Authorised service person in Singapore

[nightlight]

Hi,

Hoping someone from Diezel Amps can help me.

I have been having a lot of issues with my Diezel VH4 after I took it to a local tech in Singapore called Goose.

Goose had apparently communicated with Mr Peter Diezel about this particular amp at some point of time because there was some problem with the pots as the previous owner had not maintained it. Mr Diezel apparently guided the tech on how to fix the amp.

I acquired the amp several years later and it was in good working condition. Then I took it to the same tech because I needed to have the tubes changed and biased.

The tech changed every single tube in the amp. Every single one. Which was fine, I figured it had been a long time since the last service. Silly me.

I took the amp home and plugged it in and jammed for about 15 minutes and then it just went dead. Lights were on, everything. Just no sound.

Tech tells me a fuse has blown and I took it back to him. I collected it again a few days later and all was well I thought. This was in end-June 2019.

In February, the amp went dead again and I dutifully took it to the tech.

On April 3, I politely enquired what the status of my amp was and he basically told me I could take it if I couldn't wait.

I told him I was okay with him looking at it some more, but I was worried. There's a pandemic and people are losing jobs, and I was afraid I might lose mine and not be able to collect my amp. So I went the next day without calling to collect the amp.

He immediately told me there's something wrong with the power tubes and put two new tubes in. No biasing or anything. Plays on the clean channel, okay. Plays on the gain channel and there's no sound. Then he swaps out a power tube, a Tungsol that is at the end of 6 JJ 12AX7s. Not sure why there's a different tube in there. Okay. Sound comes on, all is well, I thought.

I'm forced to pay him money again because apparently the superb quad of JJ tubes he gets matched by the King of the World don't get any warranty. I pay and leave and come home.

Yesterday, the amp conked off again.

There is some sound, but it is very faint. I open up the back and check the power tubes. Not a single marking on them. No left, right, nothing.

I look at the preamp tubes. Some of them have white particles in them. I try reseating everything and no go. Still no sound.

I don't take this amp gigging or anything. It is always sitting at home.

I'm planning on taking the tech to consumer court, that's going to be a really tiresome thing to do, but I have no choice. I have been cheated.

At any rate, I am going to need someone to look at this amp. I have no idea what this half-assed chap has done. One of the pots on the front is even spinning freely without stopping anywhere.

Do you have anybody you can recommend to have a look inside the amp. I'm really worried that the guy has done something bad to it out of spite because I had the audacity to ask what was going on with my amp.

I would be very grateful if you could give me a contact for those repairs. I won't be going back to that tech, he doesn't give receipts and this quad matching thing has really got my goat.

Thanks for listening!

 

[Peter Diezel]

Where did you buy the amp ?

Thanks,
Peter

 

[hopkinWFG]

Gosh i never trust any of the service man here downtown.... nor even guitar.... i rather do it myself and thankfully i do know abit of soldering and electronics ....

Well take some quality picture and show it to Peter maybe he could be able to spot few of the non original parts or any misdiagnosed...

Nothing beats Diezel products here.... you cant find literally any CEO or founder of any amplification coy to have here standing by for us !!!

If you could afford to send it to germany do it... !!

 

[nightlight]

Where did you buy the amp ?

Thanks,
Peter

Hey Peter, I bought the unit secondhand in Singapore.

I just filed a complaint asking for all my repair fees to be refunded.

I have a question, when you buy a quad matched set of tubes, shouldn't there be some kind of numbering on the tubes or something, like if you buy a matched pair and it says left and right or whatever?

Here is the JJ power tube he gave back to me that he removed from the amp. I checked all the other tubes in the amp and they are identical. No markings or anything.

 

[Peter Diezel]

In any case I would re bias the amp.

Best,
Peter

 

[nightlight]

In any case I would re bias the amp.

Best,
Peter

My friend is going to help me rebias.

I'm hoping this is just a preamp tube-related problem and nothing else.

Mr Diezel, I heard it's possible to order the tubes from you? If so, could you let me know how one would do so?

Thanks.

 

[Aedes]

Hi nightlight, Try ask Randolf to check. It could be biased issue. Mind me asking who is the previous owner?

 

[nightlight]

Hi nightlight, Try ask Randolf to check. It could be biased issue. Mind me asking who is the previous owner?

Thanks for the recommendation.

I got this from a guy in Singapore called Marcus, but I'm not even sure he was the first owner. May have been someone before him.

I'm going to first have my friend check it out. He owns a couple of Diezels and kindly agreed to take photographs of the internals and then come here so we can check if there's any kind of modification that is causing the amp to continuous break down. He knows his stuff, electronics background and does his own mods to his amps.

It's really unfortunate. I never used to have this happen to this amp before I took it to Goose. After the first $519 Singapore dollar tube change and service, the amp blew a fuse within 15 minutes of playing at home. And now, this time, after three days of play after a $165 change of three tubes (he didn't even attempt to bias it, I mean, what the hell), it started to lose volume.

And I have other amps, Engls, a Marshall, a VHT, a PRS. I baby them, always making sure tubes warm up. I don't gig them, they sit at home in a room with the AC on because I just take my Kemper if I have to play anywhere. None of them has any problems of any kind.

I'm really worried there's some kind of stupid mod or something else wrong. After I bought the amp from Marcus, I used it for almost two years before I took it to Goose.

 

[Aedes]

Goose might have knocked some component off in the process maybe. Wrongly biased? I trust Gworx for pedal mod/built only. Not Guitars and amps.

Just buy on the net matched quad together with preamp tubes tested for vh4. I really don't trust those local stores selling tubes.

Is The vh4 guts corroded? You bought it off carousell?

 

[nightlight]

Goose might have knocked some component off in the process maybe. Wrongly biased? I trust Gworx for pedal mod/built only. Not Guitars and amps.

Just buy on the net matched quad together with preamp tubes tested for vh4. I really don't trust those local stores selling tubes.

Is The vh4 guts corroded? You bought it off carousell?

That's what I plan to do, just buy matched tubes from the Internet. The prices he charged me were extremely high, far more than the cost of importing them from overseas.

I had a look at the internals in the shop, but I am no expert and could not tell if everything is intact. Yes, I bought it on Carousell. As I mentioned, it worked without any issue for two years until I took it to Goose.

Since then, I have had three failures, all with the same symptoms. Each time he has told me he checked everything and charged me for servicing the amp.

I will post some gut shots soon, am trying to pursue the case with the Consumer Complaints organisation in Singapore. Hoping I can recover the costs of the repairs so that I can put them towards buying new tubes. Just not feasible for me to continue to keep getting them replaced.

 

[nightlight]

Hi Mr Diezel,
It looks like my amp has indeed been modified by the tech. I can't imagine anyone doing this, but here you go.

EDIT: Taking down pics of internals on someone's advice.


One also looks like it has warped or melted.

I'm not sure who would attempt to mod a Diezel amp, but could you tell me if there are any dangers posed by that.

Here are some other pictures of my amp internals, could I trouble you to have a look and see if everything is intact?

EDIT: Taking down the pics of the internals on someone's advice.


I am going to replace preamp tubes one by one today and see if I can get anything going.

EDIT: Looks like preamp issue, and possible biasing issue. I paid $165 for replacing two power tubes and a preamp tube. Sad.

 

[hopkinWFG]

Yeah... hopefully Peter Diezel could give us an insight on whats happening in this amp of your... but i guess the current preamp tube fault you facing will change the way you look at tube amps... first line of troubleshooting preamp tubes and power tubes if they are safe and sound.. no redplating (overglowing of powertube) between each other and make sure preamp tubes are visually checked ok then try changing one by one on your preamps...

Just some of the small tatics here that i know haha...

 

[nightlight]

Thanks to my buddy, managed to isolate the problem to a preamp tube after swapping some tubes from my other amp.

Not a power tube issue at all, so I basically paid for two new power tubes and a preamp tube for no reason, plus servicing costs, and the issue wasn't resolved.

https://youtu.be/zcXsKc84Lyw

Not going to run the amp till my friend helps me bias it.