Mark V tuner output issues

Hi guys,

I recently bought a Korg DTR-200 tuner and ideally wanted to connect it to the tuner output on the back of the amp, but it seems I'm getting weird readings. If I hit my E string, the tuner will recognize the E but immediately switch to a B, and it does the same with any other string. always inaccurate. I've also tried a standalone non rack mount tuner in the tuner output on the back of the amp and gotten similar readings. If I plug straight into the Korg or other tuner, they both work fine. I'm no tech expert, but the setup is pretty simple as far as I can tell, just plug the tuner out into the input on the tuner and that's it, I tried messing with the slave knob, thought maybe turning it up would have an effect, but it didn't do anything. Has anyone else seen anything similar? Thanks!

The tuner output is really hot. It might be overloading the input.

My Boss TU3 and Korg Pitchblack both work fine but my DTR-2000 tracked really slow (took a second or so to lock onto the note).

I eventually blew the input on my DTR when I switched the amp from 50w to 10w mode. Seems the popping sound was enough to finish the tuner off.

Been using the TU3 for about a year now with zero issues if it means anything.

Thanks man, it's a shame I won't be able to use the tuner in the tuner output but I guess I'll just wire it into the rest of my rack gear. Shouldn't really make a difference putting it in the first slot, I'm only running a G Major 2 and an ISP Decimator which I'd intended to put last anyways.

Deedee said:

Hi guys,

I recently bought a Korg DTR-200 tuner and ideally wanted to connect it to the tuner output on the back of the amp, but it seems I'm getting weird readings. If I hit my E string, the tuner will recognize the E but immediately switch to a B, and it does the same with any other string. always inaccurate. I've also tried a standalone non rack mount tuner in the tuner output on the back of the amp and gotten similar readings. If I plug straight into the Korg or other tuner, they both work fine. I'm no tech expert, but the setup is pretty simple as far as I can tell, just plug the tuner out into the input on the tuner and that's it, I tried messing with the slave knob, thought maybe turning it up would have an effect, but it didn't do anything. Has anyone else seen anything similar? Thanks!

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I cant remember if I posted about this in a past post (thought for sure I did), but I had a major issue with my Tuner out on my Mark V as well. I also use a Korg DTR2000 and it seemed like in a live situation, with a drummer especially, that every time I tried to tune with it while the band was playing, it would not register or be all over the place. I fought with this for almost a year. I couldn't tune while there was other noise going on. I was quite disgusted and really thought about having to just not use it. It just made no sense to me that you would include a feature like this and NOT be able to use it in a live situation. Ridiculous. I even took it down to my official Boogie tech twice and they tore it apart and "could find nothing". It was even sent to the Mesa factory and they couldn't get it to replicate the issue I was having. I had many long conversations with Barry Staller on this as well and even he was stumped. Everybody started to think I was crazy and I started to as well. And another mind boggling note is that I own a Roadster 2x12 combo which has the same feature and I didn't have any issues with the turner out on it. Then, during a rehearsal, I experimented with my drummer and to my grin, I found a way to replicate the issue I was having. When he would hit his bass drum, it would activate my turner. Insane! Now, other loud sounds would do it as well like a low bass note, but the drums really triggered this. So...I once again took this to my tech, who by the way worked for Mesa for over ten years, and said watch this. You should have seen the look on his face when I did it. Finally, I'm not crazy! He was absolutely stumped. He's like, wow, that shouldn't do that. You don't say?! I'm a fairly experienced stage/studio semi-professional musician, so I know a thing or two you know? So, he ended up sending it back to the Mesa factory and worked with them on the exact issue and what do you know, they could reproduce it. I got it back and it worked as it should, I was soooo relieved. Now, when I asked what was wrong with it, they were quite vague. They basically said in a very round about way that is was due to the way certain things were put in the circuit. And yes, it was that vague. They did say that it wasn't wired the same way the Roadster was which was why that amp didn't show any signs of this issue. In my opinion, its a design flaw. I even joked with Barry that they should call it the "Daxman Mod", lol. So, I'm not sure if this is related to your issue, but it sounds as though it might be. Hope this helps and good luck .

Hey Dax, thanks for the info, the more I read about this on the interwebs, the more I'm astounded by the oversight. It seems that it's pretty commonplace to have tuners fried by the tuner output on the Mark V, the DTR-2000 in particular, yet it works perfectly fine with other tuners. With your issue, I would have thought it was because of the mic on the tuner, did they disable it, or actually rewired the circuit? I gotta say though, it's pretty frustrating to not be able to use the tuner out on the amp, not the end of the world as I can work around it, but the tuner is pretty flashy and I wanted to be able to activate it through the tuner out on the amp, and not have to always watch the lights going off, if I wire it into my other rack units, there's no way that I know of to disable it.

Thanks!

No, they didn't disable it, they rewired the circuit. My belief is they sort of wired it along the lines of how the Roadsters are wired. That's my guess since they were so vague on their explanation. It works great now. I did fry a Korg DTR2000 through the course of that mess as well, but fortunately got it replaced by the warranty. Yeah, we looked at the mic on the tuner itself, but was able to prove that it wasn't the culprit. It did it with any tuner in the Tuner Out jack. That was my beef, why in the world would you put a feature in like that and not be able to use it in a live application? I always wondered if they added that mod to the newer produced Mark V's, since mine was an early one. Oh well, I hope my experiences can help other guys out.

That's interesting. You said yours was an early model, what serial number are we talking?

I haven't had any issues with my TU-3, but I never got the chance to try my DTR-2000 with a drummer 'cause I blew it up pretty fast.

It's #264 I believe. It was actually ordered from the factory right after they were released at NAMM because my dealer got some free upgrades if he ordered so many at the time. What was really cool was he extended one of those free upgrades to me . One of the nice perks of having a good relationship with a dealer i guess. Of course, it didn't hurt that I've spent a small fortune at his store, lol. I know there hasn't been any official "revisions" or anything, but I know they did it to mine. I'm just glad it's fixed.

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APEMAN said:

An another thought is, that due to its design, some bad influences like for example using a low quality insturment cable to connect the amp with your tuner (at tuner out) will alter your sound all the time on all channels - I really don't understand what mesa did with this tuner out??? Why did they change the design? On all the other amps the signal path is different, like a parallel path from V1's anode..... It's THE only miss-design I found so far on this amp. I own it now over three years and still fall in love with it more and more every day....

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Hmm if that's the case I'll probably be removing my TU-2 (I use rack for tuner anyway). It's hooked up with a garbage generic cable I got some time in the '90s. For some reason, I was under the impression that the tuner out on the Mark V was a really weak signal replicated from the main signal near the input stage, so it wouldn't have an effect on the final output. Why I thought that, I do not know, but I believe you.

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Thanks, it's obvious to me now... Since the tuner out is always on and can't be switched out of the circuit (except when bypassing the FX loop) you'll add some capacitance based on the length and quality (or lack thereof, in my case) of the cable. Took the TU-2 I never really use out of my rig. Doubt I'd notice the difference without AB'ing (and maybe not even then), but may as well as it simplifies my signal chain.

I've sold my Mark V combo but when I had it I had similar tuner out problems with weird readings. What I believe I figured out was that to be able to get the tuner working properly I had to keep the individual master volumes above 9 o'clock. Otherwise it was like the tuner didn't get enough signal strength. I had a Sonic Research Turbo tuner.

Hi all

I purchased a new mark v last year and I am trying yo use a hardwire ht-6 tuner but the tuner is going crazy when I am trying to tune my guitar. Is there anything that I can do or should I get in repaired through warranty with mesa? Thanks in advance.

Hi all... happy new year.... does any one knows if the tuner out and the slave out are the same ?... can they be used to power both sections of a stereo power like the 2:90 ?

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