[Gil Schwartzman]

Well, i've been searching for this amp for months. Imagine how excited I was to find it on ebay. I put it all on the line, I bid my ass off to make sure I would absolutely have this amp.

It came today, naturally I was excited. Until I opened it up to this...

Well, I was pissed, but hey, its only cosmetic right. So, I hook it up, praying that they didn't kill the innards. Fire it up, wait for it to warm up, and put on some tunes. I am only getting audio in the left. I unplug the left, and I actually am getting audio, but very very quiet. Plug in the left again, left audio seems fine. Tried all three inputs and both headphone jacks, no dice.

Right now... I don't know what to do. It was insured, but hell, even is USPS writes me a $600 check, that wont replace the amp if I cannot find another one. Likewise, no one is repairing them right now that I can find, so I can't just send it away and give USPS the repair bill.

I don't even have the proper screwdriver to open this damn thing up and see if I can see what the problem is.

Ideas?

 

[Computerpro3]

Does your amp have a monitor switch on the right side? I know the gold does but I'm not sure if a non-gold does. If it does, flip it and see what happens.

Other than that, there is a possibility that the right channel tube is shot or jarred loose. If the tubes were shipped in the amp that'd be my guess. As far as physical damage to the innards of the amp, the tubes are 99% the problem. They are by far the most easily damaged.

The damage does suck, but that faceplate can be replaced. It is a royal pain in the ass but I've done it twice. There are plenty of dead Melos' out there that someone would let go of a faceplate from for cheap or free.

I can't even imagine how upset you must be right now. I don't know what I'd do without my Melos.

 

[Gil Schwartzman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Computerpro3 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does your amp have a monitor switch on the right side? I know the gold does but I'm not sure if a non-gold does. If it does, flip it and see what happens. Other than that, there is a possibility that the right channel tube is shot or jarred loose. If the tubes were shipped in the amp that'd be my guess. As far as physical damage to the innards of the amp, the tubes are 99% the problem. They are by far the most easily damaged. The damage does suck, but that faceplate can be replaced. It is a royal pain in the ass but I've done it twice. There are plenty of dead Melos' out there that someone would let go of a faceplate from for cheap or free. I can't even imagine how upset you must be right now. I don't know what I'd do without my Melos.

Yeah, it was the tubes. Thankfully, they were just loose. I sort of had a brain fart searching for a screw driver to open this, and then kicked myself when i realized it was an allan wrench. So, its working now... its just not as nice looking right now.

How much effort is involved in replacing the front panel. do all the switches and whatnot have to be resoldered?

 

[Dimitris]

Look at the bright side. You might end up with a $600 check and a Melos that can be repaired for $30.

 

[Gil Schwartzman]

Also, I found this curious... there is puddy crap all over everything. At first i looked like it was just for wire clean up, but its on several components. Something to be concerned about? I've never seen it on any other Melos.

 

[MrSlacker]

I was going to post that it is probably the tubes because Jahn had that problem a few times with his Melos, but since you said you couldnt open it, that advice would be pointless. Front plate should not be THAT hard to take off..

good luck with your new toy and DO file a claim with USPS

 

[Gil Schwartzman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSlacker /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was going to post that it is probably the tubes because Jahn had that problem a few times with his Melos, but since you said you couldnt open it, that advice would be pointless. Front plate should not be THAT hard to take off.. good luck with your new toy and DO file a claim with USPS

I plan to... I just don't know what it a fair amount to seek. Given that it could be a bit of effort to even find a dead one, buy the faceplate, and then replace it... I would think they should compensate me a fair bit... but I doubt USPS will agree.

 

[Jahn]

i'm glad you have it working - USPS definitely dropped it on its corner, but the owner definitely didn't package it well enough either. I'm glad it was just a loose tube tho!

and that putty stuff? who knows, it kinda looks like it's just trying to keep cables looking clean, but what's up with it gunking up the power jack and plugs inside? ugly - but doesn't affect the sound, so again close the top and do a memory wipe, hehe.

finally, congrats! Melos, she sound good? and get satisfaction from USPS for that bent front cover!

 

[Gil Schwartzman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn /img/forum/go_quote.gif i'm glad you have it working - USPS definitely dropped it on its corner, but the owner definitely didn't package it well enough either. I'm glad it was just a loose tube tho! and that putty stuff? who knows, it kinda looks like it's just trying to keep cables looking clean, but what's up with it gunking up the power jack and plugs inside? ugly - but doesn't affect the sound, so again close the top and do a memory wipe, hehe. finally, congrats! Melos, she sound good? and get satisfaction from USPS for that bent front cover!

What I found odd is the packaging looked ok. This thing would be tough to bend like there, and there is nothing on the packaging that looks like it was dropped. As far as packing goes, it came in the original Melos packing.

As far as the puffy crap goes, that was mg biggest curiosity too... why is it on the power jack, volume knob, and all the other crap its on. Doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose there... but as long as its not hurting anything.

Oh, and, it sounds WONDERFUL. I need to do some research now, find out what tubes I should be rolling.

 

[MrSlacker]

Claim USPS for full insured amount.

 

[Gil Schwartzman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSlacker /img/forum/go_quote.gif Claim USPS for full insured amount.

You think they will give me the full value for a bit of cosmetic damage, repairable or not?

 

[Killercrush]

Oh my damn ! I just received my Melos too and it was godly packaged by the original owner with bubbles to booth. I'm really sorry that this had to happen to you ! About that white putty stuff, I don't have much of it in my SHA-1... only beneath the FETs chips, not all over everything. Tube rolling... stay clear from 6dj8's, I would suggest you stick with PCC88's and 7308's, maybe some 6922's too ( bit less life than the latter ), the Melos is a tube eater !!!

 

[immtbiker]

If you don't see any physical damage on the box (I know it comes with 2 pieces of sturdy styrofoam so it does not sit near the box anywhere), how do you know it was not sent out that way, by the seller?

 

[robm321]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Computerpro3 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does your amp have a monitor switch on the right side? I know the gold does but I'm not sure if a non-gold does. If it does, flip it and see what happens.

IIRC, my SHA-1 does not have a monitor switch.

 

[Gil Schwartzman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you don't see any physical damage on the box (I know it comes with 2 pieces of sturdy styrofoam so it does not sit near the box anywhere), how do you know it was not sent out that way, by the seller?

Well, It was not damaged in the ebay pictures, and it is the same serial number. So while its possible they were old pictures, I doubt also. Also, he seems as genuinely distraught about it as I am. He's just spend the afternoon on the phone with USPS trying to help me figure this out, has mailed me his receipt, and even offered to partially refund me for the trouble, which I declined. Also, on closer inspection, one corner of the box is torn, and the packing inside is mashed up... I missed that before. You can see here evidence that suggests it was dropped: