Amp repairs taking too long?

TheMarlin

My favourite amp tech works on a geological time scale.  He works slow, exceptionally slow.  But, his work is second to non, and his prices are practically charitable. 

He's recently moved the west country. A bit far to travel.  But if my favourite amp blew, i'd fill the tank and head out to Bristol in a heartbeat.   He's had my 68 Vibrolux for a year before.  I told him it wasn't urgent, and he took me at my word.  He rebuilt it, and put it back to Blackface stock (it was blackface in a silverface cab (rare 68 crossover to Silverface)) and charged me PEANUTS.

Good things are worth waiting for.

Marlin

Voxman

John_P said:

I'd check out other places to get it repaired and go collect it from them.   It sounds like they are guessing and messing you about now.

I concur 100%.  No way would my amp tech take more than a week for a routine repair, and if he did need to wait for parts he'd bring me up to speed immediately and keep me posted - and it certainly wouldn't take months on a Vox AC30.  Any company or individual that has poor comms is not in my view acting professionally or courteously and is not one I'd wish to deal with.  

Danny1969

I've had loads of uncollected repairs. We wait 3 months and then send a letter by recorded delivery stating that we've gonna despose of the kit if they don't respond in another 3 months, and we give them an option to waive the estimate fee if they wish by signing a form which says we can keep the goods. 

ICBM

Paul_C said:

ICBM said:

 Still never found out why he didn't respond to any communication for two years though.

[G4S]

That was my thought too, but I didn't ask .

The funny thing is that the amp - a very early small-logo/toggle-switch '76 2203 - was one of the best Marshalls I've ever heard, and I had actually considered keeping it… when it came into the shop originally it was probably worth less than the repair cost, so I could have just taken it in lieu of the charge. I just didn't really need it, so I gave it back to the shop. If I hadn't done he may never have known it hadn't been disposed of long ago. I'm pleased it went back to him though - some things just belong with their original owners.

Adam_MD

Paul_C;336416" said:

ICBM said:



ecc83 said:

"We don't take a deposit though - I tend to feel that having the amp is enough."Ah! Probably ok for you because you have something of high intrinsic value and which can be easily sold. Problem is, in Eng' at least you have to jump through quite a few legal hoops to be able to sell an Uncollected Repair and the guy can STILL come back quite some years later and demand the goods or the cash balance!*



 Still never found out why he didn't respond to any communication for two years though.

This actually happened to the guy who was fixing our bass players marshall. We had both used him before and he was great but this time Marty left his amp in, received a call a few days later saying it was a transformer and he was going to order one then nothing.
No calls, his phone was always off and no answer at the house (his workshop was out back). About a year later I found out from a mutual friend he was serving time for burglary!!! It was 3 years before Marty got his amp back, the worst bit was he'd actually fixed it before going inside and it was sitting in his work shop all that time.

ecc83

Paul_C said:

ICBM said:

ecc83 said:

"We don't take a deposit though - I tend to feel that having the amp is enough."

Ah! Probably ok for you because you have something of high intrinsic value and which can be easily sold. Problem is, in Eng' at least you have to jump through quite a few legal hoops to be able to sell an Uncollected Repair and the guy can STILL come back quite some years later and demand the goods or the cash balance!*

 Still never found out why he didn't respond to any communication for two years though.

Ah! Sure you have all heard it but.....

Old lag comes out after 2 years and finds a cobbler's repair ticket in his civvies coat pocket. "Ooo! I'll get me shoes!" He thinks.

"Ah yes. Mr Heavy, brown brogues wasn't it?" says the old shoemaker.

"Be ready Thursday"

Dave.

Fuzzdog

I think the longest I ever waited for a repair was about two years for a powered monitor - got a phone call out of the blue apologising for the length of time it was taking.  I'd actually forgotten that I even owned it by that time, so it came as a bit of a surprise.  )

Guitarse

OK, so finally picked the amp up today. It was last Thursday morning they said they'd ring me back. They didn't of course. Woman at the desk told me she thought she'd phoned me and left a message. She hadn't. (well, it's the thought that counts!) Disgraceful lack of customer service! A couple of scratches have appeared that weren't there previously, and one of the screws is still hanging out of the back too!

Pissed off? You guessed it.....

ecc83

"A couple of scratches have appeared that weren't there previously"

Shows a totally unprofessional attitude^.

It is a good plan to have a job card system and record any marks or damage to a repair when it comes in and point them out to the customer...Even a time/date stamped photo is not OTT these days.

Stuff WILL get damaged in a busy workshop from time to time, it's how you deal with it that counts.

Dave.

ICBM

Guitarse said:

 and one of the screws is still hanging out of the back too!

ecc83 said:

Shows a totally unprofessional attitude^.

As does that.

One of my pet hates is finding screws not tightened properly, missing or replaced by incorrect or non-matching ones. It is *not* difficult to keep hold of all the right screws and put them back properly. Generally if the manufacturer fitted them, they are necessary! Since they cost money.

There is a repairer I know of who seems to have a major problem with this, and it always tells me who's been in the amp if I get one which has been there earlier. In one case it caused serious damage, since he forgot to replace a heatsink bolt, resulting in the transistor cooking itself and then a cascade failure that took out several other components and burned the PCB.

EricTheWeary

Paul_C said:

ICBM said:

ecc83 said:

"We don't take a deposit though - I tend to feel that having the amp is enough."

Ah! Probably ok for you because you have something of high intrinsic value and which can be easily sold. Problem is, in Eng' at least you have to jump through quite a few legal hoops to be able to sell an Uncollected Repair and the guy can STILL come back quite some years later and demand the goods or the cash balance!*

 Still never found out why he didn't respond to any communication for two years though.

you are seriously over estimating the capabilities of G4S there, he'd have been texting the shop by the afternoon.

ecc83

Screws, yes IC!

I served an apprenticeship in radio and tv servicing and these things were drummed into you. Another was to make exact drawings of any component you removed for replacement. Failure to do this for a 4 gang wavechange switch carrying LW,MW,FM and "gram" would result in days of harsh looks from the chief engineer who had to sort it all out!  With todays digital cameras there is absolutely no excuse NOT to smudge everything.

I understand that in many countries (USA?) you are not allowed to set yourself up as a repair man of complex and potentially lethal equipment unless qualified? About time IMO we had something similar here.

Dave.

jonnyburgo

Name and shame!

Guitarse

Took it to a guy in Poole, Dorset on Saturday. He rang me Monday lunchtime to tell me he's found the fault (broken coil on the choke), replaced it and got the amp working using a replacement he has in stock. £80! Also advised the output valves are in poor condition, so he will replace them with valves of my choice. That's more like it!

Don't think it would be appropriate to name and shame Arc Electronics @jonnyburgo. Oops too late!

ICBM

Guitarse said:

Took it to a guy in Poole, Dorset on Saturday. He rang me Monday lunchtime to tell me he's found the fault (broken coil on the choke), replaced it and got the amp working using a replacement he has in stock. £80! Also advised the output valves are in poor condition, so he will replace them with valves of my choice. That's more like it!

Don't think it would be appropriate to name and shame Arc Electronics @jonnyburgo. Oops too late!

I think that's justified given that it would take about thirty seconds with a multimeter to identify a dead choke (voltage on the 'in' side, no voltage on the 'out' side… not much else that can be wrong there), and a quick check with a big resistor and a couple of clip leads as a temporary 'choke' to check that the problem wasn't caused by a short further downstream.

jpfamps

ICBM said:

Guitarse said:

Took it to a guy in Poole, Dorset on Saturday. He rang me Monday lunchtime to tell me he's found the fault (broken coil on the choke), replaced it and got the amp working using a replacement he has in stock. £80! Also advised the output valves are in poor condition, so he will replace them with valves of my choice. That's more like it!

Don't think it would be appropriate to name and shame Arc Electronics @jonnyburgo. Oops too late!

I think that's justified given that it would take about thirty seconds with a multimeter to identify a dead choke (voltage on the 'in' side, no voltage on the 'out' side… not much else that can be wrong there), and a quick check with a big resistor and a couple of clip leads as a temporary 'choke' to check that the problem wasn't caused by a short further downstream.

Indeed, a simple problem to diagnose. 

If you can't find a fault like this you shouldn't be repairing amps.