Ahab SLAYS the Mesa-Boogie Leviathan Once and For All! (PART 4 FINALE!) 

Anybody who's worked on anything electronic has had repairs like this. I applaud your humility in posting this. One of the things I like best about your videos is that you don't always get it right the first time, and you leave your mistakes in. That gives hope to the rest of us.

legend has it the amp is still running away ever after it was completely taken apart..

"Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering Mesa-Boogie; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Ye damned amp."- A-Brad

In this unfortunate work of non-fiction, we see a man's slow descent into madness.

You’ve exposed some awful truths about today’s gear Brad and every musician should pay attention. Here’s the problem - Tubes are really really hot. PCBs hate really hot. Mesa (and others too no doubt) is/are trying to defy the laws of the universe by cramming 10x more shit that all hates hot, directly over a bunch of very hot vacuum tubes, and then restrict the cooling even more by putting it all in an insulated wooden box that’s half the size it should be. Worse, they’ve created a monster that no human can really troubleshoot or repair without spending hours in disassembly/reassembly between testing procedures. So really- it’s a disposable product. The cost of diagnosis is always going to exceed the value of the product as soon as it’s out of warranty. Well - That’s bullshit. If a manufacturer really wants to build the International Space Station inside what should be a very simple tube amp, what they should do is what the auto industry has done. Provide a diagnostic port and a way for the device to generate error codes, then break up the main board into chunks, each sealed in epoxy so they can’t be reverse-engineered - and make it modular. If you get code 0000101 - you unplug module B and put in a new one. It costs the owner $500 for each module but tough shit- if you really need a 112 TUBE combo with 15 switchable levels of gain and 4 channels of assignable EQ and 7 different routable signal paths and midi and all the other shit they cram in that nobody playing a bar gig ever utilizes.... then there you go. It would still cost north of $2K but at least it would be serviceable. It’s not just amplifiers- my in-laws had a $6500 refrigerator with all the IoT bullshit - yes it let you know when the milk was getting old. But then one foggy Xmas eve a lightning strike happened 100 yds from their house and despite having arresters in their circuit panel - it fried everything electronic in the house. I watched as half a dozen techs came and went trying to make that refrigerator work - they replaced every component in the thing before it was over and the company finally gave up and shipped them a new one. Luckily insurance covered all of that but it was exactly the same cluster as your Mesa amp. Something relatively simple being overly complicated with bells/whistles and no easy way to repair it. End of rant - keep doing what you’re doing!

I’m an old aircraft mechanic - retired, you do more real world troubleshooting than anyone I’ve come across. Regarding Mesa - marketing A++. Beyond that fact, less is more.

Beautiful work of art Brad , the Ahab analogy was perfectly realised and conversely I now understand Melville's tale better! I have thoroughly enjoyed the dramatic series of videos about that arguably badly designed amp and the ending was perfect , not a patsy Hollywood ending but a real life one where we all learn something valuable. From the Nemesis of ancient Greece to Job's tribulations or the labours of Hercules , to the trials of our everyday jobs , c'est la vie!

"If this turns out to be a fuckin' phase inverter tube, I'm gonna puke" lol pure gold Brad

WOW Bro. Best RU-vid video I've ever seen thank you for dealing with just reality! I felt every emotion you were going through because I have been exactly there myself. But truly from a filmmaking point of view that was amazing, I felt every uppercut that connected with your jaw. And every swing that missed. You are truly as good of a filmmaker As You Are a guitarist. And that is no insult! This Saga also reminded me of the movie "The Old Man and the Sea"

Dude, you're amazing! I love the honesty. I'm a Lineman and I've had monsters like this in my 25 years. No one retires un-beaten. I like to drive out to the middle of nowhere and scream.

I love watching your channel for this sort of thing. I give you a ton of credit for not only thinking through your issues but vocalizing them to a camera and then posting it to the 'tube. Watching your thought process is enlightening.

This was thoroughly entertaining and instructive! I have a DC-3 and really like it, though I did need to cool down the bias (resistors) to stop the red plating. Eurotubes knows this problem, and sells matched JJ EL84s running on the "coolest" end of the spectrum.

I must say I'm not a tech but I really enjoyed all the videos on this Mesa Boogie

I’ve been an Electronics tech since 1975. I had my ass kicked on several occasions by different circuits I’ve worked on. And remember the frustration that went with not being able to find the problem. There was a Friday night after work, years ago that me and a few other techs even took a board that we had all troubleshot and failed at repairing to a bar. We put it on the table we were at and took turns yelling obscenities at it. Unfortunately, it still didn’t work when Monday came. 😉 We’ve all been there.

Well, it was an interesting journey and I shared your frustration. I think we all have repairs like that. My one major failure still sits under my bench daring me to try again. Maybe I should dismantle it as you've done. At least you can now forget it and move on, or check out that pcb in detail. In any case, well done, you gave it more than any man could.

With over 50 years fixing stuff like this, I feel your pain. If you're up for one more round, I would offer these few tips that may help you slay the beast. At the end of this vid your were on a track down the PS section. As ALL 3 sources came from the same main supply. You could start suppling the isolated C node load with an external bench supply to see if this stays stable in the amp. Then the B node and finally the A node. As the A node supply determine the performance of the B and C nodes, I would spend some time looking at the PS. I have seen many devices defy repair that turned out to be ether a PS componet failure and/or a soft ground failure. I wouldn't assume the transformer without testing it removed from the PS components. These steps wouldn't take much more of your time. And wouldn't it great if YOU were the one guy that MASTERED the Boogie Amp Beast? Hum?

Your comments at the end are the best. And i wouldn't take any shit from the trolls either. The last scene with the amp disassembled and the sound of the birds and ocean were great. LOVE your channel and always learn something and get entertainment as well. Kudo's !! Oh and you did the world a great service by taking that damn amp apart so it will never torture another human again. Thank you !

That rant is the reason I subscribed. Too many things are sugar coated these days because everyone is so sensitive. When you're right, tell it like it is. Because you were right! Thanks for the series of videos on this amp. Good stuff!

Well, what an absolute bastard of a problem. I can only salute you for your determination. I guess the Moby Dick analogy is just about perfect, lol. Fascinating video and learned more from this than many of your vids with quickly located issues. Thanks dude!

What we have here is an interesting case study in psychiatry more than anything else, watching the slow unravelling of a man's mind in the face of overwhelming adversity. The crushing of his already fragile ego. The feelings of victimhood and persecution. Captain Ahab is a very well chosen analogy indeed. Still, he'll probably recover once the source of his anguish is removed, and once he stops smoking so much pot! That was comedy. I love Brad the Guitologist!

Lmfao great rant near the end. It beat you and now it's yours. It would be interesting to cut everything off the board and throw a few hundred volts onto some traces to test for conductance. Good video and uncut honesty is the way to go!

You are a blast to listen to!! Thank you!! I laughed more at your tone and vocal style than I do at most comedians!! I mean it! THANK YOU!!! I'm subscribing!! Love your style! To be clear I'm laughing with you :)

I notice that you didn't bang on the sides Brad that may have been the problem, here's what I like about your video's, Your truthful and that goes along way with most folks.

Thanks for the honesty Brad. You've just got to laugh sometimes. This makes me so appreciative that I dumped my Mesa Mark III way back in 1995 and have been a vintage Fender amp guy ever since. I even learned how to repair those myself because they are so simple. That is why I watch your channel because I will never have the knowledge to attack the Leviathan and I'm curious how the pros go about doing it.

Set up a go fund me page for the cost of the transformer, we all want to see it fixed 🤣

Hey Brad...2 years on. I'm curious of of the final destiny of this amp...But cheer up! Help is on the way.They are now Mesa owned by GIBSON! As the saying goes, " I didn't think it could get any worse!"

Used to have the 20 watt version of this. After watching this series, I'm glad the damn thing got stolen.

I have had these types of repairs that drove me crazy. I keep going back to the zener diode in the low voltage supply. Watching your vids helps me to say no to certain amps that come my way.

We’ll see if the devil is done with you when we see how ‘vintage’ that Ampeg he sends you is. I just spent two months restoring a 1964 M15 with much time dedicated to picking through the fifty-four-year-old dried out Satan’s snot encasing every single wire bundle and component. All I got was a sweet amp and an addiction to sniffing mineral spirits…

Brad. I love this amp. I love it because its provided me with an EPIC amount of content! You sir are a trooper!

"I´m gonna eat this transformer" Well, Bon appetit then :-)

The seagull sounds at the end as we pan in close, that’s freaking gold.

Call me Ishmael... epic ending, Captain Brahab!

*Mesa Boogie... the heart of toneless and soulless sound. I had a Mark IIb years ago, and was able to sell it and use the money to buy my 65 Vibrolux!*

Well, you' ve might have fallen as 'the great amp rebuilder' but you've raised your star as an art director. The ending with those seagulls backing that shot over the 'disintegrated' :P board; i think i've just seen the best peace of art-house in a long time! By the way, tonight i learned a thing or 2 about output xformers and impedance. Btw did you rant? Where??? ;) I mean i really dig your quest and letting us take part. Really enjoyable and instructional.Keep it up!

Man, I understand your frustration!!! I'm not an amp repair guy but I know the feeling of, after trying everything, putting your hands on your head and wondering "What ELSE could it be?!".

Part V: Brad suspects the variac Part VI: Variac vindicated - Wall socket under scrutiny to be continued :) Taking on that repair was a true Moby Dick-move, ey? However ... two things: a) you need some trustworthy gadgets that can simulate transformers and b) expect a xmas-sock in your PayPal-mantelpiece for the output trafo. Good show, despite the ending.

I value your work and effort to try to sort it out the voltage drop problem . You have been follow everything through the schematics and looking closer to the PCB's itself . The only thing I can say is that is not a lack of knowledge , I've watched the 4 videos and I can tell that I would trust you repairing my amps without a doubt . I believe that you were really close to it ... maybe the power trans !? Thanks a lot for the endure workshop .

I thought for a moment there, after doing the end view of the parts you were going to say... "Oh wait, I can see a burnt component... you've got to be kidding me!!".

Epic series! Thanks for posting and being so candid. I've had years of electronic troubleshooting experience and I can relate to your journey to hell and back. I was rooting for you the entire time. I'm new to audio amps so watching you work through logic trains was very educational for me. I love the ease of access and resiliency of eyelet boards and tube sockets mounted directed to chassis. When I saw you staring down that over-sized PCB and wrestling it out of the chassis I was cursing too! Keep up the good work. Between you and Uncle Doug, I've getting a great education!

Strange, I'm gonna miss that DC3. I owned one for a year, it was a crap sounding amp. BUT I've really enjoyed watching Brad's work on it and was really hoping he would eventually fix it. Merry Christmas Brad and thanks for all the entertainment this past year.

I get it - I use to work on Aircraft avionics in old days when things where all tubes or mixed tubes/transistors and early solid state, and that's how you trouble shoot - the way you did on this amp. That's still pretty much how I do all my OWN repair & troubleshooting GOOD LUCK and LOVE the SPF's

squealing is not due to mismatched impedance, but most likely you flipped the polarity and turned negative feedback into positive feedback loop. I would try to flip either the primary or the secondary. Tubes are not that sensitive to impedance and will work in most cases +-50% of the spec'd values.

I watch all parts of this series with this amp I want to thank you for showing what you did and being honest and hope you continue doing what your doing on RU-vid

Old Man and the Mesa... \m/

I love your ending. If you replay the part where the whale dives as Ahab spears the whale you can hear the whale gasp. "you're over acting, I'm not really an evil whale"

Slowly descending into madness, som men in white coats will come to get you and put you in a room with padded walls where you can bang your head and slowly whisper to your self - ”it’s running away... it’s running away”.

Hi, Your channel has been very helpful for me, I've been fighting with a Roadster for 2 weeks on and off (as you do) another tech had it for a year b4 me and destroyed most of the evidence, and the pcb! Just fixed it (fingers crossed). I've been been building and fixing tube/valve amps for 45 years, so I feel your pain on this one. I have a habit, personally, of redesigning things I can't fix. The obvious culprit in your amp here has to be the high ohm resistors on the grids of the output valves going down to ground, I can't imagine what else would have caused your problem. sorry I didn't see your post 2 years ago, I'm sure I could have helped. Anyway, Great stuff! Please keep posting. Cheers. Mike

you can get a transformer rewound. i use guys that re-wind motors, an output transformer is easy compared to most motors, and for a reasonable fee they'll rewind to original, or better specs.

I've watched all Episodes like if it was a movie with drama and great humour !!.................Awesome !! !!

"He heaps me". My friend has a similar problem on an older Mesa bass amp. I'll let him know the fix.

Brad, This was one of the funnest tech videos I have ever watched! I have worked on all my own amps since I was a kid and know this frustration very well. I want to congratulate you on leaving the 'reality' in your videos - it's my favorite part - watching you work through the problems. I have watched a bunch of them and I always learn something good. You're an awesome tech, man. Don't let this one amp get to you (yeah, I know it was in 2018, and it's 2020 now).

Take the chassis and build something cool! Point to point how you’d like it to be. Sad to see this struggle end, it’s been entertaining to watch. Ha ha. Cheers!

Cheers my friend! You are the man! I'm no technician at all (i just love to try new things) and i'm a guitar player. But I've learn a lot from this 4 videos. Keep up the good work!

That was a sad ending. I thought you'd come up with something and fix the amp. You should rebuild it for yourself. That's the only way to actually beat it.

You've the patience of a saint. If it was me it would have been chucked out the window long ago.

41:59 Brad takes up the Tuba

I play guitar and have owned several Marshall and Fender amps over the years but I know nothing about electronics. That said, I have followed the Saga of this Mesa amp all the way. This has been gripping. Interesting. Excellent videos. Well done. Thanks

OUTSTANDING!!! Without a doubt, one of your best! The over-engineered wank-fests, like this piece of foolishness, that are being sold, these days, defy all logic. Instead of looking at classic designs (Marshall Plexi, Fender Twin Reverb, etc., etc.), and emulating them, with *maybe* a few simple tweaks to make them a bit more user-friendly or tone-rich, the most recent generation of engineers (that have gotten themselves into positions of influence) insist on using every imaginable little morsel of the latest technology to produce amps that are 'just like a Plexi, 'cept better!' for the sake of trying to eliminate .5dB of noise...that nobody (except non-musician audiophile snobs) ever noticed or cared about! In the process, they concoct a beast that costs three times as much, and can't be serviced except by a team of Nobel Prize winners dancing naked around a fire at midnight under a full moon, using tools salvaged from the Roswell crash site! I only take solace in knowing that, by the time the *next* generation of incredibly stupid amp designs is born, I'll probably be dead! Dear Mesa Boogie....Get off my lawn!! :-)

I would have just thrown it out the window. you are the calmest person I've ever seen anywhere!

I know how you feel about the whole "parts changer" thing. I work in car restoration and all these B.S. shows have people very blindfolded about how long it takes to actually do that kind of job. Sure they'll finish a project in a couple of episodes, they don't acknowledge the fact that it took 2yrs to film, or they have a truckload of sponsors that keep them supplied with parts, or if you have to do metal work that anything aftermarket is made in China and never fits right which involves a lot of work just to get in on the car. Hmmmm, I'm rambling, I'll stop now sorry lol

Anyone who’s in the business of repairing things,no matter what it is, has run across something that has kicked their ass. I’ve been an HVAC tech for 23 years and I can count on one hand a few ball busters that made me question my goals in life😂 You’re a straight shooter Brad and a smart dude. Love your channel. God bless and have a Merry Christmas.

hey Brad I'd like to say first off I listen to all your videos I love them I happen to be legally blind at this point in my life but in the late sixties and early seventies I used to work on electronics with my dad was there was no digital back then I are going to build the heath kid stuff like that but anyway I get so much information out of you are videos not even being able to see them it's a shame for me that I'm not able to put a lot of what I learned from you to practical use I have to say also you have an amazing amount of patience and integrity to put this thing on the internet like you had mentioned in your little rant just curious if you ever get around to seeing this how many hours and labor did that cost you what did that take go and either way love you videos I watch him from beginning to end and of course if there's any misspelled words or anything weird no punctuation Etc it's because I'm legally blind and speech-to-text is not often that accurate thanks for your videos.

"Mesa Boogies have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat" - Bradley Churchill

what about the 1N4007 diodes?

What an epic, just been binge-watching this & got 8 minutes left. Have to say though, my thoughts with it narrowed to power trans/board is I'd get an ammeter between the rectifier and 400v tap and see if the amps went up as voltage went down. Guessing thats the next step though, as there's 8min left on the video. Thanks for sharing all this, it reminds me of a saying "if I have seen further than others, it is only because I was standing on a pile of my failures"

Had my money on the standby switch going high resistance

I like to see you show the reality of work that lots of people go through every day I’m a tool and die maker and we have the same frustrations every day .I have worked on electronics and do not have any electrical background and it makes me mad too !

NO OFFENCE INTENDED AT ALL BUT I WAS A TV TECH AND PROBLEMS LIKE THIS IS WHY I HAVE NO HAIR LEFT :p

Brad you’re the best! I’ve enjoyed this series. I look forward to you blowing this amp up in your driveway

Haven't you seen ' No time for Sergeants ' ? Andy Griffith just spits in thru the back and gives it a good wallop , works every time . HELLO

I have been following this series intently. It was like re-living my years as a computer tech. I once spent over a week trying to troubleshoot a POS PC that the customer refused to replace with an actual useable tower. Turned out to be a failed modem. There was no logical reason for that to fail the computer but it did. After I finally figured it out, I put the old modem card out in the street in front of the shop and watched with great satisfaction as cars and trucks turned it into dust. We've all been there.

One day you are really going to have to break down and get an oscilloscope. You have no clue whats going on with the grid bias other than DC. I have seen this kind of runaway fail over and over for 50 years. Uncle Doug and El Paso Tube Amps will tell you the same thing. The general layout of this amp is horrid, and may well lead to parasitic oscillations. You done very good at logic and method to work out what is causing the runaway... but at some point the combination of crap design and weird behavior will drive the necessity of seeing waveforms. Frankly, I like what you did to it... These are a bad design.. better off taken to useful parts than spreading the curse of arrogance and incompetence of the designers. I would have taken it to range... seeing bad stuff disassembled by velocity has its own rewards.

Brad, you have the patience of a Saint !!! But it is highly addictive watching and listening. Keep it up pal.

Brad I've got a problem with my Mesa-Boogie.................

It was definitely a conductive board or some HV leaking to ground. The clue that it was not the PT is when Brad put the amp in standby the bias voltage stabilized. So something down stream is pulling the B+ voltage down. The fact that it warms up before it occurs points to a conductive board and it’s leaking straight to ground.

Excellent existential zen ramblings. I shall call you grasshopper! You must now leave the temple!

I rearly commet on youtube, but you sir, are worthy! I love the channel man, starting to go into some repairs myself of old and crappy stuff, so I don't ruin good, expensive shit. I love your channel and how honest it is! Keep up the good work! Greeting from Norway.

Why wouldn’t you just send it to MESA Boogie??

I was rooting for ya! Thanks for showing everyone that we are all human. I don’t know jack about amps but I have a need to fix things and love learning. Keep up the great work!

For the love of God, Brad - be careful with those parts you've scavenged. For all we know this amp could be like James Dean's Porsche 550 Spyder!

Also if you suspected the board was getting conductive as it heated up you could have selectively freeze sprayed the area and looked for a reaction. Hard deal man. Good for you to show what we've all been through at one time or another (and probably more!). You dah man...

That fart at 41:50 sums up how I feel about Mesa amps. :-)

As an avionics technician I’ve had my share of frustration enough to hit the juice ...lol....thanks for your videos for they represent reality in real life electronic mayhem

Call a priest.

The last 5 mins are Guitologist gold man, i was in stitches.That Mesa really pissed you off eh? You were after taking heads 'parts changer? fuck you' lmfao. Brad Linsy ladies and gentlemen. Nice one Brad entertaining as ever.

Replace tue 4 rectifier Dioden. One is leaking and loading tue correct working power transformiert after Hearing up tue diode-

Those resistors across the PS caps are primarily for equalizing the voltage on the two caps. Series caps have higher voltage capability, assuming the voltage on each can be kept in range.

@34:32 Brad drops THE BROWN acid in 3....2....1.....

BEST FOOTBALL GAME EVER...you instead, on the big screen for my family...anything but football during holiday dinner

You reckon Boogie runs the tubes so hot to sell more tubes? Nice try fixing it.

Aaaand finally finished watching. I am a little disappointed that we didn't see current measurements from the ptx but fully understand your frustration (and the original owner's) and this is a fitting end to the thing. Even if you'd done that & pinpointed the issue, it was an economical total-loss at that point anyway & saving the parts might at least help save stuff worth saving. At least you got an epic series out of it, just wish I could double-like the video for the outro alone !

Personally, I think changing parts is a perfectly valid method of fixing a fault in a piece of electronic equipment, for one, if the fault is still present after the suspect part has been replaced, then at least you can rule-out that part as being the cause of the fault, fault-finding in a piece of electronic equipment is analogous to solving a mystery, once all the suspects have been eliminated, whatever is left has to have something to do with the fault.

It takes a real tech to be able to humor himself. Love it!

i erased all my sorta fun comments because i have a serious question. Now on a serious note. How can you justify charging a customer for building this out, building that out, changing this and changing that when i entire time your guessing at the problem, I mean it's clear from your own comments in the video you never had the problem pegged, i mean the way i see it this sounds much like a person taking a car to get it fixed due to it stalling every 5 miles, Then you say Well, i changed the transmission i changed the radio. i changed the fuel filter i checked the gas lines and it still won't run How about you do me a solid you let me keep you're car, let me off the hook...I'll fix you're next car. i mean am i really seeing and hearing what's going on here? This ins't how repair shops work in the real world. I could go on to attack your methods and lack of real amp repair equipment but i won't go there. I can't even say well maybe its just me, The way i see things. This is just out right wrong. Last... after this i would never give you any return work. the gentleman your dealing with must be very forgiving, I don't say that lightly, After listening to your views on life in past videos I don't believe for a minute you would let the next person off the way this guy let you off. I know i have no bearing on your life but you mite want to rethink the way you go about thing's. If i were the gentleman that owned this amp i would have each and every video copied and in hand as i was on my way to the courthouse to file for full and complete compensation from day one.. If all repair shops worked this way things would be out of control. This is why we have regulation. I watched this type of thing happen in backyards taking their car to Elroy down the street. whereas Elroy had no business working on the piece. Elroy just thought he was good enough because he changed a tire in the past!!

Brad, I dont comment much, but this three parter had me hooked, I love the channel, but as an electronics engineer of 30 years,and a guitar player, these are the ones that I love as I've lived this pain so many times. Heres my suggestion - take the chassis, and the original actual supposed selling points of this amp, and put your own guts inside to achieve that. It would be a fun project to watch.

No ISIS jokes this vid?

This is where it is nice to have another tech working in the same shop. As the saying goes two heads are better than one. If you get stumped on a repair you can compare thoughts with another technician. Having said that, I have worked on a lot of Boogie amps and I was Boogie certified. I can honestly say I never liked working on Boogies tube amps.

Hey Brad, if I'm only a manifestation of your ego, can you give me a better past, and more importantly a better future please? Because it's really been hell brother! Thanks in advance, Bob in Germany.... p.s. I took a nap and I'm still here... were you able to get on that for me, or should I take another nap?