hello im new

[Dmoney]

hahaha!
yeah man, if you can find out about that other situation that would be awesome.
this is all funny especially when you call them on and the 'on hold' message tells you they have some award for customer service!

thanks for the offer of a place to kip! we actually drove up a while ago to return the amp in person, but we got let down by the guy who was giving us a place to stay. we were going to drop off the amp in the morning but we had to drive back to london. we went to sheffield first to get all my bands merch for a gig the next day, and went home via manchester. had a drink in the thirsty scholar. been a while since i was at uni in salford.

[shobet]

Well after having re-read all the posts by him the condensed version is he had 3 EVH III amps fail, two of them caught fire in the shop and I believe he now has a Peavey 6505+ half stack or something along those lines. As Soundsgreat are Peavey dealers I'm assuming he got to half stack through them, so I'm assuming he got the half stack as the monetary equivalent of the EVH head. So not a refund as such.

[Dmoney]

tonight i spoke to Mike Soldano.
Best guy ever!

he was across everything and hes going to arrange getting me a totally hew avenger built with EL34's hopefully and orange tolex... guy is a king!

it'll come through sounds great so i might go collect in person. word!

[Johnny Mac]

tonight i spoke to Mike Soldano.
Best guy ever!

he was across everything and hes going to arrange getting me a totally hew avenger built with EL34's hopefully and orange tolex... guy is a king!

it'll come through sounds great so i might go collect in person. word!

Wow!! Well done, i bet your over the moon! Good job you didn't listen to me a few days ago when i was necking scotch!!  :lol:

[shobet]

I think you'd call that a result!

[Dmoney]

everything still has to be confirm cos sounds great still need to import it.
but they dont offer the EL34 option anymore, so that feature would be special in itself if they have the OP transformer they need to do that. i hope they do. orange tolex would be sweet.

mike was the best person ever on the phone. we both understood each other positions and he knows how ive been treated as all my correspondence with Gary was cc'd to him by me.

think im gonna ask him for a photo of the head prior to shipping. and ill go inspect and test it at sounds great.

maybe buy an attenuator while im at it!!!!

hope this plan works out.


i kind of feel like Gary is getting away scott free though.

[dave_mc]

^ yeah, i know it's annoying that he's getting off- but you'd have taken this result when you started the thread, wouldn't you (doesn't mean you aren't right to want to stick it to him too, just putting it in perspective!)? Plus, you don't know what's happening behind the scenes, for all you know mike soldano phoned up sounds great to give him a tongue-lashing, maybe even threatened to withdraw the dealership if it happens again, etc. :) plus as i said, after hearing what happened to you, I'll not be buying anything from them, as i'm a lot further away than you (well, harder to get to it, at least), and i can do without that kind of hassle.

yeah man i found the last email pretty intimidating... talking about the long drawn out process id have trying to get a refund, and how they are 'trying to work with me' for a resolution. they made the usual offers saying it was for my benefit.

It's this intimidation, and flip flopping on the reason for not giving me a refund. its nuts man. i want it resolved quickly and it looks like its going to come down to who is most stubborn.

thing is, i haven't had the amp for almost a year, so i can do patience, and its no loss to me to attempt to get my money. they still have my amp, and i wont accept that to be returned to me. so i don't really have anything to loose by going for it. i think they are hoping ill get bored and give up. thats the least likely outcome.

seriously though. thanks for all the help regarding this. i realised i did like the amp, i was probably unlucky, and that sounds great kind of ruined my opinion of soldano by association. which is silly. so i like soldano still, just wish i had one of their amps. haha

yeah, they're banking on the fact that most customers don't know their rights, aren't willing to wait, don't want to cause a scene, and don't realise that they can contact the manufacturer directly. The fact that you are willing to do any and all of those means that you're likely to succeed.

which leads to...

tonight i spoke to Mike Soldano.
Best guy ever!

he was across everything and hes going to arrange getting me a totally hew avenger built with EL34's hopefully and orange tolex... guy is a king!

it'll come through sounds great so i might go collect in person. word!

awesome! that's great news, better than i'd hoped even. Most companies (especially the smaller ones) don't like their dealers to be screwing over their customers, because as you've rightly said, it puts you off the manufacturer, when it's really the retailer's fault.

[Dmoney]

thanks for all your help Dave.
I feel if this idea for a resolution comes good then ill be super happy, and cos of all the trouble i feel ill keep that amp forever and have a super good bond with it. Soldano where so cool. I spoke about getting EL34's, Orange tolex, and even about what to do with supporting the warranty. we come do an arrangement that wouldnt involve sounds great, as a one-off deal due to my experiences with them. so i really hope it all works from this point on.

but, thanks for your help with giving me some direction and places to go to find stuff out.

im actually going to ask if i can buy an attenuator from sounds great when i go to pick it up... you know... if the plan works out... knock on wood.

[Adam.M]

Great that it looks like there's a good outcome coming out of this!

But even i'm pissed off, not used in the proper way intended? how exactly? he hooked it up at a 16/8/4ohm resistance, exactly like its $%&#ing intended to!

Hell you could have even quoted the THD website, as it has a long bit on how it states it does not damage the amp one bit.

Doesn't matter if it's speakers, hot plate, palmer, big resistor with a load out... its designed to work with a resistance.

the bit from THD -->

Will it hurt my amp?
The THD Hot PlateŽ will not damage your amplifier. When you play continuously at full output, you cause your tubes to age more quickly than they would at lower volumes. Using a Hot PlateŽ will maintain the life of your tubes at exactly the same rate, no more or less, as when you play straight through the speaker.

Using a Hot PlateŽ will also not hurt your transformer any more than playing through a speaker, as long as the impedances are matched (i.e. 8 ohm setting on the amp, 8 ohm speakers and an 8 ohm attenuator). If you are using a well-made amp, then the transformer should last indefinitely, regardless of whether you are driving a speaker or attenuator. If you are using an inferior amp and the transformer blows, it would have done this whether you play through a speaker or an attenuator. The Hot PlateŽ puts the same load on the transformer as a speaker (which is why it makes such a good dummy load).

[hamfist]

Result !!!

Really pleased for you Dmoney !   :D

[AndyR]

Nice one - really glad it's working out :D

[Dmoney]

Great that it looks like there's a good outcome coming out of this!

But even i'm pissed off, not used in the proper way intended? how exactly? he hooked it up at a 16/8/4ohm resistance, exactly like its $%&#ing intended to!

Hell you could have even quoted the THD website, as it has a long bit on how it states it does not damage the amp one bit.

Doesn't matter if it's speakers, hot plate, palmer, big resistor with a load out... its designed to work with a resistance.

the bit from THD -->

Will it hurt my amp?
The THD Hot PlateŽ will not damage your amplifier. When you play continuously at full output, you cause your tubes to age more quickly than they would at lower volumes. Using a Hot PlateŽ will maintain the life of your tubes at exactly the same rate, no more or less, as when you play straight through the speaker.

Using a Hot PlateŽ will also not hurt your transformer any more than playing through a speaker, as long as the impedances are matched (i.e. 8 ohm setting on the amp, 8 ohm speakers and an 8 ohm attenuator). If you are using a well-made amp, then the transformer should last indefinitely, regardless of whether you are driving a speaker or attenuator. If you are using an inferior amp and the transformer blows, it would have done this whether you play through a speaker or an attenuator. The Hot PlateŽ puts the same load on the transformer as a speaker (which is why it makes such a good dummy load).

haha. dude i did quote that!

in the end, he gave up telling me about 'extra stress on output transformers' and started using the explanation of faults caused by attenuators that I GAVE HIM to tell me i didnt know how to use them, by accusing me of causing the fault using the method i described to him...tit.

he also lied about soldanos policy on attenuators and lied about his own stores policy on them...

i hope this new idea works out.

ill see what happens today. Gary should get the print outs of his own online store. the screen prints of where he sells THD Hot Plate...that he doesnt recommend people use...i wonder if you walked in the store and said "can i please buy a THD Hot plate for Ł249" some member of staff would say "yes you can, but we wouldnt recommend it at all, and if it damages anything else you've bought from us it will totally nullify your warranty"...

i bet they dont say that do they

[Frank666]

Wow, just finished reading all that. Think I'll be avoiding sounds great then, wonder if they realise how much business they'll lose as a result of treating one person like shite. Congrats with the resolution dude, glad to see it ended well. Hope the new amp works out

[Johnny Mac]

You should do a print screen of this thread and send it to this Gary character and then tell him how many people use this forum, or better still send it to his boss!  :) Then apply for his job when the schmuck gets fired!

[Dmoney]

id love to own a music shop. would be sooooo good. or i dunno, some kind of store.
i havent heard from him today. or soldano. im really worried this isnt gonna come together but i think thats just my paranoia.