IT CANNOT BE THIS HARD..

[jamal buchet]

OK ...so i got my new (to me) mesa boogie halfstack today ....plug it in ..and it blows the little 4 amp fuse in the back of the head (next to the power cord)..no biggie ....run to radio shack , buy a pack of 5....so far ive burnt up 3 more .....WTF?!?!?!.....i mean all you do is plug the motherfucker into the wall right?!?!?...




GODDAMNIT.

[joro]

try running it through a power conditioner man...
On the other hand...if you are blowing fuses like crazy...you might very well have a bad circuit in the head.

bummer dude...
Mesa covers their stuff though man...
Give the stoners in Cali a call...they might be able to help.

Joe

[Emeric]

It shouldn't blow fuses like that. What's the speaker cable condition like, the cable isn't shorted or something?

If not, sounds like the amp has some problems.

[Gidge]

My Hafler power amp was blowing fuses on a daily basis and come to find out it was a crappy speaker cable i made.....

moral of this story is : making your own cables is cheap, if you KNOW WHAT THE F&%K YOU ARE DOING!........

[donkeystyle]

if your power tubes are bad, you'll blow that fuse. well, actually i dunno if that's the way all tube amps are designed......but i assume it is........my rivera is designed like that.

[jamal buchet]

ok ...well reading through the manual ..it says it requires a 4 amp "slo-blo" fuse...and looking at the fuse that came out of the amp ..it seems to have a substantially bigger center wire section than the ones i got from radio shack ..which look like a single strand of wire ...man i hope thats it .

[bdgr]

reseat all the tubes.....somemay have come loose in shipping
try a differant speaker cable
sing to it.

[M.Brane]

bdgr is on it.

I'd bet that something got jarred loose in shipping. You need slo-blo fuses though. A regular fuse won't handle the current transients that amp will draw.

If after re-seating the tubes, confirming your speaker wire is good, the ohm load is correct, and installing the proper fuse type you still have problems it's time to go see a tech. I believe the Rectifiers do have some PCBs inside (my MKIII does). It's possible something got broken by rough handling either in shipping, or by the previous owner. Could also be a tube that didn't survive the trip.

I'd contact Mesa to see if they can recommend a good tech.

[jamal buchet]

[Gidge]

http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=125619

[drstawl]

Either shove some 20 amp fuse in there or get the correct fuse. I believe my Bassman head uses a Slo-Blo fuse so they can't be that hard to find.

[Lt. Bob]

Yes .... a 'fast-blo' fuse'll burn out if what they want is a slow-blo. The slo-blo's will take a transient a lot higher than a fast blo. It could be that this amp has a substantial turn on transient and a regular fuse won't handle it. Probably once it gets running it doesn't draw nearly as much current.
Radio Shack should have slo-blo fuses ..... they're common.

And always check the speaker cable ...... they go bad or you get a short in a plug that someone stepped on without warning.

[jamal buchet]

ok ...wel i think i figured it out,

when i unpacked the head unit (which really was packed very securely in an old marshall head unit box) one of the bigger tubes (of which there are three ) ..was actually loose and just sitting inside rolling around...i put it back in the socket ..then proceeded to blow all those fuses...then after some of you mentioned reseating ALL the tubes , i was doing just that ...and looking at them really closely...again THIS IS MY FIRST TUBE AMP ......and noticed that on the bottom of each tube is a 5 or 7 pin connector ..and in the middle of the all the connector pins is a little plastic "nipple" looking thing ..well when i worked my way back to the tube that had come loose i realized that little plastic nipple was broken off..in fact i found the other half of it inside the head as well.....man i hope thats it .....


fingers crossed*

sorry if any of you were under the impression i wasnt totally a moron ..



j.

[M.Brane]

So you put the tube in the socket with the wrong orientation?

That little plastic nipple in the middle of the tube base is meant to keep you from being able to do that. The tube will still work without it just make sure you put it back in the right way. You can pull one of the other tubes to see how to line it up. Make sure you do this with the amp unplugged from the wall. It's also a good idea to make sure you're insulated from ground (don't do it barefoot on a concrete floor). Just don't touch any of the pins once they contact the socket, or the socket contacts thenselves and you should be fine.

I'd keep a close eye on the power tubes for a while if it fires up without blowing the fuse again. If the big metal plates inside the tubes start to glow shut it off, and take it to an amp tech. It has a bias problem. It's possible that putting the tube in the wrong way could have fried some minor componenets inside the amp.

I feel for ya' bro. It's gotta suck not being able to crank that thing up.

[Lt. Bob]

Yep ..... tube orientation has to be right. And it's not impossible that you could have blown that tube depending on exactly how it was turned. It doesn't seem likely since it immediately blew fuses ....... probably didn't have time to damage anything ..... but I second Mr. Branes' suggestion to watch the tubes for a while.

[jamal buchet]

well i didnt look at the bottom of the tube when i unpacked it and it was just loose rolling around inside the head ...im assuming it was already broken BEFORE i tried to put it back in ..it seemed to go in the socket pretty easily .when i say broken i mean its completly broken off..there is a 1/4 inch hole in the bottom of the tube where it used to be ....you think the tube would still work in that condition ...man i hope not cause i was startin to think i had solved my problem ...now your making me ALL UNSURE again...

[Wireneck]

This doesn't help you Jamal but I had a Peavey Solid State head that did the same exact thing. Everytime you powered it up, it would blow a fuse. Maybe I needed a slow-blo fuse, what do you guys think? Its still sitting back home at my parents house being useless. Not like I ever really play on it, but it would be cool to get it up and running again.

[M.Brane]

Yeah, the plastic pin in the center of the tube base is just for alignment. I've got an old 6L6 in my McIntosh amp that's missing the orientation pin, and it works fine.

Of course I make sure the contact pins go into the correct holes.

The tubes usually have the pin #'s on the bottom. I don't know about the Rectifier, but my MKIII has mil spec ceramic sockets which don't have the #'s on 'em. You can see which way it goes because one hole has no contacts in it. On the McIntosh I just put a little mark on the tube base/socket with a Sharpie to line it up.

This isn't an issue with preamp tubes because the way the sockets are designed so the tube can only go in one way.

Wireneck: LOL I type so damn slow!

Solid state amps are another beast entirely. If a SS amp is blowing fuses (provided they are the correct type) it likely has serious issues.

[Lt. Bob]

yes, the tube would work with that piece broken off ....... .. now, if the glass nipple inside the plastic base was also broken then it wouldn't. But simply having that plastic piece broken off won't affect the tube at all other than the positioning. And often sockets only have the number of pin holes that will be used so even with the plastic piece gone you still can't put them in wrong.

[jamal buchet]

[Lt. Bob]

Glad to hear it works.

I'm sure you were major dissappointed ......... waiting all excited to get your dream amp and then it comes in and won't work! BUMMER!

[matty_boy]

Killer Jamal.


Now go record it

[M.Brane]

How's the amp doing man?



















Jamal?
























JAMAL!!!



















Must be working just fine.

[jamal buchet]

wow ...that amp kicks a CONSIDERABLE amount of ass....i didnt dial it up past about maybe 2-ish .....HOLY SHIT ....it was awesome ...now the other guitarist is bummed cause his "5150" just fucking PALES in comparison.......



AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[M.Brane]