pf500 died yesterday

[Fizzer]

lots of hateful blue smoke pouring out the back of my portaflex last night :/ Had only just switched it on.
Gong to call PMT this morning when they open to find out what to do.
Pretty gutted

[goingdownslow]

Unless you managed to collect all the smoke I don't think they will be able to do anything as Ampeg do not supply replacement smoke.

[chris_b]

There are too many reports of PF500's failing.

Don't take a replacement, get a different amp instead.

[RandomBass]

It's such a shame about these amps having what appears to be a smoke generator inside. Assuming it's new-ish, I'd thought Ampeg had fixed the earlier reported faults of cutting out with later revisions. Maybe they just replaced it with smoke. Anyway, if you like the Ampeg sound how about moving up to the PF800 which might hopefully be properly sorted: although it's pretty new on the market I have read a couple of favourable user reviews, and no negative ones.

Or go for something completely different perhaps.

[Lozz196]

It`s such a shame that some 3 years after their introduction, this is still happening. I had one in 2011 and it was great, no issues at all, 3hr rehearsals, 8hr recording sessions, nada. Then sold it, bought another last year, first practice a hideous electrical stench came from it. Coupled with may other reports I followed the advice chris b gives, bought something else - a Markbass Little Mark Tube is this instance. Sorry to say that although I love the tone from the PF500, I won`t have another due to this still going on.

[RandomBass]

Like lozz I too had a PF500 in about 2011 - no problems at all with it into a BF Compact and Midget, which would be a 4 Ohm load to push it harder. The only reason I sold it was, erm, well, a strange attack of GAS.

[Marvin]

I'd hoped that Ampeg had sorted out the reliability issues with these amps as I was going to consider one, however, I think I'll steer clear

[gsgbass]

I just received a PF-500, and switched it out for a Markbass Little Mark lll. I didn't like the sounds, or lack of sounds. I was won over by the Markbass Little Mark lll. The Ampeg HSVT-410 cab is a monster of sound with the LM lll.

Edited December 5, 2013 by gsgbass

[graham1945]

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1386182281' post='2296875']
It's such a shame about these amps having what appears to be a smoke generator inside. Assuming it's new-ish, I'd thought Ampeg had fixed the earlier reported faults of cutting out with later revisions. Maybe they just replaced it with smoke. Anyway, if you like the Ampeg sound how about moving up to the PF800 which might hopefully be properly sorted: although it's pretty new on the market I have read a couple of favourable user reviews, and no negative
[/quote]

No probs with my PF800, love it!

[RandomBass]

[quote name='graham1945' timestamp='1386321233' post='2298630']


No probs with my PF800, love it!
[/quote]
I'm still very tempted by one, but will probably have to wait for the first second hand units to start appearing on here.

[chris_b]

According to posts on Talkbass, the PF800 has the same tone but better (because of the extra headroom) and no reliability problems.

Several years in and the PF500 still appears to be having failures. I don't know why Ampeg doesn't try to save some of it's reputation and just withdraw the PF500.

[gsgbass]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1386322713' post='2298662']
According to posts on Talkbass, the PF800 has the same tone but better (because of the extra headroom) and no reliability problems.

Several years in and the PF500 still appears to be having failures. I don't know why Ampeg doesn't try to save some of it's reputation and just withdraw the PF500.
[/quote]

Ampeg probably doesn't want to give up it's slot in the market place for the popular 500 watt amps. I agree though, Ampeg, Fix you problems, or drop it from the series line. Selling a defective product isn't right, and it in a way it says, they don't care about the players waisting their money on a [b]garbage amp head[/b]. [i]Sorry, My opinion only folks.[/i]

[Delberthot]

I bought one of these and always thought that my cab was always on the edge of breaking up. One night at a marquee venue, two songs from the end, it cut out. A minute later it came back on and a week later it was out of here.

replaced it with a Hartke LH1000 which I run in bridged mono and the cab is very, very loud with no hint of getting anywhere near its limit.

After An Orange Terror Bass, Shuttle 6.0, Gallien MB500 and this I've had it with light weight heads. There's a certain amount of heft missing from all of them that I can only get from solid state amps

[xroads]

If you want more information on this topic, read the extensive reports on talkbass.
In short, early PF-500 show lots of failures, and Ampeg still hasn't communicated
why that is and how it can be fixed.
Newer versions of the PF-500 seem to be fixed (Amped has made >10 revisions
since the first release....) and work.

In essence, if you buy one right now, you need to open it up and check which
revision you have in order to know whether you got a good one or not....
Good luck!

[molan]

I keep hearing problems with these

I know someone who had two of them fail on him in one night!

There's an Ampeg dealer who simply won't stock them any more because they keep failing.

Let's hope the newer models hold out better. . .

Edited December 10, 2013 by molan

[pierreganseman]

Hey

I had two , had them delivered on friday.

1st gig sunday with it (keep in mind that's 48 hours later) ....

3rd song : smoke !..... done!!

7th song : PF 500 number TWO : fault light..... had to turn off and back on.....

thanks god it went back to working and I finished the gig...... in front of 750 person.... that's pretty lame...

So i went back to tone hammer...... a bit sad really as the sound of it was great but I guess you get what you pay for .......

[Dropzone]

Yep, I have one of these and got the fault light at rehearsal. Its going back to ampeg gonna take a lot to get the confidence up to gig with it!!!!

Ampeg are doing themselves no favours by alowing this to still be sold. It has a great tone (IMHO) but reliability has to be more important and this is damaging their reputation.

[EBS_freak]

Blowing up? Have Ampeg been nicking designs from Ashdown?

[pierreganseman]

I will simply never ever buy an ampeg anymore.....

actually quite cheap...... but if two head blow up after 48 hours on the 1st gig.........

[Nibody]

Been using mine solidly for two years. Never had an issue. I must have just been lucky.

[Monckyman]

Ditto above, bought second hand on this forum, and apart from a slightly noisy D.I output, it's been rock solid through many rehearsals and live shows with a variety of difference ohmage cabs.

[petetexas]

Hi,
Used my PF500 for around 4 months ( into an 8 ohm cab ) no problem. Decided to change to a TC 112 combo ( ease of setting up ) so sold it to Dropzone on here.
Two weeks later Dropzone ran it into a 4ohm cab, half volume, and it cut out.
I refunded him the money, and sent it back to Absolute Music Solutions under warranty........4 weeks ago !
Still waiting.
Pete

[0175westwood29]

I do feel that if say you destroy to amps in one night there must be some form of user error, ie pushing the pre amp to hard etc

[Roland Rock]

[quote name='0175westwood29' timestamp='1389521898' post='2334948']
I do feel that if say you destroy to amps in one night there must be some form of user error, ie pushing the pre amp to hard etc
[/quote]

I'm pretty sure Pierre knows what he's doing when it comes to gear :-)

[petetexas]

Update to my previous post.

Received it back from Absolute Music ( taken 8 weeks ) POLAR AUDIO, the warranty repair people Ampeg use in Europe, say

they soaked the amp and found NO PROBLEM ! It must be my leads or cabs !

So it has been returned back to me after 8 weeks away with no problem found. Have asked for the engineers report ( doubt if I will get one )

I have got 3 gigs in a row the next 3 weekends, and will be using it ( but will carry a spare in case )

Watch this space ............

pete