What to do with a broken Markbass F1?

[joelb79]

Originally Posted by KJung

Hey Joel,

I noticed they have a special 'emergency repair' pop up on the website for those in the US needing a repair. I have no idea if it is staffed appropriately or whatever. Worth a try. The few people who have needed repairs recently on TB report satisfactory prices and repair times.

All the service centers I am dealing with are in the USA. One is in Detroit area. I'd be shipping it to them; but if the prices are as high as they say; its a paperweight. My only reason for fixing this amp is to sell it to fund the purchase of a Shuttlemax 9.2. If the cost to repair it is higher than the used sale price; this is a total no go to me. I'm debating a FS: thread for the dead head given my dealings with Peter and the VST network.. Price.. $FREE + shipping. Because if the board costs $280.. I'm throwing it in the dumpster.

[hover]

Surely you could use it to prop up a wobbly table with it, and with that small a footprint, I'd dare say you would rarely stub your toes.

[joelb79]

Originally Posted by hover

Surely you could use it to prop up a wobbly table with it, and with that small a footprint, I'd dare say you would rarely stub your toes.

Talking about a LMII head not the F1/F500 but the thread content is very much the same just a different older head. Since I'm homeless right now.. the dumpster option seems better.

[joelb79]

VST network has been pretty responsive. The new board will run $105 with the exchange of the old one, not including labor and shipping costs of the amplifier. without the exchange, a replacement board is much higher priced. Sadly, $105 + the above is going to be out of my price range; and selling a broken amplifier is pretty pointless. Still a paperweight for me. Used ones sell for $200-250 and we are approaching that price already with parts+labor.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by joelb79

VST network has been pretty responsive. The new board will run $105 with the exchange of the old one, not including labor and shipping costs of the amplifier. without the exchange, a replacement board is much higher priced. Sadly, $105 + the above is going to be out of my price range; and selling a broken amplifier is pretty pointless. Still a paperweight for me. Used ones sell for $200-250 and we are approaching that price already with parts+labor.

That sounds like a pretty reasonable price for repairing an out of warranty unit. Labor should be trivial since a board swap is a pretty easy thing.

If you are totally broke, that of course changes things, but seems pretty much in line with any other brands out of warranty repair. Luckily, these heads are so rock solid, that failure is a very rare situation. Of course, if you are one of the few that has a problem, it sucks, but that seems very reasonable to me.

[JimmyM]

And it's a darn sight better than prices of years past for board swaps in Markbass amps that I've seen. A couple years ago, dude got quoted over $400 to replace the motherboard in his LMII out of warranty. I don't think $105 is unreasonable.

Still, this is always going to be a dilemma with many micro amps...cost of repair vs cost of replacement.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

And it's a darn sight better than prices of years past for board swaps in Markbass amps that I've seen. A couple years ago, dude got quoted over $400 to replace the motherboard in his LMII out of warranty. I don't think $105 is unreasonable.

Still, this is always going to be a dilemma with many micro amps...cost of repair vs cost of replacement.

Again (and again, and again, and again) that $400 thing was a one off strange thing that happened a number of years ago due to the person taking the amp to a non-authorized repair center, not contacting the company first, etc., etc..

The repair costs of these heads seem pretty much in line with other topologies, and the US Markbass repair network seems to be up and running pretty nicely. The main point, you hear about very few problems with these, many of which are going on 5+ years of hard gigging

I agree with you though, when you can get a new one for $700 or whatever, it might or might not make sense to repair one that is 5 or 10 years old (especially if the new model is smaller, lighter and more power yet).

Given the large amount of product by Markbass out there, I do think they can still improve their service. They do have a 'panic' button on their website now for those who are having issues. I gave it a 'test run' yesterday (just asking about the repair network, etc.), since I'm a Markbass fan and this issue came up. Even though, like most EU companies, Markbass is still closed for the Holidays, I got a response within 4 hours. That felt pretty good.

[JimmyM]

So a board swap for an out of warranty amp that takes 5 minutes of labor should need to be run through the company first? And it should only be allowed to be done at authorized repair centers or the price should be insane? I thought the whole attractiveness of board swaps is that any tech could do them. And back then, there was only one authorized repair center for the entire US, which IMHO is crazy talk. I had a warranty issue with the combo I used to have, and it took close to two months for me to get it wrapped up from the time I first called GC about it because Markbass took forever to ship a speaker. All the lumps Markbass took over warranty service in the US back then were justified, and even after that, it still took them a couple more years to straighten things out.

That said, this scenario with the $105 + labor board swap is much more reasonable and acceptable, and Markbass has finally made some real improvements.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

So a board swap for an out of warranty amp that takes 5 minutes of labor should need to be run through the company first? And it should only be allowed to be done at authorized repair centers or the price should be insane? I thought the whole attractiveness of board swaps is that any tech could do them. And back then, there was only one authorized repair center for the entire US, which IMHO is crazy talk. I had a warranty issue with the combo I used to have, and it took close to two months for me to get it wrapped up from the time I first called GC about it because Markbass took forever to ship a speaker. All the lumps Markbass took over warranty service in the US back then were justified, and even after that, it still took them a couple more years to straighten things out.

That said, this scenario with the $105 + labor board swap is much more reasonable and acceptable, and Markbass has finally made some real improvements.

Yes, there would be no reason to take any brand in for repair to a non authorized service center. Most major brands have a network of authorized repair centers.... Fender, GK, Mesa, I assume Ampeg, etc.

+1, you are correct in that service and support for non warranty repairs was not good with this brand a few years ago. Ancient history.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by KJung

Yes, there would be no reason to take any brand in for repair to a non authorized service center. Most major brands have a network of authorized repair centers.... Fender, GK, Mesa, I assume Ampeg, etc.

Well sure they do, but it's not too hard to find authorized repair centers for those brands anywhere in the country, either. And of course, not all authorized repair service centers are created equal, and I'm sure some folks live in areas where the non-authorized tech is way better than the authorized tech. That's happened to me before.

Still, as you said, it's history now, but I can't bring myself to blame the guy for the price of his repair back then.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Well sure they do, but it's not too hard to find authorized repair centers for those brands anywhere in the country, either. And of course, not all authorized repair service centers are created equal, and I'm sure some folks live in areas where the non-authorized tech is way better than the authorized tech. That's happened to me before.

Still, as you said, it's history now, but I can't bring myself to blame the guy for the price of his repair back then.

It was just a strange 'one off' that really isn't representative of anything or meaningful at this point (and wasn't really representative of much when it happened).

That being said, in these days of email, internet, texting, free long distance, I would never, ever, ever, ever take anything in for repair without contacting the manufacturer. Easy to do, and they usually are very helpful in either fixing it themselves or making sure you know the exact service center to sent the unit to given your location.

The key thing for me that defines the success of a company's service and support is if customers rarely if ever have to use it

[jnewmark]

You guys are talking about newer stuff, not vintage, no ? I have an old Music Man HD150 head, no service center for those babies ! Also, I would never take my '71 B15N into an Ampeg service center, but would give it to my local tech guy who has been working on them and other vintage tube heads for 30 years.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by jnewmark

You guys are talking about newer stuff, not vintage, no ? I have an old Music Man HD150 head, no service center for those babies ! Also, I would never take my '71 B15N into an Ampeg service center, but would give it to my local tech guy who has been working on them and other vintage tube heads for 30 years.

+1 For those old tube amps, etc., every town has their 'old stuff' repair guy. That would be a different thing. Always fun to go to the one in St. Louis. It is like a Fender/Ampeg graveyard of chassis and tubes and transformers.

[Russell L]

I'm not going to stop using or buying Markbass products because of any of this talk. I love my stuff, and have been gigging my CMD 121H combo since 2008 with no trouble so far. My other stuff is newer, but I love it, and no problems. If I run into trouble in the future I'll just deal with it. I like Markbass.

BTW, I remember Peter Murray saying in a thread somewhere on TB that he is no longer the US (or North American?) rep. I don't know who is, though. Anyone else know?

[KJung]

Originally Posted by Russell L

I'm not going to stop using or buying Markbass products because of any of this talk. I love my stuff, and have been gigging my CMD 121H combo since 2008 with no trouble so far. My other stuff is newer, but I love it, and no problems. If I run into trouble in the future I'll just deal with it. I like Markbass.

BTW, I remember Peter Murray saying in a thread somewhere on TB that he is no longer the US rep. I don't know who is, though. Anyone else know?

Actually, the talk is all good now.... reasonable repair prices , lots of service centers and a responsive 'panic' button on the website to get you in touch with the company quickly if you do have any issues. This combined with the sterling product quality of this stuff (other than those piezo tweeters in some of the smaller cabs blowing more than they should), and you have one of the most solid brands in the business IMO.

Not sure what the deal is on the North America marketing rep position, nor what happened to Peter. He was still in that position when I ran into him at NAMM last year.

[JimmyM]

Ya, Peter's a good guy who was doing his best to cope with the situation back then. Wasn't for lack of trying...they did experiment around with different warranty strategies. Is he still with Markbass or did he split?

[jnewmark]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Ya, Peter's a good guy who was doing his best to cope with the situation back then. Wasn't for lack of trying...they did experiment around with different warranty strategies. Is he still with Markbass or did he split?

Official Markbass Club - the beat goes on, and on....

[JimmyM]

Wow, that kind of sucks.

[jnewmark]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Wow, that kind of sucks.

Yeah, he was a good guy, hooked me up with some rack ears for an F1 when I was using one.

[Russell L]

Peter was also the one who got the home office to change the listed weight of the Traveler 151P cabs after I told him that mine weighed more than what was published (45.75 lbs. instead of 37.3 lbs.). Good guy, yes, and nice to talk to.