cobrahead1030
Well-known member
Long thread ahead, scroll down if you just want to see some amp pics. The short version is, they got my amp sorted out for a very reasonable $400 price, and I'm happy with the outcome.
I bought this amp long long ago ('06-'07) from a well known HCAF member. It was an original 1x12 combo with the road case, listed for $600. The caveat was that it had this annoying issue with the volume dropping, but for the price I decided to go for it. I fell in love with the amp pretty quickly and over the years made a few inquiries into getting the volume drop issued fixed, but I couldn't find a reputable local tech who was up to the job. Since the amp still sounded great at any volume level, I just learned to deal with the annoying issue, and got put on the back burner for a long time.
I realized the most logical course was to just ship it to Mesa and let them handle it. Over the years I would occasionally browse around for a used head shell or rack mount kit, but they don't come up for sale often & go quickly when they do. Finally I came to the conclusion that I needed to get this dealt with, before Mike B retires. I called them on the first business day of this year to inquire about getting a factory head shell, they said it would be $500 + shipping, but they wouldn't be able to take orders for another 8 weeks, then it would be another 8 weeks still for delivery of the head shell. I had wanted to convert the combo to a head anyhow, and two-way shipping of the amp would be cheaper that way.
I posted a WTB ad on Rig-Talk hoping someone had a used one for sale, and I got a response from forum member: Metalone72 who came highly recommended by a few other members. After a short exchange and seeing photos of his work, I ordered my head shell from him, with a few custom options and upgrades, for just over $400 + shipping. I had the head shell in hand and installed Feb 7, extremely satisfied with the end result. I know it looks nice in the photos, but the level of workmanship & attention to detail really can't be praised enough.
A month later I finally called Mesa back again, ready to get my amp in good working order. I've called them a few times over the years and always got a guy named Rich on the phone, who was extremely friendly and helpful. As far as I'm aware, it's the same Rich Duvall who helped me this time around. He's very knowledgeable, thorough, and to the point. He was able to answer all of my questions about shipping my amp to them, what their repair/service process would look like, and had no problems giving me a rough cost estimate for what the amp likely needed. I was told to expect a cost of around $300-400, 6-8 weeks for Mike B to get started, then about a week to complete the repairs and ship it back to me. I sent the amp out the following day, which cost me $140, and had me a little nervous as it's one of the few pieces of gear I'm attached to.
Right on schedule, I heard from Mike B. He's legendary in the business for a reason. We had a couple days worth of exchanged where I explained exactly what I wanted, beyond the obvious repair; which was properly fit the reverb tank which wasn't exactly a direct fit from the combo conversion, and address anything he thought should be, so I could enjoy the amp for a few more decades. He made a few recommendations, which I gladly agreed to. Here's the synopsis of what was done.
Mike Bendinelli:
Gave it a general clean up including the pots, pull switches, jacks, EQ sliders, preamp tube pins and sockets, and cleaned up some previous repair work where an orange drop cap had failed. He also replaced all the electrolytic caps, numerous resistors as needed, performed the reverb glitch update, added screen resistors for the Class A power tube sockets and grid isolation resistors to the A/B sockets, cleaned the rotted foam out of the reverb tank and fixed all the connectors, jacks, and plugs, and added the steel shield cover plate. Lastly, he gave it a burn in and test with a bench set of power tubes, and swapped around the preamp tubes for best results. The total cost is $391.24 including parts, labor, shipping, and tax
I got the amp back last week while we were out of town. After we returned, I unboxed it and plugged it in briefly to test it out & all seemed fine with it. I was caught up with work for the next few days, and finally this morning got to plug in and play it for a couple of hours, turned up to a moderate window rattling volume. It was just as glorious as I'd expected, my dessert island amp is fully functional for the first time in many years. It sounded great with my Thornbucker loaded eclipse & graphic EQ off, and equally fantastic with my JB/59 loaded charvel with the EQ engaged. I should have done this years ago.
The final cost ended up being $405 with shipping included, which I think was very reasonable. The amp was packed professionally, with a couple of notes included. Here's the timeline, that I made notes of during the whole process.
Since all threads are useless without pics...
I bought this amp long long ago ('06-'07) from a well known HCAF member. It was an original 1x12 combo with the road case, listed for $600. The caveat was that it had this annoying issue with the volume dropping, but for the price I decided to go for it. I fell in love with the amp pretty quickly and over the years made a few inquiries into getting the volume drop issued fixed, but I couldn't find a reputable local tech who was up to the job. Since the amp still sounded great at any volume level, I just learned to deal with the annoying issue, and got put on the back burner for a long time.
I realized the most logical course was to just ship it to Mesa and let them handle it. Over the years I would occasionally browse around for a used head shell or rack mount kit, but they don't come up for sale often & go quickly when they do. Finally I came to the conclusion that I needed to get this dealt with, before Mike B retires. I called them on the first business day of this year to inquire about getting a factory head shell, they said it would be $500 + shipping, but they wouldn't be able to take orders for another 8 weeks, then it would be another 8 weeks still for delivery of the head shell. I had wanted to convert the combo to a head anyhow, and two-way shipping of the amp would be cheaper that way.
I posted a WTB ad on Rig-Talk hoping someone had a used one for sale, and I got a response from forum member: Metalone72 who came highly recommended by a few other members. After a short exchange and seeing photos of his work, I ordered my head shell from him, with a few custom options and upgrades, for just over $400 + shipping. I had the head shell in hand and installed Feb 7, extremely satisfied with the end result. I know it looks nice in the photos, but the level of workmanship & attention to detail really can't be praised enough.
A month later I finally called Mesa back again, ready to get my amp in good working order. I've called them a few times over the years and always got a guy named Rich on the phone, who was extremely friendly and helpful. As far as I'm aware, it's the same Rich Duvall who helped me this time around. He's very knowledgeable, thorough, and to the point. He was able to answer all of my questions about shipping my amp to them, what their repair/service process would look like, and had no problems giving me a rough cost estimate for what the amp likely needed. I was told to expect a cost of around $300-400, 6-8 weeks for Mike B to get started, then about a week to complete the repairs and ship it back to me. I sent the amp out the following day, which cost me $140, and had me a little nervous as it's one of the few pieces of gear I'm attached to.
Right on schedule, I heard from Mike B. He's legendary in the business for a reason. We had a couple days worth of exchanged where I explained exactly what I wanted, beyond the obvious repair; which was properly fit the reverb tank which wasn't exactly a direct fit from the combo conversion, and address anything he thought should be, so I could enjoy the amp for a few more decades. He made a few recommendations, which I gladly agreed to. Here's the synopsis of what was done.
Mike Bendinelli:
Gave it a general clean up including the pots, pull switches, jacks, EQ sliders, preamp tube pins and sockets, and cleaned up some previous repair work where an orange drop cap had failed. He also replaced all the electrolytic caps, numerous resistors as needed, performed the reverb glitch update, added screen resistors for the Class A power tube sockets and grid isolation resistors to the A/B sockets, cleaned the rotted foam out of the reverb tank and fixed all the connectors, jacks, and plugs, and added the steel shield cover plate. Lastly, he gave it a burn in and test with a bench set of power tubes, and swapped around the preamp tubes for best results. The total cost is $391.24 including parts, labor, shipping, and tax
I got the amp back last week while we were out of town. After we returned, I unboxed it and plugged it in briefly to test it out & all seemed fine with it. I was caught up with work for the next few days, and finally this morning got to plug in and play it for a couple of hours, turned up to a moderate window rattling volume. It was just as glorious as I'd expected, my dessert island amp is fully functional for the first time in many years. It sounded great with my Thornbucker loaded eclipse & graphic EQ off, and equally fantastic with my JB/59 loaded charvel with the EQ engaged. I should have done this years ago.
The final cost ended up being $405 with shipping included, which I think was very reasonable. The amp was packed professionally, with a couple of notes included. Here's the timeline, that I made notes of during the whole process.
- Called 3/27 at 4:40 pm
- Call returned by Rich Duvall at 5:45 pm
- Email sent at 5:50 pm, per Rich’s request
- Shipped out on 3/28 ($141)
- Delivered on 4/2
- Confirmed delivery with Rich via email 4/8
- Email update & exchange w/ Mike B 5/14
- Office email confirming address & repairs complete; $391 with shipping 5/15
- Invoice sent & paid; $405 5/16
- UPS shipping notification 5/21
- Amp delivered 5/29
- Tested briefly at low volume 5/31
- Tested for two hours at moderate volume 6/4
Since all threads are useless without pics...
