Get an “OV-Glove” or similar method of hand protection (leather gloves, a rag, etc.) to grab the hot tube with.
Do NOT use your bare skin as the tubes will be very HOT!
After the Tube Cage has been removed and the tubes are accessible, push up the spring steel Tube Clamp(s)
and gently rock the faulty tube back and forth slightly while pulling it down and out of its socket, noticing the
orientation of the 9 pins (on the smaller EL84s) in the Badlander 25 and the gap between them in the circular
pattern, or the tube guide (raised bump) on the plastic piece in the center of the tube’s base (6L6/EL34s in the
Badlander 50 and 100) When it’s time to install a new tube you will need to line up the pins or plastic guide
according to the gap (or slot in Octal Tube Sockets) in the tube sockets mounted in the chassis.
Gently and slowly, install a new tube of the same type and color rating (preferably matched MESA Tubes) as
the one(s) removed if possible. Make sure to line up the gap in the tube’s pins (or plastic guide bump with the
slot in the tube socket’s center hole). Make sure the tube is seated completely in the tube socket and that the
tube filaments light up.
NOTE:
With the POWER switched ON, if the tube’s center does not light up/is glowing orange, check the tube’s
orientation in relation to the gap in the Pins (or guide slot in the tube socket Badlander 50/100) and that it is
seated firmly and completely into the socket.
Flip the POWER switch to ON and wait at least 30 seconds.
While watching the rear of the amplifier - and specifically the (replaced) power tubes again - flip the STANDBY
switch to ON.
If you do not see any unusual flashes or brightly glowing (red hot) metal in the center of any of the tubes, you
have remedied the issues and are ready to play.
If you see a flash or the center of the tube glowing bright red in the center of the metal inside the glass, repeat
the steps in this troubleshooting section again using another/different power tube(s). If that does not remedy
the problem, the faulty tube(s) may have burned a resistor, and it will need to be replaced by a Service Techni-
cian. The latter is pretty rare, and most tube issues, if caught in time, can be remedied with this troubleshooting
procedure and a couple of “known good” tubes.
REAR PANEL
SPEAKER OUTPUTS
One 8 Ohm and two 4 Ohm jacks are provided for speaker interfacing. The Badlander is not very sensitive to
speaker mismatches and will not be damaged by them, except that very low impedance loads such as 2 Ohms
will cause the power tubes to wear faster and put undue stress on the output transformer and therefore are
not recommended.
A single twelve-inch 8 Ohm speaker, such as in the Combo, should be connected to the 8 Ohm output. When
using two 8 Ohm speakers, connect them both individually to the 4 Ohm outputs provided (because the total
load is 4 Ohms in this case.) Check out the information further back in this manual regarding speaker imped-
ance and possible speaker hook-up schemes.
4x12 cabinets may be 4, 8, or 16 Ohms. If you are not sure of the impedance of your cabinet, you may need to
remove the Rear Panel in order to verify the impedance rating of the individual speakers. MESA/Boogie 4x12
and 4x10 cabinets come wired to 8 Ohms standard and are wired in series-parallel. Some Non-MESA 4x12 cabi-
nets are wired 16 Ohms using four 16 Ohm speakers. By wiring all four speakers in parallel, you can reduce the
cabinet to an impedance load of 4 Ohms (assuming the speakers are 16 Ohms each.) No matter how unusual
your speaker setup is, it is always possible to get good performance.
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