Page 1 of 2

Amp Repair

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 1:58 am
by wolfman1966
anyone know any place near West Monroe, LA (zip 71291) that repairs PG amps, when I say near, I mean within 200 miles.

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 6:05 am
by theburb
what kind of amp is it new or old.

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 6:41 am
by mr tibbs
Look up 1moreamp here on the forum. His name is Cecil and he is our resident repair guy. He lives in Cali and I'm sure he can help you out. :wink:

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 8:17 am
by theburb
im here in austin,texas and i swear by chris at pyramid audio....few compare to him and he loves pg amps.

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 8:30 am
by wolfman1966
its a Xenon 400.1....bought it used and it worked fine until one of the wires to the subs came loose, think that wire may have caused a short and burned the output. I checked with a DMM and its still getting 13.3 volts, but the blue light on it is blinking. when I turn on the amp, it sends a quick shot of power to the subs, for just a second, then no power out.

Friend of mine told me he knows a place in Lafayette we can send it, to see what its going to cost before they repair it.

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 8:33 am
by AVICJR
Problem is that I don't think too many people know/can fix the Xenon line. I would send it back to PG or 1moreamp.

Sorry for the thread jack:

theburb: good to see another Texan on here. And an "old school" aficionado at that.

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 8:46 am
by Wakeup
I'd say take some pics of the inards, and post it up for 1moreamp or dr fosgate. At least if something sticks out they can give you an idea of cost or if they can repair it etc. Both are good guys.

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 11:21 am
by wolfman1966
AVICJR wrote:Problem is that I don't think too many people know/can fix the Xenon line. I would send it back to PG or 1moreamp.

Sorry for the thread jack:

theburb: good to see another Texan on here. And an "old school" aficionado at that.
well, the place in LA can supposedly fix the amp. I'll have to open it up and take pics sometime soon, so maybe I can get an Idea.

1>Texan? How did you know? I live in Louisiana now.
2>Old school? does the Xenon count as "old school"?

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 11:22 am
by wolfman1966
woops, you were talking to the burb, but I'm originally from a little town southwest of Houston ,called Eagle Lake

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 11:39 am
by Wakeup
Ya if you dont know much about the place you plan to take it to...again I suggest cecil and doc fozzy...they both know their stuff....At least send them some pictures and they can give you an idea etc.

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 7:47 pm
by theburb
if it was my amp and not to knock anyone here on the board because they are all great guys that really know their shit...but...i would send it to chris at pyramid i have used him for years and the last time i used him he really came through in the end....i bought a dead tantrum 1200 on ebay for like 100 bucks...i figured i would send it to him cuz it would only be like 40-70 better then new.....but it turned out even he was stumped, so he calls me and tells me the news...he said he is sending it to pg to get it fixed and its no extra charge...well a week later he calls me back and says even they dont know what the fuck is going on and they are out of tantrum boards so im shit out of luck...but he tells me that they will sell me a new rsd1200 for like 150 bucks and he ask me if im interested... i didnt even have to answer because he then said the amp would be at his shop in about a week....so all around he is a great repair man that still has juice in the industry....shit i traded my dead ebay tantrum and got a rsd1200 with the 3 year warranty before they even got released to the market for 150....just for sticking with the home team....what more can you ask for :twisted:

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 11:08 pm
by wolfman1966
i looked at the pyramid website, doesnt say anthing about them working on PG amps....I'll open it tomorrow and take pics so maybe someone can tell me if its worth fixing...i hope so, just bought it about 2 wks ago.. it was used btw, not new

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 11:18 pm
by Wakeup
Ya, take pictures, even if you decide to go with pyramid or chris, rather than anyone else, at least you may have some advice from some of the resident amp guru's.


And realize they may be on vacation....so they may not get back to you for a day or two.

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 4:46 am
by theburb
wolfman1966 wrote:i looked at the pyramid website, doesnt say anthing about them working on PG amps...
hey sorry about that i should have been more specific....im talking about Chris Lewis at http://www.pyramid-audio.com/ its a repair shop he is a world famous car audio geek.

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:42 am
by wolfman1966
theburb....yeah thats the site i was talking about, says nothing about PG amps

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 11:02 am
by ydnap
Talk to 1moreamp.

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 2:36 pm
by dedlyjedly
wolfman1966 wrote:theburb....yeah thats the site i was talking about, says nothing about PG amps
yes it does. it doesn't list them as an "authorized" service center because PG does ALL of their warranty work in house. but it does list PG for out of warranty work.

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 5:38 pm
by wolfman1966
well here's a link to another forum that I put the pics on, I don't have them online and don't think I can upload them straight to here..so ...
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/4/385303.html[/img]

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 5:53 pm
by VW337
theburb wrote:if it was my amp and not to knock anyone here on the board because they are all great guys that really know their shit...but...i would send it to chris at pyramid i have used him for years and the last time i used him he really came through in the end....i bought a dead tantrum 1200 on ebay for like 100 bucks...i figured i would send it to him cuz it would only be like 40-70 better then new.....but it turned out even he was stumped, so he calls me and tells me the news...he said he is sending it to pg to get it fixed and its no extra charge...well a week later he calls me back and says even they dont know what the fuck is going on and they are out of tantrum boards so im shit out of luck...but he tells me that they will sell me a new rsd1200 for like 150 bucks and he ask me if im interested... i didnt even have to answer because he then said the amp would be at his shop in about a week....so all around he is a great repair man that still has juice in the industry....shit i traded my dead ebay tantrum and got a rsd1200 with the 3 year warranty before they even got released to the market for 150....just for sticking with the home team....what more can you ask for :twisted:

FYI that is SOP for PG in regard to the t1200.1, my guess would not be that PG couldn't repair it or didn't know what was wrong but very likely that the Tripath chip was nuked and in that case there is no option for repair any longer. They were upselling to the X1200.1 while it was available and then to the RSd1200.1 when it became available.

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:11 pm
by brenzbmr@sb
so you mean i can send in my tantrum 1200 and 500 and pay some extra cash to get newer amps.. damn, i should do that since both of my amps are not working.

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:31 pm
by Wakeup
Ya I was thinking about sending in my bad 1200.1. Would be good to do.

Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 12:01 am
by theburb
VW337 wrote:FYI that is SOP for PG in regard to the t1200.1, my guess would not be that PG couldn't repair it or didn't know what was wrong but very likely that the Tripath chip was nuked and in that case there is no option for repair any longer. They were upselling to the X1200.1 while it was available and then to the RSd1200.1 when it became available.
im sorry but i know about standard operating procedures on out dated lines, buying an amp at cost and how all that works....you can send in all the dead amps you want and you still wont get a new one for 150 bucks with a 3 year warranty....chris spent a about a week trying to trouble shoot/repair it and everytime something else would just pop up....the man really knows his shit and he felt like he was just chasing his tail...so the techs at pg wanted to take a look at....they did and they got me a sweet deal on a new amp....when it was all said and done he really came thru in the end and so did pg....thats all i was trying to say..

Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 12:45 am
by dedlyjedly
theburb you were definitely taken care of by PG, but that doesn't mean that the way you were treated doesn't apply to others as well. VW337 was previously employed by PG and is in the know as to how these tricky situations are handled.

by tricky, i'm referring to the servicing of specifically the T1200.1. As VW337 mentioned there was a tripath chip in it that was unique to that model. The manufacturer of the chip has since discontinued that type of chip thus leaving PG unable to service a number of amplifiers in the field. PG is the type of company to step up and provide some level of service when actual repair is out of the question.

Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 3:03 pm
by 1moreamp
selling B stocks as replacements is a common operating procedure with car amp company's. PPI, Directed, Kicker, you name one they probably do it. The cost to build that overseas made amp means they still made money off you and they kept you brand loyal.

By the way please add the cost of you bad e-bay amp to get a real world total of what you really paid for that amp. So you paid about $250.00 for that amp when you take into account the e-bay part also.

I can fix PG amps, but on the T1200.1 Tripath would have to start making the chip again and that won't happen, as with PG actually putting money into using the newer Tripath chips, and making them work properly in that case.. P


as for the original question, YES I can repair your Xenon 400.1. It sounds like it needs some fresh output Fet's.... PM me if I can be of service ... C :) :) :)

Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 3:03 pm
by VW337
FYI this only applies to the T1200.1 and only if the Tripath chip is bad.

Other amps are under different rules for swap out and typically a case by case scenario.