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

#202
Downunderwonder said:
I see that price as double dipping by Ampeg.

Designed, assembled, tested, warrantied, stored, shipped, complete amp from retailer out the door: $400. Nothing in it for Ampeg if boards cost them anything like $204 per unit.

I don't care that it's a cheap amp, limited life expectancy. What they are doing is getting customers to do the final stage of product development and pay for the failures twice.
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Agreed...that's why I won't touch such an amp with a ten foot pole. There are other good products out there.
 
#204
cableguy said:
I have still been playing my PF-500 that I bought used about a month ago. No issues at all. My brother was having issues with his new PF-500 so I went to take a look at it. Total operator error. He was running the gain too hot and the limiter was kicking in a lot. His even had a few momentary shut downs for second or two which is the amp going into protect mode I believe. Once I spent a little time going over how to set the input gain for his active bass, his amp has worked flawlessly. Now my little bro is over 40, a decent player who just doesn't know gear. Not saying there haven't been problems, (there have) but a certain percentage could be self inflicted.
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So revision H (or whatever) to correct something that is basically user error? Now, if that isn't exceptional customer service I don't know what is! And here you guys blame ampeg for providing the exact opposite. Shame on you!

;)
 
#205
At the last company I worked for as an electronics technician, we marked up circuit boards for the equipment we designed, and built by just a little under 300%! We had most boards made in the USA, and some in Great Britain. We ordered quantities in the hundreds, not thousands, and I was surprised at how cheap some of the boards were, (considering that they were made in USA, and GB). I expect Loud marks them up no less than 100%. The PF-500 main board made in China that they sell for 200$ probably cost them less than 100$.

If a PF-800 main board would be compatible with the other PF-500 boards, and could be had for around $200, it might be worth modifying the chassis of a failed PF-500 to accommodate it.
 
#208
cableguy said:
I have still been playing my PF-500 that I bought used about a month ago. No issues at all. My brother was having issues with his new PF-500 so I went to take a look at it. Total operator error. He was running the gain too hot and the limiter was kicking in a lot. His even had a few momentary shut downs for second or two which is the amp going into protect mode I believe. Once I spent a little time going over how to set the input gain for his active bass, his amp has worked flawlessly. Now my little bro is over 40, a decent player who just doesn't know gear. Not saying there haven't been problems, (there have) but a certain percentage could be self inflicted.
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I agree. I crank my gain until the limiter starts flashing, then back it off a bit. No problems whatsoever yet. You have to wonder about cabinets as well, a lot of folks out there (no one here of course ;)), don't have a clue about speaker impedance.

I work with a young guy just starting out wanting to build a rig. I schooled him about proper ohm load to match his amp, and he told me that "the guy at guitar center said with todays class D amplifiers, it doesn't matter so much anymore, that the new amps can handle pretty much anything."

I told him that the next time he goes to guitar center I want to tag along.
 
#211
No problems at all. I've had my PF500 for couple if weeks. Did a 1 1/2 hour set then loaned it to the next band on the bill they played for same amount of time. The PF500 never clipped cut out or off. Throttled it for 3 hours straight. Ran it through a Acoustic B 115 cab. 8ohms 450 watts. Head was pushing 300 max gain was on 4. Volume on 6. Performed like a champ. Will be giging this weekend set up with 2 cabinets so it will be at a 4ohms. Will up date as to how it performed. Pretty sure it will be fine. Handles great in practice.
 
#212
P Town said:
At the last company I worked for as an electronics technician, we marked up circuit boards for the equipment we designed, and built by just a little under 300%! We had most boards made in the USA, and some in Great Britain. We ordered quantities in the hundreds, not thousands, and I was surprised at how cheap some of the boards were, (considering that they were made in USA, and GB). I expect Loud marks them up no less than 100%. The PF-500 main board made in China that they sell for 200$ probably cost them less than 100$.

If a PF-800 main board would be compatible with the other PF-500 boards, and could be had for around $200, it might be worth modifying the chassis of a failed PF-500 to accommodate it.
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There is no way that board costs them more than $50.
 
#220
Biggbass said:
The big downside to all of this is that Ampeg is only hurting themselves in the long run.
It's a shame a company that big won't stand behind a product that they know was designed to be flawed. They've made their money on the sales more than enough times over. But day by day they are losing current and future customers. Perhaps they will eventually realize the power of the internet and word of mouth advertising, which in this case, is all negative, and stand behind their products. The PF line is a good idea...probably on paper. But in reality it may have turned out to be the Edsel for Ampeg. If it was a faulty Toyota, there would be a nationwide recall.
Ampeg should do the same. It may cost them up front, but in the long run they'd make tons of money from doing so. Sounds like someone at Ampeg should have been fired long ago and replaced with an individual who takes customer service more seriously.
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I will say this to be true. Speaking for myself....I won't buy an Ampeg product strictly based on the failures of the PF line-up.....all of which are/were WOM and internet spread. They'll never see a dime of my stash.
 

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