My story of Trace Davis and Voodoo Amps (spoiler, I'm not stoked)

harddriver said:
Unfortunately sounds like VooDoo is asking for payment up front then dragging things out until the refund and return dictates are expired asking you to just wait a little longer then you the buyer may not have any recourse either through Paypal or your credit card to either get your amp back and full refund. Quite an insidious tactic and highly unethical.

Seems CV has accelerated these issues for the worse for many small builders.

At this point it's time to cut and run, get your amp back and whatever refund you can pry out of them.
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I didn’t pay anything other than
1) paying for what he called a “tech call”
So much every 15 minutes.
2) shipped a like new Marshall 1959hw and shipping cost.
 
I remember sending him a Marshall JMP-1 preamp back in the early 2000s. Preamp was DOA and part of a package deal with a Marshall EL34 Poweramp. Sent the JMP-1 to Voodoo to get brought back to life and to be modded. I think I had it back in less than 2 weeks time. Far cry from what you guys have been dealing with. Crazy to hear this stuff. Good to deal with guys like Hopkins, FJA and David Bray over the years. Each personally called to discuss the process, expectations, etc. Each sent out sound files of the modded amp before shipment. It is all about customer service in the end.
 
Yeah lol.
I can look it up. Think it was $45
I literally said “dr feelgood mod” and “yes” to my original parts being sent back. The other 30 minutes or so was him talking.
 
blacknoizemachine said:
Being a good tech/builder and knowing how to grow and run a business are different skill sets. There are some really talented guys who get lots of traction on the merits of their skills and products, but are eventually overwhelmed by their own success. Maybe Trace is one of them.
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There's that but i know for a fact TD was suppose to "refurbish" an original ARRCO Jose for a very high profile artist [no names] This artist also had a sig VooDoo amp. TD had the Jose so long and never worked on it but at the same time was bragging to "others in the industry" that TD would clone them an "original Jose" for a fee without the Jose' owners knowledge or consent.
He also gallivants around the country playing "rock star technician" instead of being present in his NY shop working on peoples amps.
Once a NY dickbag hustler always a NY dickbag hustler.
People Fuck over other people because they can until they face consequences & repercussions.
 
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tpruitt said:
Yeah lol.
I can look it up. Think it was $45
I literally said “dr feelgood mod” and “yes” to my original parts being sent back. The other 30 minutes or so was him talking.
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His rates for phone consultations are $225/hr (Voodoo sub forum Rigtalk Feb 2017) which works out to about $56 per 15 minutes. If you only paid $45 for that quarter hour, either he gave you a sweet deal or you ripped him off! No wonder he’s not communicative now :p
 
There’s NO WAY that is acceptable. After a year (which is already too long) went by, he should’ve sent your amp back to you and refunded any money you paid him. Totally unacceptable.

I got shafted on some work on my beloved Les Paul not long ago. It all boiled down to (other than shitty work) poor communication.
 
Honestly that was over two years ago.
And I was trying not to pull a number out of my butt crack. Lol
It was pretty close to a 30 minute phone call though.
 
Back in the day lots of guys including myself sent their marshall to bradshaw to do a brown mod or whatever he called it, this was early to mid 80`s. 150 bucks plus shipping both ways. Found out later he was removing the bright cap. Alot of this shit is over rated.
 
My only experience with Voodoo was an already modded JCM2000 I bought off ebay. My stock model sounded better, go figure.

Hope this works out ok for you mate.
 
Samhain said:
There's that but i know for a fact TD was suppose to "refurbish" an original ARRCO Jose for a very high profile artist [no names] This artist also had a sig VooDoo amp. TD had the Jose so long and never worked on it but at the same time was bragging to "others in the industry" that TD would clone them an "original Jose" for a fee without the Jose' owners knowledge or consent.
He also gallivants around the country playing "rock star technician" instead of being present in his NY shop working on peoples amps.
Once a NY dickbag hustler always a NY dickbag hustler.
People Fuck over other people because they can until they face consequences & repercussions.
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Fortus

This seems to be a rinse repeat with quite a few of these shops over the years. Cameron, Wilder, now Voodoo, Ear Candy, Mills...the list goes on. Unacceptable.
 
dear OP - you are a patient and kind man, I would have driven to this POS's home and gotten my money/amp back after a year or less.
Doesn't this scumbag have his own forum here ?
it should be removed asap = do the mods have any balls?

he has actually found a way to go lower than cameron and any other thief with charging guys for phone calls.
this should be blown up all over social media and nobody should do biz with this asshole.

good thing that aersomith and ac/dc cash is flowing
what a fucking cunt
 
Hopefully you get your amp back without one damn thing done to it, because it would be a shame had you actually had your amp modded by this guy ... consider it a blessing. My god, if this guy doesn’t have the absolute worst, cut the balls off of any amp, neuter it to hell, sounding mods I’ve ever heard... I’ll never understand why this dudes mods are/were popular... they are god awful sounding... just turn your treble to 0 and bass to 10, that’s pretty much a voodoo mod in a box. Money saved.



Sorry about the issues you’ve had, rant aside. That’s absolutely insane.
 
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