Splawn Quickrod 100W

[Rev]

I’ve had three Splawn amps over the years. No issues ever. They all sounded amazing.

 

[TX6Strings]

I’ve had 3 Splawns. A Nitro the first year they came out (no problems). A Quick Rod bought used and when trying it bias it the pot broke and Scott was less than helpful. When sending it to him for repair he told me he couldn’t fix it and wanted extra cash to send me a new fully loaded QR. I was dumb enough to do it and within a few weeks the loop died. Took it to a local tech who fixed it and told me he’d never take in another Splawn as Scott was “a real dick” about providing component values to make the repair. I sold the amp shortly thereafter.

Bottom line…I’ll never own another Splawn.

 

[GuitarBilly]

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?

It doesn't matter if the amps are not under warranty, these people were not looking for free service, they just wanted their amps fixed .

If he doesn't want to/ can't fix them, he should have at least service manuals ready to provide to local techs. Or have a network of trusted/authorized techs that can do the job.

What he can't do is just say "not my problem" and leave people with a $1.5- 2k door stopper. These are not disposable $20 items. They're expensive, even used.

Thankfully people here were able to find good local techs that figured the issues out or they'd be SOL.

I'm glad I found this thread. I'd been thinking about getting one, but now I probably won't.

 

[tjnx]

It doesn't matter if the amps are not under warranty, these people were not looking for free service, they just wanted their amps fixed .

If he doesn't want to/ can't fix them, he should have at least service manuals ready to provide to local techs. Or have a network of trusted/authorized techs that can do the job.

What he can't do is just say "not my problem" and leave people with a $1.5- 2k door stopper. These are not disposable $20 items. They're expensive, even used.

Thankfully people here were able to find good local techs that figured the issues out or they'd be SOL.

I'm glad I found this thread. I'd been thinking about getting one, but now I probably won't.

I agree, I'm not defending him but trying to get an accurate hold on whether I want to get one or not. If I buy it new and get a warranty its not as big of a deal but I still think it sucks for people with used amps. Adding support (and soft skills...) would only help his business.

Looking at some of his videos it looks like he does about 2 amps a week, maybe 150 a year. If he has a $1k profit on each from his labor and parts that's only $150k for the year before lease, utilities, materials, and payroll, which isn't much.

So from his perspective he may have not be able to make it unless he charges a lot for bench time. I think Friedman and Soldano license their amps to BAD who pay a fee to make and sell them. The tradeoff being they are freed up to offer more custom support

Maybe he should consider something similar. There may be a goldilocks zone he's in for pricing-to-profit that doesn't get much better if he starts charging more per amp.

 

[GuitarBilly]

I agree, I'm not defending him but trying to get an accurate hold on whether I want to get one or not. If I buy it new and get a warranty its not as big of a deal but I still think it sucks for people with used amps. Adding support (and soft skills...) would only help his business.

Looking at some of his videos it looks like he does about 2 amps a week, maybe 150 a year. If he has a $1k profit on each from his labor and parts that's only $150k for the year before lease, utilities, materials, and payroll, which isn't much.

So from his perspective he may have not be able to make it unless he charges a lot for bench time. I think Friedman and Soldano license their amps to BAD who pay a fee to make and sell them. The tradeoff being they are freed up to offer more custom support

Maybe he should consider something similar. There may be a goldilocks zone he's in for pricing-to-profit that doesn't get much better if he starts charging more per amp.

He could simply find 2-3 repair shops he trusts across the country and offer them to be authorized repair centers for the brand and provide them schematics. Then when someone contacts him with a problem with an used amp, he can simply say, "contact shop X, Y and Z for repairs". A lot of shops are willing to make this kind of agreement because it brings them business.

It's not a difficult problem to solve. But the "I don't care" attitude is a deal breaker.

 

[tjnx]

He could simply find 2-3 repair shops he trusts across the country and offer them to be authorized repair centers for the brand and provide them schematics. Then when someone contacts him with a problem with an used amp, he can simply say, "contact shop X, Y and Z for repairs". A lot of shops are willing to make this kind of agreement because it brings them business.

It's not a difficult problem to solve. But the "I don't care" attitude is a deal breaker.

Yep that's a good point, its a turn off

 

[311boogieman]

Don't know much about Scott other than he didn't reply to two emails about two amps - one bought new - and yes can confirm both had references to Bible verses on the chassis. Didn't bother me in the slightest, but seemed odd.

On repairing old amps from non-original buyers - this sounds harsh, but from his perspective that's not a customer. It's someone looking for a service tech. And this may sound counter-intuitive, but the best person to service a product is not necessarily the manufacturer.

If the maker is saying no to servicing old products, you do not want them working on your amp. They are either not capable/equipped to do the work, can't spare the time, or simply don't want to. Not the right ingredients for getting quality work done in a timely fashion.

Any good tech could fix a Splawn, and because they do that kind of work full-time it will likely be a better experience all round.

So yeah it's a shame he won't take on the work, but bullet dodged. Recommending another tech who could, and then providing even basic support, would have been an infinitely better PR exercise than suggesting a new one though. Luke 10:33-34.

This is pretty much what I stopped in to say. I've never had a problem with Scott. He always answered the phone and spent time talking about amp stuff that was not even his to deal with (I bought my QR used). All that I can say is that Scott is basically a one man shop. He doesn't have the scale or resources to fix used amps that he didn't sell. Should he be more understanding and supportive? Yes. But as mentioned, he is not the best on the business side - simply based on what others have said.

I do know that he is not super thrilled with the used market period. I think he expects people to buy new amps from him and then keep them for life under his lifetime warranty. So once one of his customers sells one of his amps, I 'think' he feels betrayed maybe. Does that make it right? No. Just a hunch after dealing with him. Also, I know he spent a fair bit of time and energy getting his support dealers set up so that he wouldn't have to repair amps himself. He doesn't mod amps anymore either. He just wants to make new amps at methodical pace without interruptions if that makes sense.

Not defending his lack of support for the used amp community, he would be better served to be more sympathetic and supportive. I'm just trying to add some context as to the 'why'. If that why is a reason not to buy his amps new or used, so be it.

 

[mystixboi]

I just took delivery of a new Splawn Quickrod 100 earlier this week. It sounds amazing!!!!! I’m also taking delivery of one of his guitars early next week. It’s the purple sparkle one recently shown on his FB and Insta pages. While I can’t speak to support of prior year amps, my dealings with Scott have been great. I definitely feel like he’d support me if I have any issues. YMMV of course, but I thought I’d share my recent experiences.

Yooooo… that guitar is stunning. I have a ss1 and ss2. After I saw yours, I called him to place an order for this.



I ran yours through AI and had the single coil in the neck added. I’m most likely going to finish placing the order next week. Enjoy your guitar! It’s a stunner!

 

[Eazy-ESP]

This thread has got me looking for a satanic amp now. I’m hoping they will have a better service department. Probably don’t even need a soldering iron.

 

[jchrisf]

I bought a Street Rod used from GC and something about the sound/tone just didn't do it for me.. it really fatiqued my ears.

 

[jimistheman]

Yooooo… that guitar is stunning. I have a ss1 and ss2. After I saw yours, I called him to place an order for this.



I ran yours through AI and had the single coil in the neck added. I’m most likely going to finish placing the order next week. Enjoy your guitar! It’s a stunner!

Thanks man! I’ll definitely post once I get it and spend some time with it!

 

[Jack Luminous]

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.

It's already a very questionable way of running business, especially a boutique business where customer service is supposed to be far superior and personalized compared to huge corporate companies run by bean counters.

Refusing to repair his own product ?? Seriously ??

 

[RedB4Black]

If it’s a used amp… the person is not his customer. Period, He owes them nothing. Is it a goodwill gesture to help… yes. I do agree with the idea of getting a third party authorized technician to do repairs if he doesn’t have the time/capacity. That he should definitely do to, at the very least, prevent threads like this… costs him nothing to do that.

 

[Fusionbear]

I've owned six Splawn amps over 20 years and have never had any problems or issues. Every single one has been excellent. Scott has always treated me with respect and has been attentive whenever I have had questions.

All his amps are easy to service as they have a very similar layout as traditional Marshall amps.

On the Splawn amps I have serviced, all they have ever needed are tubes and bias. Once in a while, replacement of a screen grid resistor on the power tubes. I have had more servicing issues with other boutique amp brands than Splawn.

My current two:

 

[harddriver]

Scott modded my 1979 Marshall with one of his mod boards in 2003, I loved it so much I purchased one of his first few production Quickrods of 2003, he was great to deal with and delivered on time with absolutely no issues, it was his first White JCM800 headbox and it looked just like Fusionbears. I like my modded Marshall more than Quickrod for whatever reason and right after getting it my band broke up so I moved the Quickrod soon after.

Some 22 years later My Splawn modded Marshall has never had an issue, all I've done is change tubes and bias. I'm getting ready to change out all the filter caps and electrolytic caps in the amp this spring.

If he had some Splawn approved repair shops lined up for repair work that would probably satisfy people, since alot of people sometimes love the amp they have and being told just buy a new one from me is kind of a turn off and would work against any possible future sales IMHO.

 

[kurtsstuff2003]

Never cared for Splawn anything but I'm sure nobody's losing any sleep over that..

 

[PurityS.L.G]

Stiff, weird mids etc. BS.

I'm one of the many on here who've brought up the "weird mids" description. To clarify on my part, the QR and Nitro sound incredible on their own. They don't really need a boost IMO but they can sound cool with the right one. Splawns have tons of midrange as is and it can be hard to dial some of it out. Add a mid heavy boost such as a TS or similar circuit and it accentuates those mids in a very unpleasant way. From what I gather, this is the "weird mids" thing others are referring to as well. They were coming from owners who like to boost their amps so thats why I'm so sure of the reasoning I've just explained.

 

[Faded Abyss]

I was looking into the Bogner snorkler and came across the Splawn Quickrod being a nearly identical clone? Then read this thread and I feel bad for all the people that had to deal with that guy… I don’t want a CuckRod