Robin Amps Ripped Me off.

[teemuk]

Go to Doc Electro http://www.docelectro.com/

Excellent choice!

May I also recommend the awesome Grendel Sound Deadroom cabinets for silent practicing during night hours. :poke:

[JBTubehead]

I'm really sorry to read of your wowes. Might I recommend that you put your recouped funds towards a great amp from Zwengel Amps or a Cameron? Give Carl or Mark a call dude.

You owe me one screen and one cup of coffee; I'm still laughing.

I always wonderred if 'ol dip{censored} Carl ever realized that not sending out an amp that was paid for, and lying about it the whole time, would cost him his amp business. Still can't believe I pushed his {censored} back in the day.

[LordThurisaz]

All I can say is that Paul was great by me. I first...

 

 

Huh? What'd you say? I started staring at the asian chick, and kinda trailed off.

 

And yeah, I know someone who babbles incessently, to the point of annoyance. It seems to be caused by past drug abuse.

[ninguisdomesticus]

Paul Rixon of Robin Amps built me a Twin reverb,  He then wanted to supply me with Celeston Speakers,  I paid over $US1000 dollars  in 2008 for two Speakers which Paul Rixon claimed to have sold me and sent me.  The speakers never arrived.  He claimed he sent them? He never produced any documenatation in support of sending them.  PayPal were not helpful either as the 60 day complaint period had expired by the time I realised I was not going to recieve anything.  On the basis of no evidence of sending the goods and they never arrived  I strongly suspect i was ripped off.

I recommed people are careful dealing with Paul Rixon of Robin Amps. 

[DrRetroJoe]

For those of you who had visited the (now extinct) "Robin Custom Tube Amplification" shop in JB, you probably saw me there much of the time. I may not be the only first-hand authority on Robin Amps, but I probably spent more time and lost more money there than anyone else. What follows is the non-flaming Reader's Digest version of the story. The shop was in business for about 10 years, and Paul built a lot of cool amps, but he was not what I would call an astute business person.

 

First, NO, I'm not the homeless guy who hung out there 24/7. I did set up his first website (yes, it pretty much sucked, but it was originally assembled as a static site in 2001), and did a lot of amp troubleshooting, varnished the tweed cabs to the customers' level of "aging", assembled finished chassis' to the cabs, installed speakers, tested amps and tubes, etc. and tried to help customers and answer questions while Paul was on the bench or the phone. I also made the mistake of helping to keep him in money and continue to keep him focused on projects until late 2008.

 

The projects he focused on were not necessarily the big $$$, but those he could complete easily. He knew Fender tweeds and AB763 blackfaces, as well as basic early Marshalls, especially the 18-watters (just tweeds with Brit components, after all) extremely well.

 

Unfortunately, many types that were outside of his expertise were victims of some unusual treatment. Example: a rare and pristine 1962 Gibson Crestline GA400 came in for caps and a minor repair. I said that it was a rare bird and not to mess with any original stuff that could be retained. Apparently, the owner just wanted it to be working and salable, and originality was secondary to raw function. Paul threw in a few components that were "close", saying, "it's a stupid amp, anyway".

 

I have dozens of such recollections; too many to relate here. I will say that his custom builds that he completed were generally top shelf, best components, lots with turret boards if $$$ were no object. From 2002 to 2008, I tested at least half of them personally before they were delivered to the customer. I can confirm that he could talk for hours as to whether Dijons or Auri caps were better for your amp, why certain Sovteks, EH, JJ, or expensive NOS tubes were your best choice...and AlNiCo speakers were ALWAYS better than ceramics or neos.

 

Without boring everyone else who was ripped off with long-winded details and without intention of casting aspersions on his chosen lifestyle:

1. AMPS: Paul did built some really great amps plus cool mods and conversions. I still own a Retrolux (5E9), Vibrolux clone (5F11), Twin clone (5F8-a with 6V6 quad), 6V30(AC30), and 2 6G15 reverb units, and I'm still happy to have them.

2. PHONE: I am sure that I logged 10-12 hours a week on the phone with him, while spending a lot of Saturdays and Sundays in the shop.

3. MONEY: I loaned him money to order amp parts for customers, delivered amps to FedEx/UPS and paid for shipping on many occasions.

4. THE END: I did finally break ties with him in 2009 mostly due to money and dishonesty. He stopped paying me back in full starting in 2007, and the debt just got worse.

a. Guitar ripoff #1: He absconded with, and soon sold, a Heritage Eagle guitar (valued at about $5800 retail) that was a gift for me (for packing and overnighting a cabinet at a cost of $462 out of my pocket) from a major customer (who shall go unnamed) for which I had already purchased a Cedar Creek custom leather case ($650) and paid additional to-and-from shipping to Heritage. It was shipped along with a Sweet 16 for Paul to his house and I never even saw it.

b. Guitar ripoff #2: In exchange for a custom amp that never materialized, I offered him two guitars he had expressed interest in, that I had purchased for $1300 (I'd love to have my B-bender Tele back!!).

c. Total Ripoff: I lost nearly $7000 that I pumped into the amp shop venture from 2004-2008 for "loans", for "rent", and for components needed for Robin Amps to stay in business, including speakers, transformers (Mercurys aren't cheap), chassis' and cabinets. When I stopped feeding his habits, the shop pretty much went

 

P.S. I lost my 2 Hammonds (A100, A101) when he closed the shop. Meh...

 

I hope this information helps to clarify any misinformation floating around out there. That is as nice as I can put it.

[guitarcapo]

Wow. I dealt with him on four separate occasions and each time he was perfectly professional, finished the work in a timely manner and charged reasonably.

 

I feel like I dodged a bullet hearing all these bad stories. Work he did for me:

 

1. Recapped a pair of Fender Concert II amps and replaced the power transformer in one of them. I mailed him the chassis. When he returned the amps they worked perfectly and he also sent back the old replaced caps.

 

2. Recapped and "blackfaced" a late 70's Princeton Reverb.

 

3. Repaired/troubleshot a home-built tweed Champ that I got cheap because it wasn't working.

 

4. Took a "Dukane" tube PA head and totally converted it to a 5E3 circuit using premium Mojo caps, and carbon comp resistors. This thing is a work of pure love, devotion and tech knowhow. He basically gutted everything except the power and output transformer. He fashioned a turret board and populated it with premium components like Mojotone caps, carbon comp resistors, ceramic sockets and cloth covered wire. He was even able to shoehorn a choke in there. It has a matching Dukane PA Cab with a pair of 8" Jensens in there that looks cool but it really shines through a 12" Jensen C12N. The cost was $700 but in my opinion worth every penny compared to what Fender charges for PCB stuff using the same circuit and what clone kits cost without ANY labor charge.

 

He came off a little weird on the phone...almost obsessive about amps. Talking on and on about amp history, tech theory etc.His work seemed a bit obsessive as well....Like on one occasion he sent be some premium foil and oil caps that he wanted me to retrofit into one of his builds.

Anyway all I can say was that I never had a bad experience with the guy...and I dealt with him around 2003 or so.

[DrRetroJoe]

I remember the DuKane...that was a cool project! I felt that things were good until the hurricanes (2004), and were continuing OK until about mid-2006. Back then he could build/mod 5E3's and 18w Marshall circuits in his sleep! Pretty much the same with the most tweed and BF circuits as well.

 

I would never have become involved with him if I had imagined that things would go downhill after a few years. IMO, by 2006 he had begun a downward spiral, the details of which I will not elaborate upon here. I don't care to see the guy ever again, but I love the amps I did get from him. If you see a Robin Amp for sale at a reasonable price, it is probably a good buy. There is a one-off large cab Bluesbreaker 45 (real NOS KT66's) out there that is one of his best efforts. Near the end he tried to give it to me but I told him to sell it and give me the money; he was asking ~$2000 for it. Should have taken it...one of the coolest vintage clones EVER.

[vrcimino]

I bought a Robin Amp copy of a Princeton Reverb used about maybe 7-8 years ago off Ebay; I still own it. This amp was previously owned by Noah Miller. I later saw the negative things reported about Paul Dixon. Does anybody know what caused all the insanity for the guy. The amp I have I paid 7 bills for used and it sounds wonderful. I have a Patriot RaginCajun I put into it. I don't think I have heard a better Princeton Reverb clone nor do I think it could be replaced. This guy sounds like he oozed of talent too bad he wasted his personal reputation. It seems strange that he was so irresponsible. I'm just curious, somewhat mentioned on a forum I read several years ago personal problems led to this. Don't know what happened to him, would like to know the answer. Meanwhile, this is my best sounding amp.

[Cornholio Farquarth III]

Just get a Line6 and be done with it.

[omni]

^^ shadup.