Inconsistent performance

[Road King]

Hey all,

Bought a Mesa Rectoverb last week. Installed some substitubes w/ EL84's to replace the 6L6's to lower the wattage from 50 to 22 watts. Cool Brit vibe from the amp now. Then, with the advice from others here at the forum, I replaced the V1 preamp (12AX7) with a lower output tube (12AT7) to reduce the fuzz in the copius amount of gain in this amp. Again, a great improvement in the overall sound of the amp. Rehearsed Saturday night with the new and improved Mesa, and it sounded very good. Sunday morning it sounded dull and lifeless. Like it wasn't getting enough juice to get it up and going. Any ideas what could be causing this? Is there anything I can add to the power section of the amp to make this a more consistent sounding amp? A power conditioner or something like that. You guys have been so great with your advice the past few months, I'm hoping ya'll can help with this too.

Thanks,

Brad

[Ray K.]

Brad,

Good one!

I can't think of much, equipment wise, off hand. Seriously, could it have been your ears? Were you/they tired from the previous nights rehearsal? Also, I'm assuming you rehearsed in the same place as Sunday morning and were using the same guitar (set of strings, too). Are you hearing your amp only or using a monitor system?

Sorry for the fifty million questions. I'm just trying to get a feel for what might have changed in your situation.

I will add, that because of "dirty power" where I play, I do use a power conditioner. Unless you are getting noise, either EMI or RFI, in your system, I don't think this will cure your problem.

But to relate, I complimented our sound crew on how great our monitor system (Aviom, IEM's) sounded at last Wednesday nights rehearsal. They had done some re-patching at FOH, and it was the best it has ever sounded. Told them I hoped it would sound as good Sunday morning, since things seem to "mysteriously" change by Sunday morning, though supposedly nothing has been touched. I was assured all would be fine.

Got there early Sunday for final rehearsal. Monitors were sounding great...until about half way into the song. Suddenly I couldn't hear myself. I'm wireless, so I walk back to FOH and let them know. Nothing has been changed, I'm told. I thank them and head back up on stage. I start my pre-flight check, which I should have done already, and the first cable I touch on my pedalboard...just lightly touch, and there was my signal in the monitors. No snap/crackle/pop!

Oh, and a few weeks prior, I lost monitors. Kept running back and forth to FOH. Finally figured out the battery in my body pack for my IEM's was dying. Yep, I'd tried to "cheap out" and use a battery that still showed a decent voltage reading. Usually, I reserve those for rehearsals and put in fresh ones before playing live.

The reason I'm telling you all of this, is to remind you (and me) that most of the time it is something right under your nose, so to speak. It will be the most simple, easily overlooked thing that will make all the difference. :)

Try checking your tubes, just in case. Swap them out with another set to make sure you didn't get hold of a bad one.

Good luck,
Ray K.

[tom]

i have often though my tone was dry and harsh on sunday morning after haveing a great tone saturday night. i have always written it off to early morning ears. it's usually fine after rehearsal though. has the amp warmed up nicely before you start?

[kurt1981]

I'd agree with the possibility of power funkiness, though if you're in the same place it's kind of weird. I know the church I play has some serious issues with that, and my rig sounds different almost daily!! Maybe cleaning out the tube sockets in the mesa, seems kind of unrelated, but you never know.
Any further details may help us, were there more people in the building Sunday? That can do a lot too, packed house versus no one there.
Kurt

[John Price]

Do you have the Mesa Solo Rectoverb 50 combo? I thought that amp can only use 6L6's or EL34's...? I know that some users had problems when using it in the EL34 mode....You might want to put the 6L6's back in it and see if it's performing OK!....... I also experience power level problems in many venues that I perform on a weekly basis! Some nights it will sound great and then others it could be very dull and saggy!.... I have a Lonestar that you can reduce the power from 100/50/10 in class A. And when I'm playing in a very small room I will use the 10 watts setting and it performs great. But when I go to a bigger room, that 10 watts starts to get lost so I just switch it up to a higher setting. did you crank it a little more than usual?......

JP

[Road King]

testing, testing

[Road King]

Ok, it works again. I've been trying to reply for two days.

Things that were different.

Battery in H20 was a tad older. But I took it out of the picture and ran direct after a few minutes. Helped but not cured the situation.
There were about 70 more people in the building.
The AC was cranked up, whereas at rehearsal it was fairly warm in the room.
More of the overhead giant gymnasium style flourescent lights were on.
We were absolutely tired on Sat. nite. Two teardowns and setups that day because we played an outdoor show that afternoon before returning for rehearsal. Brought everything home to go over it this week. Wed is acoustic set nite so I have until Sat. before next practice.
On the tubes, I contacted Mesa and Groove Tubes prior to the changes to make sure they were good with all this and the manner (Bias) settings I should use.

Thanks

Brad

[Ray K.]

We were absolutely tired on Sat. nite. Two teardowns and setups that day because we played an outdoor show that afternoon before returning for rehearsal.
Brad,

Welcome back... :D

I really believe this is what caused your "problem."

Some of the other things you mentioned might been a smaller sum of the parts.

Ray K.