I love the way Lyle uses empirical knowledge garnered over time and through practical hands on experience to diagnose the most likely causes of an issue unlike some others (no names) who blindly hack away and shotgun parts into an amp hoping to improve the issue to some marginally acceptable results, and call it "fixed". Then Lyle goes goes the extra mile and checks the amp out for further issues that may not so apparent but will definitely decrease tone, increase noise and increase the risks of future detrimental issues.
That's the secret Maracas mesa foot switch . I love the smell of silicone in the morning . ( surf breaking to the left ) Mouser has the standoffs in stock .
I have a Subway Blues for a practice amp at a studio. so far so good after 4 years but it was a really clean example and was gone through when I bought it, as they all are by a good local tech. Just like a car get it gone over by a pro and save the headaches 400 purchase 150 to the tech. Size and weight were the selling points.
Love those amps...a bit under the radar but they are great. I used one in a recording session years ago in the mid nineties, and it delivered beautifully. The reverb was a bit underwhelming though.
Ill take up for Randall Smith a little here. Yes, Mesa have all these bells and whistles. Yes, those things fail. Perhaps no more than any other consumer electronics device. Had Smith made these with all tje highest grade components could he have sold as many? I think Metal in particular owes Randall Smith a big thank you. My Mark IV has had a couple of issies bit sine it is 30 years old Im giving it a break. We complained that Boogie was expensive at the time(rightly so I guess), but they delivered the monster tones we all sought. Had they been completely top flight top to bottom less hands would have gotten them. Less music would have been made with these tones. But Im just one guy on the internet.
Oh man, I owned one of these from like ‘92 to around 2012, when it started doing this weird ghost sound that my local tech couldn’t figure out. I finally gave up on it and got rid of it. Regretted it ever since. Such a great amp.
Lyle very very few people have your auditory acuity (I know I dont!) so there is really no apologies needed when you post new content with on the fly mic-ing, IMHO.
Definitely not the worst Mesas to work on, but they're not my favorite, especially with the wonky bias setup they use with the fixed bias LTPI, which makes adjusting it a small nightmare. Though, there is a fairly easy voltage divider trick at the grids to cool them down a bit. Everyone I've seen has the discolored PCB around the power tubes, due to heat stress.
I guess one can not take the tube shield off without removing the whole chassis as the plastic stand things are near impossible to unhook in the back without damaging things
It's a really cheap "Thsinde" brand multimeter, model 18B. It's the sort of thing that makes me want to buy a decent multimeter and send it to him, but that's obviously a very condescending attitude. The reality is that it does what he needs it to do and it's cheap enough that he could break two a year for the rest of his life and still come out ahead against buying a Fluke. (Who also have a model called 18B. Pure coincidence, I'm sure.)
@@wbfaulk Thank you! It feels to me that there's a difference between condescending attitude ("your multimeter is shit") and constructive passive aggressivism (actually sending an expensive piece of kit) but I can't be relied upon to judge social mores correctly, experience tells me. Interesting, I'm inclined to say that if it's good enough for mr. Psionic Audio, it's good enough for me. I'd be hesitant to buy a cheap/unknown brand multimeter because I'd doubt its accuracy (and suspect battery life will be bad) but I can't really justify the price of a Fluke either (I don't repair electronics for a living).
Lyle use to have Fluke meter. But its voltage and capacitance he normally checks. As long as its a Cat III meter its close enough for me. He bought this current model because it was more economical.
Yeah, Fluke died right after I bought a new scope (a good scope isn’t cheap). So after hearing a tech friend say these cheapies were OK I ordered one to “get me by” until I could get another Fluke. And for what I use it for (AC and DC voltage, resistance, capacitance, diode checks mostly) it’s been fine. So I haven’t felt the need to buy the Fluke. Pro tip: meters get dropped a lot, at least by this pro (the dang probe cables). I’d rather drop a $20 meter than a $200 one.
@@PsionicAudio Well, to be fair, the physical construction and resilience to dropping is one of the things that you're paying for with the Fluke. I guess one of the other things is that you know that the safety rating isn't an abject lie. (I find it very hard to believe that the Thsinde really meets the CAT IV 600V rating that's printed on it, but you're not testing at the utility connection anyway.)
Mesa aren't available to these days in Europe. I contacted them to ask why as I was considering buying one a while back. Apparently there are new EU regulations regarding electronics. Mesa said they are on a huge waiting list waiting to be reviewed, hence the lack of amps in Europe. Having watched your vids and seeing how you mention a lot of issues with them, would those issues have anything to do with the EU regulations I wonder? Very few fender amps available either.
Most of the issues just comes from bad design choices that Mesa likes to do. Mostly underspecing components or using components not suited for the application. European regulations are more about safety concerns like risk of electric shock, fuse protection, voltage selectors, distance between mains input and power switch.
The convention is OL because the digital display can render that. Fluke and other manufacturers call it Over Load though strictly speaking that would only apply to a voltage measurement. But OL in resistance mode as I was using it here means infinite resistance (absolutely no continuity). It still says OL because it does. Because it’s just a convention of digital meters.
You might want to tell the people who make both Fluke and Keysight (formerly Agilent, formerly HP) bench multimeters that the "overload" they show on screen is wrong, then.
@@wbfaulk , a true " overload" is when the meter emits the magic smoke. Over Limit is when the range switch is set incorrectly and needs to be changed so that you can actually read the voltage, current or resistance; or the oscilloscope trace disappears from the screen because the voltage or waveform is too high to be visible on the scale of the CRT. Anyway, having worked with engineers at several points in my life, it has been my experience that "you can always tell an engineer ---- but you can't tell them anything". Especially not when it comes to spelling, grammar, syntax and correct use of language. If you encounter a poorly explained product-instruction/owner's manual, it was probably written by an engineer. The owner of the audio repair shop I work for (who has several EE degrees) frequently asks me to check his spelling or to proofread something he has written and confirm whether or not he expressed it clearly or not, before hitting "send" And yes, I can definitely be a bit pedantic, but I try to not be obnoxious about it. My wife sometimes asks me to spell words for her or to proofread her grammar before she posts something on Facebook, but lord help me if I correct her grammar without being asked to...💥 🔥 😳
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I love the way Lyle uses empirical knowledge garnered over time and through practical hands on experience to diagnose the most likely causes of an issue unlike some others (no names) who blindly hack away and shotgun parts into an amp hoping to improve the issue to some marginally acceptable results, and call it "fixed". Then Lyle goes goes the extra mile and checks the amp out for further issues that may not so apparent but will definitely decrease tone, increase noise and increase the risks of future detrimental issues.
When I started I figured everyone did this. And while I'm far from the only one, we's outnumbered.
That's the secret Maracas mesa foot switch . I love the smell of silicone in the morning . ( surf breaking to the left ) Mouser has the standoffs in stock .
I owned a mint .22+ from 2017 - 2019. Astonishingly great little combo. Only amp I ever regret selling!
I have a Subway Blues for a practice amp at a studio. so far so good after 4 years but it was a really clean example and was gone through when I bought it, as they all are by a good local tech. Just like a car get it gone over by a pro and save the headaches 400 purchase 150 to the tech. Size and weight were the selling points.
Love those amps...a bit under the radar but they are great. I used one in a recording session years ago in the mid nineties, and it delivered beautifully. The reverb was a bit underwhelming though.
Good "shout out" pun! Now that song has kicked off in my head.
Soul claps go out to Lyle 👏
Ill take up for Randall Smith a little here. Yes, Mesa have all these bells and whistles. Yes, those things fail. Perhaps no more than any other consumer electronics device.
Had Smith made these with all tje highest grade components could he have sold as many? I think Metal in particular owes Randall Smith a big thank you. My Mark IV has had a couple of issies bit sine it is 30 years old Im giving it a break.
We complained that Boogie was expensive at the time(rightly so I guess), but they delivered the monster tones we all sought.
Had they been completely top flight top to bottom less hands would have gotten them. Less music would have been made with these tones.
But Im just one guy on the internet.
Oh man, I owned one of these from like ‘92 to around 2012, when it started doing this weird ghost sound that my local tech couldn’t figure out. I finally gave up on it and got rid of it. Regretted it ever since. Such a great amp.
Lyle very very few people have your auditory acuity (I know I dont!) so there is really no apologies needed when you post new content with on the fly mic-ing, IMHO.
Archie Bell and the Drells....!!! Don't see them referenced to often
Definitely not the worst Mesas to work on, but they're not my favorite, especially with the wonky bias setup they use with the fixed bias LTPI, which makes adjusting it a small nightmare. Though, there is a fairly easy voltage divider trick at the grids to cool them down a bit. Everyone I've seen has the discolored PCB around the power tubes, due to heat stress.
I guess one can not take the tube shield off without removing the whole chassis as the plastic stand things are near impossible to unhook in the back without damaging things
Thank you soooo much for this - so helpful! I have one that needs repair too... are you taking repairs at this time?
Nice subtle Simpsons drop at 1:05!
Hi Lyle, I enjoyed the video as usual. Which multimeter do you use? Any preferences or anything you want to share on that subject? Thanks!
It's a really cheap "Thsinde" brand multimeter, model 18B. It's the sort of thing that makes me want to buy a decent multimeter and send it to him, but that's obviously a very condescending attitude. The reality is that it does what he needs it to do and it's cheap enough that he could break two a year for the rest of his life and still come out ahead against buying a Fluke. (Who also have a model called 18B. Pure coincidence, I'm sure.)
@@wbfaulk Thank you!
It feels to me that there's a difference between condescending attitude ("your multimeter is shit") and constructive passive aggressivism (actually sending an expensive piece of kit) but I can't be relied upon to judge social mores correctly, experience tells me.
Interesting, I'm inclined to say that if it's good enough for mr. Psionic Audio, it's good enough for me. I'd be hesitant to buy a cheap/unknown brand multimeter because I'd doubt its accuracy (and suspect battery life will be bad) but I can't really justify the price of a Fluke either (I don't repair electronics for a living).
Lyle use to have Fluke meter. But its voltage and capacitance he normally checks. As long as its a Cat III meter its close enough for me. He bought this current model because it was more economical.
Yeah, Fluke died right after I bought a new scope (a good scope isn’t cheap). So after hearing a tech friend say these cheapies were OK I ordered one to “get me by” until I could get another Fluke.
And for what I use it for (AC and DC voltage, resistance, capacitance, diode checks mostly) it’s been fine.
So I haven’t felt the need to buy the Fluke.
Pro tip: meters get dropped a lot, at least by this pro (the dang probe cables). I’d rather drop a $20 meter than a $200 one.
@@PsionicAudio Well, to be fair, the physical construction and resilience to dropping is one of the things that you're paying for with the Fluke.
I guess one of the other things is that you know that the safety rating isn't an abject lie. (I find it very hard to believe that the Thsinde really meets the CAT IV 600V rating that's printed on it, but you're not testing at the utility connection anyway.)
Mesa aren't available to these days in Europe. I contacted them to ask why as I was considering buying one a while back. Apparently there are new EU regulations regarding electronics. Mesa said they are on a huge waiting list waiting to be reviewed, hence the lack of amps in Europe. Having watched your vids and seeing how you mention a lot of issues with them, would those issues have anything to do with the EU regulations I wonder? Very few fender amps available either.
Most of the issues just comes from bad design choices that Mesa likes to do. Mostly underspecing components or using components not suited for the application. European regulations are more about safety concerns like risk of electric shock, fuse protection, voltage selectors, distance between mains input and power switch.
EU wants every secondary to be fused. Which is ridiculous, but they didn’t ask me.
Mesa's are iconic, but more for their marketing rather than their tone.
Ha! any criticism of Mesa will get those fanboys turning green like Bill Bixby
😎👍
Does OL on the meter mean Over Load or Open Lead?
The convention is OL because the digital display can render that. Fluke and other manufacturers call it Over Load though strictly speaking that would only apply to a voltage measurement.
But OL in resistance mode as I was using it here means infinite resistance (absolutely no continuity).
It still says OL because it does. Because it’s just a convention of digital meters.
@@PsionicAudio Very cool didnt mean to bust your balls just got me thinking!!! Thanks
I had one of these amps from 1986. It sounded great but was so unreliable and the board was burnt to a crisp. I got rid of it in the end.
Pushed the wrong button sorry.
"OL" stands for "over limit", not overload....s'alright, Lyle, you merely mispoke!
You might want to tell the people who make both Fluke and Keysight (formerly Agilent, formerly HP) bench multimeters that the "overload" they show on screen is wrong, then.
Over Load is the convention. Take it up with Fluke etc.
I’m just a guy seeing if a switch is working.
@@wbfaulk , a true " overload" is when the meter emits the magic smoke. Over Limit is when the range switch is set incorrectly and needs to be changed so that you can actually read the voltage, current or resistance; or the oscilloscope trace disappears from the screen because the voltage or waveform is too high to be visible on the scale of the CRT. Anyway, having worked with engineers at several points in my life, it has been my experience that "you can always tell an engineer ---- but you can't tell them anything". Especially not when it comes to spelling, grammar, syntax and correct use of language. If you encounter a poorly explained product-instruction/owner's manual, it was probably written by an engineer. The owner of the audio repair shop I work for (who has several EE degrees) frequently asks me to check his spelling or to proofread something he has written and confirm whether or not he expressed it clearly or not, before hitting "send" And yes, I can definitely be a bit pedantic, but I try to not be obnoxious about it. My wife sometimes asks me to spell words for her or to proofread her grammar before she posts something on Facebook, but lord help me if I correct her grammar without being asked to...💥 🔥 😳
@@goodun2974 Give yourself a break there, you are rather annoying........
@@dazfarrell , yes, I am a bit pedantic; but language matters!
Looks Abit poor design