New amp. Sorta.

[Justin J]

So I sold off most of my gear, two guitars and two amps, and had every intention of buying a Marshall 2203 from a local shop. But then this Green Matamp showed up on ebay and I couldn't resist. Spent damn near all of my money to get it.
I finally got it in the mail on friday and as soon as I opened the box, I noticed that it wasn't in as good of condition as the pictures from the auction seemed to indicate. I opened the back panel and saw that the transformers were bent to the side, the chassis askew, and the front panel was bent. All this I could've dealt with had the thing worked properly.
I ran it through two different cabs that my friend had and the result was the same. The amp has no noticeable volume until well after 12 o'clock on the master volume knob. And it has to be cranked all the way up to even come close to being able to compete with a drumset. And after running for just a few minutes I could smell something burning inside.
The guy said in the auction that the amp is 60 watts and it has 4 EL34s in it. The amp should be way louder. My little 15 watt weber 5E3 is louder than this thing.
I am not happy with the thing and feel like I was misled by the auction. I think I want to try and get my money back.
Here are a bunch of photos I took this morning. It certainly is a cool looking amp.

► Show Spoiler

[kim]

fuck that sucks man, i'd be so pissed, spending a small fortune on an amp that's supposed to be super ace and then having to deal with this crap !
hope the amp can be fixed for a reasonable price so you won't feel like it's been a total waste though ! such a shame !

for what it's worth, it looks fab, but what are looks when its sounds don't make yr spine melt (it's a matamp after all)

[Mike]

What a shame. you're doing the right thing though, that is not right at all. And you should be completely satisfied.

[James]

How was it shipped? It could have been damaged in transit.

[Thom]

Shame - that would be a lovely amp. You should definitely try to get your money back. Doesn't look like something that would have happened in transit - I'd have words with the seller.

[Justin J]

It shipped fedex and was insured for the full amount. But the box was fine and I don't think it likely the amp was damaged in transit.
I've contacted the seller, explaining the situation. We'll see how he responds.

[Mike]

Those transformers being off kilter and the faceplate is not cool. If that was the case it should have been clearly pictured and explained in the auction.

[Justin J]

i'm just kinda bummed, 'cause even if i get my money back i know i'll have a tough time finding another one of these.
and i even found some cool old matamp style knobs at a swap meet to put on there.

[Mike]

That sucks mate, but you have to do teh right thing. This isn't acceptable. And this is before we address teh performance issues with the amplifier.

[astro]

That sucks. I hope you get a refund, or at least I hope the seller pays for the repairs in full.

I played one of these Green Matamps in a shop a few months ago... absolutely killer rawk tones. If I had the money I would have bought it!

[Justin J]

Ok, I just heard back from the seller. He claims that the amp was both in perfect working order (he says the amp should be very loud) and in good condition apart from the tolex scuffs when he sent it.
And now that I think of it, the way the transformers are leaning and the fact that faceplate is bent on the one side would seem to indicate that the amp was dropped on its left side if you're facing the amp. Also, if it had been dropped square on its side, the box it was shipped in probably would not have been damaged in any way.
Good thing it was insured.

[mellowlogic]

The way its left 'ear' is bent totally makes it look like it was dropped.

[Thomas]

You should still be refunded and the seller should persue the claim, after all he insured it so it's his responsibility to claim.

[mewithoutus]

You should still be refunded and the seller should persue the claim, after all he insured it so it's his responsibility to claim.

this is absolutely correct.

good luck man.

[euan]

Eh. I thought Matamps are a turrent boad/PCB hybrid not PCB entirely?

Even on their cheaper models



Though, I guess it is about the same.

[Justin J]

You should still be refunded and the seller should persue the claim, after all he insured it so it's his responsibility to claim.

what, like in full? enough to cover repairs would be fine with me.

and euan, i'm told this amp was made in 2000, perhaps they've changed since then. i was a little disappointed to see the pc boards, though.

[euan]

Nah don't doubt the Matamp PCBs. They went from turret board PTP wiring to the turret board PCB hybrid at some point. I don't think they were ever entirely PCB.

I'm not goig to say it is a fake, but I'm happy you are trying to return it.

[James]

Good thing it was insured.

When I went to the auction to see if it said anything about the shipping and it said "none" in the insurance section my heart sank a little. As much as I hate the idea of having to pay insurance on things like that (you're paying the company to carry out a service for you, it shouldn't be necessary for you to pay them extra as a promise for them not to make a shambles of their job) shipping a $1,400 item uninsured is asking for trouble. I'm glad it was insured for the full price.

[Thomas]

You should still be refunded and the seller should persue the claim, after all he insured it so it's his responsibility to claim.

what, like in full? enough to cover repairs would be fine with me.

Remember you only get a limited amount of time to claim back your payment via paypal. By the time you get a valuation and the seller tries to get the money back from the courier you might be outside the paypal claim time and end up getting nothing.

Plus because you never signed for the box as damaged there's a chance they won't pay out at all. It normally goes like this:

Box arrived with a big dent/gouge in it. You sign for it as damaged, product IS damaged then you'll usually get the insurance money.

Or what this situation sounds like: Box arrives undamaged and you sign for it, you open it up to find your item is smashed/damaged. As there is no damage to the outer box the courier will state that the damage was due to insufficient packaging ie the amp should have been packed so that it couldn't move around in the box at all. No insurance paid out. In my opinion if the outer box was fine then the seller simply didn't pack it well enough.

The only way you have to protect yourself in this situation is to reclaim your money from the seller. You can make an arrangement to repurchase it when it's fixed if you want to but for now you need to think in the short term.

Either way the seller has to claim the insurance and it will take longer than the amount of time you have to claim your money back. If I were you I'd ask the seller for an immediate refund, if he refuses open a dispute in paypal and ask for the refund via that.

[Justin J]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll try and get a refund from the guy. Not happy about this situation.