Bought a "new" ED....few issues...help please

I was in Minneapolis recently on vacation......walked into a Guitar Center there......and what do I see on the showroom floor with a sale tag: Electra Dyne Widebody Combo!

I HAD to try it out.....immediately I was BLOWN away by the tone this puts out.....best I have ever played....better than my vintage Hiwatt, way more 3d and complex than most of my Mark V settings, can take over for my Rivera rig (not quite as grainy, but will cover it).

Any way.....I brought it home. :wink:

Now that bad: I guess this was on the showroom floor for quite a while....I tried it out at home and the power tubes rattled like crazy.....it also has a hum in the OD channels. It also has a pretty significant chassis rattle at lower frequencies.

I called Mesa CS to see what they thought/could do.......they looked up the serial number and said it was shipped to GC 4 yrs ago! So they consider it "used"...even though GC sold it to me as new, and it was not registered by anyone before me. They said talk to GC for tubes. BUT.....on a positive they are giving me full warranty (i think from when I bought it???).

So I called the manager of the store (GC) and he was pretty cool guy...he is sending me a new quad of 6L6s and 3 12ax7s.

I put in a new set of Mesa EL34's I had bought for backup for the MkV.....WOW...sounds great...but I think I will put the 6L6s back when I get thembecause they are just over the top Great!!!

So........I bought some high density neoprene weatherstrip foam tape and I removed the thin stuff mesa uses between the front of cahsis and cab...I put this thicker foam there....I also put this foam tape all along the top of the metal chassis where it meets the cab. I found the screws for the handle were not 100% snug...so I tightened those.......these measures HELPED with the chassis rattle....BUT did NOT eliminate it......CAN anyone give me some help/pointers on what to do where to look to solve the cab/chassis rattle??????


ALSO: the hum in Vintage lo and hi (I run the gain at about 1 o clock): it goes away when I change the gain trim mode from clean to hi/lo????? So I hope it isn't a grounding issue with the trim switch and I hope it is probably just pre amp tubes???? (It costs a small fortune to ship the chassis back to Mesa from Canada.....like over $300!!!!). WHICH pre amp tubes would possibly cause this humming in lo/hi?????

I have 30 days to return the amp to GC....BUT I LOVE IT, and I really want to keep her and just solve these issues.....my wife says that for the money I paid...it should be 100% functional...and I guess she is correct as there are many other new amps I could buy for what I spent.

Please help.....

Glad to hear GC is sending out new tubes for you! Just to clarify - in a situation where an amp sits on the floor for 4 years as a demo and has the sort of wear we discussed, as well as being sold at a discount - GC should take some of the responsibility of providing you the tubes and making that amp as close to new as possible. Your 5 year limited warranty on manufacturing defects is in effect from the date of purchase.

V1 is Vintage HI, V2 and V3 are Vintage HI & LO - so your focus should be on those positions when it comes to troubleshooting preamp tubes. Enjoy!

Authorized Boogie said:

Glad to hear GC is sending out new tubes for you! Just to clarify - in a situation where an amp sits on the floor for 4 years as a demo and has the sort of wear we discussed, as well as being sold at a discount - GC should take some of the responsibility of providing you the tubes and making that amp as close to new as possible. Your 5 year limited warranty on manufacturing defects is in effect from the date of purchase.

V1 is Vintage HI, V2 and V3 are Vintage HI & LO - so your focus should be on those positions when it comes to troubleshooting preamp tubes. Enjoy!

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Hey...Thanks. I agree 100% that GC should take the responsibility for the tubes...and I am really happy the Manager was a great guy to talk with and is apparently sending out the tubes for me. I was not aware of the length of time they had it for....they sold it as new, so he said try the tubes and if I am not happy they will take it back.

I am so impressed with this amp....I think I will keep it regardless of what happens...I do not think I could part with it!

I think the amp would be absolutely PERFECT if it had the power scaling like the MkV...down to 5 watts....that would be one killer amp you guys really should put out. :mrgreen:

Excellent - the Electradyne is capable of some incredible tones! Give those preamp tube positions a try, and that should take care of your issue. If not, don't hesitate to give us a call and see if there is anything else we can go over. Thanks again!

Authorized Boogie said:

Excellent - the Electradyne is capable of some incredible tones! Give those preamp tube positions a try, and that should take care of your issue. If not, don't hesitate to give us a call and see if there is anything else we can go over. Thanks again!

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Another example of the stellar customer service from this company !!!

Birdy said:

Authorized Boogie said:

Excellent - the Electradyne is capable of some incredible tones! Give those preamp tube positions a try, and that should take care of your issue. If not, don't hesitate to give us a call and see if there is anything else we can go over. Thanks again!

Click to expand...

Another example of the stellar customer service from this company !!!

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Yes. Mesa is a stand-up company and they build excellent products. That is why I have more than one of em. :wink:

Read the section in the manual on how to roll preamp tubes. Then, look at the tube task chart to see which tubes feed which modes.

Caveat: Vintage Lo and Hi have a lot more gain potential so whatever tube noise exists is amplified 10 fold several time, hence why it is so audible. I think v3 and v4 are the two preamp tube that should be ultra low noise to account for this.

Also, check for things that might be creating noise in the environment. In the basement where I practice the power is dirty because of lights on a dimmer switch. I have to turn those lights off to get rid of a lot of hum.

Where are you from in Canada? I suspect there are only a handful of us Electra Dyne owners in the great white north!

YellowJacket said:

Also, check for things that might be creating noise in the environment. In the basement where I practice the power is dirty because of lights on a dimmer switch. I have to turn those lights off to get rid of a lot of hum.

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THIS! Yes, indeed - people don't always realize that fluorescent lighting, computers, dimmer switches, or major appliances cycling on/off can wreak havoc on an amplifier (as far as noise is concerned) - which is why we always recommend testing the amp in different locations, on completely different power grids - to see if the issue happens in all locations. The majority of the time - it doesn't! Thanks for your input!

YellowJacket said:

Read the section in the manual on how to roll preamp tubes. Then, look at the tube task chart to see which tubes feed which modes.

Caveat: Vintage Lo and Hi have a lot more gain potential so whatever tube noise exists is amplified 10 fold several time, hence why it is so audible. I think v3 and v4 are the two preamp tube that should be ultra low noise to account for this.

Also, check for things that might be creating noise in the environment. In the basement where I practice the power is dirty because of lights on a dimmer switch. I have to turn those lights off to get rid of a lot of hum.

Where are you from in Canada? I suspect there are only a handful of us Electra Dyne owners in the great white north!

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I am up in Thunder Bay. I know there is one other Electra Dyne combo in town.....because the guy who bouhht it was at the store when I bought my Mark V.

I will look at the manual and try some new tubes when I get them.

Thanks.

Authorized Boogie said:

YellowJacket said:

Also, check for things that might be creating noise in the environment. In the basement where I practice the power is dirty because of lights on a dimmer switch. I have to turn those lights off to get rid of a lot of hum.

Click to expand...

THIS! Yes, indeed - people don't always realize that fluorescent lighting, computers, dimmer switches, or major appliances cycling on/off can wreak havoc on an amplifier (as far as noise is concerned) - which is why we always recommend testing the amp in different locations, on completely different power grids - to see if the issue happens in all locations. The majority of the time - it doesn't! Thanks for your input!

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I found out that a lot of the rattles is from my basement rec room.......I ran a 2 x12 extension cab and still had some rattles....so looks like the majority may be the environment.

**** the ED is loud....and it is so sexy that it hynotizes you into turning up....next thing the house is shaking.......lol.

And this amp begs to have time spent with it every day. It's turning into a crack addiction that I don't have to pay for (Anymore). I'm glad I bought it!

I had to clean out my music room because EVERYTHING rattles when I play the Dyne.

I think I've only really cranked the thing once or twice. Sounds like I'm missing out!

Still, my hands down favourite amp ever. I'm really improving as a guitarist because of it!

YellowJacket said:

I think I've only really cranked the thing once or twice. Sounds like I'm missing out!

Still, my hands down favourite amp ever. I'm really improving as a guitarist because of it!

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Agreed!!

The ED will make you want to practice more. When I have those "good" days of playing there is no better sounding amp.