So Ive got an Ampeg SVT300 rackmount power amp. Basically the power amp of an SVT. Its always sounded phenomenal. I usually drive it with a Reiner JGR preamp. If you know that preamp you'd know that it can drive the hell out of an amp with lots of headroom.
anyway... I usually have the preamp set with the gain about 11 oclock, master at noon and the eq mostly flat. At this setting I usually ran the power amp at about 3 or 4 (from 1-10... or near 9 or 10 oclock on the dial). That gave me loads of volume and throbbing presence.
Well, one week I went to practice and for some reason that seemed quiet, so I turned it up to 5 (noon) and thought "maybe I remembered wrong". The next week I had to turn it up to 7 (about 2oclock on the dial). I knew something was definitely wrong. (Those settings running into the power section of my other tube amps produce still the volume and heft I was used to on the Ampeg.)
So I dont know when it was last serviced but I decided to take it to Protech, which is the nearest tech over 2 hours away. I told them what it was doing, and that in my uneducated guess perhaps it was the tubes, but please check everything out and let me know.. They said it would be a "couple weeks".
A month goes by and I dont hear anything so I call. They put me on the phone with the tech who says "So I checked out your amp a few weeks ago and youre right, its only putting out about 50% power and it needs a new set of tubes. These are pretty complicated builds so I put it aside till I get another chance to look at it. Im gonna order you tubes and it should be ready next week". I tell him to get me EHXs. He then calls me back the next day and says that he put in the new tubes and it was still doing 50% but my problem was that it needs a good preamp to drive it enough (NO poopie!!!!) and perhaps I wasnt driving it enough and that even with my old tubes it would put out the full 300watts with a good signal.
He calls me a week later and says the new tubes are in and biased and its putting out 300 watts and is all fixed. I go get it. I pay out $400 for the work and tubes. I get it home and plug it in and guess what..... I gotta turn it up to 7 still to get any volume and it distorts easily getting anywhere near the volume I used to run clean.
so... I have two questions.
1) What else could it be?
2) What is a justified and reasonable remedy to expect for this situation considering I waited 5 weeks on a "couple week" job, spent $400 for a repair and new tubes I didnt need, drove twice a 4 hour round trip and still dont have a fixed amp?
anyway... I usually have the preamp set with the gain about 11 oclock, master at noon and the eq mostly flat. At this setting I usually ran the power amp at about 3 or 4 (from 1-10... or near 9 or 10 oclock on the dial). That gave me loads of volume and throbbing presence.
Well, one week I went to practice and for some reason that seemed quiet, so I turned it up to 5 (noon) and thought "maybe I remembered wrong". The next week I had to turn it up to 7 (about 2oclock on the dial). I knew something was definitely wrong. (Those settings running into the power section of my other tube amps produce still the volume and heft I was used to on the Ampeg.)
So I dont know when it was last serviced but I decided to take it to Protech, which is the nearest tech over 2 hours away. I told them what it was doing, and that in my uneducated guess perhaps it was the tubes, but please check everything out and let me know.. They said it would be a "couple weeks".
A month goes by and I dont hear anything so I call. They put me on the phone with the tech who says "So I checked out your amp a few weeks ago and youre right, its only putting out about 50% power and it needs a new set of tubes. These are pretty complicated builds so I put it aside till I get another chance to look at it. Im gonna order you tubes and it should be ready next week". I tell him to get me EHXs. He then calls me back the next day and says that he put in the new tubes and it was still doing 50% but my problem was that it needs a good preamp to drive it enough (NO poopie!!!!) and perhaps I wasnt driving it enough and that even with my old tubes it would put out the full 300watts with a good signal.
He calls me a week later and says the new tubes are in and biased and its putting out 300 watts and is all fixed. I go get it. I pay out $400 for the work and tubes. I get it home and plug it in and guess what..... I gotta turn it up to 7 still to get any volume and it distorts easily getting anywhere near the volume I used to run clean.
so... I have two questions.
1) What else could it be?
2) What is a justified and reasonable remedy to expect for this situation considering I waited 5 weeks on a "couple week" job, spent $400 for a repair and new tubes I didnt need, drove twice a 4 hour round trip and still dont have a fixed amp?
. maybe try find the nearest authorized ampeg repair shop.
.
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