Changing tubes in Mesa Heads/Combos

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bjoneill74

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The Power amp tubes are easy enough to get to.
The preamp tubes are a flat out pain to get to. You can't see the sockets.

Is it best to remove the amp chassis from the head/combo cabinet to get to the preamp tubes?

Brian
 
Are you talking about Heads OR Combos? I have a Mark IV head and the front is held on by velcro and it pops off. This way I have full access to the pre-amp tubes. I can't speak for combos.
 
swbo101 said:
Are you talking about Heads OR Combos? I have a Mark IV head and the front is held on by velcro and it pops off. This way I have full access to the pre-amp tubes. I can't speak for combos.

I have a Lonestar Combo and a Mark V head. So the answer to the question is yes.
Hrmm.. not sure if the front of my head has velcro, but it does have 4 screws.
It might make it a touch easier, but I'm doubtful.
That wouldn't work on the Lonestar as it has the 2x12' speaker baffle there.


jpdennis said:
Since I also clean & retension the tube sockets while I am at, my vote is to pull the chassis when necessary.
Dennis

I'm thinking this is the way to go. I'll just need to be careful of the tubes and make sure I disconnect the reverb tanks.
What do you use to clean and retension the tube sockets?
I assume re-tension means you are tightening the tube pin recepticles in the socket.

Thanks,

Brian
 
bjoneill74 said:
I have a Lonestar Combo and a Mark V head. So the answer to the question is yes.
Hrmm.. not sure if the front of my head has velcro, but it does have 4 screws.
It might make it a touch easier, but I'm doubtful.
That wouldn't work on the Lonestar as it has the 2x12' speaker baffle there.

The Mark V's don't have the velcro that I know of, but my Mark IV does. If you have 4 screws holding the front panel in place, it should be easy to unscrew them to get better access to the pre-amp tubes. That's what I would do, but that's just me. Good Luck :D
 
Pulling the front grill on the MKV is no help, there is a solid panel behind it.

I can get to all the preamp tubes in the Roadster no prob with the chassis in the headshell, powertubes out.

The MKV is almost impossible to get to V1, pulling the chassis makes it much easier.

Dom
 
Don't know about the V but on a MkIV combo, laying amp on its side with the big transformer DOWN makes getting at everything much easier.

I can have the chassis out of the cab in about 3 minutes -don't even have to pull the tubes.....
 
bjoneill74 said:
... What do you use to clean and retension the tube sockets? I assume re-tension means you are tightening the tube pin recepticles in the socket ...

I found Deoxit for sale by bulk so I have 4 of the larger cans. Actually cheaper then buying the tiny ones from Radio Shack. I have a small pick I use to "squeeze" the pin seats together. I kinda (very very carefully so I don't break them) put the pick on the outside of the preamp tube pin retainers in the preamp tube sockets. Then firmly and carefully pry towards the center of the retainer but so firmly I squish them into oblivion. I do the same with the power tube sockets. Next I spray a little into the preamp sockets and some on a old preamp tube then run it in and out several times trying to keep the tube as straight as possible and not loosen what i just did. I have a small brush I use for the power sockets. I try to not "drip" the Deoxit all over. I have a towel I set the chassis on and also have some computer cleaner compressed air. This way when I am done I can try my best to get all the deoxit off the amps PCB and any componenets it may have dripped on if I did get that messy (though I really try not to).

Hope this makes sense. I am sure someone in the forum may have another way they can share.

Dennis
 
Thanks @jpdennis..

That V1 does concern me most. Especially with the tube cover/dampers.
If you remove the power tubes, you can get to v4, v5, v6 and v7, but even they aren't easy. There's no way to see if the pins are lines up with the holes in the socket.
v1, v2 and v3 are behind a big transformer on the right side (head version).

I find getting to the 12AX7's in the Lonestar almost as frustrating.
That amp is a combo though. I can get to the 12AX7's a little easier if I lay it down and remove the power tubes.
 
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