Magnetics Corp

[Roe]

update: the twin ot is working fine in my latest fender style build. AndI'm wiring up your ac30 ot now

[ClassicTone]

Roe,

Glad you are using them and like them!

Thanks again Roe!

ClassicTone By Magnetic Components, Inc.
http://www.classictone.net" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[joey]

Thanks Ray! We appreciate your business and your feedback!

Our great pricing and quality is a result of 60 plus years experience in the transformer industry. We produce our transformers very efficiently and purchase our raw materials in bulk from mostly reasonably priced and good local sources as well!

Do you offer full tech support, and assistance on all your transformers? even OEM models?

[ClassicTone]

We'll do our best to answer your questions. We still highly recommend that our transformers are installed by professional electronics technicians due to the dangerous voltages involved.

[joey]

We'll do our best to answer your questions. We still highly recommend that our transformers are installed by professional electronics technicians due to the dangerous voltages involved.

I have built and designed quite a number of custom amplifiers, and used to use your products exclusively for "Marshall" inspired topology. A couple of months ago I asked for an answer revolving around a reflected primary impedance I measured, and the tolerance spec of your product. you see I am quite a stickler sometimes when it comes to somewhat matching the a-a load of the valves with the plate voltage I plan to use, to a somewhat appropriate primary load, so I measured the product and it was a bit low at 2.8Kohms especially for a 50W transformer, and with a loaded voltage around 460VDCwhich is standard for most marshalls. I would have had to use a much lower plate voltage 390 or so to feel good about using that OT.

Apparently you do NOT offer tech support for your OEM models, and I felt slagged off that not only did I not receive any support regarding this issue, but was told repeatedly from you to go and ask the distributor I bought it from instead, as if they would ever have a clue. guess what? I didn't receive an attempt answer from them either..............

I can no longer support your products, and have taken my business elsewhere. I also cannot faithfully recommend your products when people ask me my opinion on them on other forums, or the one I moderate at, and quite a few do ask.

[ClassicTone]

That is surprising and disappointing to me as well. I will definitely speak with my staff on this. I am assuming this was by phone...correct? Our office assistant or office manager may have answered the phone and they have limited technical knowledge of the products. So, if our tech support person was not in or unavailable at that time, they may have deferred to the distributor that may have more technical knowledge than them. In this case, it appeared they did not. If this is the case, it is a bad approach. I do not like to hear that you were pushed off here and it will be addressed with my staff.

Joey, I know you were an early supporter of our products in forums and it pains me to hear this. Thanks for bringing this to my attention and I apologize for this. It is damaging that you call us out here and did not first address me by PM on this issue. I am obviously concerned and care about our product and customers or I would not be on this forum answering questions and getting our customer's feedback and suggestions. We will make corrections and learn from this. Please PM me directly on this particular issue and let me know which specific part number you are referring to here as we offer a few different 50W Marshall style transformers. Please provide any additional details so we can try to answer your question as concisely as possible. In general, you are more than welcome to PM me directly if you have any questions or problems in the future. We appreciate your past and hopefully future business. We hope we can earn your loyalty back. We believe we do make a quality product at a reasonable price and will make the necessary adjustments to better our customer support as well

[joey]

Joey, I know you were an early supporter of our products in forums and it pains me to hear this. Thanks for bringing this to my attention and I apologize for this. It is damaging that you call us out here and did not first address me by PM on this issue.

No, it wasn't via telephone, it was two days worth of email exchange. So it's not as if I tried once, and then decided to go on an online rampage just to give your reputation a whack. If I honestly felt PM'ing you would have resulted in any different outcome I would have. You have many people saying good things about your products, however this was my experience.

We believe we do make a quality product at a reasonable price and will make the necessary adjustments to better our customer support as well

Live and Learn, Damaging?, yes it's damaging, and as much as I don't like to toot my own horn, I am very active, and held in high regards on many DIY based online forums (including another major one you sponsor), as well as a very active tech, and designer, and I could have even helped you push your products more. I don't plan on making this an ongoing public spectacle, and this is the only time I will mention my experience publically. I had some things to say, I said them, and thats it!

[ClassicTone]

I honestly do not recognize this particular issue you write of here. Most here seem to like our product, quality, pricing and even customer support. I will take this for what it is and try to learn from it. For what it's worth, I do appreciate you bringing it up and take this matter seriously. I do care. How can we make this better? What can we do for you?

[somethin'else]

I love my 40-18022 Tweed Deluxe OT, and it sounds great. I also had great customer service when asking if you had one with 4, 8, & 16 ohm taps, and you do!

Of course I wasn't asking an engineering question, which would seem logistically more complicated to be put in touch with the "man in the mines" (and not just a great customer service rep)... I understand that would take an extra minute (ie day or two) for an educated response, assuming all of the information was clearly provided up front in a non-condescending way (no offense).

Seems like the best Tech Support for Joey's predicament would be sending it back for "inspection" (to further better production quality assurance) and receiving a replacement.

For $0.02 simple.

[joey]

I honestly do not recognize this particular issue you write of here. Most here seem to like our product, quality, pricing and even customer support. I will take this for what it is and try to learn from it. For what it's worth, I do appreciate you bringing it up and take this matter seriously. I do care. How can we make this better? What can we do for you?

The issue was that I felt inconvenienced by a company that I used to promote. On forums, when people were suspicious about the quality of your product, because the pricing was too good to be true, and suggested cut corners, I would be one of the first to tell them otherwise, and to the contrary over other companies who charged more for less.

I felt inconvenienced that first I couldn't safely use the product for what I wanted to use it for because it's actual impedance measured too low, quite a bit lower than it's published spec, and then I felt inconvenienced that I couldn't get an answer as to whether or not this was commonplace, and whether or not I was to expect this as a common occurrence had I bought another one, and what your general product tolerance is, None of this of which is considered Proprietary information, and is a legitimate concern as both a patron, and from an engineering standpoint. On top of it, not only did nobody even attempt give me any insight on this when I asked, I was simply passed off on the distributor, Of which I knew would have no clue, or even responded for that matter. The overall tone of the responses I did receive seemed almost eager to want to try and convince me that you didn't even manufacture the transformer although your EIA code was stamped all over it.

Thats the issue......

BTW: I would consider beefing up the current ratings on both the HV, and heater secondaries of your 900 laydown PT and consider putting in a separate Tap for the bias supply. Marshall used this same transformer model for their 30th anniversary models which placed a heavier load than that on both the heater, and hv taps. Also the original 900's were shipped with EL34 which take up at least 6, of the 7A you have the heater tap rated at.

It's also a bad idea to use a capacitive divider to generate a negative bias voltage. This was Marshall's initial fault, but you don't have to perpetuate it, a separate bias tap would make that transformer a more useful replacement alternative.

Just a suggestion

[ClassicTone]

Joey...please PM me if you like. I will address your problem this way only but need more information from you anyways. Thanks.

[ClassicTone]

I would like to make a statement here about our ClassicTone products. We do support our ClassicTone products directly and our ClassicTone products purchased directly from us or through Triode Electronics and Amp Parts Direct only. There are other distributors, resellers and dealers that offer variants of Magnetic Components, Inc. transformers and sell them as no name or their own brand name. Due to agreements with them and our current exclusive ClassicTone distributors agreements we cannot officially support or warranty these items directly. They are responsible for their own propriatary designs, intellectual property and technical support. We at times do not know the application that they are made for or what they are required to do other than the specifications supplied by that company to us. We are not officially affiliated nor do they want us to be affiliated with them. In some cases, we may not want to be affiliated with them. We cannot even officially acknowledge that we supply these transformers per their requests. That being said, if you have a return of an actual ClassicTone transformer that you believe may be a reject and yes, this is rare, please contact us if you purchased it from us directly or contact the official Classictone distributor you purchased it from and their individual warranty will apply. This is a common return policy for most companies.

Also, if you own a ClassicTone transformer that was purchased from us directly, Triode Electronics or Amp Parts Direct only, we at Magnetic Components, Inc. will provide full technical support. Instead of purchasing other versions of our transformers through unaffiliated distribution, reseller and/or dealer channels, I highly suggest buying Magnetic Components, Inc. official ClassicTone products directly from us or our official distributors Triode Electronics and Amp Parts Direct. The product will likely be better and cheaper than what you may get from the other unaffiliated distributors, resellers and dealers who may use large price markups and supply at times, inferior product designs or use unposted substitute specifications and materials. After all, our name is on ClassicTone products and I am proud of our product. It is no surprise to hear mostly positive things on our product here that is bought from us and our official ClassicTone distributors. We work hard at getting it right and listen to your suggestions and thoughts for improvements. Our ClassicTone product should be consistant and as advertised per our specifications provided on our web site. Thank you for all of you who have been supportive of our ClassicTone products and want to clear the air a little bit on the technical support issue that has been brought up here recently. We will provide technical support on official ClassicTone products that are purchased either directly from us or from our exclusive distributors Triode Electronics and Amp Parts Direct.

[axeman]

I honestly do not recognize this particular issue you write of here. Most here seem to like our product, quality, pricing and even customer support. I will take this for what it is and try to learn from it. For what it's worth, I do appreciate you bringing it up and take this matter seriously. I do care. How can we make this better? What can we do for you?

The issue was that I felt inconvenienced by a company that I used to promote. On forums, when people were suspicious about the quality of your product, because the pricing was too good to be true, and suggested cut corners, I would be one of the first to tell them otherwise, and to the contrary over other companies who charged more for less.

I felt inconvenienced that first I couldn't safely use the product for what I wanted to use it for because it's actual impedance measured too low, quite a bit lower than it's published spec, and then I felt inconvenienced that I couldn't get an answer as to whether or not this was commonplace, and whether or not I was to expect this as a common occurrence had I bought another one, and what your general product tolerance is, None of this of which is considered Proprietary information, and is a legitimate concern as both a patron, and from an engineering standpoint. On top of it, not only did nobody even attempt give me any insight on this when I asked, I was simply passed off on the distributor, Of which I knew would have no clue, or even responded for that matter. The overall tone of the responses I did receive seemed almost eager to want to try and convince me that you didn't even manufacture the transformer although your EIA code was stamped all over it.

Thats the issue......

BTW: I would consider beefing up the current ratings on both the HV, and heater secondaries of your 900 laydown PT and consider putting in a separate Tap for the bias supply. Marshall used this same transformer model for their 30th anniversary models which placed a heavier load than that on both the heater, and hv taps. Also the original 900's were shipped with EL34 which take up at least 6, of the 7A you have the heater tap rated at.

It's also a bad idea to use a capacitive divider to generate a negative bias voltage. This was Marshall's initial fault, but you don't have to perpetuate it, a separate bias tap would make that transformer a more useful replacement alternative.

Just a suggestion

Wow Joey.

[ClassicTone]

Thanks somethin' else!

Our 5E3 40-18022 OT was replicated from an original 5E3 amp and was reviewed as one of the best Tweed Deluxe OT's according to a recent Tonequest report. Yes, our transformer was also in Clark Amplification's 5E3 amplifier and that one received very high marks as well in the same report.

[robert]

Hi Joey,

what's the reason you think that the use of a capacitive divider for the generation of the bias voltage is a bad idea?
If it's done right (e.g. the use of a high enough AC- working voltage of the capacitor!) it will work flawlessly in a HT bridge rectification circuit, IMO.

BTW: but I prefer a separate bias winding also (more flexibility)

Regards

Robert