I just plugged into my Mesa and it isn't working.
It turns on fine, and the lights come on but when I plugged the guitar cable in, which runs to my pedalboard, it seemed like there was a bit of an electrical issue - it sounded like it was crackling like a static shock, and the red light for the overdrive channel flickered on and off quickly as this shock noise happened. Once plugged in and off standby, no sound. An occasional pop or crackle when hitting the strings very hard, but nothing else.
It's plugged into the usual speaker cab and nothing has changed on it since I last plugged it in, and it worked perfectly.
What the fuck is going on?
- "I'm going to write a very stiff letter. A VERY stiff letter. On cardboard."
Comments
The flickering channel light being part of the problem suggests it's not valve-related, so there's little or no point in replacing any of those.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
What would you suggest needs doing?
Then plugged into the FX return. I got a clean sound but it was significantly more muffled and less trebly than it should have been, and the channel switch on the front didn't work. Again, got a pop from unplugging. When I plugged the footswitch cable back in, that didn't work either.
When you say the channel switch wasn't working, what do you mean exactly? The lights didn't switch or just that the sound didn't change? Plugged into the FX return, you shouldn't expect the distortion to change or anything.
May be a bizarre question but I'm going to fire away anyway.
I hired out my other amp - a 68RI Deluxe Reverb - to a mate this weekend for recording. During the load-in, it fell off a trolley and sustained some damage. As far as I can tell, it's only cosmetic. Some of the knobs are chipped and one of the pots is a bit stiffer than it used to be - slightly bent, I assume. I plugged it in and it still works fine and sounds wonderful, but is there any chance this accident has left it with some unseen gremlin in the circuit that has maybe knocked the Mesa somehow? The DRRI was on standby when I turned the Mark Five on. I'm wondering if there's some kind of change in the current draw or voltage or something that caused it to freak out.
It sounds like the stupidest question in the world, but I only ask because the two amps were on at the same time, and the Mesa had no issues at all when I last played it, a couple of days ago.
My guess based on experience of recent Mesas would be that one of the PCB jumper connectors is making a poor contact - however I wouldn't know which in a Mark V, since I've not been inside one of those yet. If you're not comfortable opening it up to check I would suggest taking it to a tech - it could also be something else, but whatever it is it's just an unfortunate coincidence.
I hope your mate is going to pay for your Fender to be looked at too - it probably should be even if you can't find any serious damage. At best it will probably need a new pot.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I don't, which is a bugger. I think I'm going to need to get it looked at - it could be a valve, but I want to make sure it's not something more sinister. Wouldn't I have seen/heard some warning signs if a valve was starting to go?
But first I plugged it in as normal - into an 8 ohm speaker cab, with the footswitch plugged in... flicked it off standby... and the fucking thing worked perfectly.
We went through everything anyway, the whole process, testing the pre and power stages separately, then checking the footswitch was working, then the effects loop, etc etc etc, and everything was completely as it should have been, with no suggestion of anything being wrong.
Utterly fucking bizarre.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein