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

#501
shoot-r said:
Good information about the early SVT, mine was (I believe a 69 with 6550's)...

As to "my" complaint against Ampeg's PF-500's...

My beef with Ampeg is that none...no...nada...not any, consideration was given to repairing these units (at the owners expense) when the amp was out of warranty.
Click to expand...
Hodgy said that anyone with a screwdriver could replace a PF500 board in 10 minutes. How is that no consideration?
 
#506
A screwdriver and how much $?

Can an owner of a defective PF-500 purchase a replacement board direct from Loud?

If mine failed, I would prefer to repair the board, but if the failure is due to a design problem, it would be likely to fail again.

If a revision was made that involved a component change, it would be nice to know, so an owner could possibly repair an amp with a more reliable component, than originally installed.

If there were any simple circuit modifications made to improve reliability, it would be nice to have that information.

Where is the PF-500 repair wiki?
 
#509
B-string said:
Schafer may have disappeared by then, they were a US company. Started in San Jose, California moved to Carpinteria, California then back to San Jose through a few owners.
Click to expand...

Never saw a Schafer xmtr but seem to remember some old cart automation that may've been Schafer but did keep a few classic Rockwell-Collins 25k FMs on-air though.
But we digress ...
 
#510
Bowe said:
My rev. G, shipped Jun 2013, has functioned flawlessly.[/QUO


Good for you...I'm really glad your having a good run with your 4 to 5 month old amp.
Hope it lasts many years, but if it fails, I hope yours does it while it's under warranty...


(Again, this is my whole point to starting this thread and trying to inform "would be" buyers of a PF amp.)

...Under warranty your golden, have a failure and Ampeg WILL replace the head with a new head...but, out of warranty Ampeg has made NO consideration for repairs (at the owners expense) for the PF series of amps.
Click to expand...
 
#511
At the risk of repeating myself, please prove that statement about no consideration for OOW repairs when Hodgy said anyone with a screwdriver can replace a board in 10 minutes.
 
#512
shoot-r said:
Bowe said:
My rev. G, shipped Jun 2013, has functioned flawlessly.[/QUO


Good for you...I'm really glad your having a good run with your 4 to 5 month old amp.
Hope it lasts many years, but if it fails, I hope yours does it while it's under warranty...


(Again, this is my whole point to starting this thread and trying to inform "would be" buyers of a PF amp.)

...Under warranty your golden, have a failure and Ampeg WILL replace the head with a new head...but, out of warranty Ampeg has made NO consideration for repairs (at the owners expense) for the PF series of amps.
Click to expand...

Read other posts you did not!

New board $200 (or so it has been said and not just by Jimmy)
10 minutes with a screw driver (Hodgy said that one earlier too) I took 30 minutes since I was checking out a working unit. BTW the screw driver needed is a #2 Phillips

Consideration noted as industry standard when it comes to digital equipment, I doubt if you'd complain this much if you had a MacBook pro 17" lose its main board post warranty (and it is several times the price) so get over it already.
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#514
Bowe said:
It's not the answer they want :hiding:
Click to expand...

Yes sir, you are right!

When the authorized Ampeg service tech told me it'd cost me almost as much to repair my hardly used, but out of warranty, PF-500 as it would be to buy a new one and then recommended me to just toss the head.......that was not the answer I was hoping for!
I was hoping to get my PF-500 back in service at a reasonable cost...(and not have to become a amp service tech myself...:( .)


Maybe Ampeg needs to take a page from G.K.'s service dept.
 
#516
shoot-r said:
Yes sir, you are right!

When the authorized Ampeg service tech told me it'd cost me almost as much to repair my hardly used, but out of warranty, PF-500 as it would be to buy a new one and then recommended me to just toss the head.......that was not the answer I was hoping for!
I was hoping to get my PF-500 back in service at a reasonable cost...(and not have to become a amp service tech myself...:( .)


Maybe Ampeg needs to take a page from G.K.'s service dept.
Click to expand...

That's why I asked about the rev level, I doubt it was rev. E or higher. There were some major changes in rev. D and rev. E that would affect the durability of the amp. There is a photo in another thread that shows the visible difference between rev. D and the later revs. (a heat sink on the MOSFET driver IC and no drivers/buffer transistors).
 
#517
arai said:
Agreed.
It's time they came to the party and show people who have owned dud pf amps some respect. It would do Ampegs reputation wonders if they treated the, well documented, problematic revisions as a write off and replace those amps pro bono
Click to expand...

+1!

But to late, I sold my burnt-out PF-500 for pennies.
I was gonna follow in B strings footsteps and get a G.K. Fusion but then I stumbled onto a Hartke LH500...LOVE
IT!!!!!
It's already lasted through it's first power-up so it's surpassed my first PF-500, and it's run more than 5 hours now so it's already surpassed my second PF-500.......a win for me so far! :hyper:
 
#518
shoot-r said:
Yes sir, you are right!

When the authorized Ampeg service tech told me it'd cost me almost as much to repair my hardly used, but out of warranty, PF-500 as it would be to buy a new one and then recommended me to just toss the head.......that was not the answer I was hoping for!
I was hoping to get my PF-500 back in service at a reasonable cost...(and not have to become a amp service tech myself...:( .)


Maybe Ampeg needs to take a page from G.K.'s service dept.
Click to expand...

Maybe you need to talk to a different Ampeg service tech. I repair these amps for my customers when they are out of warranty and I dont think any of them feel like they have been overcharged or treated unfairly. Believe it or not some repair techs do care about their customers.
 

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