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

#401
Has this statement from Ampeg been noted in here:

The PF-500 has been the bestselling solid state head for a long time now. There are thousands out in the field every day. The failure rate is not even close to outside the industry norm. There are just so many out there, that that percentage can mean a larger group of people. We stand behind it 100% and our warranty and customer service are great should anything ever happen.

This was taken from their youtube site and was posted last month in response to a query re: Failure rate.



Link for reference.

Really it does seem like Ampeg are not concerned, and that their angle is that there is only a noticeably higher failure rate because there are so many units in the marketplace.

Sorry if this bit of copy has been raised already, but I thought it was worth raising as it's official.
 
#402
IPYF said:
Has this statement from Ampeg been noted in here:

The PF-500 has been the bestselling solid state head for a long time now. There are thousands out in the field every day. The failure rate is not even close to outside the industry norm. There are just so many out there, that that percentage can mean a larger group of people. We stand behind it 100% and our warranty and customer service are great should anything ever happen.

This was taken from their youtube site and was posted last month in response to a query re: Failure rate.




- georgestrings
Click to expand...
 
#405
Downunderwonder said:
If that claim were true it would be statistically near impossible for even one user to have three amps die on them. Yet multiple TB users have had repeated failures.
Click to expand...

Exactly - and we know from reports here that this is BS, too:

"We stand behind it 100% and our warranty and customer service are great should anything ever happen."

*If* they really stood behind it, there would be no issue...


- georgestrings
 
#406
I love how this thread got taken over by people who had no intention of buying Ampeg stuff ever, and who are now just making up stuff to suit their own agendas. And now they will take turns shouting down me or anyone else who has the slightest bit positive to say about the PF heads. Again. Way to turn a possibly constructive thread into total ass.
 
#407
True.

When mine arrived (used), I couldn't wait to try to make it fail. I failed. It didn't fail. I'd still have it but I ran into a crunch but as soon as I can afford it, I wouldn't hesitate to get another. But I'd probably go with the 800 instead.

Dang, that thing sounded good.
 
#409
JimmyM said:
I love how this thread got taken over by people who had no intention of buying Ampeg stuff ever, and who are now just making up stuff to suit their own agendas. And now they will take turns shouting down me or anyone else who has the slightest bit positive to say about the PF heads. Again. Way to turn a possibly constructive thread into total ass.
Click to expand...

Now, just......ok...

The "there are so many out there, it's the best selling amp in the world" thing, I just don't buy. It's just like any other micro....really popular on the internet, rarely seen in the wild.
 
#411
Jerrold Tiers said:
>cut long post<
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I am not saying it is a different animal. But it is an animal that can be tamed by good design, there are plenty of class D bass amps out there that you can turn up the knobs on and then there are many PA power amps too that don't die when they are turned up too.
Also it is not new technology

JimmyM said:
I love how this thread got taken over by people who had no intention of buying Ampeg stuff ever, and who are now just making up stuff to suit their own agendas. And now they will take turns shouting down me or anyone else who has the slightest bit positive to say about the PF heads. Again. Way to turn a possibly constructive thread into total ass.
Click to expand...
Sounds familiar doesn't it.
I know I am more then likely one of these "people" and my answer to that is that I like how you presume. The VB4 looks like a real sweet amp that I am considering buying in the future and I am actually watching the threads where VB4 is to see how it goes as far as reliability.
Time will tell
 
#413
The drivel in this thread has been amazing, if one doesn't think this amp sold/sells in mass quantities just monitor the stocking on the major websites - they seem to run out of the PF500 more than any other amp in that power class. Of course this is not a scientific method but it is a bit more scientific than an Internet thread of folks complaining about a product they never owned. The design engineer at LOUD/Ampeg made some notable changes that would have a positive impact on the durability of the product 2 years ago and I still have yet to hear of a post rev. C failure (not disparaging those that are being kicked around today).

+1000 to Jimmy's last couple posts

The GC sales guy also gets a nice chunk of that extended warranty money so they are just leveraging what they read on TB for the spiff.
 
#415
JimmyM said:
I love how this thread got taken over by people who had no intention of buying Ampeg stuff ever, and who are now just making up stuff to suit their own agendas.
Click to expand...

I spent the last three years playing a B-18 head, and currently play a homebuilt preamp based on the B-15/B-18. I love SVT's (don't love the weight, or I'd probably be playing one)...

...but I'm also an Electrical Engineer and I know Ampeg has/had significant issues with these amps, and seems to not want to admit it.
 
#416
Eh....FWIW,

I just punched "ampeg pf500" into google. TB threads are on the first page. It ain't like all this mine broke/mine didn't stuff is hard to find. People could just type it in their phone right there at the store just like they do facebooking and texting all day. Really isn't any excuse to buy one blind.
 
#417
aborgman said:
I spent the last three years playing a B-18 head, and currently play a homebuilt preamp based on the B-15/B-18. I love SVT's (don't love the weight, or I'd probably be playing one)...

...but I'm also an Electrical Engineer and I know Ampeg has/had significant issues with these amps, and seems to not want to admit it.
Click to expand...
Geez, and here all this time I thought Hodgy's posts in this thread did exactly that. I guess you have to read between the lines when someone says, "We've made several revisions to fix problems people have had" and "On behalf of Ampeg, I'm sorry" to get the part where they didn't admit to it.
 
#419
will33 said:
Eh....FWIW,

I just punched "ampeg pf500" into google. TB threads are on the first page. It ain't like all this mine broke/mine didn't stuff is hard to find. People could just type it in their phone right there at the store just like they do facebooking and texting all day. Really isn't any excuse to buy one blind.
Click to expand...

And google can't be biased or skewed and are you implying that people who buy one are blind?? I studied the amp and its reliability profile before making my purchase. My little bit of research told me that there is a highly vocal minority that had 'the problem' (the worst case had several - as a technical type it makes me wonder about environmental conditions in that case) the vast majority of those failures were easily traced to units from the first year of production (the remaining ones seemed to be first year units that had been on store shelves for up to a year) and there are very few mentions of 'the problem' on the European sites. It ain't hard to remember people will complain much more if it breaks than post something like hey mine is just fine, and with the PF500 it seems many can't get past the fact that there have been improvements to the product.

BTW google probably knows your opinion of the PF500 and gives you the results they think you want.
 
#420
shoot-r said:
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.
Click to expand...

Detractor or fanboy OP.
 

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