Ampeg micro-VR head repair

[matt_mcgivney]

Well I have a ampeg micro-VR. It has no output.
So I went to ampeg site and emailed them for a schematic. Well I'm not a authorized dealer. So they said no. Does anyone have one or know of one on the net? Thanks

 

[matt_mcgivney]

.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

Well I have a ampeg micro-VR. It has no output.
So I went to ampeg site and emailed them for a schematic. Well I'm not a authorized dealer. So they said no. Does anyone have one or know of one on the net? Thanks

I assume like many companies, they were protecting their brand? There must be certain steps one has to go through to become an authorized "dealer", or rather an authorized repair center. I also imagine one of those steps is to provide some proof of technical qualifications to work on such equipment. The lawyers probably won't let them send out schematics to just anyone. That could be seen as encouraging untrained or less than qualified people to work on their own amps. This exposes them to liabilities.
OTOH, maybe they consider their schematics to be proprietary information. How do they know you aren't with a company that intends to clone their product, and compete with them?
Hopefully you can source a schematic through back channels. Have you done your own Internet search yet?

 

[matt_mcgivney]

Yes. I been searching.

 

[agedhorse]

Many/most companies require their service centers to sign non-disclosure agreements to insure that proprietary information that belongs to them does not get into the hands of competitors.

The cost of developing a new amp model can easily exceed $100k when everything is accounted for. If a competitor doesn’t have to do the R&D, it saves them a lot of the cost

Then, there’s the folks who think they can repair their amp because they watched a few online videos. IME, and from what I have seen, it causes people to do unsafe and in some cases very dangerous things that they don’t know or understand how dangerous. This is so bad now that the new IEC 62368 safety regulations actually address it within the 3 types of persons that might come into contact with the equipment.

This is why manufacturers don’t hand out documentation or support end user repairs.

 

[matt_mcgivney]

I getting what your saying. But all of ampeg drawings are available on the net but these new micro chassis. Heck the newer portaflex drawings are out there. it dont make sense. I have a lead on a set. It should be in my work email by morning.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Wow. Ampeg did the right thing. You sound like a liability just from a few lines of text.

 

[matt_mcgivney]

Thanks for your ignorance in the few lines you wrote.

 

[beans-on-toast]

I getting what your saying. But all of ampeg drawings are available on the net but these new micro chassis. Heck the newer portaflex drawings are out there. it dont make sense. I have a lead on a set. It should be in my work email by morning.

They no longer make current product schematics available to the public. Sometimes people post them.

In the case of the micro-vr, it might be more cost effective to find a replacement board. A service center will not repair a main board, they’ll replace it.

 

[BOOG]

Employ a reputable tech if the intent to repair it is your priority.
If you are doing it as a hobby, and life, limb and equipment are not your priority, good luck

 

[Sushi Box FX]

There is a schematic for the power supply and power amp section of the micro-vr on the interwebs. I have a reasonable technical background and can fix a good handful of things, but that schematic would be enough to scare me off. This is a complex circuit, and the amp sells for less than $300 used. Trying to track down a problem at the component level will take a lot of work even for a competent technician, if you're determined to do it yourself I would suggest tracking down a replacement board ($60-80 from what I'm seeing) and going that route.

 

[KidAmnesia]

It's a bass amp, not a nuclear reactor. Anyone with some technical knowledge in electronics and some adequate tools should be able to repair it. It might be more cost effective to get a new board, but you don't loose anything by opening it up and taking a look at it first.

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

It's a bass amp, not a nuclear reactor. Anyone with some technical knowledge in electronics and some adequate tools should be able to repair it. It might be more cost effective to get a new board, but you don't loose anything by opening it up and taking a look at it first.

Let's all get over ourselves about this "handyman syndrome" that seems to pervade this place. Anyone with "some" electrical knowledge, thinks he can fix it. Anyone with a lot of electronics knowledge and experience would know better. Do you even know the difference between electrical repair and electronics repair?

"It's a base amp, not a nuclear reactor"? Really? That's your argument for letting someone with "some" undisclosed amount of electrical experience just go in and try to fix it? I bet more people with "some" electrical experience have been hurt working on electrical things, than have people with "some" nuclear reactor experience. Homer Simpson excluded.

 

[Sushi Box FX]

It's a bass amp, not a nuclear reactor. Anyone with some technical knowledge in electronics and some adequate tools should be able to repair it. It might be more cost effective to get a new board, but you don't loose anything by opening it up and taking a look at it first.

This is what the power supply looks like in the Micro-VR. Not the whole amp, just the power supply. I agree you don't lose anything by opening it up and looking at it, I certainly look at the guts of every piece of gear I own because I'm into that sort of thing, but if something goes wrong in a piece of gear of this complexity, I would want to deal with it in the easiest way possible, even if it means spending extra money.

So I won't say "NEVER FIX YOUR OWN AMP!" but I will say "If this was my amp, I wouldn't want to deal with it at that level."

 

[mikewalker]

...

So I won't say "NEVER FIX YOUR OWN AMP!" but I will say "If this was my amp, I wouldn't want to deal with it at that level."

View attachment 4792753

Yep! Once upon a time I was a certified electronics technologist for the Federal government, and imho that's a fairly complicated power supply.
Not even knowing the physical layout (which is another consideration) - I would file that one under 'more time than it's worth' unless you are a serious electronic hobbyist with a real fully equipped repair bench!

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Thanks for your ignorance in the few lines you wrote.

No problem. Anytime I can help!

 

[TNCreature]

It's a bass amp, not a nuclear reactor.

If only they could combine the two...

 

[KidAmnesia]

View attachment 4792740

Let's all get over ourselves about this "handyman syndrome" that seems to pervade this place. Anyone with "some" electrical knowledge, thinks he can fix it. Anyone with a lot of electronics knowledge and experience would know better. Do you even know the difference between electrical repair and electronics repair?

"It's a base amp, not a nuclear reactor"? Really? That's your argument for letting someone with "some" undisclosed amount of electrical experience just go in and try to fix it? I bet more people with "some" electrical experience have been hurt working on electrical things, than have people with "some" nuclear reactor experience. Homer Simpson excluded.

I wouldn't try to fix it myself, I know I don't have the knowledge nor equipment I'd need to do it. But I wouldn't asume that OP's "undisclosed amount of electrical knowledge" is insufficient based on how he writes on a forum. I assume he is an adult that can judge his own skills; I mean, he is asking for the schematics before opening it and sticking his fingers inside, that's enough for me to "let him" try it if he feels confident he can handle it.

 

[Isaac_James]

If only they could combine the two...

You'd still see people complaining that fusion reactor amplifiers just don't have that warm tube breakup when overdriven. Sure, they can put out 2,000,000 watts, but the tone just ain't the same...

And I have no doubt we'd get posts asking how to fix them when they start to go into meltdown mode.

 

[mike buzzetti]

Thank GOdd its not a tube amp !!! POOOOOOFFFFFF