Nick80 Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Well, last Friday I took a half day off work and collected my poorly superfly after it was "repaired" for the squealing some of them are afflicted with. It was sent back to Ashdown for repair. Get it home, hook it up, switch it on... Guess what, it's still screaming like a banshee. Absolutely no improvement or indeed any change at all! So half a day off work and £50 repair bill for nothing! Needless to say I was feeling very disillusioned this weekend... Still waiting for the shop to reply to my disappointed email... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 (edited) I'd phone them. You might be able to make a stronger point by talking to someone. It's a shame that Ashdown don't seem to be able to get quality control and customer satisfaction right these days! Edited February 4, 2008 by chris_b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johngh Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Get it repaired, get rid of it and get something more reliable. My Harke HA3500 has never let me down ever, its brilliant ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machines Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Deal with Ashdown directly - it'll cut out the messing with the shop. Martin Burrows is very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krysbass Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 I bought a Superfly 500 a few weeks ago - mine also has a high-pitched whine in one of the outputs (the other one is OK). The only way to lose the whine is to turn off the tweeter, which is something you shouldn't have to do. I'm putting up with mine for now, but will probably look at sending it back before the warranty expires - definitely will if the "good" output starts whining. I have to say that in terms of features and tone (apart from the unwanted noises) the Superfly is a superb idea - it's just a shame it seems to have been so poorly executed. In view of the problems, I'm wondering if Ashdown are losing interest in their Superfly gear, because even though a number of stores seem to have the more powerful Superfly 1000 for sale, the Ashdown website still only mentions the 500?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassDad Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 [quote name='Machines' post='133562' date='Feb 4 2008, 01:16 PM']Deal with Ashdown directly - it'll cut out the messing with the shop. Martin Burrows is very helpful.[/quote] + 1 For Martin, top guy I'm sure he'll sort you out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick80 Posted February 4, 2008 Author Share Posted February 4, 2008 Thanks for the advice peeps, I got a reply from the shop and they're going to take it back and have a go at Ashdown for sending it back unrepaired. If that doesn't work I'll deal with Ashdown directly. Although I've already dropped them an email to the technical department. It's a sad state of affairs but all this has seriously knocked my confidence in Ashdown. I wouldn't get one again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinynorman Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Recently had similar experience with Ashdown, with a Mag 300 head that was intermittently not working. Tech support guy (not MB) seemed very helpful, head came back from them with a £68 charge, but no details of the repair. When I emailed them to find out what the problem was, I got a report that said "bench tested, no fault found". Despite it having failed twice in setups where backup amps worked fine, they won't shift off "there's nothing wrong with it". While it was away I bought a Hartke 3500 that works, so I gave up the argument. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalMan Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 [quote name='spinynorman' post='133924' date='Feb 4 2008, 09:55 PM']Recently had similar experience with Ashdown, with a Mag 300 head that was intermittently not working. Tech support guy (not MB) seemed very helpful, head came back from them with a £68 charge, but no details of the repair. When I emailed them to find out what the problem was, I got a report that said "bench tested, no fault found". Despite it having failed twice in setups where backup amps worked fine, they won't shift off "there's nothing wrong with it". While it was away I bought a Hartke 3500 that works, so I gave up the argument.[/quote] I had a similar problem with my old Trace combo. It kept cutting out, but despite being stung by a store getting its own repair guy to look at it & do something that made no difference at all and then mailing the head to GM Audio for them to find nothing wrong the first time around I drove up to GM with the combo and they managed, more by luck than anything to track the fault. The amp was run up on a scope and there was nothing apparent, until luckily just before I took it away again we managed to replicate the fault, which turned out to be a hairline fault on the input board. Got that repaired and never had a problem after. It was bl00dy annoying at the time having to have a DI cable ready to plug into the Wal's cannon out for if/when the amp went down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamster Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 [quote name='Nick80' post='133541' date='Feb 4 2008, 12:39 PM']Well, last Friday I took a half day off work and collected my poorly superfly after it was "repaired" for the squealing some of them are afflicted with. It was sent back to Ashdown for repair. Get it home, hook it up, switch it on... Guess what, it's still screaming like a banshee. Absolutely no improvement or indeed any change at all! So half a day off work and £50 repair bill for nothing! Needless to say I was feeling very disillusioned this weekend... Still waiting for the shop to reply to my disappointed email... [/quote] This is a well known problem caused by a bad batch of faulty power boards. I doubt very much if Ashdown have any replacement boards as the amps are all made in China. You could give them another try and ask them exactly how they intend to repair it, otherwise you might be best off getting a full refund (which is what I did) Shame, because when they work they're not bad at all. Hamster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick80 Posted February 4, 2008 Author Share Posted February 4, 2008 [quote name='Hamster' post='134007' date='Feb 4 2008, 11:47 PM']This is a well known problem caused by a bad batch of faulty power boards. I doubt very much if Ashdown have any replacement boards as the amps are all made in China. You could give them another try and ask them exactly how they intend to repair it, otherwise you might be best off getting a full refund (which is what I did) Shame, because when they work they're not bad at all. Hamster[/quote] They claim the power board was replaced! If it was, they replaced it with another faulty power board! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamster Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 [quote name='Nick80' post='134009' date='Feb 4 2008, 11:50 PM']They claim the power board was replaced! If it was, they replaced it with another faulty power board![/quote] When I spoke with Ashdown - last July?, they seemed a bit resigned to the fact that they couldn't fix them without putting into production a whole new run of boards. Seeing as how that amp was being phased out I don't think they bothered. They did arrange to have it UPS collected from my door to get to them but it came back with the same fault. Soundcontrol didn't haggle with giving me a full refund. Hamster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick80 Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 Interesting. Thanks for the info... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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