Getting stuff repaired.

[Marvin]

Generally, in the UK, getting a lot of gear repaired seems a right royal pain in the behind.

First, trying to find someone and second sourcing parts. Then of course some gear can be obsolete in it goes pop.

 

I thought my Peavey Minimax, which died recently, wasn't worth fixing. By chance someone Mrs Marvin works with repairs amps. He diagnosed the problem, said how much it would cost and I said go for it. Here's the hitch. The parts aren't available in the UK, they had to ordered from the States. And here's another hitch. Those parts have been held up in US customs because they're suspicious that someone ordering 2 capacitors for a couple $s might be assembling drones for Russia 🤔🫣🤪

 

I've had similar with other gear, like a battery compartment for an Ibanez. It took months to sort out. Not available in the UK seems to be a constant mantra. 

 

[DGBass]

I used to have a Barnes & Mullins account when I was into Peavey equipment and they held quite a lot of genuine Peavey parts in the UK(and still do). However lack of use meant my account was lapsed. They seemed less interested in non trade accounts last I contacted them( a while ago).  I would agree though that parts for "foreign" manufacturers equipment seem more difficult to source in the UK nowadays and I suspect a lot of that is to do with the level of UK support available within the contracts awarded to certain amp repair centres for certain brands of bass gear. Also, changing out whole modules or entire main boards is probably easier and more cost effective than faulting to component level, and in some cases its probably cheaper buying a complete new unit if it's out of warranty.

 

Just recently I tried to get what I thought a fairly obvious consumable ( A compression horn diaphragm for a hartke tweeter ). Hartke USA were very helpful and quick to respond with correct part numbers etc however their UK support had just wound up the contract to deal with Hartke who didn't seem to realise this. When referred to their new UK support team, they were pretty much hopeless, despite Hartke USA being in on the email chain. Conversely, I needed a specific part for a twenty eight year old Ashdown amp repair. It was available,  and they posted it to me next day! Go Ashdown! 🙂

Edited 1 hour ago by DGBass

[Lozz196]

As above, go Ashdown.