Mesa 2:90 - Blown up. Advice?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Pushead
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Pushead

Pushead

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Hello All,

So I've owned a Mesa TriAxis & 2:90 rig for 10 years or so. Back in August, I got a nice pop and spark from the power amp while playing. I shut it off, and let it sit. A few days later, I popped the top to get an idea of what might have blown (though I don't know much about tube amps, I thought I'd recognize an exploded cap or a burnt section on the board). When I didn't immediately notice anything "blown up", I plugged it in and kicked it on. The second I turned it from standby to loud, I got another spark (from one of the big caps), smoke and could see one part of the circuit board go brown.

I took it to the local tech (who I've had very good dealings with) and he e-mailed me today stating that the board has actually started to fail. The obvious damage is easily enough wired around and the cap replaced, but he'd prefer to take the entire board out and go over it before determining what else might need to be replaced. He said that he would usually recommend going over the solder joints on the entire board and bring it back to 100%. But then he said with the time it takes to do it, and the fact that even then it might not last that much longer. He's willing to do the work, but he thinks that finding another alternative might be a better/more cost efficient option.

He doesn't sell any gear, so he doesn't really have a dog in the fight, nothing to really gain if I choose to replace it.

Since many of you are far more knowledgeable about this stuff, do any of you have thoughts about this situation? I know it's not a lot of info to go on.

Might it be worth sending it to Mesa to sort out, or do you think I'd be in the same boat with extra shipping and an extra bench charge to boot?

Thankee.
 
Sounds like he doesn't really want to do the job, but if you really want him to, he wants to get paid. But I get it if he's going to go thru the trouble of taking all' apart and burning calories on it.

I highly doubt that the board is starting to fail tho. That sounds like horseshit because there's countless pcb amps out that that are far older that hold together. It's not an old Fender with that shit cardboard turret board. It's a modern pcb board.

This is the time to learn about amps. It probably needs a recap. My 2:90's filter caps died and took the choke along with it after 8 years back in 09'.
 
The simple answer is to give Mesa a call, describe your problem and ask how much they'd charge... At which point you'd be able to decide whether it's worth it to you or not.
 
Boards just dont fail. Traces burn out but can be fixed or bypassed to work just fine. PCB fixes aren't pretty but work. Sounds to me like he isn't sure what caused the problem and wants to do a labor intensive shotgun effect on a bunch of resoldering.

If he is a certified mesa technician he should have called mesa directly and they can tell him a few voltages to check with the chassis open. Peavey does the same only for certified repair centers.

I'd find another technician. The wording does not add up and it seems like he does not want to do the work and pushed the labor scare on you to keep you from forcing him to do it.
 
contact mesa, or in the least, get a second opinion.

save yourself the headache too, when you call mesa, of repeating the whole "song and dance" from that first tech.

just tell them what happened, ask how much shipping is, and send it in. be done with it. let them do it. probably end up being cheaper than some dude who wants to throw shit at the wall just to see what sticks. fuck that wishy washy nonsense. either he can fix it with initial diagnosis (and wont charge you to double check HIS work when he's done), or he can't and wants to bend you over, son.
 
Definitley call Mesa. They are pretty reasonable for service work. I was shocked at how little it cost.
 
Thanks, gents. I'll call Mesa this afternoon and see what they have to say about it.
 
Do you have any pics? MIne did the same thing a month ago and it turned out to be an easy fix that I was able to do myself. And I'm far from an electronic genius.
 
The old local Mesa authorized shop was pretty terrible and slow. But when I called on Tuesday they told me of a new shop. I took the amp there last night, and they said they'd call me by Friday with an idea of what's up with the amp, and an estimate of the cost. I was really surprised, I was expecting at least a few weeks.

I had pics, but realistically, they didn't show much.
 
The shop did a one day turn around. Diagnosis; 2 filter caps replaced and a wire around the burnt out lead. $99.00

I asked about the bottom of the circuit board, the guy said that there was nothing there that seemed suspicious to him. I'll have it plugged in tonight to see what's what.
 
cool, I hope that fixed it. How old is the amp? Just curious since I have been kicking around changing the filter caps on my 1990 Mesa boogie mark IVA amp.
 
I've owned it for around 10 years, and it was probably 3 or 4 years old when I bought it. The TriAxis I bought at the same time from the same guy was a v2, but before the fat mod change. A quick look at the Google says that was sometime around 97, so may be 16 years old?
 
Lol... $100 bux and done. That's the difference between a real tech and an amature.

Congrats.
 
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