Orange Terror Bass v1 life expectancy ... ?

[el murdoque]

...from time to time I flirt with the acquisition of the first version of a Terror Bass, mainly for their being able to deliver full power into 8 ohms and because I've always wanted to have an Orange amp.
However, when I googled recently to see if any attractive offers crop up, I saw a surprising amount of social media posts of people claiming that their Terror Bass kicked the bucket and what to buy next. This led me to question if there is an issue with the v1 and if it's clever to buy one from the second hand market at all ...

Any opinions or educated guesses on that particular amp's mileage?

 

[Wasnex]

...from time to time I flirt with the acquisition of the first version of a Terror Bass, mainly for their being able to deliver full power into 8 ohms and because I've always wanted to have an Orange amp.
However, when I googled recently to see if any attractive offers crop up, I saw a surprising amount of social media posts of people claiming that their Terror Bass kicked the bucket and what to buy next. This led me to question if there is an issue with the v1 and if it's clever to buy one from the second hand market at all ...

Any opinions or educated guesses on that particular amp's mileage?

I could be wrong on all or part of this...but this is what I believe.

IMHO it's probably less about how long one might last and more about whether it can be repaired. AFAIK if anything goes wrong with the power supply or class D output section they are pretty much FUBAR. I got the impression the 1000 was more prone to failure than the 500...and of course I wanted the 1000 .

AFAIK, Orange's repair strategy was to use blackbox maintenance on these amps rather than component level repair. Blackbox maintenance means they swap out the entire circuit card rather than trouble shooting and replacing the faulty component. AFAIK the replacement circuit cards for the Mk1s are no longer made or available.

I have seen schematics for the Mk1, so perhaps a really good tech could do a component level repair.

AFAIK, the amps have a proprietary class D output sections rather than one of the common class D modules like ICE or Hypex.

 

[agedhorse]

Yes, these are a challenge to repair even for a decent tech and the documentation. That's why these were generally repaired by replacement of the PCB.

 

[el murdoque]

Thanks, @Wasnex and @agedhorse

Did any of that change with the v2 ?

 

[Sparky Mark]

I have a v2 and there are no SMT components used, just through hole. So I'd expect any qualified tech with schematics to be able to diagnose and repair.

 

[coreyfyfe]

Thanks, @Wasnex and @agedhorse

Did any of that change with the v2 ?

No, but the design appears more stable. The V2 still uses a proprietary power amp design but has not been plagued by the failures of the V1.

 

[agedhorse]

I have a v2 and there are no SMT components used, just through hole. So I'd expect any qualified tech with schematics to be able to diagnose and repair.

I think you will quickly discover how hard those are to troubleshoot and properly diagnose, through-hole isn't going to help in this matter. This is the reason why the major players in the industry have gone to integrating the power supply and class D sections and making them a single replaceable module.

The labor cost to CORRECTLY diagnose problems with this technology far exceeds the cost of just replacing for most failures.

 

[Sparky Mark]

I think you will quickly discover how hard those are to troubleshoot and properly diagnose, through-hole isn't going to help in this matter. This is the reason why the major players in the industry have gone to integrating the power supply and class D sections and making them a single replaceable module.

The labor cost to CORRECTLY diagnose problems with this technology far exceeds the cost of just replacing for most failures.

Agreed, although I have been able to implement several simple sevice bulletins on through hole assemblies that would've be junked if they were SMT. I hate to see waste, even if, at moment, it's the financially economic thing to do.

 

[BagelBruin]

My Orange has been repaired a few times. The power sections failed within warranty, and Orange fixed it for free. My treble knob keeps breaking, which results in diminished volume. Also, my volume knob broke, but that repair seems to have hold for awhile.