TA 30 loop problems

I'm on my second TA 30, and about to bail on the project. I love the sounds of this amp, but it is starting to make me question my sanity. The first one had a dead effects loop. Back to the store for the second one, which was fine for about a week, then started t demonstrate the same problem. On the gain channel there is a significant ground buzz whenever the loop is engaged. This is not the reverb buzz problem everyone else seems to have. It is reverb independent, gain independent, and master volume independent. With the master on the channel set to zero, the buzz is just as loud as when it is cranked, and goes away as soon as the loop is disengaged. It is not present on the clean channel whatsoever. The source appears to be somewhere from the loop return and the master, as a gate in the loop does not clean it up.

There is another problem with channel switching, and this appears to be related to the same issue somehow. At times when switching from the clean to the dirty channel, for anywhere from 1-30 seconds, the master volume on the dirty channel will not exist, resulting in massive volume spikes when switching channels. This is an intermittent problem, whereas the loop buzz is constant. My first one also had the volume spiking when switching channels, although at that point I was new to the amp and just assumed I was doing something wrong.

I spoke with someone at Mesa, and they said they had never heard of the problem. Given that I have had versions of the same problem twice, I'm suspicious. We spent 30 minutes on the phone trouble shooting the problem, and came up with nothing. I love everything about this amp when it works, but I am starting to really wonder if it is worth trying a third one.

Any thoughts or reassurance?

Nothing?

Waygorked, I'm having the same problem. When i first got the amp, i noticed a slight burning smell. Turns out, one of the tubes was glowing red hot which meant it was failing. So i called Mesa and they sent me a new set of tubes. I plugged it in and started playing, and i still notice the electrical burn smell. I also noticed the buzzing problem you speak of. When i engage the FX/reverb switch, i get that buzzing noise independent of the reverb levels. I only get this on channel one, not so much on channel two. I called mesa and talked to someonel, and he told me it's because of an unshielded wire that's picking up Electromagnetic interference from one of the power transformers. He said they can do a new upgrade that replaces the wire to fix the noise. I'm kinda upset though, because I want the service center at the mesa headquarters to fix it for me but they want me to pay part of the shipping or take the chassis out and ship it separate. I'm not gonna do that.. I havent had this thing for a month and it hasn't worked right since i got it. I feel that they should pay for the shipping and fix it. Especially considering how expensive it is. We'll see what happens Next week when i give them a call back. :mrgreen:

Interesting....I played a 1x12 combo yesterday and it was as quiet as a mouse when I engaged the FX loops on both channels but I did notice a burning smell...hummm.

I was looking for an amp to use for smaller gigs 'cause my Royal head and recto 2x12 cab is a killer to lug around!

I looked inside the preamp tube compartment. It seems they use hot glue of some sort to piece some of the stuff together....either that or silicone.....i dunno... i cant really tell, but if that is what it is, that is the smell I am smelling when the amp heats up. Im gonna call and get the parts for that "Upgrade" and take it to a nearby service center I think.

I bought a TA-30 head about 3 or 4 months ago and have been using it in a band setting since it was new. I didn't notice the EFX Loop issue right off until it was pointed out to me by my band mate that bought the TA-30 head about a week ago. I noticed it a bit more when I brought the head home and played it in a quiet room. Something happened tonight though at rehearsal, we finished a song (I was on Channel 2 15W Hi 2 Mode) and we started to smell an electrical burning. We noticed it was coming from my amp and when I looked inside the middleish tube was glowing bright cherry red. We immediately shut it down and left it off for a few minutes. I turned it back on and continued on with rehearsal carefully. It is seemed fine the rest of the night and I didn't notice the smell anymore. This fix you speak of must be very new, because this is the first I've heard of it. I won't be happy if I have to send the head back to California for repair but I'd do it if it corrects the issue. I hope my amp isn't damaged now. I love the sound of this amp!

Yeah that's the exact same problem I am having. I took the amp back to the dealer in memphis. they were great and said they would handle everything. I told them the tube(s) would "red plate" when played at high gain for a while.......how I was getting the noise with the reverb circuit.....and that burning smell. SO, I called the dealer at memphis a few days ago and they said they played it and got the same results. It's in cali right now. I talked to Mesa today, they said they replaced the unshielded wire with the new shielded one on the reverb circuit and tested it out for any other problems....had two guys play through it, etc. and found no problems. So, that being said, we'll see how it does whenever I get it back. He said the EL84's run hot anyway, so it may be a normal thing, but i dont think the tubes are supposed to glow that red. To me that's not a good sign. Anyway, if the amp catches on fire and burns to ashes, I'll have something to say to mesa about it. But yeah, about the burning smell, I know exactly what you are smelling/seeing and it concerned me just the same. Let me know how things are going as you play through it more.

Yep, same problem with my new TA-30 head...hot burning smell, and then the amp would "brown out"..loss of volume, distortion etc. Took it back to the dealer and they replaced a couple of tubes...now it works just fine...haven't had a chance to push it lately, but that will come soon. Overall, very impressed with the tones out of this amp. Hooked it up with a Lonestar 1X12 bottom, and also I can add in the speaker from my 1987 fifty cal plus for a bit more presence...sure comes in handy, depending on the gig...

Wow.....I am very sorry to hear about all of these "burning smell experiences"! I have never experienced this with my TA-30 112 combo and hopefully I do not! :shock:

OP and others.....I hope it is an easy and simple fix!!