Splawn Quickrod 100W

[napalmdeath]

I have a new Competition 50 in the mini Plexi headshell that was supposed to ship this week. He said he was finishing it last week, and sent me a link to pay the other half before it was even done. I thought it was odd, but against my better judgement, I paid. Checked on it today and got crickets, but I'm sure he'll respond tomorrow.

 

[S̷͖͑m̵͎͂á̵̺s̸͚̈́h̴̬̑]

I have a new Competition 50 in the mini Plexi headshell that was supposed to ship this week. He said he was finishing it last week, and sent me a link to pay the other half before it was even done. I thought it was odd, but against my better judgement, I paid. Checked on it today and got crickets, but I'm sure he'll respond tomorrow.

Good luck, bud. But I am sure he will come through. New amps make him money. He wouldnt mark cameron all of a sudden

 

[BABMusic]

Loved my 2005 until it died in 2021. Called Scott to see about sending it in for repair. I was willing to pay for the repair, as I knew the amp was old. He told me he wouldn't look at it, and told me to just buy a new QR. That is not standing behind your product. I will never own another one of his amps.

I've read other experiences like yours that state that Splawn is not in the business of repairing their amps. That is disappointing, and maybe a reason why I'm a bit hesitant to buy one. They sound great in most clips I've heard.

 

[Nitrobattery]

Loved my 2005 until it died in 2021. Called Scott to see about sending it in for repair. I was willing to pay for the repair, as I knew the amp was old. He told me he wouldn't look at it, and told me to just buy a new QR. That is not standing behind your product. I will never own another one of his amps.

Like others have already commented, I've had similar experiences. The QR is one of my favorite amps of all time, but both times that I reached out to him about issues over the last 10 years he was zero help. Luckily I'm 30 minutes from Andy Fuchs and Andy and his team are incredible. They got my QR sorted out and back to me in under a week.

I've been casually trying to find an amp that I like more than the Splawn because not standing behind your products sucks, but unfortunately the amp does sound killer I haven't found anything that I like more yet.

 

[grooveHT]

Thought he was supposedly a bible toting straight up guy.
Not sure if his shop still has some Bible vers, on the shop wall
Think he singed my Quick Rod with a vers number.
Sorry to hear the flip side of his shit show.

Practice what you Preach,

I thought that was Surreal amps, but I may be wrong.

 

[nightlight]

I've always been intrigued by Spawn amps, a lot of good reviews on the net. Interesting to hear about the "no service" issue, but it's not like I would be able to send anything to his shop anyway. That said, if he's not even willing to diagnose so that someone local can do the job, that's not business sense, it's more like a hit-and-run.

 

[tjnx]

A lot of these issues and refusal to fix seem to be coming from used amps, has anyone bought one new and not had him honor the warranty or provide a fix? What are the common issues people are having?

 

[mentoneman]

no dog in the hunt other than an experience when i mixed a rock event with 4 different bands.

amidst the vht, bogner, mesa, and marshall rigs,
the splawn QR absolutely crushed the amp of the day title for rock crunch/lead tone and clarity.

it didn’t have the highest gain by comparison but because it projected so clearly through the mic/PA mix it sounded the “heaviest”.

weedwhackers vs harley

 

[RedB4Black]

A lot of these issues and refusal to fix seem to be coming from used amps, has anyone bought one new and not had him honor the warranty or provide a fix? What are the common issues people are having?

I can see where he’s coming from if he refuses to deal with people who bought his amps used. They really aren’t his customers, and if he does not have the capacity to deal with issues for non-customers, then I can understand him turning them away. If he turns away a customer who bought the amp new from him or one of his authorized dealers, regardless of whether it’s still under the warranty period, then that’d be different, and inexcusable IMO.

 

[Spaceboy]

The reliability issues folks have is the only reason I’ve never bought one.

 

[Jccobb2]

Reinhold / Jorg will take in anything to repair regardless of who bought it new. They charge, but it’s very reasonable. I have a second hand 101B that I bought years ago. It had an issue and I couldn’t get a local tech to figure it out. Jorg had it shipped back, and then called me while reinhold was playing it in the warehouse to prove it was back on its feet.

 

[Sick Michael]

I have no idea why I’ve never ordered one. I fucking love this.

Just sounds like everything else.

Respectfully pass. unless someone makes a decent demo of it thats not sus2 power chords (beta).

 

[PDC]

I am really disappointed by the posts in this thread about Scott's negative unwillingness to assist owners with issues. It's one thing to say - very politely - that if the amp is out of warranty that he does not have time or manpower to operate a general 'repair' service. But there is a way to deliver that message diplomatically. I am encouraged by the posts where folks have found solid, reliable local repair services that were able to quickly diagnose and sort any issues. You never hear anything like that about Dave Friedman - it sounds like Friedman has a dedicated repair / modification service rolling and is willing to take in just about any repair / upgrade job.

I do think the number of Splawn amps with identifiable flaws like cold solder joints etc from day one is probably a statistically low number. That surely does not make the issue any less real or frustrating for the persons experiencing them. But I think Splawns in general are pretty well made and the vast majority operate trouble free from one owner to the next. Hell - even in the very high end auto market there are always factory service bulletins, etc. Its how the brand handles the hiccups that matters.

 

[SFW]

That is insane. Did you buy it new?

No, I got it used. I did not expect a warranty repair and was willing to pay for the service.

 

[SFW]

That’s shady business to turn it away and then recommend a new product in its place. But let me play devils advocate on the amp side for a second.

There’s a good chance he’s changed various suppliers of many components since then and either can’t get custom order products anymore or your amp has discontinued components in it that can no longer be sourced - making it near impossible to repair to sound like the original. He’s probably redesigned around those new changes to maintain or improve the tone.

That is possible. I don't know, because he didn't bother to explain why he wouldn't do the work.

 

[SFW]

I found your old thread. Did you ever get it repaired? Sounds like the early serial numbers 2005 earlier have parts and a different board no longer available. I would think a local tech could fix it?

My experience with local "techs" has been less that satisfying. I sold the amp to a guy that was looking for a project. Took a loss but was happy to not have it in my house anymore.

 

[SFW]

I am going to speculate that Scott was/is trying to move new amps versus service his older amps as sales have diminished in the last few years. I agree that is not standing behind the product but he probably views it as he stands behind his amps within the warranty period and that's good enough. Since it seems he is now a one man shop he probably wants to spend time building that troubleshooting used amps.

Probably not the best customer service move but does Bogner take used amps in for service not owned by the original owner past the warranty? We know Mesa Boogie services their old amps to non original owners.

Friedman has taken his amps from non original owners after the warranty period....that's standing behind your product.

Here's what I know. When my original 5150 III died, I brought it to an authorized Fender repair shop. It didn't get fixed. I contacted EVH/ Fender and they paid the shipping to send it back to California and replaced all of the internal boards and sent it back to me with an EVH amp cover. Free of charge. The amp was three years old at that time. Not sure what their warranty period is. I just know that they took care of the issue. Which is why there is an EVH 5150 III half stack sitting next to me in my office today. I am loyal to the brands that take care of me, even when I'm not a rock star.

 

[glpg80]

That is possible. I don't know, because he didn't bother to explain why he wouldn't do the work.

It doesn’t make it right. It also sheds light on the one thing that really pisses me off about businesses doing this - they have no skill sets to debug their own designs or know how to design fault tolerances into them ahead of time to prevent issues in the first place.

So many modders turned companies can’t stand behind their product because they literally don’t know how - and brush it under the rug that it’s below them as an excuse.

Think about the PR damage too - fender knows how important that is and that is something that doesn’t have a price.

 

[jasonP]

It doesn’t make it right. It also sheds light on the one thing that really pisses me off about businesses doing this - they have no skill sets to debug their own designs or know how to design fault tolerances into them ahead of time to prevent issues in the first place.

So many modders turned companies can’t stand behind their product because they literally don’t know how - and brush it under the rug that it’s below them as an excuse.

Think about the PR damage too - fender knows how important that is and that is something that doesn’t have a price.

Are you saying Splawn has no skill set to fix, repair and designing his own amplifiers? Sometimes parts just fail and it's a supplier issue, something that you can't simply design around.

 

[Mike Oxhuge]

I definitely will be avoiding Splawns from now on based on this thread. To completely abandon any support is a quick way to kill your business. Splawneron.