2. amps-preamps
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DC Leakage and dealer issues

I was auditioning an amp from a well known Canadian designer. The amp played for 30 seconds and then blew. The designer told me that my preamp must have DC leakage and that the amp has DC protection circiuts. The Spectron Digital amp I also auditioned also kept turning off but did not blow. The other amps I auditioned Pass X-250, Rowland M-112, Plinius 102 and Sonogy Black Knight II, etc., did not have any issues with my BAT preamp. I took my BAT VK-30SE preamp to a dealer who told me he could not find the DC leakage. I wrote to BAT and they told me to measure the output with a volt meter and when I did, I did not get a reading. I returned the amp and received a second amp to audition. BTW, the manufacturer also wanted me to become a NY area dealer if I wanted to accept their offer. The second amp keeps turning off after 5-10 minutes of play, again they are telling me DC leakage. I have advised them that I do not want the amp and that I am sending it back for a full refund. The manufacturer now wants me to pay $400 repair costs for the first amp that blew up plus their customs fees. That would mean that it will cost me $830 (including my shipping and customs fees) to audition a $2200 amp. Boy am I pissed off.

What do you think I should do? I still have to ship the second amp back.

All comments welcome.

Peter
bigkidz

Showing 2 responses by sean

sean
6,231 posts
 
Tell them that the original amp should have been covered under warranty. After all, a dealer that pops a brand new amp / has a unit that develops problems is not expected to pay, are they ??? If they give you a hard time, tell them that your schedule is busy and that you will forward them a bill for wasting your time in terms of making you deal with under-designed and defective products. Also let them know that it could hurt their business if you were to leak what a shitty product it was that they made, how other reputable products have better protection and / or ran perfectly under identical conditions and how they treated you as a potential customer and / or dealer when the product failed to operate under normal conditions. No need to ship any of your other products out for verification since the other products that are of REAL quality had no problems operating. Sean
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sean
6,231 posts
 
Peter: It sounds as if the BAT VK-30 can be a handful to own and operate in terms of finding suitable candidates to operate with. I have run across similar products in my line of work. The bottom line in most of those cases is that the owner ends up selling it in order to find a product that is both more versatile and less volatile in terms of the components connected to it. While i still stand by my comments that the original amp had problems, it is becoming more obvious that other brands also "dislike" or "have problems with" that specific preamp.

I wonder if this could be a specific problem unique to circuits using the BAT 6H30 "super-tube" ??? Sean
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