PS-100 Brand New Red Plating

I bought a brand new PS-100 from Guitar Center Sunday Nov 23rd. It arrived Wednesday the 27th. I took it out of the box today and connected my Synergy SYN-1 to the line in and my 8 Ohm cab to the speaker out.

It sounded great for 20 minutes! Then the volume dropped in half and I could see and smell one tube was glowing like the sun.

I let it cool down and powered the unit back on with nothing plugged in and he have a green LED, fan works, buttons seem to work.

Bad tubes I presume.

Whats the process for getting a new set of tubes sent.

Or should I return it to guitar center. I have about 40 days left.

Open it up and see if the internal fuse blew, if it did its probably the tubes.

Make sure it didn’t take anything else out with it, (corroded solder joints or bad looking components), from what I’ve read when researching issues that I had with mine, a new fuse and replacement tubes seems to fix the issue for most people.

1 Like

The fuse is good. The unit powers on. I’ll wait to hear from Fryette support before returning it later this week.

The unit was assembled Oct 2024

Hey @Stormlight_Architect

Fryette uses both direct sales and a hybrid dealer strategy; however, due to the shop’s lengthy order list, all sales are currently made through dealers. Dealers manage all warranty requests as part of the agreement. I suggest you first speak with the dealer; they should be able to help you out best in this case.

For example, at Fryette we cover early failure of tubes up to 90 days after purchase. But you will have to speak to them. Sorry, I hope this does not feel like I am asking you to go in circles! And apologies for this annoying issue. Fryette has a Power Station burn-in rack as part of our QC process. It catches early tube failures, but sadly cannot catch them all.

Please come back if you need anything else, and please let us know how it goes with Guitar Center.

Regards,

Dan

@dan

Thanks for the response and insight.

What do you mean by [quote=“dan, post:4, topic:1083, full:true”]

Who is them? Guitar Center or Fryette support? I assumed this forum and you, judging by your moniker, are Fryette support.

My instinct was to contact Fryette for new tubes and start there. I realize tubes can be a fickle things at times, and judging by other posts in this forum there does indeed appear to have been a bad batch come through.

Please instruct me on the best course of action

  1. Return the PS-100 to guitar center for a 1 for 1 exchange for a new PS-100

  2. Work with guitar center to RMA for tubes

  3. Work with someone at Fryette Support to RMA new tubes out to me.

Thanks in advance

Hey Storm,

That’s right, this is the Fryette forum. When you buy from a dealer you have a warranty agreement with them not us, that’s what I was trying to explain before.

I would try your steps in this order: 2 and 1.

Regards

Dan

@Stormlight_Architect

What Dan is saying is technically correct, but we also understand the complications of trying to get a simple warranty request processed as painlessly as possible.

To that end, please provide the following and we’ll arrange a replacement power tube pair:

Full name
Phone:
Email:
Return shipping address:
Unit Serial Number:

Thanks,

Dave

2 Likes

@dan @DavidPhelge

Team Fryette. Thanks for the responses and effort. I’ve got a good relationship with the staff at my GC. I returned the unit yesterday for a 1 for 1 exchange, everybody agreed that would be the fastest path for me as the customer. The new unit should arrive tomorrow Thursday December 5th.

Again thanks for the support and fingers crossed for the tubes in the unit arriving tomorrow! The previous unit had PSVANE power tubes.

@DavidPhelge

FYI - I did provide the previous units serial# and a few photos in via e-mail. Should be a quick fix when it arrives back at your shop for repair!

1 Like

@DavidPhelge @dan @Gil

Unfortunately today I find myself in the same position as last December.

I did a 1 for 1 swap and explained above. The new PS-100 arrived a few days later. Things have been wonderful with the unit.

I dont use the unit everyday. I’ve got around 10 or so tube amps. I use the fryette mostly to power my SYNERGY pre-amps. I’ve logged around 5 hours on the new unit.

This past Friday I picked up a Cyclops, I thought what a great addition.

Not 30 minutes later of jamming I had half power, I stand only about 4 feet from the PS-100 and seen it was red plating again and shut the unit down.

I opened the unit tonight and noticed it was actually stickered Sep 6, 2024. The unit I exchanged for red plating was October 2024. Both units exibit the same behaviour of the right tube when looking top down from the front of the unit, and both units have PSVANE tubes.

Steve Fryette recently commented on a vlog about the bad batch of tubes, this is a known issue.

Upon inspection the fuses are not blown and at a glance no components appear cooked. No smells etc.

Im past my 45 day window for another exchange with guitar center.

How should I proceed.

Regards!

Here are some pics taken tonight.

I reviewed the tube socket and it appears free of visual damage.




Hey Stormlight,

Last time we spoke, we were just beginning to be aware of this issue. I’m really sorry it happened twice to you the fastest way to get you working again is for us to send replacement tubes and fuses.

You have already submitted the replacement parts form so we will start to process that normally we encourage people to only do that after directed but in this case it does make sense.

@dan

Thanks for quick reply! Much appreciated! Reviewing other recent posts and considering the holiday weekend here in the US, I figured I would update the thread with photos as well. Thanks for your understanding!

Love the product and my pittbull synergy module. Shopping around for a deliverance to send in for modding as well.

Its unfortunate when these things happen, but the reality is, it happens. What matters has been Fryettes response, and it’s clear you folks care about your customers and are making things right. I will be sure to give you forum mods a shout out on the next Malcontents podcast. Keep up the good work!

P.S In another thread I was reading, you mentioned a new product? Care to give any hints or potential times of the year to keep an eye out? :slight_smile: