the 90's version with the multiple jacks (can be split between top and bottom), and a rocker style switch, but I would think the tweeter switch concept would be the same.

I get home late tomorrow evening, but I might have a chance then to pop the rear lid from the cab and take a picture of how my style of toggle and crossover are wired. It's been 16yrs since I've last looked inside it.

-Mike
 
#7
Caca de Kick said:
Its been a while, but I think that is how it it really is for the small drivers.

I wish I had easy help here, but my 1516 is the 80's version with a single input jack, and a separate 3-way toggle switch for the horn.

Yours is the 90's version with the multiple jacks (can be split between top and bottom), and a rocker style switch, but I would think the tweeter switch concept would be the same.

I get home late tomorrow evening, but I might have a chance then to pop the rear lid from the cab and take a picture of how my style of toggle and crossover are wired. It's been 16yrs since I've last looked inside it.

-Mike
Click to expand...


Thanks Mike.

In another thread TB'er Passing Wind helped me out with how to re-connect the x-over (high pass filter).

If you could sneak a peak inside though just to confirm that the 10 and 6's are wired direct with no low frequency protection, it would be a great help.


Question for you and other 1516 owners:


Do you find that the 10 or the 6's fart out based upon EQ'ing or overall volume ??


What I am thinking of doing (since I have to re-wire everything anyway), is to put a capacitor in-line in front of the 6's to filter out anything under 100hz.

What do you guys think ?
 
#8
I'm guessing Mesa must have squeezed the 10" and 6"s into a particularly small enclosure and chosen drivers with very low Qts to stop them farting out. I'd rewire it as suggested before getting into crossover design though a cap in front of the 6"s is unlikely to hurt.

Alex
 
#9
Hey guys..........thanks for all of your help (I really mean it). Without advice from you guys, she would still be screwed up.

Another big thanks to the guys in Mesa Customer Service for e-mailing the wiring diagram.


Without further blubbering.........may I present my new (to me) Mesa 1516BE:


[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]



Looks and sounds great alongside her big brother:


[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]



[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]


:bassist: :bassist: :bassist: :bassist: :bassist:
 
#13
Bass_Pounder said:
Maybe some pics would help:




1516%20bass%20cab[1].JPG



The above pic is the sketch that Mesa e-mailed me



The pic below is the crossover from the cab (which Mesa states is correct):



[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]



Any help would be deeply appreciated. I can't leave the cab in this condition. She deserves to be brought back to her former glory ! :crying: :crying: :crying:
Click to expand...
Hi, I just got a 1516 and I have the same issue, someone totally screwed it up, most of the speakers are fine, but I'm not sure about the crossover, could you possibly repost that pic of the correct crossover? You're the first person I saw that actually had a pic of it. Thanks
 

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