Oops! QC? What QC?

[gktamps]

I recently bought this amp for a good price from the original owner who apparently never liked the way it sounded and wanted to unload it. Flubby bass, blocking distortion, low volume, and plenty of hum, not to mention the black scorch marks inside the head cabinet, led me right to the filter caps.

Here's what I found - one of the snap-in caps had been inserted reverse polarity into the board! You can see what happened to the cap. I wonder why the owner never sent it back for inspection and repair, and how long it took for this cap to blast off?

I replaced all of the caps, upgrading them from 85C to 105C, which required lower mounting standoffs to clear the cabinet. Also replaced the resistors on the board and fired it up with no other problems.

After sharing my experiences with the maker of the amp, the customer service rep forwarded my emails to the amp department, who apparently were puzzled how it could happen. The CS rep offered to send me a set of tubes as a thank you for sharing the experience with them and fixing the amp myself, which I thought was a very nice offer.

The tubes were never shipped to me, by the way. The CS rep said they were shipped when they weren't, then a few weeks later, said they would be shipped but they weren't. I think the intention was there, but it sounds like the same QC and follow-through issues that produced this amp are probably in effect throughout this department.

The amp sounds good, with no problems. It isn't as good as what gets built by forum members here, nor as good as what I've built with help from you folks, but not a bad amp.

Cheers,

Greg

[matt h]

(deleted)

[Phil_S]

LOL, I once had some problem with an amp related purchase where the seller and owner of the company promised to send me something of value. That never arrived either, though he did address the problem very directly. You can't believe everything you are told. Is still have the emails. You shouldn't promise and not deliver. People remember that kind of thing.

[stelligan]

Great story with a semi-happy ending?

I used to live in Kansas City. The huge Musicians Friend warehouse was there and I loved going through the piles of merchandise that would come back "broken". They rarely took time to troubleshoot and fix the returns back then(before money got tight). I got tons of gear for next to nothing. PA speakers where the only thing wrong were spade connectors that had fallen off. Got a brand spanking new tweed Fender Blues Deluxe for $100. Intermittant with loud cracking noise. Took back off, turned the lights out and looked for arcing. Voila - One ribbon cable was inserted into board and never soldered.... Once soldered the amp still sounded lake bassy ass, but netted me more scrounging money.

Yup - QC sucks these days. Great you were able to benefit from it!

[Reeltarded]

hah

pop goes the retail..

[gktamps]

Heh. It's built in the US by a very well known company known for premium products (guitars originally), so it's been a surprising experience all around.

Stelligan - wish I lived near a warehouse like that!

[Reeltarded]

a local family owned music store who does school rentals asked if I would be interested in buying damaged stringed instruments that had collected into a certain mass over many years.

When I got upstairs I found 200 cellos and 1200 violins. Enough to warm a large house for a whole season.

[gktamps]

Oh man!

Bet there weren't any Les Pauls in that pile...

[Reeltarded]

No, but in Atlanta I found a 1970 goldtop unopened in 1988 or so and around a year later found an unopened 1967 blonde telecaster with a bigsby to add to the unsold 1963 strat I found the week before.. ten minutes from the Arlington show. And that is how you (used to be able to) do it.

[stelligan]

The good old days before the interwebs..... sigh...

[Reeltarded]

That strat is the only example I know that proves the knobs came with a cellophane wrap, something unremembered and not documented anywhere.