Mesa F-series Lounge. Come on in and share your secrets.

[Sixtonoize]

 

Originally Posted by CharliePorter

Hi,

I'm new to this Forum, so apologies if I've inserted this message in the wrong place!

I have been using an F50 for about 2 years and I love it. However, I think that my tone could be better!

How much gain and mid do members of the Forum use for Channel 2 (with/without Contour) to get a great rock tone (not Metal - sorry!). Do you use OD before the amp, equalization in the Effects Loop??

Best regards,

Charlie.

 

Personally, I go straight into the amp, crank up the mids (around 3 o'clock), and cut bass and treble (both around 9 o'clock). I use very little gain (9:00), and a parametric EQ in the FX loop (boost @ 100 hz and 3khz, and cut around 750 hz to counteract the mid-boost in the tone stack). I use this as my main rhythm tone, and the Contour as a boost for leads.

[willburford]

Recently, I can't get the gain channel on my amp to sound bright enough.

For example, I just picked up a danelectro FAB distortion (surprisingly good) and I'm using it instead of my f-30s gain channel (with contour on) because even if I crank the treble, it just doesn't have the bite that the danelectro has (because of the lack of treble). Could this mean the tubes are dying, or...? I remember the gain channel being really bright when I first got it, and now when I crank the treble it's not bright at all.

Thanks for the help in advance

[Torh]

So I decided to have a professional mod my FX loop from a parallel to a serial one. Took an hour for him to do. Result? I am happy, my DD-20 is happy, and so is my F-50. I cannot believe I haven't done this for months ago.. The motorboating/pulsating sound for certain delay settings are long gone.. I cannot recommend that mod enough.

[Joeytpg]

 

Originally Posted by Torh

So I decided to have a professional mod my FX loop from a parallel to a serial one. Took an hour for him to do. Result? I am happy, my DD-20 is happy, and so is my F-50. I cannot believe I haven't done this for months ago.. The motorboating/pulsating sound for certain delay settings are long gone.. I cannot recommend that mod enough.

 

What's the difference between a parallel and serial ??? cons/pros?

[Torh]

A parallel loop means that you can adjust the balance between the signal going outside the FX loop and the signal going through the loop. So at 90% (full tilt on the adjustment knob on the F-50), 90% of the signal from the preamp goes through the loop. However this causes some problem with the DD-20; some of the signal returning, also feeds the signal going to the effects in the loop. So basically it's feedbacking the DD-20. Nasty.

The serial mod took care of that. An amp with a serial loop, means that 100% of the signal goes through the loop before entering the power amp. I am not exactly sure behind the science that the parallel loop causes a bleed-over from the return-signal to the send-signal, but nevertheless, the mod has been a blessing for my amp and my delay unit..

Pros with the parallel.. If you have tone-sucking pedals in the loop, the adjustment possibility will help the amp keeping the most of the natural signal intact, but depending on how present you want the effects in the loop to be for your sound, eventually.

[Dann'sTheMan]

 

Originally Posted by opultaM

So here's a dumb question (that I may have already asked, but the Search didn't turn up anything):

Can you swap out the reverb tank in an F100 head and replace it with something else (like a different effect)? How is it connected?

Maybe this is a dumb idea...but if it actually works, there are some great possibilities here.

 

Hey Brothers!

Happy New Year! My family and I have just gotten back to the in-law's place following a vacation around Japan: Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Nara. Rest assured I missed you guys, but I did visit some nice guitar shops on my travels, and thought of you!

opultaM,

Regarding your question? I may well be missing something here, but why would you replace the reverb tank when you can simply add effects in the FX loop? I guess you could also physically velcro them down next to the reverb tank if you wished, but there'd be some practical limitations to such a set up, such as switching the FX on and off, and tweaking settings. What advantage is there in replacing the reverb tank that I'm missing?

Big smiles,

Andy.

[Dann'sTheMan]

 

Originally Posted by lovED

Had a gig last night. I used my F-100 and a 1936 cab. I was getting a lot of highs and not getting the volume I wanted. It was sounding very thin with my strat. Im wondering if it's my strat because my LP on the bridge changed it a little bit. I'm having tons of guitar problems my Strat is crappin out and my LP's bridge pickup is too hot and microphonic. I'm so distressed

lovED

 

Hi lovED,

It's hard to say with your guitars also giving you grief, but it does sound as if you may need a tube change (or maybe the battery has gone in one of your pieces of equipment) - I can't even imagine the F-100 not being able to deliver the volume that's wanted.

BTW, if you're using loop attenuation (including the Mix Master volume mod that hal9000 describes), makes sure you're not turning down more than what you need for gig levels.

Big smiles,

Andy.

[Dann'sTheMan]

 

Originally Posted by gregv

Hey all, happy new year!!

I had a question about my F-30. Its quite new (2 months since i got it) and I think I am noticing a difference in the tone since i got it. It seems to me like the tone is not as good as when i plugged it in a few months ago.

Mostly channel 2, and it seems to sound a little more "muddy" especially on the non countour channel. I am not the most knowledgable guy with the new amp but a few things i could note.......

1. the tubes at the back seem lit up orange and blue and equal in both.

2. on channel one i need to turn the master to 9 oclock before i get any volume out of the amp at all

3. on channel 2 the amp can be heard when master is at the lowest possible setting, but it doesnt really kick in until about 8-9 oclock

any thoughts or am i being a little paranoid.....thanks in advance!

 

Hi gregv,

You may well need a tube change. I know it's only been a couple of months, but tubes tend to either fail early, or last a long time. Furthermore, EL84s are perhaps the least consistent of the popular tube types, so you're more likely to find unreliable ones.

I'd suggest getting a spare set of tubes. If it is paranoia, then you can keep them as back ups anyway.

Big smiles,

Andy.

P.S. If the volume taper on your amp has changed since you bought it, i.e. you used to get sound at below 9 o'clock on channel one, then this would appear to be a real issue.

[Dann'sTheMan]

 

Originally Posted by Will Cyrier

So my amp farted out on me yesterday morning, right before I left civilization to return to college at Washington State University. I took it to a local music store and the engineer looked at it and was surprised to fine countless "solder balls" throughout the interior of the amp. He said it was from the manufacturing process and that I should contact Mesa. Problem is, this thing is out of warranty. I thought I had fixed this problem by taking it to a repair guy this past summer and was really happy with it, until now. What would you do? Do you think I should call Mesa and see if they can do anything for me? I'm over 5 hours from the nearest "authorized" repair facility. I love the tone of this thing but this just sucks...

 

Hi Will,

Sorry to hear about your ongoing issues. I agree with the posters that suggest calling Mesa. I'm sure they would be understanding of your situation, not least if the amp did indeed leave their factory with countless "solder balls" rolling around inside -> that's a recipe for unreliability.

Best wishes,

Andy.

[Dann'sTheMan]

 

Originally Posted by recipher

Hi, new to the forum! I was able to score a 3 year old F-50 on eBay. Really pleased with it so far. Thanks to all the awesome information in this thread, it definitely swayed my decision to seek out this amp. That and there is a Mesa Certified Tech in town.

I'm wondering if anyone can answer a couple of questions.

I put a Big Muff Pi in the FX Loop and it just doesn't sound right. It has a low, bassy rumble when set to 100% send with the "sustain" turned up on the Big Muff Pi. The changing the "tone" on the big muff pi seems to affect the pitch of this low frequency rumble. At 100%, shouldn't it sound exactly like running it before input (true 100%)? Am I missing something here? This is on the clean channel. Even if I mess with the "volume" levels on the Big Muff Pi, I can tell something doesn't sound right.

Also, when I turned my amp on for a second time yesterday, there was a noise I was getting through the amp on the clean channel. It sounded like changing through radio stations with small pops. After worrying some, I changed to the distortion channel and the same thing was happening. However, after I switched back to the clean channel, the noise went away. Is this normal?

Anyone have any advice? It would be greatly appreciated.

Pics and clips to come soon, I promise. If I can get the FX Loop to work correctly, I will be experimenting with running this through a Waldorf XT.

 

Hi recipher,

Welcome to the brotherhood, and congrats on your new F-50. I would suggest running your Big Muff in front of the amp too.

Regarding the noise situation, do you know when your amp was last retubed? The noises you mentioned may be signs of the tubes starting to wear.

Big smiles,

Andy.

[Sixtonoize]

OK...so I have this crazy idea.

I NEVER use the Reverb button on my footswitch, because each channel has its own reverb knob.

I do, however, wish that I could be able to switch the FX loop on and off at will.

So, is there a way to mod my F-100 so that the reverb isn't footswitchable, but the FX loop is?

[opultaM]

 

Originally Posted by Dann'sTheMan

Hey Brothers!

opultaM,

Regarding your question? I may well be missing something here, but why would you replace the reverb tank when you can simply add effects in the FX loop? I guess you could also physically velcro them down next to the reverb tank if you wished, but there'd be some practical limitations to such a set up, such as switching the FX on and off, and tweaking settings. What advantage is there in replacing the reverb tank that I'm missing?

Big smiles,

Andy.

 

Welcome back! It was quiet here without you!

The idea of replacing the reverb is really just to cut down on board space for some other effect. I don't really use the verb that much, so maybe putting a different effect in would be convenient.

The advantage is that I can turn it on/off the effect via the F's Reverb Footswitch. Also, I could set the levels differently on the effect for different channels via the F's Reverb Level (which you can't do with a stompbox without tweaking)

As you said though, the downside is that you can't tweak all the pedal's settings, so it would have to be a setitandforgetit effect (maybe a Comp or a Phaser). But that's how I am with most my effects anyway.

When I think about it, this would be GREAT for comp, as I usually want different levels for comp on clean and dirt. And I don't use it often enough that I want to devote the board space to it.

So yeah, just an idea that I WILL try eventually (as long as no one tells me that i will break something in the process).

So any gear scores in Japan? I would love to get back there some day.

[eddie.perez]

 

Originally Posted by Torh

So I decided to have a professional mod my FX loop from a parallel to a serial one. Took an hour for him to do. Result? I am happy, my DD-20 is happy, and so is my F-50. I cannot believe I haven't done this for months ago.. The motorboating/pulsating sound for certain delay settings are long gone.. I cannot recommend that mod enough.

 

Hey man I which I could have some one do that for my amp too. I live in Los Angeles. Do you know of anyone who does this kind of work here?

[Torh]

Considering I live in Norway, I gotta admit I have no clue.. But any amp tech at a guitar store would be able to help you out. Do a search on this exact thread to find the schematic needed, and supply the amp tech with that when delivering your F-50.

[recipher]

Here's some pictures guys of my brand new (used) f-50.

[recipher]

 

Originally Posted by Dann'sTheMan

Hi recipher,

Welcome to the brotherhood, and congrats on your new F-50. I would suggest running your Big Muff in front of the amp too.

Regarding the noise situation, do you know when your amp was last retubed? The noises you mentioned may be signs of the tubes starting to wear.

Big smiles,

Andy.

 

Hi Andy, thanks for the reply! I will probably switch out the tubes shortly, they are occasionally starting to make a tapping glass sound as well. Amp still sounds great though otherwise.

I have attached a sound sample of the fx loop issue. It surely does sound great running the Big Muff before input. However, when running the distortion in the FX loop this is what it sounds like.

http://www.bluedistortion.com/audio/...fxloop-wtf.mp3 (caution, loud low frequencies)

This is set to 100% mix on the FX Loop. I am turning the sustain and tone knobs of the Big Muff Pi. Is this normal? You can hear me bang out a couple chords towards the end (which sounds kind of cool but not right. )

Unfortunately, I don't have any other non distortion pedals to test with, but, I seemed to have the same issue trying to run through a synthesizer. Just want to make sure my fx loop isn't bunk. Running a patch cable from send to return doesn't create this low frequency feedback issue. Does everyone else have the same sound when running distortion through the fx loop?

[eddie.perez]

Hey brothers,

I hoping you guys can help me again. I'm trying to change my fx loop from parallel to serial beacause I get feedback with certain effects such as phaser and delays. I know theres some type of shcematic some where in this thread on how to do that. If you guys point me in the right the direction I'll very much appreciated.

[Tommi Inkila]

Hey bros!

I made a new tone clip while I was tweaking the tone for our next album... here's the link for the thread http://acapella.harmony-central.com/...6#post25761586

I hope you like it

[miikku]

hi!

I just registered into the forum

I have played several gigs with mesa F-50 + 2x12 rectifier standard. I use

tc's g-major at the fx loop. I haven't found great high gain sounds for metal rhytm and solo. The livesound is quite sharp and doesn't work at all (gain about 10-11 o'clock).

Can anyone help me with this problem?

[opultaM]

 

Originally Posted by recipher

Hi Andy, thanks for the reply! I will probably switch out the tubes shortly, they are occasionally starting to make a tapping glass sound as well. Amp still sounds great though otherwise.

I have attached a sound sample of the fx loop issue. It surely does sound great running the Big Muff before input. However, when running the distortion in the FX loop this is what it sounds like.

http://www.bluedistortion.com/audio/...fxloop-wtf.mp3 (caution, loud low frequencies)

This is set to 100% mix on the FX Loop. I am turning the sustain and tone knobs of the Big Muff Pi. Is this normal? You can hear me bang out a couple chords towards the end (which sounds kind of cool but not right. )

Unfortunately, I don't have any other non distortion pedals to test with, but, I seemed to have the same issue trying to run through a synthesizer. Just want to make sure my fx loop isn't bunk. Running a patch cable from send to return doesn't create this low frequency feedback issue. Does everyone else have the same sound when running distortion through the fx loop?

 

haha...that sounds like my tummy earlier before I filled it with some Quesadillas.

Sorry, I guess that doesn't help you...but I AM FULL!

[Dann'sTheMan]

 

Originally Posted by Sixtonoize

OK...so I have this crazy idea.

I NEVER use the Reverb button on my footswitch, because each channel has its own reverb knob.

I do, however, wish that I could be able to switch the FX loop on and off at will.

So, is there a way to mod my F-100 so that the reverb isn't footswitchable, but the FX loop is?

 

 

Originally Posted by opultaM

Welcome back! It was quiet here without you!

The idea of replacing the reverb is really just to cut down on board space for some other effect. I don't really use the verb that much, so maybe putting a different effect in would be convenient.

The advantage is that I can turn it on/off the effect via the F's Reverb Footswitch. Also, I could set the levels differently on the effect for different channels via the F's Reverb Level (which you can't do with a stompbox without tweaking)

As you said though, the downside is that you can't tweak all the pedal's settings, so it would have to be a setitandforgetit effect (maybe a Comp or a Phaser). But that's how I am with most my effects anyway.

When I think about it, this would be GREAT for comp, as I usually want different levels for comp on clean and dirt. And I don't use it often enough that I want to devote the board space to it.

So yeah, just an idea that I WILL try eventually (as long as no one tells me that i will break something in the process).

So any gear scores in Japan? I would love to get back there some day.

 

I don't see any reason why you couldn't mod the amp so that the signal received from the Reverb footswitch triggered some different circuitry to switch the FX loop in and out.

You'll have to design the circuitry to switch the FX loop between bypass and on, but that should be a cool little project. You'd have to mod the amp so that the footswitch socket sends the Reverb footswitch signal to your new circuit rather than to the amp's Reverb circuitry. All very doable.

If it were me, I'd be tempted to build a small project box with connections to the Amp's Send and Return sockets, plus it's own bypassable Send and Return sockets, and a trigger input that could be connected to the Reverb footswitch. At the moment I'd have no use for this (I trigger my setup via MIDI), but hopefully this could give you some ideas to start with?

Big smiles,

Andy.

[recipher]

 

Originally Posted by eddie.perez

Hey brothers,

I hoping you guys can help me again. I'm trying to change my fx loop from parallel to serial beacause I get feedback with certain effects such as phaser and delays. I know theres some type of shcematic some where in this thread on how to do that. If you guys point me in the right the direction I'll very much appreciated.

 

This the one?

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/...postcount=4092

[red99frc]

Hey everyone! Just caught this listing on the Kansas City craigslist page. $750 including the road case in case anyone is interested. Good luck !

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/msg/530866570.html

[lovED]

recipher, sweet F-50 bro. I have the F-100 head. It looks so sharp and sounds amazing.

Andy, thank you for the information. I think a tube change may be in order.

What type of tubes do you recommend. I'm thinking about handpicking some tubes and replacing them myself. This is my first tube amp though. I have no idea about tube amp replacing procedures. Would I have to rebias anything if I used the same brand tubes. Plus the preamp tubes in the F-100 are a pain in the ass. I dunno.

lovED

[Goldwing]

Hi!

When the Loop is modified to work as a serial loop, what is the function of the MIX Pot? Does it work in a different way?