Tourmaster Woes

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Steve Kelly

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First, I'd like to introduce myself; I'm Steve/41/Married/2 kids/Week-end warrior in a classic rock band. Guitarist since the age of 13.

For the last year or so I've been watching and wanting a Tourmaster. I finally got in a position financially to secure a new one by trading a Mesa + cash to the GC at Columbus, OH - a 2 1/2 hour trip one way as there are no GC in WV. Here is my frustrating tale:

1) I bought the unit and an ATA style flight case, placed it in the case and made the trip home. Got back and the amp wouldnt work - it kicked ass at GC, so?? Made a call to Egnater and found out the internal fuses were bad. Replaced them and it worked fine.

2) Couple days pass (I dont play every day due to job and family) I return to my man cave, fire the amp up and play for about 15 mins or so then I get a high pitched growl/squeal electronic type noise on all chanels rendering the amp unplayable. Call Egnater - am told to replace certain preamp tubes which I did - amp works fine, I play a half hour or so afterwards. Weekend comes and I take it to my gig that night. Half way through the first set it starts the same weird noises with static and what I call "farty" sounds. I had to borrow an amp to finish the night. Monday rolls around and I call Egnater and get the same story about preamp tubes. I go out and buy a complete set and the amp works fine.

3) Several days later I take it to an open mic night and same thing. I plugged into the loop to check and it made the "farty" sound as before. Once again I had to borrow an amp to finish the gig. Call Egnater again and they send me a set of Sovtek 6L6GC (thanks Adam). I have a gig in a few days, so I went out and bought a used 5150 combo so I would have an amp I knew would work. Tubes are delivered the day after my gig, I install, set bias and allow to burn in for several hours. Re-check for drift and all is well. I play the amp for half hour or more, all is well.

4) This past Thursday I had a gig. TM makes it 3/4 of the way through the first set and chanel 4 starts the same issue as #3 above. All other chanels work fine.

I dont play this amp every day, I have a small 1x10 BJ to practice with. The TM was intended to do a couple hours of classic rock once a week and slumber in its case till the following week - Good thing I'm not on the road..

I dont know what to do. Spent more time fixing than playing. GC wont take it back - I've had it about 90 days out of which it has been down 80% of the time. To me this is unacceptable. I understand that out of the hundreds of amps they make, a dog or two might slip through, but I'm ready to pull what little hair out I have. frustrating to say the least. I dont want to put another dime in this thing because it has become a money pit. I cant even sell it to recoup some of the $1500 + loss. Who would want to buy an amp with so many issues? Plus I wouldnt want to piss someone off by sticking them with it. This was supposed to be my "dream amp" sadly, it's only been a nightmare.

Help a guy out? Thanks..
 
Man,that was depressing bro,sorry to hear this,as it doesn't sound like a tube issue as you changed them quite a bit????/
 
DUDE
that really bums me out. SUCKS to hear.
the boys here will help you, i have faith.
 
Man, that SUCKS! I have never had an issue like that.

I would get this bumped up the chain a bit at GC. Write a letter to the regional manager or something like that. There is no reason why this couldn't be exchanged for a new one. If they won't do that- and they should- contact Egnater. You might need to send in back to them. There is no reason for that kind of problem.

:rock:
 
I would contact Egnater support and tell them you need the amp diagnosed professionally at an authorized shop.
Or see if you can ship it to them directly. Thats what a warranty is for.
No reason you should suffer any longer........
 
Thanks for the replies -

AFAIK, there are no service centers in West Virginia - yes, I live in the sticks. :D

I emailed GC corporate but dont know if that will do any good.

I'm sure the guys at tech support @ Egnater are tired of taking my calls?

What I really want is a working, reliable version of the product that I paid for. I really would hate to ship it somewhere because I'm sure it would cost a fortune due to weight. Looks like unless GC takes it back or Egnater will exchange it - I'm screwed. It really is wrong to have a new, off the shelf product have so many issues - I'm very disapointed to say the least. I dont want my money back, just an amp that wont lay down and embarass me when I'm gigging..

:cry:
 
I would follow up on the GC end. A few days shouldn't matter. Make sure you keep a copy of your e-mail. I would get some names and make some phone calls as well, and document it. You have to be willing to be persistent and make a pain in the ass out of yourself. I would also write to few other people up the chain at GC. You should talk to the store manager as well. It's a pain. But it usually gets what you want out of this kind of thing.

:rock:
 
I feel your pain. After touting the TM4212 from a personal viewpoint on a few posts here evidently the gods of rock decided to take me down a notch. I was pretty down about it. Steve, evidently my sticks are more remote than even yours, as my nearest service center was 260 miles - one way - so that did not help either. Paid for shipping both ways, to have an itty bitty diode replaced on a fairly new amp. :bash: I removed the chassis, helped a bit with the weight.

Len, I thought of ditching the whole "Len's Tourmaster Club" T-shirt idea, was not a happy camper. Also I could not help but revisit some of the comments made by a few Mod Squad guys about the GC line, you know what I mean. I wanted them to be wrong about the GC line! I also want to be able to afford a Mod50 with multiple modules and a couple of killer cab set ups, but I digress.

Instead of dwelling on Bitter Street, where the neighborhood sucks any way, maybe it would be more therapeutic if I were to try to help Steve Kelly. Perhaps I will try to give a better perspective of hope at the end.

First off, Len may be on the right track. Don't give up on the GC route, it may be the best option. Swap it out, GC! :gethim: But prepare for other tactics, namely getting an RA# from John or Nate and sending it in for repair. Be proactive.

http://www.egnateramps.com/ServiceSearch.asp is the place to check for an authorized service center. I may be mistaken but it looks like your nearest service center is about 180 miles away:
E.A.R.C.O.S
36 N Van Buren Ave
Barbertton, OH 44203
Phone: 330-786-9683

Make nice with the service center guys. Can't hurt, and it might help. They are the ones who will actually be doing the work - and deciding when to start that work on your amp.

Although the process was not always smooth nor easy, within two weeks it was all over. I was very active in pursuit of resolution, for what it is worth. In the end, I have the TM4212 back and I really do enjoy it - I think it is a very versitile piece of equipment that sounds great.

I have my amp back, and I made it through the BS of getting it serviced.

You will make it through too. :yes:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Seems like in my case the pen - and the telephone, is mightier than the sword.

Here is an update:

1) Emailed GC corporate and Egnater last night with pretty much a "cut and paste" from my original post here, I did edit out some of the things I thought may be offensive. So far no reply..

2) I have a friend (Greg) who is manager of GC at Lexington, KY whom I called today for advice. He told me to contact the regional manager for that area by calling the store (Columbus) and asking for the RM. He also told me the email sent to corporate should of been forewarded to the RM.

3) I call GC Columbus, tell them what all has transpired since the original purchase and they offer to exchange for another TM, store credit or equal value trade. So I'm driving there in the morning, figure its worth the trip to be done with this. The big question is what will I do once I get there? Which option to choose? Will it be Egnater? I'm going to have to sleep on that one..

FYI if you go to GC at Lexington, KY ask for Greg - even if it is to buy a pack of strings or just to look at something. The guy has always done me right in the past and if this issue would of happened at his store would of been resolved long ago.

On another somewhat related issue, I made a facebook post a couple days ago about needing to go amp hunting again. I get a comment from monster shredder and former Megadeth guitarist Jeff Young to call him today. I called him around 5pm and to make a long story short he has offered to sell me his old gear now that he has an endorsement with Krank amplifiers. Seems his gear is in storage at cincinnatti, which isnt too far away from here. The rig is two Nuno 4x12 and a Randall rack system with Power amp and four modules that Egnater designed and were modded by someone else. I saw it a few months ago when I visited him in the studio and remember the modules being labled something like "Plexi" "AC30" and a couple others I couldnt remember..One did have a fender type name.
 
Just to be fair to the amp, I would exchange for another Tourmaster. I would make sure that you play it for a while right there in store to make sure it is OK.

:rock:
 
GC took care of me, and I was quite pleased.

I didnt get another Egnater and only because there are no dealers or service centers within a reasonable distance from me. On a brighter note, my local store - The Pied Piper at Charleston, WV are trying to become an Egnater dealer. If that happens myself and many of my counterparts will own them. Till then I'm keeping my fingers crossed and enjoying my new Mesa Road King II. Thanks to all who offered assistance!

Ian, if you see this I have tried to reply to your message but the reply stays in my outbox for some reason. Thank you, and I will return to the brand if my local store gets them.

Thanks again!

DSC02151.jpg
 
Steve Kelly":1lnl174n said:
GC took care of me, and I was quite pleased.

I didnt get another Egnater and only because there are no dealers or service centers within a reasonable distance from me. On a brighter note, my local store - The Pied Piper at Charleston, WV are trying to become an Egnater dealer. If that happens myself and many of my counterparts will own them. Till then I'm keeping my fingers crossed and enjoying my new Mesa Road King II. Thanks to all who offered assistance!

Ian, if you see this I have tried to reply to your message but the reply stays in my outbox for some reason. Thank you, and I will return to the brand if my local store gets them.

Thanks again!

DSC02151.jpg
Click to expand...
Nice score bro,I growing fond of these Rectifiers :rock:
 
My initial take on the Mesa is that it and the TM are alike in many features. Some of the big differences are the options of multiple tube configurations, two loops, the ability to assign two separate cabinets per channel such as having an open back cab for a clean, a closed back for dirty or a combination of the two per each channel. The footswitchable solo boost is a big plus too!
 
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