V1 tube ridicule

The positioning of that dirty little V1 tube deserves some ridicule. Ouch!

Amen! It is difficult to deal with on the head version. Especially getting that long aluminum protector back on there.

Agreed. Blind assembly is a knuckle bleeder. I have left DNA in my head after the tube re seat. Dis assembling the reverb tank requires a low profile Phillips ratchet on the one screw, same side as V1. Learned that after struggling... Re assembling the reverb tank is also a PITA due to the double spacers. Patients and mechanics gloves help. My new head has enough DNA in it that I was unable to clean out...lol.

Is there any reason why it has that ridiculously long tube shield? That's the same one used in the Roadster, and it looks equally ridiculous there.

?? So you can grab it and not have to dis assemble anything else ?? My guess. Good luck getting the tube back in and the shield back on without removing the tank. I did it once, the very first time re seating all of the tubes. The second time I was dropping an SPAx7 into V1 and I couldn't get it seated so I removed the tank. My blind orientation is whacked ! :lol:

I actually have replaced the V1 tube a few times over the years. I only remove the rightmost power tubes and put all channels in 10W mode and then all AX7s are accessible. Being in 10W mode allows for switching STANDBY on and off to troubleshoot tube issues. My hands are normal sized (size 10-11 glove) and it is a pain to get to V1. I've had to replace one of the long aluminum shields because the little nubs wore off after a couple mis-installs. More than once I've had to stop and just take a break trying to the shield back on because frustration building up. I remember reading here others also have wrestled with replacing V1 without removing the amp from chassis (and keeping the reverb tank installed). I think Bandit also had to replace the shield after wearing off the nubs.

At any rate, only a minor inconvenience for such an amazingly versatile and relatively compact amp.

I've taken the long cap off a few times and you are right, mace, the locator nubs are wearing down :!: .

I still have the long extended tube shield in the Roadster but did away with the long extension on V1 in my Mark V. You can get tube shield replacements from Mesa's on line store. I bought 10 of them to keep on hand. Also have a lot of amps to keep going so the extra parts are good to have.

Even the combo format can be a pain to get that long extended tube shield installed. If you lean the amp on one side, you can see the tube and have some ease in getting one of the standard shields in place. No need to remove the reverb tank. that is nuts getting it back in even with the chassis removed. Also not necessary to remove the chassis to get the preamp tubes replaced but with the head it does make it much easier so you do not spend most of the time trying to index the tube in the proper orientation to get it into the socket. I can only imagine how hard it is to get big hands into the tiny Mark V:25.

Mark V is a tricky amp to service especially if it is the head.