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Ashly amp repair saga

Altecjosh

Altecjosh

New Member
First off, I have never taken a piece of equipment to a shop for repair, but I do electrical installs on large luxury yachts so I'm not a complete numbskull when it comes to electricity. I bought an amp from a local forum member, knowing very well that it didnt work, and could be a basket case. The amp is an Ashly MFA8000, a very stout piece.

I decided to take it to a local repair shop in town that seems to get great reviews. This shops policy is to charge $50 to inspect and test equipment, which I fully understand. They had it about a week then called me to tell me that it had some parts burned out in the power supply, and some of the output transistors were shorted. They also said they wouldn't be able to repair it because they couldn't find a schematic.

I emailed Ashly at night and by 6:30am I had a response from a tech at Ashly with a full schematic, along with some things to look for going by the symptoms the repair shop told me. The schematics were sent to the repair shop, and a day later I got another call simply stating that the amp was too powerful for them to fix, their test gear wasn't up to snuff, and they were worried about their employees safety.

Is this a normal response? First off I thought it was a little fishy when they couldnt find a schematic, yet I obtained it so easily from the people who made it. This shop fixes all kinds of stuff including tube gear, I thought that stuff was a little more dangerous than solid state stuff. Also, shouldn't they have just told me it was too much for them before I paid $50? The specs and power requirements are printed right on the amp. This is a not a 220v amp or something crazy, still runs on a 110v circuit, although it does put out 750watt per channel at 8 ohms. To me it sounds like they just don't want to deal with fixing it.

Do I just sound like an ass? Lol maybe it just wasn't the response I was looking for.

Does anyone know of a shop/person in Washington state that would be able to help? This thing weighs 68lbs so I don't really want to ship it.
 
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I don't think it is unusual for a shop to turn down a problematic piece, at least they pinpointed some likely problems. Can't help you on a shop in WA, but perhaps there is a place that works on pro equipment.
Whether it's audio, cars, bicycles, motorcycles, etc. it is generally best to avoid basket cases unless you know how to fix them or are willing to learn. Repair shops get expensive quickly.
 
The MFA's are very densely populated internally, and unlike the other Ashly amplifiers from that era and before, they are not symmetrically modular. The power supply is hosted entirely on one amplifier board while the driver sections for both channels, and the soft start/protection is hosted on the opposite board.

When working they're a great amp. But, i wouldn't blame a tech for avoiding it.

If there's a good part, it's that it's bi-polar so you don't have to worry about taking out a bunch of unobtanium mosfets.
 
If the shop is unable, unequipped or unwilling to repair commercial grade equipment, then they should not be accepting this type of equipment to "inspect and test".
Seems like a sleazy way to make fifty buck...
 
That thing may well cause a voltage sag when turned on that's enough to dim the building lights & maybe destabilize test gear that's always in ready state. But yeah, picking $50 outta yer hand for telling you bullshiite like they did is rather crappy.:thumbsdown:
 
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