DG
New member
I read PAGES of stuff yesterday and this afternoon- trying to familiarize myself with this amp. Built in '88 (written on PCB) and purchased by me four years ago, I'm finally deciding to get this thing in shape.
Yesterday afternoon, reverb was working fine. I took the chassis out because the pots seriously needed to be cleaned, and aside from a two inch or so brownish looking discoloring of the PCB in about the middle of the board, everything looked pretty good. Since all the good stuff is UNDER the board, I decided not to inspect the caps until I got braver and had more time. It has a slight noise, but I'm aware that this may be normal for this amplifier. My issue was slight ghost notes and maybe even a very slight oscilation in the upper register. Bottom end sounds fairly good. It's twenty years old and there's no history on it, so I'm gonna assume we need to have a cap job done.
Here's where it gets fun. I went to my local Mesa dealer and bought a set of Mesa EL84s... not sure how old the JJs that were in it are. I also bought 1 each of 12AU7 and 12AT7 (Electro-Harmonix- that's all he had!)... wanted to try and take some of the gain off this thing. So I put the new power tubes in and tried a 12AU7 in the V1 slot, and after turning it on- with the standby on and leaving it sit for 5 minutes or so, I picked up my Epi Les Paul and gave it a workout. For 5 minutes. I smelled something getting hot- don't want to say burning, but it could have been, AFTER I noticed that I had a hum ( an "A" note- low) and the reverb didn't work. I changed tubes in V4, replaced the old JJ power tubes, and I still don't have reverb... I still smell something, although NOT overpowering... the hum is gone but I have a buzz which I think I had before- kinda like a Strat.
I didn't play long enough to go for the oscillation test... the gain was still heavy, which is OK- certainly not the worst thing about a Boogie, but SHEESH! Aside form the buzz and the hum and the reverb, the amp sounds great. Playability is fine... no mushiness... very tight. This is the ONLY Boogie I've played, so aside from hearing Andy Timmons play at a clinic my Mesa dealer put together, I'm not sure what to expect tonally. The living room probably isn't the BEST place to listen to this thing, I'm sure.
Sorry this is long, but I only wanna do this ONCE!! Ha ha. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've recapped Fenders, can read enough of a schematic to get into trouble (I've got everything on this Studio .22+), and I do all me electrical work on the guitar, so I think I can handle this thing without going to a technician, but I will if I have to- not stupid. Thanks for any help I can get!!
Dana
Yesterday afternoon, reverb was working fine. I took the chassis out because the pots seriously needed to be cleaned, and aside from a two inch or so brownish looking discoloring of the PCB in about the middle of the board, everything looked pretty good. Since all the good stuff is UNDER the board, I decided not to inspect the caps until I got braver and had more time. It has a slight noise, but I'm aware that this may be normal for this amplifier. My issue was slight ghost notes and maybe even a very slight oscilation in the upper register. Bottom end sounds fairly good. It's twenty years old and there's no history on it, so I'm gonna assume we need to have a cap job done.
Here's where it gets fun. I went to my local Mesa dealer and bought a set of Mesa EL84s... not sure how old the JJs that were in it are. I also bought 1 each of 12AU7 and 12AT7 (Electro-Harmonix- that's all he had!)... wanted to try and take some of the gain off this thing. So I put the new power tubes in and tried a 12AU7 in the V1 slot, and after turning it on- with the standby on and leaving it sit for 5 minutes or so, I picked up my Epi Les Paul and gave it a workout. For 5 minutes. I smelled something getting hot- don't want to say burning, but it could have been, AFTER I noticed that I had a hum ( an "A" note- low) and the reverb didn't work. I changed tubes in V4, replaced the old JJ power tubes, and I still don't have reverb... I still smell something, although NOT overpowering... the hum is gone but I have a buzz which I think I had before- kinda like a Strat.
I didn't play long enough to go for the oscillation test... the gain was still heavy, which is OK- certainly not the worst thing about a Boogie, but SHEESH! Aside form the buzz and the hum and the reverb, the amp sounds great. Playability is fine... no mushiness... very tight. This is the ONLY Boogie I've played, so aside from hearing Andy Timmons play at a clinic my Mesa dealer put together, I'm not sure what to expect tonally. The living room probably isn't the BEST place to listen to this thing, I'm sure.
Sorry this is long, but I only wanna do this ONCE!! Ha ha. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've recapped Fenders, can read enough of a schematic to get into trouble (I've got everything on this Studio .22+), and I do all me electrical work on the guitar, so I think I can handle this thing without going to a technician, but I will if I have to- not stupid. Thanks for any help I can get!!
Dana
