TA-15 Tarnishing...

As regulars on the forum will perhaps have noticed, what a great amp!

My only problem is I’ve noticed some dull tarnish appearing on the “Platinum Pearl Powder” parts of the exterior that I’m not able to remove: the tarnished bits appear to have been caused where I’ve touched the amp while gigging: I get sweaty hands when playing... I live in Africa (i.e. it’s hot). In certain light conditions it’s really noticeable, and try as I might, I can’t remove the tarnish, it appears permanent!

I’ve tried a rubbing it with a dry cloth, a damp cloth, a cloth with methylated spirits on it, spit, everything I can think of, but it makes not the slightest bit of difference.

I've emailed [email protected] to ask for guidance, I'm hoping to hear from them sharpish: in the mean time, does anyone here have any ideas? The "Platinum Pearl Powder" parts of the amp (the cowling, for want of a better word, and the control panel itself) look like they're varnished/lacquered, but what sort of crappy varnish/lacquer are they using that can't handle a little bit of sweat and general gig gunk getting on it???

Sebber said:

As regulars on the forum will perhaps have noticed, what a great amp!

My only problem is I’ve noticed some dull tarnish appearing on the “Platinum Pearl Powder” parts of the exterior that I’m not able to remove: the tarnished bits appear to have been caused where I’ve touched the amp while gigging: I get sweaty hands when playing... I live in Africa (i.e. it’s hot). In certain light conditions it’s really noticeable, and try as I might, I can’t remove the tarnish, it appears permanent!

I’ve tried a rubbing it with a dry cloth, a damp cloth, a cloth with methylated spirits on it, spit, everything I can think of, but it makes not the slightest bit of difference.

I've emailed [email protected] to ask for guidance, I'm hoping to hear from them sharpish: in the mean time, does anyone here have any ideas? The "Platinum Pearl Powder" parts of the amp (the cowling, for want of a better word, and the control panel itself) look like they're varnished/lacquered, but what sort of crappy varnish/lacquer are they using that can't handle a little bit of sweat and general gig gunk getting on it???

Click to expand...

That is strange. I haven't had the same problem, but I don't sweat a lot... strings last forever for me. Have you heard anything back from them yet?

Nope, no response from Mesa as yet.

Same thing happened to me. I now have a nice palm print on top of amp! It only happened one time when the amp was really hot after a long session at full tilt. I haven't found a way to gat rid of it but haven't really tried either!

Hi,

the same phenomenon existed on my TA-15.

My dealer took it back and gave me a new one.

Now I´ve decided not to touch it anymore in eternity (long time, isn´t it) :lol:

MESA really should improve the coating! (imagine this would happen to your Porsche, Mercedes Benz or Volkswagen) :evil:

regards,

GATTI

can anyone post a photo?

dmraco said:

can anyone post a photo?

Click to expand...

Not a great pic, you can see there's certain dull grey areas (photobucket reduced the size of the photo but you can make out what I'm talking about). I tried a bit of "Never Dull" metal polish on an area to the left and while that did remove the finger print that was there it also left a dull grey spot there. That wasn't very clever of me since "Never Dull" says on the instructions not to use it on laquered or varnished surfaces, which I think this one is... still, thought it was worth a try.

It doesn't really bother me overmuch I can always get it refinished and the amp still sounds killer, obviously. But if this is what it looks like after a few months' worth of use it's going to start looking pretty ragged in a year or so: we're playing gigs at least once a week at the moment, mostly day time gigs, outdoors, the stage is covered, but it still didn't stop me, my strat and pedal board getting rained on and soaked a couple of weeks back... the rain isn't a problem, the amp isn't on the edge of the stage: it's Africa, it's summer, and playing in 30-plus degrees C and tearing it up makes my hands sweat, I will invariably touch the amp during the course of the gig. I'm now wondering if I bought one of those circular/spinning electrical tools with buffing pads that I might be able to return it to its original condition...

Still looks WAY cool in the back line though, here it is on Saturday's show:

Did they ever get back to you?

axeplyr said:

Did they ever get back to you?

Click to expand...

Nope, as yet nothing.

Sebber said:

Still looks WAY cool in the back line though, here it is on Saturday's show:

Click to expand...

a little off topic...how does adding the second 1x12 change the sound over just a single 1x12. I am debating on getting another. I have an ORANGE dual terror thru a 2x12 and it rocks.

dmraco said:

Sebber said:

Still looks WAY cool in the back line though, here it is on Saturday's show:

Click to expand...

a little off topic...how does adding the second 1x12 change the sound over just a single 1x12. I am debating on getting another. I have an ORANGE dual terror thru a 2x12 and it rocks.

Click to expand...

I've hardly played it as a 1x12 so I can't really say: I bought two 1x12 cabs because, the TA-15 being a head, I didn't want to use an amp stand, so one way to make sure the amp wasn't just blasting into the back of my ankles (at ground level) was to make it a stack. Also I've been using 2x12 rigs live for years so it just seemed to make sense to me making my TA-15 rig a 2x12 as well.

Sebber...please forgive my words if they are truly offensive to ya, but I'd not worry about the tarnishing at all. Look how as a modern trend some VERY highly respected guitar custom shops offer their instruments new with a "relic'ed" appearance option...

Those old Les Paul's are sure forgiven for tarnishing on their hardware, and they are worth some serious, serious cash. How about SRV's strat? And how about an old Fender tweed amp, they aren't respectable in the looks department until there is a bit of tatter going on with at least a few threads hanging off. Toneful mojo! You've barely gotten started...I'd say get it good and tarnished looking, rub your hands all over it, go ahead and give it a road warrior kind of look for the same reason. It was not designed to be living room furniture.

It was designed to sound awesome. If I had one I'd want it to look bad-***, not pretty, and I'd toss all the Mesa labeled tubes right into the dumpster and fill it with vintage old stock tubes personally selected from my collection for tone's sake.

Peace.

212Mavguy said:

Sebber...please forgive my words if they are truly offensive to ya, but I'd not worry about the tarnishing at all. Look how as a modern trend some VERY highly respected guitar custom shops offer their instruments new with a "relic'ed" appearance option...

Those old Les Paul's are sure forgiven for tarnishing on their hardware, and they are worth some serious, serious cash. How about SRV's strat? And how about an old Fender tweed amp, they aren't respectable in the looks department until there is a bit of tatter going on with at least a few threads hanging off. Toneful mojo! You've barely gotten started...I'd say get it good and tarnished looking, rub your hands all over it, go ahead and give it a road warrior kind of look for the same reason. It was not designed to be living room furniture.

It was designed to sound awesome. If I had one I'd want it to look bad-***, not pretty, and I'd toss all the Mesa labeled tubes right into the dumpster and fill it with vintage old stock tubes personally selected from my collection for tone's sake.

Peace.

Click to expand...

Hey come to think of it my TA-15 does sound more vintage since I put my palm print on the top ;-)

Hi 212 mavguy,

maybe you should come to Absurdistan, open a custom shop, take a hammer and make a relic of all the things you´d like to sell...

Maybe you make the Big Deal:

http://www.thomann.de/de/mesa_boogie_transatlantic_ta15.htm (not relic`ed yet!)

That`s about $ 1522,-today...

just my 152200 cents :roll:

regards,

GATTI

I'd recommend trying Mr Metal Polish:
http://www.mrmetal.com/

You can also get it on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Goddard-Sons-707284-Metal-Polish/dp/B001NXJYO6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294253924&sr=8-2

It dissolves tarnish on contact and isn't abrasive. It also provides tarnish protection to keep it shiny longer.

Sebber said:

dmraco said:

Sebber said:

Still looks WAY cool in the back line though, here it is on Saturday's show:

Click to expand...

a little off topic...how does adding the second 1x12 change the sound over just a single 1x12. I am debating on getting another. I have an ORANGE dual terror thru a 2x12 and it rocks.

Click to expand...

I've hardly played it as a 1x12 so I can't really say: I bought two 1x12 cabs because, the TA-15 being a head, I didn't want to use an amp stand, so one way to make sure the amp wasn't just blasting into the back of my ankles (at ground level) was to make it a stack. Also I've been using 2x12 rigs live for years so it just seemed to make sense to me making my TA-15 rig a 2x12 as well.

Click to expand...

I love the low and midrange great sounds of my new rig

I contacted MB 9 days ago about a recto cab manual and how to use 4 vs 8 ohm setups and how my speakers are wired inside the cab as it did not come
with a manual......no answer yet from mega boogie

Ok, I've had no response from Mesa about how to restore the platinum pearl finish on the cowling and control panel on the amp, and, as the amp gets more gigs under its belt the tarnishing is just getting worse. I took the cowling off this afternoon and I’ve tried various things on the inside (where if I ruin parts of the finish you won’t see it when the amp is reassembled), and nothing I’ve tried works, in fact, everything I’ve tried makes it worse. It’s quite clear that the platinum pearl finish is painted and, possibly, lacquered, so standard metal polishing/buffing equipment makes it look worse, not better. So a warning to all: if you see any dull grey tarnish on your TA-15 or 30, DO NOT USE ANY KIND OF METAL POLISHING/CLEANING PRODUCTS, you will just make it worse.

As much as I absolutely adore the sounds of this amp, I’m rather disappointed that this platinum pearl finish is as fragile as it is: a metallic finish that shows up EVERY fingerprint that’s been left on it, and the fact that those finger prints can’t be removed, is just plain short-sighted and shoddy, as is the lack of reply from Mesa.

I’m now wondering if I try some kind of paint etching agent like T-Cut or something to see if I can restore the paintjob to its previous condition... but I’m not certain there’s much point if it’s just going to go this patchy dull grey colour where I touch the amp during a gig (i.e. a high likelihood). Instead, I’m now thinking about exploring options for refinishing the platinum pearl parts of the amp, using something more rugged, perhaps metallic or matte black paint?

So: If you were to refinish the platinum pearl parts of the amp, what finish would you guys go for?

Ok, word of warning to anyone else out there: DO NOT USE ANY KIND OF AUTOMOTIVE-STYLE ETCHING/BURNISHING COMPOUND OR LIQUID!

I've removed the cowling, detached the Mesa logo and the metal mesh grilles and tried something called Auto-Glim on the interior of the cowling and all it did was make the finish a nasty dull grey colour, much like that caused by my acidic gig-sweat.

I've decided I'm going to get the cowling refinished. It's not ideal, because the platinum-pearl finish is used on the control panel as well, which I've also managed to get some dull grey permanent finger prints on too. To refinish the control panel and chassis means taking the whole amp apart, which I'm not overly keen on doing. I've been thinking I'd quite like to refinish all the platinum pearl parts of the amp except the mesh grilles to a matte black, then perhaps hand-write the control labels on the front and back control panels in silver marker pen, so the amp would be all black except for the Mesa logo and the silver mesh grilles, but like I say, taking the whole amp out of the chassis so it can be repainted doesn't really appeal to me...

I'll say again, I'm not impressed with Mesa at all for the choice of finish they're using on these TransAtlantics, to think that they used a paint or varnish that's capable of oxidizing (or whatever it's doing) so easily, and that oxidation/tarnishing, as far as I'm concerned, can't be removed without ruining the finish, is really quite astonishing.