[jaywills]

Good morning, I'm looking for a bit of advice from the knowledgeable.  I've got an old Melos SHA Gold Reference "Maestro" that's getting a bit long in the tooth.  Has sounded great over the years, but it's beginning to develop a few quirks.  Does anyone know any place that holds themselves out as doing reliable Melos repair/evaluation.  I've read that the original designer was supposed to be getting back in the business, but that appears to be dead in the water right now.  I'm in Arkansas, but do not mind shipping the unit.  Any ideas/pointers (other than "get a new preamp") greatly appreciated.  Thanks.  Cordially,

[kenreau]

Sorry, I don't have his current contact info, but you may find it on a google search.  There was(is?) a guy in Las Vegas that was a former tech for Melos that continued on doing repairs after they were closed down.  He had the schematics and knew their various quirks. 

I had the exact same Maestro Gold preamp and had him go through it about 8 years ago and then sold it.  A common problem is the photeniometer volume control goes out. It appeared to be a great concept, but poorly executed.  The repair tech replaced it with an Alps volume pot.  That, plus a hand full of out of spec. resistors and caps and it was good to go.  You may find the parts, labor & shipping cost you as much, or more than the unit is worth.  With Melos out of business now for ~10 years, it is something to contemplate.

Best of luck
Kenreau

[jaywills]

Thanks.  Oddly, I may have your old one.  Poteniometer on mine has been replaced with an ALPs pot.  I got mine from a seller in Canada about six years ago.  Has a huge, honkin cap right next to the transformer, if that rings a bell.  Would be a funny coincidence.  Cordially,

[doug s.]

wil guering, the proprietor of mar in las vegas passed away a coupla years back, unfortunately.  but, i would definitely recommend getting it fixed; it's a killer preamp, imo, and i don't know anything that would compete at its price.  you may wanna check w/gary dodd of dodd audio, who is active on this forum.  he knows a bit about the melos gear.  i'd also check w/these folks:
http://www.musictechnology.com/
and, if enough folks bug mark porzilli, he might speed up his plans to open a melos resto/mod service...
mark@novaphysicsgroup.com
http://novaphysicsgroup.com/

oh, fyi, the maestro came stock w/the alps pots - it was melos' finally giving up on the sonically superior but problematic photentiometer pot...

doug s.