PF500 worth repairing?

[kat888]

My Ampeg PF00 off eBay (unopened in box) cost me $US375 incl P&H landed in Australia. It was only after the eBay return period had run out I discovered the poweramp was dead (had been running it with headphones). I duly had it repaired - a crack in main board had caused a blown component @ $US150, so we're looking at $US525 spent so far...

Just as I bought my all valve head, the PF500 started randomly dropping out and going dead, with the fault light on, requiring power-cycling to get it running again -- and all this at 'bedroom' volume.

I really can't decide what to do with it - whether I should buy a new main board for $US200 (incl P&H) and keep the PF500 as a backup, or whether I should stop throwing money at the damned thing and send it to landfill. Maybe spend the $US200 + labour on a VT Bass DI pedal instead?

 

[B-string]

If it was your first repair I would suggest a new mainboard having the current revision instead of spending $150 on a "questionable" board. As deep as you are into it now I would sell it "As Is" for whatever you could recoup and move on.

 

[arai]

I wouldn't give ampeg any more money for revised replacement board that they obviously know has design faults.
Charging people to fix what they broke seems like a scam to me. But I guess it's just a company that focused on business not their customers.

 

[kat888]

It's not Ampeg's fault I bought an amp without checking whether it's covered by international warranty (it isn't). It also likely wasn't Ampeg that bounced the amp and cracked the PCB. That said, a little consideration would have been appreciated.

I'm sure they'll soon dry their eyes over me NOT buying a V4B.

I'll put the cursed thing back on eBay then, see whether I can't get a few dollars for it.

 

[pie_man_25]

I'm sorry that you've had such an experience, my pf500 has been fine, but this has been known to happen with early revisions unfortunately. I'd probably cut my losses if that happened though. Maybe if you could guarantee that the new replacement board is a new revision it'd be worth it, but not otherwise.

 

[kat888]

Don't think October 2014 (date of mfr) counts as an early revision.

You're right though - and even if I did put a new board in, I would never trust it not to conk out at an inopportune moment.