Ampeg Quality Control?

[Phantasm]

I've been thinking about upgrading and I've been looking at the Ampeg SVT-CL, the SVT-2, the SVT-3 and the SVT-4. Reading a lot of the reviews on HC, it seems that there are a lot of complaints about quality control problems. Is this something new (I have an Ampeg B2 I've had since 1994 with no problems) or was it a few "bad years" that have been corrected?

 

Ampeg users, give me your comments!

[rikshaw]

ive had several different ampeg amps over the years.

my b2r made some really bad noise one time at a gig but other than that it was solid. i had it checked out the next day (for free) by the ampeg people and everything was ok. maybe it was a power issue at the bar?

 

anyway, i have also had an svt2-pro and now have an svp-pro. no problems with either.

 

i too have heard the bad stuff but haven't experienced it

[bassplayinguy]

my SVT 4 crapped out on me, they got it back up and running in 3 weeks (sent it to SLM direct instead of dealing with a repair center) and it only cost me a 105 bucks (they replaced all the jacks and new thermo controllers while they had it opened and cleaned it out oo), its 7 years old. ive heard that the older SVT4s, (like mine) have been plagued with power amp troubles, but when they switched to the gray faced ones, they had fixed the power amp problem

 

the SVT 3 i had was trouble free and was a great amp too

[78pbass]

my svt350h (b2r in SVT clothes) was a turd and was sold as quickly as possible. it was in the shop more than on stage.

[no-logic]

I bought a new SVT-350H back in '96 that gave me a lot of trouble until Ampeg replaced it. But I have 3 Ampeg amps now with no problems at all.

[Benjamin]

I see a consensus there. *makes note* don't buy SVT350H...

[hasbeen]

even though Ampeg is our competitor to be fair to Ampeg, let me point some things out.

 

First off, there are so very many Ampegs out in the field compared to many other brands that just by the law of numbers, you're going to hear about some failing. This does not mean that on a percentage basis Ampegs have a higher failure rate than other brands.

 

Secondly, the nature of people and especially chat rooms, can cause a distorted view of what really goes on out there. The reason is; nobody posts a thread that says "hey, I did a gig this weekend and my amp didn't fail". They certainly will however, post if their amp does fail. Now, this snowballs: Thirty people read this one thread and these thirty people tell others that "brand X amps fail" and/or even jump in on other threads commenting that. Now, that one failure has turned into thirty.

[greenshag]

 

Originally posted by hasbeen even though Ampeg is our competitor to be fair to Ampeg, let me point some things out. First off, there are so very many Ampegs out in the field compared to many other brands that just by the law of numbers, you're going to hear about some failing. This does not mean that on a percentage basis Ampegs have a higher failure rate than other brands. Secondly, the nature of people and especially chat rooms, can cause a distorted view of what really goes on out there. The reason is; nobody posts a thread that says "hey, I did a gig this weekend and my amp didn't fail". They certainly will however, post if their amp does fail. Now, this snowballs: Thirty people read this one thread and these thirty people tell others that "brand X amps fail" and/or even jump in on other threads commenting that. Now, that one failure has turned into thirty.

 

 

true, and a +1....

 

I sell many Ampegs a day, and they are very trouble free from what I see...

[L. Ron Hoover]

 

Originally posted by hasbeen even though Ampeg is our competitor to be fair to Ampeg, let me point some things out. First off, there are so very many Ampegs out in the field compared to many other brands that just by the law of numbers, you're going to hear about some failing. This does not mean that on a percentage basis Ampegs have a higher failure rate than other brands. Secondly, the nature of people and especially chat rooms, can cause a distorted view of what really goes on out there. The reason is; nobody posts a thread that says "hey, I did a gig this weekend and my amp didn't fail". They certainly will however, post if their amp does fail. Now, this snowballs: Thirty people read this one thread and these thirty people tell others that "brand X amps fail" and/or even jump in on other threads commenting that. Now, that one failure has turned into thirty.

 

 

This is an excellent point. From what I've seen, Ampegs aren't any more prone to failure than any other mass-produced amplifiers.

[Markee]

It always makes me laugh when I hear about how Fender slid into the toilet when they were bought out in the sixties, yet, when Ampeg was sold to Crate there is nary a mention of the union.

 

Having worked on and repaired tube amps produced in St.Louis I wonder if Ampeg shares R&D facilities with Crate, (which most all of you thrash). Perhaps someone who has taken the factory tour can shed some light here.

 

Hasbeen has very valid points not to mention undisclosed variables that are out of the control of the manufacturer, i.e. how the product was shipped/handled and by whom, the care and handling of the end user, the environment in which it is used,etc.

[lug]

 

Originally posted by hasbeen even though Ampeg is our competitor to be fair to Ampeg, let me point some things out. First off, there are so very many Ampegs out in the field compared to many other brands that just by the law of numbers, you're going to hear about some failing. This does not mean that on a percentage basis Ampegs have a higher failure rate than other brands. Secondly, the nature of people and especially chat rooms, can cause a distorted view of what really goes on out there. The reason is; nobody posts a thread that says "hey, I did a gig this weekend and my amp didn't fail". They certainly will however, post if their amp does fail. Now, this snowballs: Thirty people read this one thread and these thirty people tell others that "brand X amps fail" and/or even jump in on other threads commenting that. Now, that one failure has turned into thirty.

 

 

I've experienced the same thing with Mackie powere amps. For a while there was a rumor that the 1400i was prone to failure. Turned out that they sold about a gazillion of them and their failure rate was actually pretty low. BTW, I didn't do a gig with my ampeg this weekend and it STILL refuses to make any decent sounds when I play through it (although it sounds fine when others do).

[The Funk]

My ampeg b2r (pre-greyfaced) had an issue with the thermo controlled fan whiched caused overheating and which fried an opamp. I replaced the op amp and the fan with one thats always on and never had a problem again.

 

This used to happen fairly often with these (with the 350H as well) but I'm pretty sure more recent ones had the design changed to solve the problem.

[mounds]

 

Originally posted by The Funk My ampeg b2r (pre-greyfaced) had an issue with the thermo controlled fan whiched caused overheating and which fried an opamp. I replaced the op amp and the fan with one thats always on and never had a problem again. This used to happen fairly often with these (with the 350H as well) but I'm pretty sure more recent ones had the design changed to solve the problem.

 

 

A friend of mine had a smiliar issue with her SVT4. The temp-controlled fan failed to spin up during a gig and it grenaded itself-- she had to send it into ampeg for repairs.

[OneWayPunk]

Well, my first 350H had fan issues right out of the box so it went right back to the store and I got a different one. This one I have owned and played heavily (3-4 times a week gigged, many tours all over the country) for 9 years now. The only two major problems I have had with it over that time were both user caused. I lent it to a buddy for a gig and he plugged TWO 4Ohm cabs into it in parallel and managed to fry all of the MOSFET's running it hard at 2Ohms for an hour. $40 in new MOSFET's later it was good as new. The other problem was a cracked solder joint on the DI and that was because I dropped the head onto the concrete from the top of my stack while rolling it into the studio. Quick touchup with a soldering iron and it was good to go. I totally trust this amp as it has never let me down once. Sure it has had a few broken EQ sliders, but I'm not easy on gear.

So while there may be a quality control issue at Ampeg I doubt it's a big one, and I doubt it's any worse than other amp manufactures. When your cranking out that many amps there are bound to be a few that slip through with little issues you cannot find without age/temp/time testing all of the units. Thats just not possible to do in large scale production like they do.

I will say that I have seen wayyyyyy more blown up GK heads come in for repair than I have Ampeg.

 

Just a bit of a different view on the subject.

[takeout]

My '86 SVT-II has never required a repair. This despite:

 

- Being dropped from a height of 2.5 feet

- Being run without a speaker load for a couple of hours (accident)

- Countless trailer rides

- Impedance mismatching

[78pbass]

Damn, I forgot about the other Ampegs I had...

B2r... dead fan, fried guts (sat on it forever, sold it cheap recently)

SVT-III...(At least I think thats what it was), never even played it, sold it with {censored}ING LOUSY pots and cold solder joints galore with full disclosure.

 

I bought the last one to sell it, but so far 0/3 in reliable amps with me.

 

My Mesa has been perfect over years of use, I decided after owning low/mid-level gear to pony-up and buy quality to ward off the repair-demons. Since about then, I've lived by this option that I'd rather spend more on quality and worry less about reliability than vice-versa. Cars, Computers, appliances..et al.

[Phantasm]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

 

Have any of you been able to A/B compare the SVT-2 to the SVT-3/4? Any comments?

[Phantasm]

bump for the day shift.

[RSBro]

Not a fan of all-tube amps (pre's are a different story), but I had an SVT-III Pro for a while and it was ok. Only later did I realize it was the AMP'S fault my Schroeder was farting out b/c of the lack of power being thrown at it. I hit it with my Peavey PV1500 nowadays and it laughs and asks for more.

 

So, it's an okay amp, but you could probably do better for the price.

 

They tend to go in the Mesa M2000/M-Pulse 600 range, which are far better amps.

[fintucfin]

My new SVT3Pro came with a loose input jack. Tsk! Fixed that and all is well so far.

[Craig Vecchione]

 

Originally posted by Phantasm Thanks for the replies, everyone. Have any of you been able to A/B compare the SVT-2 to the SVT-3/4? Any comments?

 

 

Well, my ownership is pretty close, as well as the extensive (months of {censored}ing about) road-testing....I had an SVT-4PRO and traded that for an SVT-CL, which is the same pre and power circuit as the -2PRO.

 

First, my impression is that the -CL is louder than the -4 was. I'm using the same PR-410HLF cab. The tone on both is great, but I love the all-tube grind of the -CL....it sounds incredible when you get it angry, which starts at around 2 on the master and 6 on the gain.

 

I really don't miss the -4. It had all sorts of I/O, effects loops, two power amps, crossover, etc. All of which went unused...I plug in the bass and plug in a speaker and go. I'd be heartbroken if I lost the -CL.

[Phantasm]

 

Originally posted by Craigv Well, my ownership is pretty close, as well as the extensive (months of {censored}ing about) road-testing....I had an SVT-4PRO and traded that for an SVT-CL, which is the same pre and power circuit as the -2PRO. First, my impression is that the -CL is louder than the -4 was. I'm using the same PR-410HLF cab. The tone on both is great, but I love the all-tube grind of the -CL....it sounds incredible when you get it angry, which starts at around 2 on the master and 6 on the gain. I really don't miss the -4. It had all sorts of I/O, effects loops, two power amps, crossover, etc. All of which went unused...I plug in the bass and plug in a speaker and go. I'd be heartbroken if I lost the -CL.

 

 

At 2 on the master and 6 on the gain, is the volume getting too loud for stage? That's been my big concern with both amps... I want them to sound good and have headroom to get loud when i need to, but not have to jack them up to where the soundman will hate me to get it.

[Phantasm]

bump for the answer...

[Jazz Ad]

The 4 can sound pretty much the same ragardless of stage volume but you need to push the CL to get a good tone IMHO.

[Craig Vecchione]

Originally posted by Phantasm At 2 on the master and 6 on the gain, is the volume getting too loud for stage? That's been my big concern with both amps... I want them to sound good and have headroom to get loud when i need to, but not have to jack them up to where the soundman will hate me to get it.

 

As a soundman I appreciate your concern. No it's actually at the lower end of the volume scale for a decent sized room. It'll continue to get louder and grittier, so you have to decide what level of both is acceptable. If you frequently play small rooms or your band is one of the few that will do low stage volume voluntarily, I heartily recommend the V-4B. It gets angry at a nice volume level, but is still pretty loud.