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Mesa M9 mega thread

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#921
Noodling in my house.....M9 into a Neox 12 at casual conversation volume.....flailing away at trying to sing while I play. That was discouraging enough......when snap/crackle/pop and 99% abrupt volume loss with crackles. I switched basses and tried the head with another cab. It's the head. The dragon is on life support and produces zero audible volume. I only post to ask whether there's any chance in hell of this being a tube (certainly doesn't seem logical to me), so I don't go through the small trouble of pulling the cover unless it's worth it, before sending it back to Mesa. %$%#@#$%^&*^%$%^&*(*&^&&*:rollno::(:spit::crying::crying:

The only bright sides are 1) that I didn't follow through with selling it and having this happen to someone who'd think I pulled a fast one and 2) that I still haven't returned the Crown and pre I was comparing it to, so I have a rig for my gig in 2 weeks and the 3 practices before then..........but that will eliminate the return windows for those items. I guess it's better than a large festering tumor in my spleen, but *&%$%^&*(*^&%$#!!!
 
#924
I sent mine under warranty on their dime to petaluma two weeks ago..The guy I spoke to in CS mentioned they have "been doing several upgrades to the m9"(I already have the newer top with the grilling all around it) so they must be doing other things under the hood..I will ask when they call me back upon it's completion for specifics.

I had a minor CS issue with the guy I spoke with on the phone..but oh well...at least I asked them when they are coming out with a more powerful WA.. he said he didn't think they were working on that..not surprising:)

Point being they haven't worked on my m9 yet and I don't expect I will have it by my gig next friday based on shipping time from CA...kinda disappointing but I understand. @ best it will be three weeks door to door if they get to it soon.

Mark
 
#925
Yeah:(, IME their CS is pretty good but several (thousand) notches below GB. I love my M9, but I have to admit that as far as I can tell (based on TB), it's reliability record is pretty mediocre. Meanwhile, I've packed up the VT deluxe to return, and am playing through bass>>>Korg Pandora (Stu Hamm's "stufing" setting)>>>Crown XLS 1500. It ain't no M9:bawl:



Hizzoner said:
I sent mine under warranty on their dime to petaluma two weeks ago..The guy I spoke to in CS mentioned they have "been doing several upgrades to the m9"(I already have the newer top with the grilling all around it) so they must be doing other things under the hood..I will ask when they call me back upon it's completion for specifics.

I had a minor CS issue with the guy I spoke with on the phone..but oh well...at least I asked them when they are coming out with a more powerful WA.. he said he didn't think they were working on that..not surprising:)

Point being they haven't worked on my m9 yet and I don't expect I will have it by my gig next friday based on shipping time from CA...kinda disappointing but I understand. @ best it will be three weeks door to door if they get to it soon.

Mark
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#926
There is no doubt that the Carbines have had some issues. Mine got really hot the first time I used it in a jam session. I called Mesa customer service and although the guy on the phone was helpful, he seemed put out and defensive. He did agree that there was a known issue with the Carbines and that I could send the amp in for upgrades but again he seemed irritated at me for asking about it.

I actually had the amp returned by the retailer and after waiting for several weeks, it was returned with the upgrades done but the amp was damaged. One of the rack ears was bent and the amp had some superficial scratches on the front face that had not been there before. I could not see any evidence that the amp had been damaged during shipping so needless to say I was not happy.

The retail store was fantastic and simply provided with a brand new unit that had all the upgrades done already including the vented top cover. So I was well taken care of the retail store but have to say, Mesa's customer service was less then impressive. I have no idea how I would have been treated if I had been stuck with the damaged amp.

I love my Carbine and I am a big Mesa fan in general but I do think they could really bring up their customer service a few notches. The five year transferable warranty is fantastic but in my opinion, if you laid out big bucks for an amp with a known issue, they should simply replace the one you have or have it repaired in a manner that doesn't leave the customer paying for shipping and being without their amp for weeks or months.
 
#927
I got mine almost 10 mo's ago now with the updates already done and it's been working great so far with pretty heavy gigging. I can't say enough about the Voicing feature. I've been using 4 a lot right now and it makes my Spector and SR5 sound even better than usual. That mid bump the way it's sloped is just fantastic if you need a more low-mids or aggressive attack.
Been using the GEQ for a real big supportive tone. Thought about trading it a while back for a V12 but soooo happy I kept the M9. This thing just flat out rules. Never been so happy with an amp.
 
#928
Sounds like you had premium dealer service and mediocre factory service. I have no local dealer and I bought this used, so I will go directly through them. I'll do the usual "phone them, leave a message and wait for the return call" routine, even though climbing out of the 1950s and using email like the rest of the world in 2011 would be far more efficient:rollno:
Sorry to be crabby but I am still gargling the bad taste in my mouth. My unit was a fully up-to-date and has seen very limited action: practice 2-4x per month and gig about 8-10times a yr....always racked and transported like a baby in my vehicle, used 99% of the time into an 8 Ohm load:eyebrow:




Crabby said:
There is no doubt that the Carbines have had some issues. Mine got really hot the first time I used it in a jam session. I called Mesa customer service and although the guy on the phone was helpful, he seemed put out and defensive. He did agree that there was a known issue with the Carbines and that I could send the amp in for upgrades but again he seemed irritated at me for asking about it.

I actually had the amp returned by the retailer and after waiting for several weeks, it was returned with the upgrades done but the amp was damaged. One of the rack ears was bent and the amp had some superficial scratches on the front face that had not been there before. I could not see any evidence that the amp had been damaged during shipping so needless to say I was not happy.

The retail store was fantastic and simply provided with a brand new unit that had all the upgrades done already including the vented top cover. So I was well taken care of the retail store but have to say, Mesa's customer service was less then impressive. I have no idea how I would have been treated if I had been stuck with the damaged amp.

I love my Carbine and I am a big Mesa fan in general but I do think they could really bring up their customer service a few notches. The five year transferable warranty is fantastic but in my opinion, if you laid out big bucks for an amp with a known issue, they should simply replace the one you have or have it repaired in a manner that doesn't leave the customer paying for shipping and being without their amp for weeks or months.
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#932
My early M9 dorked out.
My new one (18months old now?) has been pain free thus far.

My early Fathom dorked out. My first M6 dorked out. The third one was running fine when the M9 came out and I felt like upgrading.

Mesa always stood behind them. But, I can see why one would feel iffy about it.

But, IME, there is nothing that kicks as much ass either. So, there's that.
 
#933
My pet dragon is back at Mesa in Petaluma now—for a second time, and this is its third visit to a tech if you count Audio Electronics here in DFW area. I am waiting to hear the Mesa diagnosis.

I am relying on my GB Shuttle 6.0. When my former teacher, Jazz bass goddess Yuka Tadano comes to town this week for a thursday evening gig at the Dallas Museum, I am lending her a rig, so I'll be down to a Crest CA6 and a couple of pre-amps. I guess I'll live, but I miss my suitcase nuke. I am hopeful that the current "wo-wo-wo" issue (see earlier posts) will be gone once and for all when the little dragon returns. :D
 
#936
On a more +ve note, while messing with this VT Dlxe>>>Crown rig, I conjured up a notion (ie the following has no data to back it up and comes from someone with little real knowledge of how these things actually work:hiding:) about why the carbines produce such loud perceived volume. The volume taper is stoooopid steep, but that's not what I'm talking about. Could it simply be because they have such hot input gain? I usually run my M9 with gain at 1 o'clock, and the volume increases dramatically when gain runs from 10 to 2.....and the head tolerates very high gains without clipping. IIRC nothing in the manual talks about setting the input gain to avoid clipping (in contrast to every other head I've owned). Perhaps this might also explain reliability, er , "issues"? I can get my VT>>>Crown (1K watts bridged mono) into the same volume ballpark as my M9 only if I am careful to get close to max outut from the pedal. It's a bit limiting because the VT controls are very interactive and keeping the "level" knob dimed restricts some of the other controls. Are preamp signals that Carbines feed into their power sections unusually high and are they designed to clip less readily to tolerate this.....and does this cause more wear and tear......or do I need another Manhattan?
 
#937
lomo said:
On a more +ve note, while messing with this VT Dlxe>>>Crown rig, I conjured up a notion (ie the following has no data to back it up and comes from someone with little real knowledge of how these things actually work:hiding:) about why the carbines produce such loud perceived volume. The volume taper is stoooopid steep, but that's not what I'm talking about. Could it simply be because they have such hot input gain? I usually run my M9 with gain at 1 o'clock, and the volume increases dramatically when gain runs from 10 to 2.....and the head tolerates very high gains without clipping. IIRC nothing in the manual talks about setting the input gain to avoid clipping (in contrast to every other head I've owned). Perhaps this might also explain reliability, er , "issues"? I can get my VT>>>Crown (1K watts bridged mono) into the same volume ballpark as my M9 only if I am careful to get close to max outut from the pedal. It's a bit limiting because the VT controls are very interactive and keeping the "level" knob dimed restricts some of the other controls. Are preamp signals that Carbines feed into their power sections unusually high and are they designed to clip less readily to tolerate this.....and does this cause more wear and tear......or do I need another Manhattan?
Click to expand...
It's apparently a space-time continuum thing (see paragraph 3). From the manual:

This control determines the overall character of the input sensitivity. The lower regions of the control (below 12:00) lend greater headroom and provide a scooped, brighter personality. The upper harmonics come through more prominently in this area of the control making the top end sound more transparent and sweet. This region is especially useful for funkier stuff when thumbing is in order. It keeps the rubber-band feel intact in the lows and mids while voicing the snap just high enough to avoid harshness, or the dreaded “gak” when the G string is plucked.

As the GAIN control is increased past 12:00 a richer, more “well-rounded” voice becomes dominant and headroom starts to diminish in increments until eventually, a tube overdrive sound appears as the 12AX7 input tube is driven into saturation.
The region between 12:00 and 2:30 is where the classic, warm tube sound resides and within this narrow band you will discover a world of tone. Tiny increments here produce subtle, but important differences in the attack characteristic which in turn, feel like changes in the time domain.

By experimenting with the amount of gain, you can actually voice the amp to feel as if it bounces just ahead of the groove - or lays back a little deeper to produce a more Fatback feel. The difference in attack and sustain produces striking results as to how the bassist - and in fact the whole band - perceives things in the time domain.

FWIW, I am not 100% sure what a lot of that means...
 
#939
It could be the hot input gain is part of why the volume taper at the other end is so quick- either way, I think the way it works fools people into thinking that they have alot more headroom than they do. I found that to be the case with all the other Mesa amps I've had apart from the D-180- 400+, Walkabout, and M6. I was able to get non-pleasant sounding distortion from my M6 with the Volume set at noon based on where I had the other controls set (with a hot G&L bass and Gain at around noon)- to the point that it was obvious that it didn't have much more power to give. Ditto with the Walkabout. I guess this is one reason that the extra Preamp Volume on Genz Benz amps exists- you can push the gain to where it sounds best with your bass and EQ settings, then use the preamp Volume to compensate for extremes at the front end and actually have an effective Master Volume control instead of an on/off knob...I also always hated "limit" lights on amps until I started using Mesa SS stuff- now I appreciate knowing when I am actually running out of juice!

It's a shame that these amps are still having problems- I was really pondering trying to get one after all. I really miss the overall power of my M6, and really just needed that extra EQ control of the M9 to get the low end to where I would have loved it!

Good luck to everyone having recurring problems- my first M6 crapped out the night I bought it, but the replacement worked like a champ even pushed really hard (which was never really necessary by the way!).
 
#940
"input gain/sensitivity"

I've never used the active input setting on either the Walkabout, or M6/9.
Even my hottest basses don't 'require' it to keep the preamp from clipping, and, quite frankly, when I've tried it, it's a lot like throwing A Blanket over the tone.

I mean, not like Blanket Jackson.

Well, maybe like Blanket Jackson, I've never met the kid.
 
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