Egnater Customer Service (lack thereof...)

[Scottfn308]

Any chance these transformer issues are due to people not keeping their bias adjusted properly? I checked the bias on my Renegade after about 10 months on the current tubes and one side had drifted a fair amount.

Could these amps be more sensitive to problems occurring from "drift" than other amps??

specifically speaking about the tourmaster, it was a design flaw/qc issue that squeaked through from what i was told. my tourmaster popped it's tranny with the output tubes biased to the recommended 120-130 rating in the manual.

the 2nd run tourmasters with "M" in front of the serial number have the NEW 2nd run output trannies in them. i was told these newer version of the output trannies are what the first one was supposed to be. from what i can tell, for the tourmaster, these newer versions are the new trannies that they are sending out to people with amps still under warranty, or selling to people who need them whose amps aren't under warranty to replace the older 1st run version.

could it be a bias issue? who can say, really, for the tourmaster specifically, other than bruce himself? i would lean towards no....it's more due to a flawed component/material issue. as i said above, mine popped with proper bias, newer tubes, and the speakers in the combo hooked up.

The first time mine was in the shop it was checked, or at least I think it was in regards to bias and what-not, and was deemed OK by the service center. My Tourmaster has a "M" at the end of the serial number, not the front for what that is worth. It is currently back at Egnater in CA for repair. Just been there a week, so they have most likely not had time to get to it due to the holidays and such.

Regards,

Scott

the tourmaster has a built in adjustable bias circuit, you should be able to check/adjust yourself with a digital multimeter?

wherever the "M" is in the ser# (beginning or front) mine didnt have one, i was told it was a first run, and likely had a first run output tranny.

possibly yours does have the "M" mod (which actually designates a tighter low end/higher gain/less icepicky highs mod from the factory) but not the newer tranny. that would be something egnater needs to answer for you.

the fact of the matter is, their customer service is lacking. has been lacking. hopefully wont continue to be lacking.

i dont know if i mentioned, but if you need to order a part, you have to have them fax you or email you an order form, then fill it out, with your credit card information, then fax it back.

paypal? even just have a credit card machine and take the #s by phone?
whatever the reason.....that type of approach just seems antiquated....especially in an era where i have my own personal credit card swiper that plugs in my phone and can sell goods hand to hand and have customers charge them.

According to Blad and Barrett, (I think that is the name of the new head of customer service), they are going to fix it under warranty. I am OK with it taking a little time, I just want it fixed and fixed correctly. I will have to get several hours of playing time on it before I will trust it in a live situation again as a primary amp. I hate to say that, but this amp has failed me twice at live shows, hard to have a high level of trust after that.

A shame really since the amp does sound really good.............. when it works.

Regards,

scott

 

[catfish777]

If you know how and can do it safely check the plate voltage. The bias is meaningless unless you know how much current is getting to the plates. I would bet it's pretty high. I was concerned about reliability with the last two Fender tube amps I bought(HRDLXlll and BDRI) but after gigging them in the heat a bunch of times at high volume I think they are still made pretty well and they have plate voltages on the low side. And they sound pretty darn good too!

 

[Anonymous]

If you know how and can do it safely check the plate voltage. The bias is meaningless unless you know how much current is getting to the plates. I would bet it's pretty high. I was concerned about reliability with the last two Fender tube amps I bought(HRDLXlll and BDRI) but after gigging them in the heat a bunch of times at high volume I think they are still made pretty well and they have plate voltages on the low side. And they sound pretty darn good too!

Lets be careful and not turn this into something it isnt regarding the tourmaster. While u make good.points about PV and bias, the TM amp manual clearly states that a bias range between 120-130mv is safe for 6L6/5881 tubes. And regardless of plate voltage u still need to know your source voltage at the wall and factor that into any equation if u make the argument of a few poimts up or down bias wise will cause a modern amp to blow out a tranny if u know what i mean!

And regardless of amp bias settings this issue regarding the tourmasters is a well documented albeit small amoumy of output trannies failing due to construction/design as i said above.

 

[C1-ocaster]

Disappointed that I cannot just buy a higher wattage Egnater with confidence to reproduce the tones I achieved on the album live. It's too bad because the songwriters and the engineer and myself had a great time in the studio creating some wonderful tones with that little Tweaker head and a Line 6 M13. I will wait and see how it works out for Egnater and use other amps until then.

Service issues are a big concern with a LOT of companies these days.
Customers demand for lower and lower priced technology, combined with greater want of continual yearly profit percentage gain, has resulted in a serious lack of customer service.
Having good customer service requires real human beings being available to answer the phone and emails to properly get the issues sorted, routed, and expedited.

I don't think Egnater is any worse than other companies with poor customer service.
Note: Bruce claims that he has done things to get this worked out.

I don't think actual "warranty" is something you need to worry about. Actually getting the issue fixed is what is taking time, and in many cases too much time.

I've now had 2 Egnater amps, a Rebel 30 combo and Vengeance head.
The 30 combo had a problem and I returned it to Guitar Center.
But, I loved the clean tones so much that I didn't want to give up on Egnater.
I got an awesome clearance price on the Vengeance at GC so I took another chance.
The Vengeance has been flawless so far, and this amp has that beautiful Egnater clean tone along with high gain goodness.

The issue I have is a serious lack of communication from Egnater on even simple customer service requests.
No one from Egnater has to yet to get back to me to tell me how I can register my new Vengeance amp with Egnater.
I've sent Egnater at least 4-5 emails to get that information as well as asking for other information about my amp that I need answered. No one has returned my emails with any answers.

Like you, I really like Egnater amp sounds and tones.
I have a greater love of their sound that I was willing to take another chance.
If you like the tones you're getting from Egnater amps, then go ahead and get another amp.
If a problem happens, then contact Egnater and ask for warranty work.

These issues will hopefully be sorted out soon. I have seen Egnater honoring their warranty. Not honoring warranty isn't the problem.
The problem is Bruce E. getting the proper and enough staff so that warranty gets honored.

BTW, if you're still concerned about the service, then do what I did, I bought the 3 year extended and expanded warranty offered by the retail store, which was GC this time.
The warranty wasn't that costly at all, and now I'm covered for 3yrs even for "accidental" damage, like is the amp gets dropped or someone spills something on it. The warranty covers a LOT more than the manufacturer warranty, and GC's shops cover the repair including shipping back and forth.

My suggestion is to get another Egnater if you like the tone, and take advantage of an extended warranty if it's offered by the retailer. Heck, shipping back and forth for a larger amp could be over 50% of the cost of the warranty.

 

[buttkinz]

It's a real shame whats happening to egnaters reputation, in the UK no one will stock them anymore due to their bad reputation. Iv had 3 of their amps, a tweaker, and 2 renegades. Due to the fact if it breaks egnater refuses to repair anything iv no option other than to ebay them, the footswitch has already gone on the renegades and no one can repair them. Such a real shame a great amp name has come to this, I don't think any manufacturer has such a bad rep over here... I was so impressed with the amps when I bought them

 

[wt24]

Is Egnater on the verge of going out of business? So how concerned should I be? I bought the 15 watt Tweaker head less than a year ago, haven't had any issues so far. But should I sell it now before something goes wrong and it can't be fixed under warranty?

 

[buttkinz]

Sods law haha, the power transformer has just blown in one if the renegades, must have heard me talking about it... Am I right in thinking it's cheaper to buy the Mercury magnetics transformers for the renegade than egnaters ones? From others who have blown trannys egnater seem to ask 200 dollars for a replacement but mercury's renegade one is 190.

At24, no idea bud, I need my equipment to be working most of the time and few people will accept an egnater for repair in the UK, I had a tweaker for less than a year and that blew at a gig, sold that ordered a couple of renegades. I run a large recording studio and a label so need reliable gear with help if it goes kaput. When they work they sound good but I'm having to pay for repairs each year on these amps and I cant take it anymore haha.

 

[ogleh]

Oh, I can testify to some mighty sorry customer service from the Boutique Amp Distribution folks out in LA, who are the customer service representatives for Egnater. I just sent Bruce an email. I figure if he replies and fixes my issues, after less than 60 days of ownership, I’ll refrain from posting the sorted details. By all accounts, Bruce and Terry are good people. I really like his amp designs. I think I would enjoy taking one of his build classes. But, it appears others just don’t care about his good name, or doing the right thing. Sad.

 

[ogleh]

So after a direct plea to Bruce Egnater, and / or my previous post to this thread, I was contacted by Boutique Amp Distribution (distributor for Egnater Amps) and sent an Repair Authorization via email. I also received multiple phone messages on my home machine. When I returned the call, I got through to Blad on the first try. He was helpful and seemed concerned about my situation. We are potentially on the right track!

 

[jbanks]

for all that i have read of the egnater tweerker 40 power transformer problems, i only had wished that i would of done a more deeper search before i bought one. a few days ago i traded in a fender bandmaster head ( black face ) for one of these lil gems..... sounded good and had alot of what i was wanting tone wise, so the 3rd day i had this i was jamming along with the amp at around 1/3 of the way up and after 3 hours it blowed a mains fuse. so i done as the paper work stated to do and came to the , your srcewed part that theres nothing you can do to fix this, need amp tech for repairs. well i almost puked. knowing that i have jammed my ol fender hear maxed out for hours in with no breaks and only stopped cause my ears couldn't handle much more and my hand was getting sore. well the place i traded in gave me my fender back and apologized to me even it wasnt there fault, i did email barret at egnater amps and since it was new years night i new i wasnt going to get no reply for a few days at best. really didnt think i would get a replay at all since it was a used item i traded in for. well on the next open business i received an email from barret. SWEET i thought and even better he told me that if i can get my amp back to try that first, if not he said that there was a bad batch of transformers that was installed in these amps and that i could send it in and he would replace it with an updated one with a fan. he apologized to me for the issue as well. we had emailed back n forth 7 times that day and my last one to receive from him is that they still make a hand wired point to point amp in house in L.A. and is sold at sweetwater. i do be leave that when bruce said he has a new guy working to make the customer service better has come true. i was in relief when i received 1 email, let alone my personal thoughts improved the more we emailed that day. now, if bruce can design a amp that is serviceable in the likings of the tweeker 40 with real tube gain without using op-amps to drive the gain up in them. a little more beefier power trans and output trans like the old fender music man amps did, then i would say he has built the tone tank from hell that will take all one can dish out and beg for more.

 

[Scottfn308]

Update:

I got my Tourmaster 4212 back about a month ago form Egnater. It has worked as it should so far.

I am very appreciative of Blad and Bruce for getting this situation resolved, however I am still lacking
confidence in the amp due to my experience with it failing in the past. I guess it will have to win me over it seems. It does however sound very good through my Carvin 4x12 cabinet.

It is a shame that these amps have had issues, since they do sound quite good. But, I would have to say, I would discourage anyone from buying one, at least new. They cost alot when new, and there is virtually NO used market for these amps due to the issues they have had. I have tried to sell or trade mine with absoutely NO interest in buying it, and very insulting trade offers. I guess I will just have to keep it, and hope it continues to work.

Regards,

Scott

 

[stringydan]

My Renegade 112 combo died quietly as I switched it to standby a couple of weeks ago. I had been doing a little low volume jamming and it just died when I was turning it off. It has been in the shop for a couple of weeks. I still don't have a answer as to how much this is going to cost. But I was told it needed all new pre-amp tubes and a power transformer. So I know it won't be cheap. Second time for this amp to go to the shop. Lucky for me the first visit was under warranty. I just put all new JJ tubes in about 6 months ago so I feel like a threw some money away there. I am tempted to go solid state (tech 21 trademark 60 or something similar) but I don't really want to trade tone for reliability.

 

[Scottfn308]

I am tempted to go solid state (tech 21 trademark 60 or something similar) but I don't really want to trade tone for reliability.

This is the very same problem I have to solve. I LOVE tube amps for their sound, and the
ones I have had in the past have been reliable. However, I am too thinking of going solid-state for the plug and play reliability.

My live rig is currently a Carvin SX-300/2x12 combo run through a Carvin 4x12 cabinet. Not the
greatest, but it works. It has a good tone, but not ideal. And besides, after mic'ing it
through the PA, who can really tell. LOL

Regards,

Scott

 

[Anonymous]

sometimes i read some of these posts and i think the same thing i do when i think of my parents having a computer/internet......

not being dicky, or curt, most times though, i think people are better off with plug and play/low maintenence gear.
as in amps they never would have to switch tubes out to see which ones are failing, etc.

yes. i think both of you guys should get solid state amps and never look back.

 

[bbaug14]

sometimes i read some of these posts and i think the same thing i do when i think of my parents having a computer/internet......

not being dicky, or curt, most times though, i think people are better off with plug and play/low maintenence gear.
as in amps they never would have to switch tubes out to see which ones are failing, etc.

yes. i think both of you guys should get solid state amps and never look back.

Agreed. I'd add that if you are going to play tube amps then you should have a decent understanding of how they work and the symptoms/solutions for COMMON issues. This would go miles for preventing a lot of comments/questions on this forum.

 

[Scottfn308]

sometimes i read some of these posts and i think the same thing i do when i think of my parents having a computer/internet......

not being dicky, or curt, most times though, i think people are better off with plug and play/low maintenence gear.
as in amps they never would have to switch tubes out to see which ones are failing, etc.

yes. i think both of you guys should get solid state amps and never look back.

Agreed. I'd add that if you are going to play tube amps then you should have a decent understanding of how they work and the symptoms/solutions for COMMON issues. This would go miles for preventing a lot of comments/questions on this forum.

For what it is worth, I am not being an ass either, however I have had SEVERAL tube amps
over the years, (Boogie, Marshall, Carvin, ect.), and have had experience playing others. So,
therefore, I DO know what is involved in the upkeep and use of them, and have done so in
the past. And NONE of these amps had a fraction of the issues that my Egnater has had. I
have had no issues with maintenence of a tube amp until this one.

But, ALL of these tube amps that I have owned were made in the USA or England not China.

Also, when I have a totally unbiased amp tech who works on amps for professional players in
Nashville, tell me that Egnater is Chinese crap, and goes into great detail about how it is crap,
and that I should get rid of it and buy something else, I tend to listen to them, as they may know
what they are talking about.

I have had a bad experience with Egnater. They did however take of the problem. That does
not however change my perception and trust level of their products.

And yes, I may use solid-state amps. At least until I find a good, reliable tube one.

Regards,

Scott

 

[Anonymous]

sometimes i read some of these posts and i think the same thing i do when i think of my parents having a computer/internet......

not being dicky, or curt, most times though, i think people are better off with plug and play/low maintenence gear.
as in amps they never would have to switch tubes out to see which ones are failing, etc.

yes. i think both of you guys should get solid state amps and never look back.

Agreed. I'd add that if you are going to play tube amps then you should have a decent understanding of how they work and the symptoms/solutions for COMMON issues. This would go miles for preventing a lot of comments/questions on this forum.

For what it is worth, I am not being an ass either, however I have had SEVERAL tube amps
over the years, (Boogie, Marshall, Carvin, ect.), and have had experience playing others. So,
therefore, I DO know what is involved in the upkeep and use of them, and have done so in
the past. And NONE of these amps had a fraction of the issues that my Egnater has had. I
have had no issues with maintenence of a tube amp until this one.

But, ALL of these tube amps that I have owned were made in the USA or England not China.

Also, when I have a totally unbiased amp tech who works on amps for professional players in
Nashville, tell me that Egnater is Chinese crap, and goes into great detail about how it is crap,
and that I should get rid of it and buy something else, I tend to listen to them, as they may know
what they are talking about.

I have had a bad experience with Egnater. They did however take of the problem. That does
not however change my perception and trust level of their products.

And yes, I may use solid-state amps. At least until I find a good, reliable tube one.

Regards,

Scott

Scott. i understand your frustration. i was simply agreeing with you with a (probably shitty perceived) example of why to go the easy route.

trust me. i put my own replacement output tranny in my egnater, and already have replaced the reverb tranny, and now the new one has crapped out, which i plan on fixing at some point, or at least diagnosing. in the past, dealing wiht egnater customer service in california was also frustrating for a lot of us.

i traded my mesa boogie heartbreaker for the egnater, and 9 months later it went kaput.

i learned a lot about amps since then, and it send me down a modding/servicing road that i love. but sometimes, i wonder if i'd have just kept the heartbreaker combo and modded that myself.

so yes, i get it. oh, by the way, i was a TOOB NOOB when i traded for this amp..had NO clue about them at all....that was a neat journey also...

 

[Scottfn308]

sometimes i read some of these posts and i think the same thing i do when i think of my parents having a computer/internet......

not being dicky, or curt, most times though, i think people are better off with plug and play/low maintenence gear.
as in amps they never would have to switch tubes out to see which ones are failing, etc.

yes. i think both of you guys should get solid state amps and never look back.

Agreed. I'd add that if you are going to play tube amps then you should have a decent understanding of how they work and the symptoms/solutions for COMMON issues. This would go miles for preventing a lot of comments/questions on this forum.

For what it is worth, I am not being an ass either, however I have had SEVERAL tube amps
over the years, (Boogie, Marshall, Carvin, ect.), and have had experience playing others. So,
therefore, I DO know what is involved in the upkeep and use of them, and have done so in
the past. And NONE of these amps had a fraction of the issues that my Egnater has had. I
have had no issues with maintenence of a tube amp until this one.

But, ALL of these tube amps that I have owned were made in the USA or England not China.

Also, when I have a totally unbiased amp tech who works on amps for professional players in
Nashville, tell me that Egnater is Chinese crap, and goes into great detail about how it is crap,
and that I should get rid of it and buy something else, I tend to listen to them, as they may know
what they are talking about.

I have had a bad experience with Egnater. They did however take of the problem. That does
not however change my perception and trust level of their products.

And yes, I may use solid-state amps. At least until I find a good, reliable tube one.

Regards,

Scott

Scott. i understand your frustration. i was simply agreeing with you with a (probably shitty perceived) example of why to go the easy route.

trust me. i put my own replacement output tranny in my egnater, and already have replaced the reverb tranny, and now the new one has crapped out, which i plan on fixing at some point, or at least diagnosing. in the past, dealing wiht egnater customer service in california was also frustrating for a lot of us.

i traded my mesa boogie heartbreaker for the egnater, and 9 months later it went kaput.

i learned a lot about amps since then, and it send me down a modding/servicing road that i love. but sometimes, i wonder if i'd have just kept the heartbreaker combo and modded that myself.

so yes, i get it. oh, by the way, i was a TOOB NOOB when i traded for this amp..had NO clue about them at all....that was a neat journey also...

Sounds like your luck is worse than mine.

 

[bruce egnater]

Stringydan::: If you purchased your Renegade new, it has a 3 year warranty on everything except for the tubes. Also, a power transformer failure is one thing. Why someone would tell you that ALL the preamps tubes need to be replaced, in addition to the transformer, is not correct. Especially since you just replaced them all yourself. I would ask for a clear explanation. As far as all the other customer service issues, we are working everyday to improve and we will keep trying.
Thanks

 

[Scottfn308]

Stringydan::: If you purchased your Renegade new, it has a 3 year warranty on everything except for the tubes. Also, a power transformer failure is one thing. Why someone would tell you that ALL the preamps tubes need to be replaced, in addition to the transformer, is not correct. Especially since you just replaced them all yourself. I would ask for a clear explanation. As far as all the other customer service issues, we are working everyday to improve and we will keep trying.
Thanks

Bruce is telling the truth, I noticed an improvement while I was going through my trials and
tribulations with my Tourmaster. I do thank them for all they did to help me and get my
amp back up and running.

Regards,

Scott