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WannaBoogie

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 21, 2011
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Location
Okinawa, Japan
I finally received a 100W DR 3ch ordered from this company through Amazon... It was not NEW as advertised. It seems to be a display model (or used) complete with dust inside. It was actually re-packed in a "Hohner" carton.
Also, it seems to be missing several parts. There were no cables included (not even a power cable), no user manual, and... (I may be wrong, but) Isn't it supposed to come with the foot switch? (also not here).

Company has ignored every message sent through the Amazon messaging system for the last three weeks. Fortunately I have recourse through Amazon. But, what a pain that is going to be.

Heads up to anyone who may be thinking of dealing with this company. Learn from my mistake.
 
Your "new" amp should have included:

Power Cable
Footswitch
Footswitch Cable
Footswitch Pouch
Dust Cover
Manual
Warrenty Coverage Certificate
Warrenty Registration Card
Inspection Hang Tags
Pro-Net Price List (optional)

Also, ALL the tubes in the amp should be Mesa Labeled. The Powertubes should be Mesa STR-440 6L6GC, The Rectifier Tubes should be Mesa 5U4GB, and the Preamp tubes should be Mesa "Russian", all tubes should be printed in black ink. The power tubes should also be of the same color code group, ie. "GRN", "YEL", "RED" etc.

You can also report this to Mesa, they do not take fraudulent representation of their product lightly.

Good Luck!

Dom
 
Wow!!! That is a nightmare, how much did they charge for the "new" Dual Rectifier? Are you going to have to pay to ship it back?
 
domct203 said:
Your "new" amp should have included:

Well, from that list, this is what is missing;
Power Cable
Footswitch
Footswitch Cable
Footswitch Pouch
Manual
Warrenty Coverage Certificate
Pro-Net Price List (optional)

Looks like things are worse than I first thought.

domct203 said:
Also, ALL the tubes in the amp should be Mesa Labeled.

From what I can tell so far, the tubes are OK. Are they supposed to come already installed? I will need to take of the back shield tomorrow to see the preamp tubes clearly... But, I'm not sure if I should mess around with it until I know if I have to ship it back or not.

domct203 said:
You can also report this to Mesa, they do not take fraudulent representation of their product lightly.

That's a good idea. I think I will do that too. This is a dream turned VERY bad for me. I've wanted a Mesa for a long time... and now... well. I just have to straighten this mess out.

domct203 said:
Good Luck!
Thanks! I appreciate the response. I will stay on it until I get what I paid for.

Someone asked why I purchased a mesa from "Amazon of all places"... In answer to that... Mesa distributors generally do not ship to military addresses overseas. I cannot believe that Mesa would have such an unfair policy. But, most of the dealers do refuse to ship to military addresses. Most cite that they do not ship via USPS, which makes sense to me. Since, USPS is the only shipping option to military posts.
However, this dealer accepted the order and agreed to ship it to an APO address. The dealer looked as legit as any other Amazon seller. So, I thought it was a good chance to get some "boogie".
First time I have ever had such a problem with any Amazon merchant. They are usually very good.

Oh! I totally forgot to mention... I also ordered my Recto Cab from them... <insert sucking sound>

Anyway, the saga continues... The quest for "boogie"... Episode II coming soon to a rant near you. :-D

Thanks again for the info and suggestions.
 
BILLIAM666 said:
how much did they charge for the "new" Dual Rectifier? Are you going to have to pay to ship it back?

Including shipping, the bill was $1933.49. As far as what I would have to pay... I have to wait to see how it all pans out.

It is a DR1BLC... It is a 100W/3ch/dual wattage (50W/100W) Recto. So, I THINK it is current production. But, even that I am not sure of at this point.
 
I contacted Mesa via email last night... When I woke this morning, my inbox had several responses from each party. (Cool!!)

The vendor claims they never got any messages from me. this means their Amazon account is not being monitored by anyone. And, they said that the missing parts were shipped with the cabinet which was ordered several days after, and shipped over 10 days after the head. But, they claim everything is en route.

As to the "new"ness of the amp, there was no reply... So, in my response today, I have pressed the issue both with Mesa and the merchant. Open box is open box... and does not sell for full retail. <IMHO>

All in all, it looks like things are being handled. The tip to contact Mesa directly was the kicker... Everyone shook loose once the folks at Mesa got wind of it.

This should see the beginning of the resolution here. Any significant developments will be posted here.

I don't believe the merchant is a bad egg per se... But, they definitely are not set up well to handle online sales efficiently.

Cheers!
 
Great news. Congrats. What a headache this could have turned into. Also excellent of Mesa to assist in the matter like they did. They are a pleasure to deal with, in my experience.
 
WannaBoogie said:
BILLIAM666 said:
how much did they charge for the "new" Dual Rectifier? Are you going to have to pay to ship it back?

Including shipping, the bill was $1933.49. As far as what I would have to pay... I have to wait to see how it all pans out.

It is a DR1BLC... It is a 100W/3ch/dual wattage (50W/100W) Recto. So, I THINK it is current production. But, even that I am not sure of at this point.


I'm not familiar with the DR1BLC, so I did a Google search. The first hit was an Amazon listing, which I clicked on, and got the following response:

Looking for something?
We're sorry. The Web address you entered is not a functioning page on our site

Go to Amazon.com's Home Page

Sounds like you may have shaken the tree.

Good luck man!
 
mikey383 said:
Sounds like you may have shaken the tree.

Good luck man!

Yep! You're right. That can't be coincidence...
The link has been removed from Amazon. Unfortunately it has also been removed from my recent purchases page too. The transaction is still there. But, the link to the product page is dead. That page was my proof that they advertised it as "new". I hope Amazon keeps the pages archived.

Thanks, I'll keep at it.
 
domct203 said:
ALL the tubes in the amp should be Mesa Labeled. The Powertubes should be Mesa STR-440 6L6GC, The Rectifier Tubes should be Mesa 5U4GB, and the Preamp tubes should be Mesa "Russian", all tubes should be printed in black ink. The power tubes should also be of the same color code group, ie. "GRN", "YEL", "RED" etc.

Pulled it out and checked all of this today. The power tubes all appear to be OK. The power tubes are all color rated as YELLOW. I'm assuming the Rectifier tubes don't require color matching. And the preamp tubes are indeed all 5U4GBs.

Thank you "domct203" for all the info. I feel a bit better about things now.
 
BoogieMan_SC said:
Great news. Congrats. What a headache this could have turned into. Also excellent of Mesa to assist in the matter like they did. They are a pleasure to deal with, in my experience.

I agree. The quick response and decisive action from Mesa alone was impressive.

*SN* According to the email timestamps, it all happened within four hours of my initial message to Mesa.

Now... with awe and reverence... Try to mentally reconstruct everything that had to happen at both companies before I received the two replies (from Mesa and AM&B) in less than four hours... <voice of Spock... "fascinating"> I wish all companies treasured their image this way.
 
Glad this looks like it will all be worked out soon.

WannaBoogie said:
Pulled it out and checked all of this today. The power tubes all appear to be OK. The power tubes are all color rated as YELLOW. I'm assuming the Rectifier tubes don't require color matching. And the preamp tubes are indeed all 5U4GBs.

The 5U4GB tubes are your Rectifier tubes, and there are two of them, and you are correct that they do not require matching. Their job is to convert AC voltage to DC voltage. Your amp gives you the ability to switch rectification type, you can choose "Silicon Diodes", which have a very fast response time to current and voltage demands, or "Tube", which will have a slightly slower response time which produces that "Rectifier Sag".

The Preamp tubes are the 12AX7 tubes, which are the smallest ones, and there are five of them under the metal "cans", which provides EMI / RFI shielding.

The 6L6GC tubes are your Power (or Output) tubes and there should be four of them. They require matching to operate properly, and to be within Mesa's bias specs.

This is all explained in your manual.

WannaBoogie said:
Thank you "domct203" for all the info. I feel a bit better about things now.
You are quite welcome brother :D :D

Dom
 
BoogieMan_SC said:
Great news. Congrats. What a headache this could have turned into. Also excellent of Mesa to assist in the matter like they did. They are a pleasure to deal with, in my experience.

I have been playing exclusively Mesa amps for over 10 years now and one thing I have noticed about this company it that they treat EVERY customer like a Grammy Award winning Artist.

Dom
 
domct203 said:
Glad this looks like it will all be worked out soon.

It appears so. the merchant has been in contact again today re: the open box nature of the amp. He assures me that it never left their shop. So, it was just opened for testing... :-/
They have offered a "partial refund" for this and their non-communication before Mesa got involved. But, they did not mention an amount. I really don't care so much about the money, but...What do you guys think would be fair where I to suggest an amount?

domct203 said:
The 5U4GB tubes are your Rectifier tubes, and there are two of them, and you are correct that they do not require matching. Their job is to convert AC voltage to DC voltage. Your amp gives you the ability to switch rectification type, you can choose "Silicon Diodes", which have a very fast response time to current and voltage demands, or "Tube", which will have a slightly slower response time which produces that "Rectifier Sag".

Can't wait to see what all this sounds like. Now that I know that I am keeping the amp -I am taking it to a tech today to have everything checked out and to have the Mercury Magnetics Tranny installed. It should be ready to rock by the time the cabinet (and the missing parts) arrive.

domct203 said:
The Preamp tubes are the 12AX7 tubes, which are the smallest ones, and there are five of them under the metal "cans", which provides EMI / RFI shielding.

Sorry. I mistyped that before. 12AX7 on the preamp tubes. all present and accounted for. It took me a "tick" to figure out how to get the little "cans" off though... Hope that manual arrives soon.

At this rate, I expect all to be resolved by this time tomorrow. <whew!>
 
WannaBoogie said:
Can't wait to see what all this sounds like. Now that I know that I am keeping the amp -I am taking it to a tech today to have everything checked out and to have the Mercury Magnetics Tranny installed. It should be ready to rock by the time the cabinet (and the missing parts) arrive.

New amp > Swap tranny > Void warranty. Simple.

Sorry, can't help about a partial refund. Not sure what would be fair considering you'll get your other parts and cab. Maybe ask for a refund as per the charge for the techs time/cost. Or some of your time / running costs? In other words, claim your extra out of pocket expenses.

Good luck.
 
Yea sure, they opened the box to test the amp, then they applied some dust and threw out the box and held the rest of the items for an order you did not even place yet :shock:

Sounds like the seller is talking out their *** to cover their deceptive acts. The amp is obviously used, a demo model at best. I doubt that they are even an authorized Mesa retailer as not just anyone can sell new Mesa gear at retail Pro-Net pricing. I would ask for a 15-20% refund, if they give you a hard time, report them to the "Better Business Bureau". I would report them anyways.

When the missing items arrive be sure to check that you have the correct manual and footswitch for the new Multi-Watt Recto. The previous model Rectos used the "Bigfoot" footswitch, which had all the switches in one single row. The new Multi-Watt Recto footswitch is a "3 X 3" design, with two rows of 3 buttons. I'm not sure if the footswitch cable should be a 7-pin or 8-pin.

Good luck!

Dom
 
I'm still waiting for the OP to answer a question previously asked: Why were you shopping for a "New" Mesa @ Amazon? Seems most people only go there -- bargain hunting....and given Mesa's homogenous pricing policy, the OP was setting himself up for what in fact happened. :shock:
 
JAZZGEAR said:
I'm still waiting for the OP to answer a question previously asked: Why were you shopping for a "New" Mesa @ Amazon? Seems most people only go there -- bargain hunting....and given Mesa's homogenous pricing policy, the OP was setting himself up for what in fact happened. :shock:
That was already clearly explained in the 5th post in this thread.

Are you insinuating the OP deserved to be ripped-off? Are you saying that it is fair to be mislead by a retailer simply because someone is looking for a good price, even though that was not the case for the OP as previously explained.

I'm not trying to flame, just sayin.....

Dom
 
Blaklynx said:
New amp > Swap tranny > Void warranty. Simple.

Unfortunately, this was a "given" from the beginning of this saga.

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=56104

The bottom line is...
New U.S. Mesa - use with step up tranny when off-base... Warranty Void
New Jap. Mesa - (2.5 times the price of same U.S. Mesa). And, use in 120V zone with step down on mil base...Warranty Void
New U.S. Mesa - 120V Plug into 100V outlet... Warranty Void
New Mesa - Swap Tranny... Warranty Void... But configured correctly for MOST of my playing.

Since the warranty would be voided in any case I will likely encounter, I opted for the U.S. Pricing instead of the Jap. pricing.
 
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