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Ampeg SVT 7 Pro - the known "cutting out" issue

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#23
sweetwillyp said:
How about this answer.

Sell the amp and Vow never to buy Ampeg stuff again. I hate when you spend your hard earned dough on crap gear. I have that happened to me before that is why I will never buy Gallien Kruger stuff. I had two amps blow on me and after research it was a Manufacturing defect.. I have spent in the neighborhood of 100+ thousand dollars in gear over the last 20 years and Gallien Kruger will never see one dime
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Your loss I guess, My GK rig has been a solid work horse. Every manufacturer is going to have some problems. So keeping with your theory, one would quickly run out of options. Get real man, he bought a used amp with problems that the sell probably already knew about. I'm not an Ampeg fan but I see no reason to swear off the brand in this situation.

The valve seats were bad in my Ranger, its a common problem with that year and engine, I guess I should never buy another Ford :rollno:
 
#24
I had a similar situation, although not exactly the same. I bought a PF500 new, and it had the cutting out problem right away. (dunno if the PF500 and the SVT have the same cutting out problem or what)

At first I thought it was the cab, but my amp guy checked it out and couldn't find anything wrong with it. He said never buy a class D amp, because of the way the wave gets clipped. He said, "They're cute, but they can't hold up." Yup, the man called my amp cute.

The guys in my band all had strong opinions about what was wrong. They were all dead certain it was the cabinet (even after I got it checked out), the power supply, the instrument cable ("See? Your cable is bad!") etc etc etc... it actually got kind of frustrating after a while.

Then I emailed Loud, and they sent me a replacement. Bam. problem solved. The replacement (I use it as a backup amp) has never - not once - cut out. All I had to do was sent them the bad one in the same box they sent the replacement in.

Good luck, but I'm betting they'll be able to help.
 
#27
Red Planet said:
Unfortunately Sun Capital is going to turn this one into a looser or pretty much already has. They have done the same thing with Mackie and their other audio brands. Quality has taken a back seat to the bottom line which in turn will end up killing these brands. Loud already filed for bankruptcy and the inevitable is just a little more time.

At some point Ampeg will be picked up by another and hopefully rescued. This is a case where closing a factory in America and sending all the workers home for more profit has not worked out well.
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Matter of opinion, isn't it?
 
#28
Thanks for the input all!!

As far as selling the amp - I really LIKE the amp, I just don't like the lack of reliability. I'm back to my Sansamp rig in the meantime.

On a side note, I met a guy at a gig this weekend who works for a major music store who deals in Ampeg. We got talking and I told him this story. He offered to help out, so that definitely has me feeling a little better as well.

It's good to see the encouragement as far as Louds customer service. The best customer service is the one you never have to use, but the second best is the one who still does the right thing...

No intentions of contacting the original seller. That would really serve no purpose other than create more ajeda - after all I DID buy it "buyer beware".
 
#30
BTW, from what I remember of looking at the schematics, the change from rev A00 to C00 is pretty significant, and will mean a whole new power amp/power supply PWB. No way to wire it in reasonably.

The rev C00 seems to have cut the occurrence but may not have eliminated the problem... opinions seem to vary on that.

I'd like to see them do a rev D00 that nails it, and offer some help to folks who have issues. Seems to be a good unit, and they ought to do well with it if the problem can be nailed 100%. Nothing worse than a series of partial fixes, that ruins a product in the market. You need to get it nailed tight once and for all

And, apparently not all units of any rev will have the problem.
 
#31
I remember when G-K launched the MB2-500. Those early units had problems and G-K stance was simple: You have one (first owner or not) G-K would upgrade or replace those early units. RAG even offered to replace early units people were so far happy with. THAT is standing behind your company's products. YMMV :)
 
#32
Best they can do is $309 for the main board...which puts me over the cost of the amp new. Grrrr....

I understand I bought it used and it's outside the warranty. Some companies have a tendency to go above and beyond when it's such a widespread issue. I guess Ampeg is not among them.

Case closed...
 
#33
scatbass said:
Best they can do is $309 for the main board...which puts me over the cost of the amp new. Grrrr....

I understand I bought it used and it's outside the warranty. Some companies have a tendency to go above and beyond when it's such a widespread issue. I guess Ampeg is not among them.

Case closed...
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At this point I'd pursue "craigslist justice", but I can't give any advice cuz we're not allowed to discuss illegal activities on here. But sounds like he was trying to wash his hands of a problem amp and he found you to dump it on.
 
#34
scatbass said:
So I picked up an SVT 7. Used (craigslist). Revision A00. Being that I bought it used, I have only a few options that I can see, and am seeking opinions.

Option 1 - I can turn around and resell it knowing that it has issues (possibly what the previous owner did). I'm not comfortable doing this.

Option 2 - I can call Ampeg and sweet talk them. Not sure what could come from this - advise welcomed.

Option 3 - I can bring it to a repair shop (there's a decent one here in Atlanta) and pay for them to do their magic. Even then, there may be no guarantees that it gets resolved and I'd really rather not dump more money into it.

All advice, opinions, and expertise welcomed!!

Thanks guys (and gals)...
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scatbass said:
Best they can do is $309 for the main board...which puts me over the cost of the amp new. Grrrr....

I understand I bought it used and it's outside the warranty. Some companies have a tendency to go above and beyond when it's such a widespread issue. I guess Ampeg is not among them.

Case closed...
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Oh well, you bought a used amp without a warranty or research and at least you tried opinion #2 - and now you’re at opinion #3 (but I'd send it back to the factory for repair).

Like you said - “Case Closed“.
 
#35
scatbass said:
Best they can do is $309 for the main board...which puts me over the cost of the amp new. Grrrr....

I understand I bought it used and it's outside the warranty. Some companies have a tendency to go above and beyond when it's such a widespread issue. I guess Ampeg is not among them.

Case closed...
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Disappointing, considering it is a design fault
 
#37
If you sell it, disclose the issue. You'll get less for it, but then an amp that cuts out is worth less than one in perfect working order.

No matter which option you choose, I'd invest in an inexpensive/used backup.
 
#38
scatbass said:
I understand I bought it used and it's outside the warranty. Some companies have a tendency to go above and beyond when it's such a widespread issue. I guess Ampeg is not among them.
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I think that's a crappy policy, even if it is within the bounds of the law. The design is faulty, and that should be a mea culpa, outside the limitations of the warranty.

I bought a Revision C00 brand new, and the amp failed multiple times on the first gig. It has been OK since, and I still don't know if it was an amp failure or a protection feature. I like the sound of the amp quite a bit, but even if it ends up becoming my primary amp, I will NEVER trust it, or any other 7 Pro. In fact, I'm probably going to have to put it in a rack with another amp (probably my incoming ShuttleMax 9.2), and always turn both amps on, ready to switch at a moment's notice. :hmm:
 
#39
smeet - I agree, which is why I (nicely) pressed them a little. They sounded unwilling to budge and acted as though they were unfamiliar with the issue.

Yuppy - if it weren't for a backup, I wouldn't have made it through the night! I've got more rigs than I know what to do with at the moment. Sometimes being a packrat sucks, sometimes it comes in handy! The funny thing was that the singer has been looking at the old Peavey head I leave in his trailer and thinking about removing it "since I never use it"...now he's glad he left it alone...
 
#40
To the OP, just out of curiosity, what was the selling price of the amp?

The street price of a new SVT-7 PRO is $800 and if you paid any more than $400 you perhaps paid too much, IMHO

I say this because when one buys "used" you indeed take a risk and half-price is a reasonable price for this risk

If you paid $400, then the $309 added to that still would still keep you under full retail

In the end then you would basically have a closer-to-new amp for less than others typically pay for new, plus a valuable lesson learned

Good luck just the same

I myself run a rev C00 without any issues and it's really a GREAT amp

Cheers!
 
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