Mesa TA-30 combo vibration

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jbinici

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Hi everyone. I could use some advice. I bought a new ta-30 2x12 combo about 6-9 months ago. I did not have much time to play it at high volume because I was gigging with another setup at the time and did not have time to learn the amp's tones. I normally play at 15 watts and the tweed tone sounded fine along with the normal or top boost vox side but I was not trying it at gig volume so my impression was not fully formed. I did hear some rattle but my basement has a snare drum in it, so I wasn't worried, and I"m used to having to find noisey tubes. I put it off the investigation until I was ready to dive in.

When I finally got down to focusing on learning the amp I realized that on the Tweed/HI1/HI2 side when I put the master vol above 2 o'clock (or fully cranked), I would get amp chasis vibration as I moved the gain past 11 o'clock or so. I don't think it's as bad on the other channel but I have not looked there so much. I was trying to get a HI2 sound like I was used to hearing in past Mesa's I owned (Nomad 45). After numerous sessions of checking tubes, I eventually narrowed it to the screws on the fancy metal grill being just loose enough. Touching the grilled made it way better. Specific notes that had problems improved greatly once I tightened that down but certain notes still had major high pitched issues. Humbuckers ('57 classics) cranked up past 5 made the problem worse, but my strat had far less issues even at 10.

After about the 5th session trying to figure out the rattles, I noticed last night even the mesa name plate was attached with screws to the rest of the metal grill. When I tightened the name plat that made a huge difference for removing the high pitched rattles. I still hear something but much fainter e.g. when I play a loud sustained B note on the 4th string at the 14th fret. . It would come through on a recording.

The amp sounds much 70% better now with the name plate tightened but not good enough for recording certain parts at high volume. And I still can't put the master volume about 2pm with the gain pulled and turned up to 12 or 1 oclock, unless I practically put the bass down to zero. If I don't turn down the based to practically zero the remaining vibration just shakes the amp too much with lower end rattle. Moving up to 30 watt or 40 makes this a tiny bit better but only because my ears can't stand to turn it up that far on the nob.

So I need to ask, it it normal to need to keep the master that low on this amp when you push the gain even at 15 watts? I read the manual several times. The 2 recommended HI2 settings sound fine but they aren't saturated enough enough. The manual says you can push master or gain farther but will lose focus. Is this vibrating what they mean? All the up close examination is really taking a toll on my ears (even with ear plugs). If what I'm experiencing is not what it means by lost "focus" please let me know and I'll bring it in to a tech but I'm not having much faith in the thoroughness of the techs I know lately.

Look I know this amp offers a great many combinations and hasn't taken a short cut (modeling) to do that. So I find it acceptable that not every combination of nob turns is going to sound good in each mode. However, I'm trying to understand whether what I'm trying to do is that unusual. This amp got past quality control on a number of issues (including a bad reverb tank which is a red herrng for the purpose of this conversation). I'm wondering if I really need to get this looked at or whether I am expecting too much from the potential the nobs seem to indicate is there (high master, higher gain, saturated santana tones).
 
It's doing the high pitched thing again. Now I've found some of it is caused because the long bands of solid metal on the top grill are buzzing against the screen under it. When I put my bare foot on the grill it will stop a bit. But the whole thing is still buzzy at other frequencies too when I crank master and gain as described :-/
 
I just spoke with support
- they are going to send me a new metal screen to put under the metal grill to solve the high pitched rattle

- they pointed out that pulling the gain knob adds harsh distortion

No one replied here. TA users, do you agree on what the knob does?
 
jbinici said:
I just spoke with support
- they pointed out that pulling the gain knob adds harsh distortion

I actually used the term "raw" rather than harsh...pulling the gain/boost pot changes the gain at the input stage, offering more gain and saturation. Thanks!
 

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