Repairs.
Surrey Amps also known as ‘The Amp Hospital’ are specialists in amplifier repair including repairs to guitar amps, mixers, amplified speakers and the electronic refurbishment of professional and vintage audio equipment. We are experts in solid-state, valve and digital technologies.
Before any work is undertaken, the equipment is initially checked for faults to see whether a repair is a feasible proposition. It is essential that following a repair equipment will be reliable and compliant with current electrical safety requirements. If this is not thought to be the case the equipment will be returned with a small charge for the inspection. Any serious abnormalities found during the examination, eg. poor previous repairs, signs of serious overheating or damage, are photographed and presented as part of a report. A complete analysis is carried out on the equipment and a quotation for the repair is provided.
Components within the equipment that are known to suffer degradation through ageing are either thoroughly checked or replaced as part of our routine service. Only quality branded components and, where possible, the manufacturer’s specific parts are used for the repair. Obsolete items like transformers can be reverse engineered and rewinds undertaken. Valves are tested using original Mullard equipment and their characteristics matched for prime performance. Matched dual or quad sets replaced at the time of repair can be bar coded so that in future there is no need for the equipment to come back for re-biasing – you just quote the bar code.
Specifications on a wide range of valves and other components are kept on our database. We will only work on equipment (unless the equipment is very old) where we are provided with the manufacturer’s full service information which includes circuit schematics, test specifications, and where full material items lists are provided.
All our test equipment is regularly maintained and calibrated to National Standards. We work in a fully Static-Controlled Environment with Leaded and Lead-free rework facilities. We work down to component level, which includes Surface Mount Components.
As well as our secure service database, we also maintain a large inventory of manufacturers’ spares, (Fender, Mesa, Marshall, Mackie, Eden, Randall) so that turnaround time for a general repair, such as a sheared control shaft or broken input socket, is kept to an absolute minimum. Valves and other generic components are always in stock.
Valve biasing is carried out dynamically. All repairs are actively soak tested using special computerised ATE to ensure there is no intermittency and we are confident in its reliability. (Our return rate is below 0.5% by adopting these stringent test routines).
A full set of results is provided including snapshots of any waveforms taken at final test. The equipment is finally tested for electrical safety using a PAT tester and a Safety label is affixed to the equipment. If necessary a separate certificate can be provided.
Our Charges:
Single Item: Inspection of equipment and quotation: £84 (inc VAT) per item. [£180.00 (inc VAT ) for large mixing desks above 8 channels] Only charged if a quotation is rejected or equipment is not recommended for repair. Minor repairs, PAT testing of that item and its mains leads are also covered in this charge.
Manufacturer’s Component Parts: We are prepared to supply the actual manufacturer’s component parts from our large spares inventory but please be aware that the minimum cost is £25 + Postage + VAT (Typically £38.04). This is to cover our administration costs and the fact that a considerable number of parts have to be imported.
You can make payment by Credit Card/Paypal via the Contact Page of our website.
We are currently contracted to provide Warranty and Non-Warranty repairs to Loud Technologies, (Mackie Designs, Ampeg, EAW, Crate ) US Music Corporation (Eden & Randall) and most recently Blackstar Amplifiers.
Documentation can be customised for business clients and, within our area, we will collect and return in our own transport where contracts are in place. Delivery and Collection throughout the UK, including Ireland, can be arranged if necessary.
Please always let us have your mobile number as, upon completion, as the Test Report sheet is printed, you will automatically be sent a text and e-mail informing you that your equipment is ready for collection.