⚡️?? lightning strike - the tubes light up✨

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Markedman

Markedman

Well-known member
6:30 AM Saturday, a lightning strike hit my underground dog fence line which led to a fire in my house and my Mesa Boogie amp not making any sound. The tubes light up but the lights on the front don’t. No sound other than a little something from the speakers from the power amp section.
I also lost a lot of really good pedals!! ?

Are there any internal fuses just for the Mark V35 preamp?

Luckily, I had a fire extinguisher handy and was able to put the fire out in a few seconds, but there was quite a shit show with the fire department showing up.
 
Sorry about the fire :(
Not a tech here.
Usually it is the other way around (no tubes, LEDs fine)
Blown fuse makes sense, but in this situation I'd take it to a qualified tech for a once over :yes:
 
JackBootedThug said:
Fuck. What caught fire? Trying to wrap my head around what happened to start a fire.
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Lightening strike.
?
He had an invisible dog fence it sounds like and the lightening struck that (somehow - maybe it wasn't grounded properly?) which then raced down the power line to the house and then zapped some stuff in his house (including his amp) and also started a fire in the house (not near the amp?). That's how I read it. That shit can happen which is why you want an amp and other high end stuff on surge protected strip (circuit).

I think :dunno:
 
JackBootedThug said:
No ground rod? Meter melt? Breaker box arc? I know it’s a lightning strike….next time I will try to be more specific….
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Sounds like a grounding issue to me. I have a decent amount of experience with electrical wiring, etc. no master or anything but that was my immediate thought.
 
The amp is on its way back to Mesa Boogie. I haven’t decided whether to get the effects pedals fixed. They are as follows, a Cowboys from Hell Wahwah pedal, a polytune tuner, a corona reverb unit and a GCX controller.

It’s strange that three out of seven we’re affected, but the power supply works fine.

Electricity is some strange shit ⚡️
 
Markedman said:
The amp is on its way back to Mesa Boogie. I haven’t decided whether to get the effects pedals fixed. They are as follows, a Cowboys from Hell Wahwah pedal, a polytune tuner, a corona reverb unit and a GCX controller.

It’s strange that three out of seven we’re affected, but the power supply works fine.

Electricity is some strange shit ⚡️
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I hope the amp is okay bro
 
Boogie fixed the amp for $175 including shipping. The lady at MESA said they changed out something to do with the output transformer and they "changed the values" on some other parts.

The local guy I took it to had it for months and said, "I can't figure it out".

I won't even consider sending a Boogie anywhere but back to Boogie. Boogie took about a month to fix the amp. I used "Pirate Ship" to ship it from Connecticut to Petaluma fully insured for $42.
 
Markedman said:
The amp is on its way back to Mesa Boogie. I haven’t decided whether to get the effects pedals fixed. They are as follows, a Cowboys from Hell Wahwah pedal, a polytune tuner, a corona reverb unit and a GCX controller.

It’s strange that three out of seven we’re affected, but the power supply works fine.

Electricity is some strange shit ⚡️
Click to expand...

Probably over volted capacitors in your power supply too. Just because it works doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. IMO I’d consider them all compromised and a fire hazard themselves and file an insurance claim. No way would I run the power supply after being hit hard enough to damage pedals connected to it.
 
Markedman said:
6:30 AM Saturday, a lightning strike hit my underground dog fence line which led to a fire in my house and my Mesa Boogie amp not making any sound. The tubes light up but the lights on the front don’t. No sound other than a little something from the speakers from the power amp section.
I also lost a lot of really good pedals!! ?

Are there any internal fuses just for the Mark V35 preamp?

Luckily, I had a fire extinguisher handy and was able to put the fire out in a few seconds, but there was quite a shit show with the fire department showing up.
Click to expand...
Wow, missed this somehow. Glad your house was OK, and the amp repair weren't too expensive. Did insurance cover the cost of repairs?
 
Hiwatts-n-Gibsons said:
Wow, missed this somehow. Glad your house was OK, and the amp repair weren't too expensive. Did insurance cover the cost of repairs?
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My deductible is too high for the amount of damage done. Now, I always unplug the amp when I finish playing.

I unplugged for years and got lazy when I changed areas for my studio. All nice and neat, but access to the wall outlet wasn't convenient like it is now.
 
Markedman said:
My deductible is too high for the amount of damage done. Now, I always unplug the amp when I finish playing.

I unplugged for years and got lazy when I changed areas for my studio. All nice and neat, but access to the wall outlet wasn't convenient like it is now.
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Yep! I always unplug, just in case.
 
Markedman said:
My deductible is too high for the amount of damage done. Now, I always unplug the amp when I finish playing.

I unplugged for years and got lazy when I changed areas for my studio. All nice and neat, but access to the wall outlet wasn't convenient like it is now.
Click to expand...

Man I would maybe talk to your insurance company. If a lightning strike happened outside that caused a fire inside, who knows what the wiring could look like in the walls
 
Markedman said:
The amp is on its way back to Mesa Boogie. I haven’t decided whether to get the effects pedals fixed. They are as follows, a Cowboys from Hell Wahwah pedal, a polytune tuner, a corona reverb unit and a GCX controller.

It’s strange that three out of seven we’re affected, but the power supply works fine.

Electricity is some strange shit ⚡️
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In case nobody mentioned it. Pete’s pedals. Dude is top notch. Can’t recommend him enough. And if it can’t be done he will tell you.
 
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