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Thread: Ampeg Portaflex amps (PF500 mainly)

  1. #1
    Forum Member FrankJohnson's Avatar
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    Ampeg Portaflex amps (PF500 mainly)

    I thought I would share my experience with my Portaflex 500 Head with you guys.

    I never did get the PF cabinet to go with it - but used an Avatar 4 ohm SB112 or a Avatar Neo410 (also 4 ohm) cab with my PF500 for about 10 months.

    It sounded great - the sound was very Ampeg, and It gave me exactly what I was looking for in many situations.

    The SB112 handled smaller to med rooms and rooms where volume control is important. We play a lot of places where that is a condition of playing there - and it only makes sense to use the right scale equipment for the Job

    The 410 Neo handled the larger rooms and outdoor shows, with and without PA support. In PA supported rooms/outdoor venues, of course it did a better job.

    It was Stellar for 10 months - about 60 shows/jams and also home practice. the band doesn't rehearse very often at all.

    One friday night I was not gigging, I was going to work at home with some new material and turned it on - only to have it go right to fault. No way around it. I took it to the shop where I purchased it - and two weeks later called only to find out that when they turned it on - it went to fault. That was as far as they got. I called Ampeg - and they called the shop to guide them through trouble shooting. A new power board was sent out and installed. about a week later, they called to tell me the part was damaged and that they would have to repair it or get a new part. Another week - then a call to say it was ready.

    In the meantime, I had explained to the interested parties, that I had gigs. i never told them I had backup eqpt, but they never offered to provide any either. I encountered Genz Shuttle 6.0 heads (being phased out for the new 6.2) being blown out at $395 and bought one. I am SO Glad I did - BTW!

    When I got the PF500 back - it just didn't sound the same. I called the shop and they said - play it in....you'll see. So I did - and I DID SEE! It began to cut out - no rhyme or reason. Not all the time - not always at room volume, not more with the EQ set with more bass...etc. It did it with my 8 ohm home cab also (an older Crate 15" Keyboard amp cab). After calling Ampeg back and speaking with the tech support person (again - 4th time I think at this point) I told them I was completely unsassified and wanted resolution.

    They offered to send me a new replacement head - shipping covered. So, I did that. It came two weeks later. All this time, I have been using the Genz head. Man - its nice - BTW.

    I have had the head back about 2-3 weeks and have 2 blues jams, 5 gigs and some home practice on it now. It sounds great - but I am having flashbacks of the HRDx (which I still have and sounds great BTW) and its issues.

    There are several LONG threads on Talkbass about this series head, failures, cutting out, how its been the largest production head sold in the past year (it has been said that it took about 105 of the bass head industry last year) - etc. and how they percentage of failures isn't out of the norm for production equipment, and it just seems high because most people don't post on the forums to tell you everything is fine. (ok - I get that). The odd thing is that many people have gotten their 2nd or 3rd replacement to have subsequent failures (not all the same type).

    its funny - that a lot of people immediately post something about the user probably not knowing what they are doing, or pushing it too hard, or yeah it says you can go 4 ohm - but really shouldn't......I just don't get that. I don't believe THAT many people who DID play with other equipment - suddenly have no clue what they are doing.

    I was curious if any of the PF users here had run into any issues? I am gigging my new PF500 but am ALWAYS taking my Genz with me just in case. I never felt like I had to do this before. I still have the Sansamp RBI/QSC setup too - but thought that the PF500 should have been fine on its own. Now - I am pretty gun-shy - even though this new one sounds great and has about a year warranty on it at this point.

    Am I overreacting - being just a little skeptical?
    Last edited by FrankJohnson; 05-02-2012 at 04:37 AM.
    Kenny Belmont
    >:^{I)>

  2. #2
    Forum Member the_best_of_fools's Avatar
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    Re: Ampeg Portaflex amps (PF500 mainly)

    Hey Frank,
    I have a PF350 since march 2011 and it only cut out once on me with a PF115 cab. But the drive was way up there when that happened. Never really had any issues with my head (touching wood - no pun intended). I too have read on TB Forum there are many cutout issues with the PF series, particularly with the PF500. That's all I can say about that.

    Good luck with your head, cause I think it's a fine sounding head fot the price.

    Peace,
    tbof
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  3. #3
    Gravity Jim
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    Re: Ampeg Portaflex amps (PF500 mainly)

    No experience with that amp. However....

    I recently replaced the mixing console in my studio with a Tascam that looked to be perfect combination of price and performance. The first one I got, the meter bridge had some funky LED strips, and Tascam replaced it. Then the console itself exhibited a massive failure. The behavior indicated that it had a bad socket on a PC board, or a cold solder joint, or something, but when you pay for something new and it's under warranty, I'll let the manufacturer figure it out as a rule... and, after a bit of work on my dealer's part, Tascam agreed to replace the console as well.

    I did some reading online, and found others who had some QC issues with these boards. I thought maybe I should just return the board and buy something else. But I talked to Lisa, and she said, "Well, look... if it worked, it would be perfect, right? I'd give Tascam at least one more chance to send you a good one."

    Long story short, the replacement board and meter bridge have been working perfectly for months, running all day every day, sounding great, and the internal interface (which pushes 32 channels of 24-bit/96khz audio to the Mac through one FireWire cable) hasn't dropped even one sample in hundreds of hours of operation.

    Manufacturing has it's problems. Only people who are unhappy post their experiences online. But if a product is a good choice before you experience a failure, it's a god choice after when you've got one that doesn't fail.

    I don't think you're overreacting or being overly skeptical: the first month I had my new board, I turned it on every morning and held my breath while I waited for the light show. It sounds like they had some problems with this line. But it also sounds like now you've got one that works, and that it's a really great piece of gear for the money. And you've got a backup you like so... there ya go.

  4. #4
    Forum Member FrankJohnson's Avatar
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    Re: Ampeg Portaflex amps (PF500 mainly)

    I hear you guys on this - and pretty much agree -

    I intend to play it out and play it often - it REALLY does sound good. That said - I will probably always carry backup.

    I agree on complaints posted too - it wouldn't be worthy of posting if everything was as it should be. What a boring post - would be like saying my frets were on the fretboard when I bout my guitar. You just expect that.

    Like I said earlier - 10 months gigged 5-6 X a month no issues. I hope it does better than that this go-round!
    Kenny Belmont
    >:^{I)>

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