Well, I got what I’d paid for: BAM200 fail!

#101
lug said:
Never had any trouble returning things with Amazon. You just need to check the "Item is defective or doesn't work" option on why you are returning it. There is no charge for that.
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Mine was one of the earlier documented failures, back in June. When I returned it, I made a point of speaking to a human, who eventually filled out a Product Safety Report. It took a while, but I was firm that I felt it was a hazard, and I didn't want it simply to be repackaged and sent back out. Which seems to have been a well-founded concern.

Folks, it's not like Amazon has a rack of basses to test these things, nor a test bench, or even a multimeter. At best, they plug something in, and see if it powers up. Given the pressure the workers are under to meet standard performance metrics, even that is a best-case scenario.
 
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#105
bass4u said:
I've been using the TC BAM 200 since they first came out. Most of the time it's connected to an Ampeg 8x10 or two GK NEO 2x12. Played probably 50 gigs with moderately loud rock bands with no issues. It gets warm but no warmer than my GK MB500 or Quilter BB800
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You got a good one. Mine blew up within 5 minutes of first turning on played by a passive P bass and gain and volume both around 9:00. As I’ve said before, the amp sounded great prior to BAM! (Smoking out).
 
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#109
And back from a 3 hour practice where the unit was on the whole time. Probably 2 solid hours of playing through it @ 4ohms. About 1 hour on it yesterday again at bedroom volume levels.

Gain at 1:00
Bass at 3:00
Middle at 12:00
Treble at 11:00
Master at 10:00

No issues.

It is a really great sounding amp, and as long as it doesn't crap out, a great purchase for a backup/practice amp.
 
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#110
These amps have been out for several years, but I never heard about any issues with them until just the past few months. Makes me think maybe something changed with them very recently (a supplier issue with inferior parts maybe??). I’ve had my BAM for 3 or 4 years now, and have played lots of 3-4 hour rehearsals and a couple gigs, and mine has been flawless.
 
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#111
The Bass Clef said:
These amps have been out for several years, but I never heard about any issues with them until just the past few months. Makes me think maybe something changed with them very recently (a supplier issue with inferior parts maybe??). I’ve had my BAM for 3 or 4 years now, and have played lots of 3-4 hour rehearsals and a couple gigs, and mine has been flawless.
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Maybe some referburished-non referburished units got released back into the wild by means of this "sale" everyone is referring to in this particular thread.

:)
 
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#115
If the BAM 200 amps are have been unreliable historically, that would be good to know.

If they've been generally reliable, but these reports indicate a recent batch with a faulty component -- or previously-determinied-faulty units that should not have been sold/re-sold -- that would be good to know, as well.

If there was a way to identify these units (a range of serial numbers or something), that'd be good, too.

I don't know the scale or rate of the failures, but, large or small, TC Electronics would do well to address this proactively.
 
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#116
Admiral Akbar said:
These BAM200 amps sound great, have enough features and power for a great price.

but despite how great they sound, I would never bring one to a gig or rehearsal. I can never trust one of these after what happened with my brand new one and with reading so many similar stories of failure and magic puff smoke.

it’s a trap.
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Ya know, until mine started cutting out mid-song during a gig….it did sound nice…
 
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#118
Cave Puppy said:
I’m with you. It’s very rare these days to have a bass amp fry on a person. The newer BAMS are skewing this statistic.
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math-numbers.gif


:)
 
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#120
Going back and skimming this thread, it looks like these TBers had a BAM 200 go *poof*:
Am I missing anyone? (That's more than I thought it'd be on my first read-through -- sometimes the same two or three people discussing something for a few pages can give the impression of more problems than there actually are, but this seems a good few.)

There were also a few people saying they'd used their BAM 200s for months or years without issue and several who purchased them recently and haven't had issues thus far.

I got the impression that most of the BAMs that poofed were recent purchases. Is this accurate?
 
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