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Another Red Flag On The Ampeg PF-500.....

S

shoot-r

May 26, 2007
4,107
3,847
Illinois
#1
Last Saturday I finally got my second to burn-out Ampeg PF-500 to my closest authorized Ampeg repair center.
Had a discussion with their service/repair tech about the PF series of amps.

He said:

They are quite aware of all the problems with the 500's and he thought they we're up to Rev. "J" on the main boards, (mines a Rev. "C".)

He wasn't doing any warranty repairs on the PF's, Ampeg was just sending a new unit to the buyer.

(My 500 isn't under warranty) He said he could try to repair my main board but I'd be money ahead to just toss the head.

He suggested I contact Ampeg to see if they'd make available a main board and I could try the repairs myself, but he doubted they'd sell me a new main board.
(My e-mail to Ampeg asking for help with a "out of warranty" PF-500 was answered with "Our hands are tied.")

He recommends that if your gonna use Ampeg, stick with their big iron.

So, my impression of this is.....

If you have a PF series head and your under the warranty your golden, have a failure and you'll recieve a brand new head.

Out of warranty and have a failure, it would seem Ampeg hasn't any provisions for repairs or parts for these amps.





I'm sure there are more and more amp manufacturers that are going with everything on a main board as the PF's are, and I know every amp manufacturer has problems.....
It's in HOW they deal with the problems.
 
#4
This seems insane. I need a limiter switch for a PF350. It's got to be a $00.79 part. How could they not send one to me or a service center? I will post to this thread if I get the part. I have emailed Ampeg asking for help. The unit is 4 months old, but was sold so the original owner warranty is void. The limiter switch has failed, and the unit doesn't produce output unless a light pressure is applied to the switch.
 
#5
Jim Carr said:
This seems insane. I need a limiter switch for a PF350. It's got to be a $00.79 part. How could they not send one to me or a service center? I will post to this thread if I get the part. I have emailed Ampeg asking for help. The unit is 4 months old, but was sold so the original owner warranty is void. The limiter switch has failed, and the unit doesn't produce output unless a light pressure is applied to the switch.
Click to expand...

Please post and let me know if your luck with the Ampeg of today is better than it has been for me....I'd like to get my 500 up and running again.

But from what I'm finding out it doesn't look promising.

I guess I could use it as a boat anchor! :):):)
 
#11
noiseguy said:
Ridiculous. Ampeg does not use any parts in the amp that aren't available from a major electronics OEM. You don't need a part from them. You need a part from Mouser.
Click to expand...

Do they have the whole main board available?

There are two boards in the 500. There is a preamp board (PF-500 preamp board PCB Assy Rev B), then there's a (PF-500 Main Board PCB Assy. Rev. C.)

I'm NO amp tech, but I was under the impression the whole main board is replaced as a unit when it fails and only comes from Ampeg.
 
#15
No, I'm talking about replacement of discrete components on the board. Most techs will just replace the board because its easier and faster, plus they're getting markup on a more expensive part... Most repair outfits are in the business of selling parts not labor... At least, the bias is towards parts.

Pm sent.
 
#16
Give amp techs a friggen break? People these days don't want to pay any labor charge (note the number of what's wrong with my amp threads). If people don't want to pay you as it is, why would you spend 3 to 5 times in the repair labor? To feel good? That doesn't pay any bills. ;)
 
#17
B-string said:
Give amp techs a friggen break? People these days don't want to pay any labor charge (note the number of what's wrong with my amp threads). If people don't want to pay you as it is, why would you spend 3 to 5 times in the repair labor? To feel good? That doesn't pay any bills. ;)
Click to expand...

B,

You think you don't get no love, ya ought to be in my line of day work! :) :) :)


A few weeks back, (last time I was on T.B.) weren't you and someother TBer's trying to figure out what was going on with the PF series heads?
What thread was that in?
 
#18
I will be the first to say that I am an advocate for the PF500, but I will say that I think that the rev. C units should've been recalled due to the weaknesses that were addressed by Feb. 2012. Regardless it always suck to have a product die (in or out of warrantee).

Since it appears you haven't tried to get a replacement main board so don't pass judgement on the lack of serviceability - the tech (obviously not an Ampeg rep based on the responses) may be right about the cost of repair being too high and since there is no clean way to 'up-rev' the board so rebuilding it would be a bad idea. I, however, wouldn't trust a tech that is supposedly an authorized service agent that would tell me to get the replacement parts for a product that he is supposed to service - very bad form.

Why not ask directly if the board is available and how much it costs? I know it isn't hard to change since I disassembled my PF500 to review the QC.

The tech may also have a bit of a prejudice against the newer amps since no-one builds a component level reparable class-D amp, so he may see his job may be going the way of the tv repairman plus those 'big-iron' amps are much easier to troubleshoot.
 
#19
I've been trying to buy a PF 500 and get the latest rev. available. I figured that purchasing from the highest volume dealers like MF or GC would be the way to get the latest version of the amp, so I started looking at Musician's Friend & Guitar Center web site this morning.

I noticed for the first time that MF had a "restock" unit on their web site. I had never noticed a restock at MF, so I called them and asked if the restock unit carried the same manufacturer's warranty as a new unit. After some period of time on hold, the rep came back on line and said the restock carried NO manufacturer's warranty at all, and proceeded to try to sell me the MF extended warranty which would have made the final price of the restock unit $20 HIGHER than the new unit. ("Restock" started off $20 cheaper than the "new" unit).

So, I went to the GC web site, engaged in a chat session, and asked the same question; does the PF500 restock unit come with a full manufacturer's warranty. Again, some delay, but the answer came back as "yes", the restock has full 2 year mfg. warranty. GC's price was identical to MF.

Both MF and GC describe the restock units as "Manufacturer Refurbished". I don't see Ampeg providing warranty for units returned to one dealer and not providing warranty for units returned to a different dealer.

My wife said this about my continued want of the PF500; "if you had order the PF500 before you discovered all the failure issues, it would have been ignorance, but ordering one now would be considered stupidity". Difficult to keep arguing I want one of these, but I think an amp going on top of an Ampeg flip top cab should be an Ampeg amp, however, I am starting to give a little on that thought....
 
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