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Ampeg - what is going on with their quality?

MakoMan

MakoMan

Oct 17, 2011
2,179
2,473
Ottawa, Canada
50proof.yolasite.com
#1
I've heard of a few issues with quality of some of the Ampeg products and at first put it down to growing pains, but after the past couple of months, and particularly today, I am really starting to wonder.
First my local store stopped carrying Ampeg a few months ago, telling me the quality was very sub par and they were having far too many warranty returns. They have carried and recommended Ampeg products for years so that was a big red flag right there.
Then today I stopped into another store that carries Ampeg and they only had one combo in the whole store. I asked why and was told they were not carrying Ampeg anymore due to quality issues. This is a store that also fixes amps and they told me that the combos were coming in for repair and when they opened them up they were finding extremely poor workmanship. His actual comment was "the high end stuff is very good, but the cheaper stuff just falls apart... they're not even worth fixing."
On the way home I stopped at another store, also an Ampeg dealer. There they had two Micro VR SVT 2X10 cabinets. Both literally had the tolex peeling off of them. Asked what was up with them and they said they were both going back and this store was also getting out of the Ampeg business.
Anyway... I was considering a BA108 or BA110 but that GAS is cured now.
 
#2
In my opinion, it's always been sub par. I've never understood the appeal of these amps aside from it being an industry standard. I'd be glad to see them go.

My guess about quality issues. I'd check the OEM LOUD is using. That's where any extra quality issue would come from (good luck tracking that down lol). I'm not a huge fan of hartke.. but an A25 would probably work for you!

Cheers!
 
#7
I've noticed the trend to. I'd have say it's an effect of the world economy. The units failing are made overseas with high pressure on cost cutting and producing a high volume of products in the least amount of time , yet the price tag doesn't reflect the poor craftsmanship because instead of buying a quality piece of gear your buying a name brand.

I will stick to Mesa, a name brand yes. But a great sounding well made piece of name brand.
 
#8
There are plenty of companies building stuff more complicated, and more abused, than bass amps overseas that mange to keep their QC in check.



Mykk said:
I've noticed the trend to. I'd have say it's an effect of the world economy. The units failing are made overseas with high pressure on cost cutting and producing a high volume of products in the least amount of time , yet the price tag doesn't reflect the poor craftsmanship because instead of buying a quality piece of gear your buying a name brand.

I will stick to Mesa, a name brand yes. But a great sounding well made piece of name brand.
Click to expand...
 
#17
Did you actually get to try either of the combos? The only reason I asked was I actually purchased one of the 2x10 cabs, the A00 version with the tolex coming apart. GC knocked off an additional 15%, but my point is I plugged it in and bought it on how it sounded. I understand your concern, however. There are lots of great small combos out there.
 
#18
The roots of overseas manufactured QC issues is the huge volume of production engineering required to move to an offshore facility.. even the most simplest of items, processes and techniques need and must be documented in aggregious detail...this is an order of magnitude more effort than moving into same-site production or reputable contract manf. here in the USA/EUR,

A manufacturer, particularly those moving offshore for the first time, makes a bassline (pun intended) of assumptions about the supply chain and competence, skill and language ability on behalf of the management, engineers and staff of offshore facilities that simply have no merit...

those companies that do successful offshore manf with maintainable and acceptable QC levels typically have learned those lessons, document the product to the nth degree and have their own company staff as laison at the manf. site.
 
#20
steelbed45 said:
Did you actually get to try either of the combos? The only reason I asked was I actually purchased one of the 2x10 cabs, the A00 version with the tolex coming apart. GC knocked off an additional 15%, but my point is I plugged it in and bought it on how it sounded. I understand your concern, however. There are lots of great small combos out there.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately there were no combos to try. I was interested in either a 108 or 110 and nobody had one.
I did ask about purchasing either of the two micro cabs with the peeling tolex but they were not for sale. BTW this was not just a little peeling.... they really looked bad.
 

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