The problem with guitar amp reviews.
Guitar reviews are fairly straight forward, but reviewing the newest amp is slightly more difficult because reliability and repairability are rarely mentioned. In this video I talk about some reasons I believe this important factor is rarely mentioned in paid reviews as well as explain why I love brands like @DrZAmplification that in my opinion do things the right way.
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0:00 Overview for the video
1:09 Why I believe gear reviewers rarely address reliability with amps.
4:05 Does it really matter if a new amp is easily repairable
4:50 “They don’t build em like they used to” for a reason.
5:58 What do you do when the cost of repair is more than the amp is worth?
7:57 Let me know your thoughts
#problem #guitar #amp #reviews
Originally posted by UC3vBFQu7jVUl1KRN20nu8vA at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_Ecm8VlJg4
Nice to see someone talking about the repairabilty of pro-audio gear. Our service division sees a lot of junk and an lot of jewels.
WHEN I FACED THIS ISSUE DURING 2020 I FOUND GERALD WEBER HE HAS PASSED BUT HIS FAMILY CARRIES ON HIS AMP COURSE I PAID 800 ITS 9 NOW I THINK 20 LESSONS IF YOU PUSH THOUGH YOU WILL BE A TECH TOOK 18 MONTHS BUT HAVE BUILT 3 WORKING HAND WIRED AMPS THERE IS GOOD REASON MOST TECH DREAD CIRCUIT BOARDS
Same thing with appliances and stuff…
these kids now have no clue this whole disposable society thing is not going well
I miss actually getting to own what we pay for and expect it last a good amount of time before I need a new one
I had speakers I scavenged that were older than me and were loud as hell as a teen in the 90s
100% agree
Yup, I've gotten into full on arguments with some YouTubers over them recommending amps without pointing out issues. Sometimes all it takes is to replace some components to have something decent.
My Marshall dsl40cr died long ago and they just came out in what .. 2020? Died in a few years. Theyre impossible to repair too and some ass hole tried to make me repair it so he couldn't say he destroyed it if he messed up
Still tho it shouldnt have messed up. Thats why I only trust the boss katana at this point. 300 bucks and if it dies its 300$ only
Fuck all these brands for outsourcing anything. If it breaks its cause its outsourced and has a complex circuit board
The problem is always outsourcing. Samsung home appliances forever have been disgusting and the worst of any brand but now theyre being made in america and people say they're lasting longer now. Its all about chinese trash being trash
Yes, there are multiple things going on here. Old fashioned built-in obsolescence, lack of available replacement parts and schematics from manufacturers, increase in amp features and components within a compact form-factor, physical design created for production ease not repair (Mesa, Peavey, etc.).
Also, I love Fazio but she still uses conventional pliers to remove Heyco AC cord strain-reliefs and a Bic lighter to shrink heat-shrink tubing. A professional utilizes the proper tools (Heyco pliers and a dedicated heat gun). Also, I love Psionic, Brad's Guitar Garage, Rift Amps and Yeatzee. Some may not like their style, but I appreciate their deep technical knowledge and forthright approach.
I have a Peavey amplifier that was made in the 1970s. I think it has the original power tubes in it. I got it in the 80s. It still works but I do need to clean the pots and I need to have the caps looked at. It's a heavy 2×12 combo but it's built to stand the test of time.
Repairability and reliability are extremely important to me, more so than sound. See, you can buy a pedal or preamp, or modeler, or whatever, and alter the sound however you want, but outside of careful handling and regular maintenance, you can't improve the innate reliability of an amp. I play bass mostly and bought a Hartke head for this reason – the tone is vanilla, but I can fix that a hundred different ways. BUT the damn thing is built like a tank.
Peavey started out trying to be a modern-day Fender, and some of their older stuff is very much in line with that, but it didn't take long for him to adopt the 'high volume, higher profits', model, so reparability was the first casualty. I've opened up Peaveys that had a circuit board folded into a channel; it's as though it was designed to be hostile to repairmen. Others pcked up on this, went the cheap route (if the choice is between quality parts and high-visibility advertising…), and most amps today last a bit past the two-year warranty…and then you're on your own. I always advise those who can to seek out a small (hate the word 'boutique') amp maker who is willing to stand behind his product.
Just stating the obvious
Sorry, but just a waste of time.
Great video man, to me this is the mentality to have for gear across the board, it's so important to gig with an amp that you can trust, plus I'm pretty sure old amps have souls.
Do you think they do the planned obsolescence thing with guitar amps? I bought a used Roland Cube. It crapped out. I got it fixed. A few months later it crapped out again. The guys at the repair shop told me the parts for the thing were more than a new Katana amp. So, I bought a Katana amp. The people who sold me the Katana said that it too is a throw away amp. I think the questions raised in this video are excellent. Maybe – The Katana was a poor choice but I'm very much the amateur so it should hold up a long time for me.
I’m not sure comparing a cell phone or computer to an amp is apples to apples. The iphones (for example)from my experience seem to be quite durable. They get dropped, sat on, never turned off FOR YEARS. Aside from a battery replacement which is a wear item like tires on a car, it’s the processor that becomes outdated, but not broken. That’s what causes a need for a phone upgrade. I still use an IPad 1st gen for playing music…it works mechanically as new. Still on my iPhone 8, mechanically works as new.
Amps don’t have this hurdle. I’d bet there will be plenty of Tone Master amps working just fine in a decade or two. I predict this because there LOTS of non tube/solid state amps from 30 years ago still in use, people had the same concerns back then. And yeah they are repairable. I know this bc they are repairable NOW. It’s not like NASA, where we’ll “lose the technology” to repair them. If it’s profitable, the aftermarket industry will supply the answer. Aftermarket circuit boards, just like they have for Blues Jr amps. They will be modifiable too just like many other electronics, offering new features. I can get all kinds of cool updates upgrades for my 2007 Honda Element and that car was discontinued in 2011…
If you wanted, if the amp ever takes a crap, you could always get a Mojo kit and tube it out too. They made the cabinet like the tube version.
I appreciate you making this video. I think this is an issue very few people are talking about and it not only affects users of lower cost, imported amps but many of the high-end ones as well. Not only should guitar players consider whether an amp is serviceable, but also who’s going to service it once a repair inevitably happens. It’s no fun, but throwing it in a landfill and buying another one doesn’t feel right to me. Another issue is that amp repair is a dying art, so depending on where you live good luck on finding someone to work on your amps. My amp tech, who builds his own line of amplifiers, doesn’t like to work on certain types of amps. It’s his prerogative and I totally understand. He’s so good at repairs, and there are so few options to find someone else to do it where I live, that I just own amps he’s willing to work on. For me, that means I have to stay away from amps with SMT, most digital, flimsy PCBs, builders who won’t supply a schematic, etc. Right now I’m learning more about amp repair and prepping to build my own clone of a Marshall 1987.
I bought my Music Man RD 1-12 in the 80's as soon as they became available. I still have it and it still sounds great and it has never needed to be repaired. I did change the valves but not because I needed to; I just wanted to see if a new pair of valves made any difference;it didn't,so I now keep the old pair as spares……that I'm confident that I'll never need. If you ever find an 80's Music Man amp buy it. Excellent video,thanks.
"phones are more expensive and less repairable I don't see a problem" has got to be one of the most craziest defeatist mentality thing I've heard about repair-ability. Muthdafukkha if you've paid something that's worth like 3/4 months of rent and be unrepairable that's a problem. Just accepting things as it is to drain another 3/4 months worth of rent money because companies designed stuff to die in a year or two is problem not a normal thing and shouldn't be. EDIT: Also, great video about pointing out why items we consume should be durable and repairable. Standards now are about selling and not giving us a good product imo
A big part of the problem is MOST people throw out things before they try fixing them. I have heard so many times "my mouse started double clicking so I tossed it". Even though it is one of the easiest electronic repairs.
I bought a non-working Peavey Vyper-1 Modeling Amp, thinking it would be an easy fix. It is! Peavey will not sell the part to a Consumer, only to a Peavey Service Center. The local Peavey Dealer wants to charge more to install the defective part than the amp is worth! Deplorable customer service.
I just build Marshall 18 watt amps all day. It’s easy.
No way, today everything is sealed and made by robots and not user-repairable, just toss into landfill and buy another one, that’s what they expect.
Some really valid points here! I use a Benson Chimera for louder gigs and a Supro Supreme for smaller clubs. Both amps have very simple three knob layouts and if there’s an issue down the road I’ll have zero issues getting them repaired. Even with pedals, if there’s a screen or an app involved, I steer clear. Buy once cry once.
Definitely agree with the spirit of the video. My Friedman PT is great for some of these reasons, and yet my wife's Mini cooper seems to need a board replaced just to clear a brake light error (not kidding). My happy medium is hard buttons and a clutch pedal in cars and swappable batteries in phones.
Quality still exists, you just have to find it.
These amps are cheap compared with the original.
I'm from the UK 1961 Vox ac30 £99, plus tax. If you earned £10 per week, you were in the money. So 11 weeks wages.
Now £699 and that's not a lot above a median weekly wage.
I tend to disagree about reliability. They were easy to work on and they did not cheap out on power supply capacitors.
I have repaired many modern amps 84%c power caps sitting above the valves, there's your planned obsolescence.
Crappy printed circuit boards, though not that all old Marshals had good ones.
My remedy fit 105%c smoothing caps. Don't pull them out fully desolder cos the pcb is cheap.
Use a string of hot glue bridging all the caps, reason vibration dry solder joints crappy pcb.
I’m currently fighting with the idea of getting a Fender Tonemaster instead of the Tube version. And this keeps me on track
Probably a good idea to check if schematics are widely available before purchasing an amp.
I seriously would not purchase any amplifier (tube) by any company other than Dr. Z – might sound slanted but when you know what is inside it totally changes your perception. These are THE MOST meticulously made, durable, reliable, repairable, incredible sounding amps of all time! You want a vintage Fender tweed? Dr. Z makes one new & improved for you HAND WIRED for the price of circuit boards! You need a modified Marshall amp? Same deal . . . A Vox . . . same! I have a Z-Plus & it is literally jaw-dropping for an incredibly reasonable price when everything else comparable is DOUBLE the cost! Believe me, this is a NO BRAINER –