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Aguilar TH500 just blew up

#61
I've been playing for about 40 years now and I've seen amps of all types 'blow up'. Tube amps, class AB, new amps, old amps. My Peavey Mark IV was great until it wasn't, same with the Trace head that replaced it. A club I used to play at a lot had a beat Hartke 3500 in the back room that would come into service whenever someone's Ampeg/SWR/GK/Peavey/name your brand head would go poof. It wasn't common, but it wasn't rare either.

In light of that, my experience with class D offerings has been very positive in terms of reliability. Of course, I'm sure, there are issues but I'm just not seeing the same failure rates in the wild as in the past. YMMV
 
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#62
jzucker said:
I don't know although for a couple of weeks, the fan was making a funny noise. I'm wondering if one of the fans was going bad and because it's such a tiny enclosure, it was just overheating to the point of failure. Poor design IMO.

One thing that always bugged me is that the fans are not only ridiculously loud but generate a big EMR pulse when they first come on so if you happen to be recording, you just trashed the track.
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I never found my 350 to have a noisy fan, nor have the pop that seems to have the 500's fan when it turns ON. But I'll keep an eye and ears to any new funny noise. Thanks.
 
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#63
dabis said:
I never found my 350 to have a noisy fan, nor have the pop that seems to have the 500's fan when it turns ON. But I'll keep an eye and ears to any new funny noise. Thanks.
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350 uses a different icepower module which runs cooler and has different temperature points for the fans. Possibly even the fans might be different.
 
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#64
msb said:
I’ve had a GK Class D amp repaired and a GenzBenz Class D amp serviced. Money well spent.

The only hitch is finding a qualified repair person. Some brands are harder to find service though. I’ve read many posts about MarkBass being difficult , Aguilar had an excellent reputation though , so these recent blips are not good news.
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I agree that it is sometimes difficult to get info on Markbass products, but in their defense, they do list both Warranty and Non Warranty repair centers in the USA.
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#65
One of the guys I called was an authorized markbass repairman. He can't get parts or info from them so he won't take them in for repair.

SJan3 said:
I agree that it is sometimes difficult to get info on Markbass products, but in their defense, they do list both Warranty and Non Warranty repair centers in the USA.
View attachment 5033211 View attachment 5033212
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#67
Slightly off-topic but I recently had an issue with a cab from Darkglass, also owned by Korg, and they're still handling their own customer service. In my case I needed a specific part, not a repair, but throughout I only dealt with a Darkglass rep. It's disappointing that Aguilar couldn't work out a similar deal because their customer service was always excellent. I've used Aguilar gear for 20+ years but I wouldn't touch anything from them now.
 
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#71
jzucker said:
One of the guys I called was an authorized markbass repairman. He can't get parts or info from them so he won't take them in for repair.
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If they can't get factory parts, then they aren't really a viable service center are they?
 
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#73
After a couple of years playing at my place and several studios, last day was at friend’s home studio and my th500 after 15 minutes on started to make a whine noise. I turned off and again turn on but after 15 or 20 minutes began the noise. I noticed perhaps it have something to do with the cooling fans, it’s very suspicious that the noise coincides with the system heating activation mechanism….I speculate maybe. That night I plugged at my place and perfect quiet like new.
 
#75
My personal philosophy...

For typical practicing/rehearsing/gigging, used amps of reasonable quality, 400watts RMS and much higher, can still be gotten (at least occasionally) for under $300... and that includes Class D.

Ya get a couple/few years out of them, if not cheaply repairable, you've gotten your money's worth.

[Edit to note that I more value, and will spend way more than that on a cab]

This philosophy can be had with a higher budget- this just happens to be mine 'cause I'm a cheapass. :D
 
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#76
agedhorse said:
If they can't get factory parts, then they aren't really a viable service center are they?
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My QSC K10.2 has been at an authorized service center for 2 months and they so far are unable to get the repair part needed from QSC. I assume its still a viable service center, but pretty annoying that QSC wont take parts from the manufacturing stream and put them into the repair shop stream.
 
#77
There’s a difference between not being able to get parts or info, and not being able to get a specific part.

Generally, service inventory is built separately from production inventory. Production build for an entire K10.2 speaker may be scheduled out 1 or 2 years and the quantities of all components must match so all units are complete builds.

Service inventory of components are produced separately, the quantities of each component may be vastly different and are not usually scheduled out more than 6 months which can result in parts lead times impacting production. We (as an industry) are still dealing with some absurd lead tones for some components. QSC will get caught up eventually and get your speaker repaired. Generally your warranty will be extended by the delay time you are dealing with.

This is different than a manufacturer (any manufacturer) simply not providing parts or service information to an authorized service center.
 
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#78
agedhorse said:
There’s a difference between not being able to get parts or info, and not being able to get a specific part.

Generally, service inventory is built separately from production inventory. Production build for an entire K10.2 speaker may be scheduled out 1 or 2 years and the quantities of all components must match so all units are complete builds.

Service inventory of components are produced separately, the quantities of each component may be vastly different and are not usually scheduled out more than 6 months which can result in parts lead times impacting production. We (as an industry) are still dealing with some absurd lead tones for some components. QSC will get caught up eventually and get your speaker repaired. Generally your warranty will be extended by the delay time you are dealing with.

This is different than a manufacturer (any manufacturer) simply not providing parts or service information to an authorized service center.
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Got it. Thanks for the info. Makes sense.
 
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