Burned Amp

[Thumpin6string]

I had a customer who brought me two 115 volt welders to repair. He loaned one to a friend and the friend said he couldn't get it to work. So he lent him the other one. The friend came back and told him that one didn't work either. Come to find out that the so called friend thought that if the welder worked on 115 volts, it should work better on 240 volts. He was wrong! He had made an adapter cord to do it. One of them needed the cooling fan replaced and some traces on the board repaired. The other needed a replacement board. Costly lesson about loaning equipment. If you don't know what you are doing, don't do it, unless you like spending money.

 

[nilorius]

What's the name of the game ?

 

[C_Becker]

...

The cost of warranty work is factored into the price of the amp. This is covered by insurance. The larger retailers are often more interested in making a customer happy and will overlook some unfortunate occurances. Answer any question honestly but let them deal with it however they want.

Which is exactly my point.

 

[pcake]

Please make sure to unplug the amp if you plan on opening it...

and perhaps if you don't know anything about something electronic, don't open it. you can make a problem worse.

 

[oZZma]

Many point out how "stupid" the OP was but a so easily accessible switch that can cause damage (or, even worse, danger) should have a warning (warning sign or written warning, "CAUTION" etc etc.) OVER the switch, not only in the manual, and I don't see any on the rear panel of the PF350.
Sorry guys it's 100% AMPEG'S FAULT here.

And no, this is not comparable to the recent "unappropriate use" silly warnings such as "caution - don't try to stop the chainsaw with your penis". These are the basic safety signs every device should have

 

[retslock]

Here’s an idea.
If you don’t know what it is or does - don’t touch it until you’ve read the manual!
Simple really.

 

[retslock]

Many point out how "stupid" the OP was but a so easily accessible switch that can cause damage (or, even worse, danger) should have a warning (warning sign or written warning, "CAUTION" etc etc.) OVER the switch, not only in the manual, and I don't see any on the rear panel of the PF350.
Sorry guys it's 100% AMPEG'S FAULT here.

And no, this is not comparable to the recent "unappropriate use" silly warnings such as "caution - don't try to stop the chainsaw with your penis". These are the basic safety signs every device should have

This kind of thinking is trying to avoid taking responsibility for your own behaviour. A trend that seems to be getting more and more common - make it somebody else’s fault.
Read the manual if you don’t understand the device. Don’t expect a manufacturer to have to anticipate every kind of rash behaviour an owner may want to indulge in. Common sense is a rare commodity these days.

 

[oZZma]

Read the manual if you don’t understand the device. Don’t expect a manufacturer to have to anticipate every kind of rash behaviour an owner may want to indulge in.

It's not my "expectation", it's the laws to promote SAFETY
Reading the manual is common sense but is still not mandatory, putting a signal when you can burn something just by pulling a switch IS mandatory.

 

[Bertr]

> And no, this is not comparable to the recent "unappropriate use" silly warnings such as "caution - don't try to stop the chainsaw with your penis".
Thank God I read that post! I was about to go to the garden shed see if I coud find something interesting to do!

 

[oZZma]

> And no, this is not comparable to the recent "unappropriate use" silly warnings such as "caution - don't try to stop the chainsaw with your penis".
Thank God I read that post! I was about to go to the garden shed see if I coud find something interesting to do!

 

[GeorgeX006]

Everything is okay the amp was fixed today!

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday but nevertheless Ampeg shouldnt have made it so easily accessible..its pretty simple to push it on an accident too..

I m not saying that Its not my fault but even shaging bass pedals have switches inside of them sometimes (that just change the sound).I believe they should had it covered with something or at least wright danger or something..

 

[Thick McRunfast]

Here’s an idea.
If you don’t know what it is or does - don’t touch it until you’ve read the manual!
Simple really.

RTFM or better RTWFM.

 

[RyanOh]

Everything is okay the amp was fixed today!

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday but nevertheless Ampeg shouldnt have made it so easily accessible..its pretty simple to push it on an accident too..

I m not saying that Its not my fault but even shagging bass pedals have switches inside of them sometimes (that just change the sound).I believe they should had it covered with something or at least wright danger or something..

You are the bass player. With great power comes great responsibility.

Congrats on getting it fixed so quickly.

 

[mcnach]

I just bought an Ameg Portaflex pf 350 bass head.

I Was trying to figure out some of the stuff it has and on the of it it had a thing like a button that you can push and switch it through 115 and 230 Power..soo...I switched to see what it does...The electrecity went down on my room and now the amp wont turn on..
Its like 10 minutes new..
What should I do..Is it fixable?Maybe should I sent it back?

Tell me you are joking...

 

[mcnach]

Well shag me then...
At least they could have covered it up for a bunch of idiots like me..

So you're not joking...

Well, we all do dumb things sometimes. This time it was you.
I hope you learnt two things today:

1) if a switch is not made very accessible and/or you need to try hard to switch it, then don't touch it until you find out exactly what it does.

2) don't rely on manufacturers building fool-proof equipment. They try, but we just make better fools. The best course of action is education: read manuals, and generally learn what any equipment does and how it is supposed to be used. I personally get frustrated when some features I'd find useful are unavailable because manufacturers feel it would be easier to hide those features than having to deal with complaints from people who misuse the equipment.

Anyway, damage is done now. I'd assume the amp is fried. It may be possible to bring it back to life but it's going to require to spend some money and you're going to have to take it to a repair centre to find out. I'd contact Ampeg directly. For something like this, I'd rather deal with the people who have all the schematics and *know* how my amplifier is designed. Chances are you destroyed a few components, but I've seen a few similar stories (you're not the only one making this mistake, others just travelled to another country and forgot to flip the switch when coming back... etc) and *sometimes* the repair was not terribly costly. However, it does require for a qualified person to investigate and find out exactly what has been damaged. Some feel tempted to just replace a blown fuse... and damage the amp further when they switch it back on.

So... go out in the garden, yell and swear a bit, and then talk to Ampeg and see what can be done. Hopefully it will not be terribly costly and you can have a working amplifier soon.
Please come back and report what happens. At the very least, it can serve as a cautionary tale for others, and if lucky, you can give hope to others who make the same mistake.

Good luck!

 

[mcnach]

You can't fix stupid.

Those who have never done anything dumb at some point in their lives raise their hands...

Yeah.
Thought so.

See those hands? Those are the ones who as well as doing dumb things sometimes are also liars

 

[mcnach]

If there’s one thing that should never be tried it’s that! Electricity is the most unforgiving force on earth.

You haven't met my ex...

 

[mcnach]

Many point out how "stupid" the OP was but a so easily accessible switch that can cause damage (or, even worse, danger) should have a warning (warning sign or written warning, "CAUTION" etc etc.) OVER the switch, not only in the manual, and I don't see any on the rear panel of the PF350.
Sorry guys it's 100% AMPEG'S FAULT here.

And no, this is not comparable to the recent "unappropriate use" silly warnings such as "caution - don't try to stop the chainsaw with your penis". These are the basic safety signs every device should have

I disagree.
Ultimately it's our own responsibility to know what we're doing before we start doing what we plan to do. Blaming others for your lack of preparation is at best cowardly. Widespread attitude, I give you that, but it doesn't make it right.

 

[mcnach]

It's not my "expectation", it's the laws to promote SAFETY
Reading the manual is common sense but is still not mandatory, putting a signal when you can burn something just by pulling a switch IS mandatory.

I get it.
You are the guy for whom "warning: contents may be hot" labes on coffee cups were made.

Shame.

 

[mcnach]

Everything is okay the amp was fixed today!

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday but nevertheless Ampeg shouldnt have made it so easily accessible..its pretty simple to push it on an accident too..

I m not saying that Its not my fault but even shagging bass pedals have switches inside of them sometimes (that just change the sound).I believe they should had it covered with something or at least wright danger or something..

You got it to work???
FANTASTIC news! Really happy for you.
Please tell us what happened so that others can benefit from your experience.