new ace owner, but..

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AceBoogie

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only got to play her for an hour, than heard a little bit of hum, followed by the amp turning off. mains fuse was shot, and one of the power tubes was dark..i traded amps with a guy who had used this amp for gigs and practices for a year with the same tubes (all mesa besides the EL34's) so im wondering if the tubes were damaged during shipping and just went bad. my buddy and i put STR 447's out of his mark V, put a new 3A slo-blow in, and she turned on, worked for a minute or two, then all of the sudden we lost volume like crazy, down to practically no volume at all..i took it to a tech, and my "seller" agreed to pay for the tubes, but hopefully theres no major damage..totally ruined my new amp day.
 
SOUND “DROP-OUTS” / INTERMITTENT SIGNAL (One Possible Cause):

Most (but not all) Mesa/Boogie amplifiers have one or two “cathode follower” tube
stages in their preamps. Tube selection is CRITICAL in these stages.

In a Stiletto: V3 & V4

Specifically, in a 12AX7 tube used as a “cathode follower”, the voltage difference
between that present at the cathode, as compared with the heater voltage, can be
withstood or tolerated by certain types of tubes, whereas other tubes will fail. The
failure of a “cathode follower“ tube will cause sound dropouts or signal loss.

For the past few years, Mesa has been using two types of 12AX7 tubes: ones
originating in Russia (Sovtek EH), and ones originating in China. The Russian (Sovtek)
tube is NOT reliable as a cathode follower. Of the tubes we are using today (March
2008), ONLY THE CHINESE 12AX7 IS RELIABLE AS A CATHODE FOLLOWER.

In conclusion, if you are troubleshooting for signal dropout in a Mesa/Boogie amp,
suspect a cathode follower tube, and try replacing it with a Mesa 12AX7 that is marked
as “CHINESE” (silk-screened on the tube itself).

Hope this helps :D
 
MrMarkIII said:
SOUND “DROP-OUTS” / INTERMITTENT SIGNAL (One Possible Cause):

Most (but not all) Mesa/Boogie amplifiers have one or two “cathode follower” tube
stages in their preamps. Tube selection is CRITICAL in these stages.

In a Stiletto: V3 & V4

Specifically, in a 12AX7 tube used as a “cathode follower”, the voltage difference
between that present at the cathode, as compared with the heater voltage, can be
withstood or tolerated by certain types of tubes, whereas other tubes will fail. The
failure of a “cathode follower“ tube will cause sound dropouts or signal loss.

For the past few years, Mesa has been using two types of 12AX7 tubes: ones
originating in Russia (Sovtek EH), and ones originating in China. The Russian (Sovtek)
tube is NOT reliable as a cathode follower. Of the tubes we are using today (March
2008), ONLY THE CHINESE 12AX7 IS RELIABLE AS A CATHODE FOLLOWER.

In conclusion, if you are troubleshooting for signal dropout in a Mesa/Boogie amp,
suspect a cathode follower tube, and try replacing it with a Mesa 12AX7 that is marked
as “CHINESE” (silk-screened on the tube itself).

Hope this helps :D

yeah when i got her, she had the chinese/russian silk screened tubes, and i had carefully researched where the tubes were supposed to go..maybe the tubes just went bad..that is VERY useful info though! thanks man
 
got it straightened out..bad tubes, and open resistors caused the volume drops with the loop in..now that shes healthy, im in love. amazing amp!!!!
 
i have been tearing it up and enjoying it nicely..i was running it next to a mark V and peavey 5150 the other day..the stilettos can get pretty **** aggressive!! they dont have the booming low end the peavey has, but they can play such a wide range of music. its a keeper 8)
 
Ace!!!...Glad you're enjoying - finally!

Yes, these amps are properly named as they'll cut thru very well in a band situation! I recently had mine out along with my friends 100watt Marshall 1/2 stack and my little green monster easily ate him up!!! One of the few times I've ever run mine with the loop bypassed and it was almost religious!! 8)
I know his Marshall was almost dimed, because I'm the one that set him up...the Ace w/ my 2x12 had PLENTY of room left! I think my master on Ch2 was right about 2:00 or so. **** loud but sparkling perfection with all the tone I needed. Ultimately I was asked to reign my beast in a little :shock: ...That hasn't happened a lot in my life, so it felt kinda good!! :mrgreen:
 
Hey Ace...how does your Ace sound thru your 1960B cabinet? I've been looking for a Recto 4x12, but there are some pretty good deals on Marshall cabs around that I could deal with. Sound pretty good?
 
rocksalt7 said:
Hey Ace...how does your Ace sound thru your 1960B cabinet? I've been looking for a Recto 4x12, but there are some pretty good deals on Marshall cabs around that I could deal with. Sound pretty good?


it does sound pretty beefy..it was originally a B with the G12T-75's, but i got some vintage 30's for it..thinking about doing an X pattern to get a little more low end in there..but yeah it sounds pretty **** good! rock and roll for sure
 
played with the band tonight..jammed out some new stuff, messed around a bit..i ended up changing the tubes a couple of weeks ago..only in the pre amp though. tung-sol RI in V1, and JJ ECC83's in the rest..this amp sounds absolutely amazing no matter what genre im playing. rock, metal, this amp does it all. before i re-tubed though, something just didnt sound right..tubes woke it RIGHT up. de-tuned metal on this amp is unreal, and unexpectedly brutal. my other guitarist has a mark V, and he scoops it out..the two amps compliment eachother really well. overall, i have never been this happy with an amp. mesa boogie FTW 8)
 
Glad you're diggin the amp there, Ace!!! It's just amazing what a simple tube change can do sometimes. 8)

Even after 2-1/2 years, I'm still awestruck by how killer this amp sounds. It's just inspiring to play, which makes me want to play longer, and more often....But it's somewhat unforgiving too, as it shows every little detail in your playing, so I feel like it's made me a better player in the long run. :mrgreen:
 
Yeah even my pal with the mark V smiles and is surprised at the tones i can get out of her. the amp really does make you a better player too!
 

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