dave.stDave Jackson, Drupal DeveloperOctober ends with no response from Bruce to my email of two weeks previous, so off goes another one.
Will this finally generate an answer, an idea why any mention of supplying my a case is met with - not an answer - but another communication stoppage? Watch this space for part 62.
Like the title of the latest email says, a month has gone by since Bruce's last email in which he claimed he would "do that today". A month in which my last two emails went unanswered. A month in which my amp did not make an appearance. Will the next development be an email from Bruce? See part 63.
It seemed only appropriate to add my experiences to the relevant User Review pages at the Harmony Central musicians' community site. After something of a wait, the gnomes/lawyers who moderate the posts have put them on-line.
Still no response to my email from a month ago, so off goes a seasonal follow-up.
Will this engender a Happy New Year? Best hurry on to part 65.
Well, little surprise here, and certainly no Happy New Year. So, time for a "three month anniversary of your last email" email.
On the subject of sharing (as this blog so comprehensively attempts to do), I did a web search on "Zinky owners" just to see if there was any organised confluence of Zinky-related opinion out there.
Receiving no communications from Bruce, on 4 February 2010 I decided to try the Better Business Bureau covering Flagstaff, AZ.
Filing a complaint on-line was not overly complicated, the toughest aspect being the condensing of the whole miserable tale into less than 2030 characters of text.
I received a pro-forma confirmation email straight away, and waited to see what happened... for a surprisingly rapid development, see part 67!
Be still my beating heart! Is my amp now in the capable hands of FedEx? Has Bruce had a communiqué from the BBB that was more trouble to ignore than to act on?
Well the tracking number is real enough. Projected delivery date is 10 February.
On 8 February I received an email from the Arizona BBB with a link to their case tracking system. This took me to a message which confirmed that they had been in contact with Zinky (relevant details on the right). Before the fateful email from Bruce? I'd like to think so.
Then the next day my previous email to the BBB (letting them know that some action had occurred) was acknowledged, with the expected request that I keep them informed as to actual delivery. So it's good to know that they took my complaint seriously.
On the evening of 9 February, the delivery was made - a day earlier than expected but I wasn't able to unpack it until a day later anyway. So the following evening I set up my camera to record the moment for posterity and opened it up.
One of the first things I noticed was that the reverb pan that I'd sent out was missing. Oh well, I had another one (see as far back as part 12).
With the packaging removed and taking a closer look, the next thing I could see was that the chassis was damaged. Oh great.
Bruce's reply was factually helpful, although there was no extra set of mounting screws in the packaging, like there was no reverb pan.
It seemed sensible to try the amp out before making any attempt to bend the chassis back, to find out it if was working at this stage. What happened when I did? - see part 71.
I hooked the amp up to the original speakers and reverb pan in the original case and turned on the video camera and the Superfly, in that order.
After giving it time to warm up, I plugged a guitar in and took it off Standby.
In short, it worked pretty much as I distantly remembered it, including the reverb. Hooray. Now all I have to do is get hold of some new mounting screws and figure out how to bend the chassis back without causing more damage.
Progress on that front is described in part 72.
Yes, this post is all about bending, although no parallels between BZ and a certain Futurama character apply.
Having established at least that the amp worked, I collected together some g-clamps, blocks of wood and other tools and applied myself to the task of bending the chassis back as much as possible to its original shape, the prime objectives being:
On 19 February I exchanged emails with the BBB to the effect that:
After another period of BZ still not responding to my last email, on 1 March I received from the BBB the message opposite. Well, I guess having told them of some progress, there's only so much they will do in the face of determined avoidance by the company.
So as far as the BBB goes, case closed.
Well, waddya know? A couple of days after their previous message, word comes that B Zinky has finally responded.
Picking out the key points (opposite):
While it seems appropriate to have the BBB close the case, I couldn't just sign it off without some commentary on Mr Zinky's claims, so the pro-forma reply was less pro-forma.
And yet even after all this, there is more to relate in part 76!
Despite my doubts that I'd ever see them, a replacement set of shiny, straight mounting screws turned up in the post this morning. I guess if I ever have cause to take the chassis out of the case again I could use them to reassemble it.
Anyway, seems like a polite thank-you to Bruce is in order.
Well, some months down the line, you may if you've read this far, be wondering if it was all worth it? Does the amp work OK now?
Short answer: Yes. There may be a little more of a background hum out of the speakers when it is switched from Stand By to Operate than it produced before all the problems started, but I can't be sure. Anyway once it's cranked up the hum is not noticeable as it doesn't change with the volume settings.