Mesa Tremoverb Not Able To Solo Boost

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Charvel1975

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So last night at our rehearsal spot me and the other guitarist were setting up our rehearsal rigs and I was setting up my 1995 Mesa Boogie Tremoverb converted to Head and Mesa Tremoverb 2x12 cab (factory Vintage 30's) converted to closed back and custom made footswitch to control all functions of the amp along with my Pedaltrain Mini pedalboard using a new Behringer POWER THE WORLD PSU-HSB-ALL All-Country DC 9 V/1.7 A Power Adapter with Daisy-Chain Connectors, Jumper Cables and All-Country Mains Adapters: Maxon 0D808 into a ModTone MT-CB Clean Boost into a MXR M234 Analog Chorus pedals running into the effects loop of the Mesa and the boost was not boosting at all and was making horrible buzzing, out of phase and alien noises??!! The amp is unboostable and we even tried without the Modtone and kicking in the effects loop on and off from the footswitch and nothing? I'm going to bring the amp home here for home use with a Bugera PS-1 power soak and the pedal board with all the pedals minus the ModTone. I give up :x
 
I'd suspect you have a bad preamp tube in the FX loop slot. This is V4 on that amp. See page 15 of the manual:
https://mesa-boogie.imgix.net/media/User Manuals/Tremoverb.pdf

Also note in there the methodlogy on pg. 13 for troubleshooting bad tubes.

As the FX loop is a cathode follower type you should try to select a Chinese tube for that slot. Check to see if you have JJs or a Russian tube in that position as they aren't up to the task. There was a bulletin around from Mesa several years back that mentioned this. This thread at post 4 has a copy of the bulletin information. They also mention V3 (Gain stage buffer) as being affected in the Tremoverb so check that one too:
https://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=59672
 
Wait, did I get this right, you're using a Tube Screamer in the effects loop of your TOV?
That is...not a very good place for an OD box!

Also, you might try a better power source than a daisy-chained Behringer. I wouldn't be in the slightest bit surprised if it were responsible for half the trouble you're experiencing. I have had very good experiences with CIOKS power sources, some people swear by Voodoo Labs.

Does your TOV have a parallel FX loop? If it does, you should try setting the mix ratio to 100% if you haven't already. (If it doesn't have a parallel loop, you don't have the mix ratio knob.) Otherwise you will get all kinds of funny problems.

And finally, a single misbehaving pedal or even a faulty cord could be responsible for all your problems. The best way to test this is to first place nothing but a patch cable in your loop. Then start adding pedals one by one and when the problems appear, you know you've found the source. I've come across several pedals by well-known manufacturers that simply weren't designed to handle FX loop signal level and crapped out spectacularly in an FX loop.
If you get the symptoms even with nothing but a single patch cable in the loop, then you know it's the amp. Possibly tube trouble.
 
LesPaul70 said:
Wait, did I get this right, you're using a Tube Screamer in the effects loop of your TOV?
That is...not a very good place for an OD box!

Also, you might try a better power source than a daisy-chained Behringer. I wouldn't be in the slightest bit surprised if it were responsible for half the trouble you're experiencing. I have had very good experiences with CIOKS power sources, some people swear by Voodoo Labs.

Does your TOV have a parallel FX loop? If it does, you should try setting the mix ratio to 100% if you haven't already. (If it doesn't have a parallel loop, you don't have the mix ratio knob.) Otherwise you will get all kinds of funny problems.

And finally, a single misbehaving pedal or even a faulty cord could be responsible for all your problems. The best way to test this is to first place nothing but a patch cable in your loop. Then start adding pedals one by one and when the problems appear, you know you've found the source. I've come across several pedals by well-known manufacturers that simply weren't designed to handle FX loop signal level and crapped out spectacularly in an FX loop.
If you get the symptoms even with nothing but a single patch cable in the loop, then you know it's the amp. Possibly tube trouble.


My apologies, I made a typo - The Maxon only was running to front of the amp and yes my Mesa has the Parallel loop and we did set the Mix to 100% and the Send about 1/2 way and still did not work :cry:
 
I just got to thinking I have a DigiTech RP1000 that was my brother-in-law's that's here at the house, how well would that work with the Mesa Tremoverb, possibly 4 cable method?
 

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