Advanced Musical Electronics

I had a rather odd experience. I brought in a home-​stereo amplifier (vintage 1973)
which wouldn’t power on. I examined it myself to make sure there were no blown fuses inside or burnt capacitors, resistors, diodes, etc. Their cost to evaluate and diagnose is $ 50 (fair enough!) so I paid it and waited a week. They called and said my repair cost was about $ 300−350…but they would not tell me what was wrong with the unit (power capacitor? burnt output transistor? burnt resistor/​bad power circuit? some short in the power board?
I completely could not afford it, but I was FINE with paying the bench charge, and I looked forward to their idea of what was wrong (like a transformer or power capacitors, etc)…
But they would not tell me what they found! They said it was «on file» in case I decided to
let them repair it.
I am not young, but I know my way around a soldering iron.
I was a teen-​ager when this amplifier came on the market. I can replace a burnt capacitor.
So, I have the amplifier back now, but I am no further to the cause of the malfunction than I was before the $ 50 diagnostic fee… I do not know what I paid them $ 50 for. I already knew it was not functional. You might say I wasted fifty bucks. but I am sure they did the work;
they just refuse to tell me what they found. I plan to file a complaint with the CA Board of
Consumer Affairs, since when you do this… they notify the shop and ask for a reply,
and then they may/​may not investigate (depending on the shop’s reply).
Fifty bucks is not nothing for a person who must exist on a $ 650 per month Disability.
I give them two stars because they did not do «nothing»… They did troubleshoot my stereo.
however they refused to tell me what the defective parts were. (I was told «It’s on file»)
Maybe it should be one star after all. I have spent 12 hours on it and I MAY have found a
defective relay. It’s really a handsome old stereo amplifier, and it weighs fifty pounds.
I hate to just throw it away. All I wanted was to pay someone to diagnose it; maybe I can fix it.
I can’t imagine taking my car in for an evaluation (for a $ 75 bench charge, gladly paid!) but having them only give me the repair cost but refuse to tell me what parts of my car were actually faulty…
sr

I had a wonderful experience with Advanced Musical Electronics and wanted to share after reading some negative reviews on Unilocal.
I have a Waldorf Microwave XT synthesizer that needed repair after a power outage. I looked all over for a certified shop to repair it and they are hard to find. Apparently the service manuals for these synths are hard to come by. I was concerned about shelling out a lot of money for something I know little about and was worried to drop off at a shop.
Eventually I gave in and brought the XT to Advanced and right away I regretted not coming in sooner. The woman I spoke with when I dropped it off was really nice and easy to work with. She knew the instrument and the manufacturer and put my mind at ease that the shop knew what they were doing with Waldorf synths.
Best of all — they charged me ZERO bench fee to drop off. That’s unheard of with many repair shops. They did tell me in advance that it would be 2 – 3 weeks to get back to me with an estimate.
About 2 weeks later they called back and said the synth was fixed. Total cost was $ 153. That price is unheard of in the world of synth repairs. Many places will charge at least 100 dollars to just open it up and look.
I’m very pleased with the outcome of my experience with Advanced Musical. Synth is back to life. 2 weeks turnaround time, total cost $ 153 including tax. Fantastic.

Was not impressed with my last service done at this location. Communication was terrible and service/​attitude was even worse. Brought a keyboard in to be repaired, when i got it back the side panel was detached and not attachable. I noticed this as i was walking it back to my vehicle that the keyboard seemed to be unscrewed and slipping from my hands while holding it. When I noticed I proceeded to ask about the damage and was basically told that it was my word against theirs? yea wow. A higher up proceeded to play damage control and inquire with the repair man on what occurred (maybe some better intercommunication could help). He then came from the back room and explained that the aging of the screws made it so that he had to break into the keyboard to repair and that it could not be screwed back on. I can understand that but that is something you communicate to the customer upon return or even during the repair, not to try and pass it off and then proceed to deny all accountability. I recommend better communication. Your clientele isn’t so high that you would not need to adhere to some (atleast decent) professional standard on your customer service side of things.

I had a great experience with Advanced Musical Electronics, start to finish. I brought in a Yamaha M08 with pretty serious physical damage (the brain was fine). They came back with a reasonable quote in a timely fashion, and got the work finished sooner than I expected, within the week. The keyboard is in perfect condition now. On top of that, everyone I spoke to was friendly and polite.
I have to admit that I was hesitant to bring my synth here after reading some of the negative reviews. But I’m really happy that I did, and feel very confident recommending these guys to anyone in need of repairs.

The people and service are great. Honest and helpful. Been there many times and thankful that they are quite close by to my studio.

Fast, professional, competent service on Yamaha pro keyboard with serious problems. In & out in 3 days. Thanks, guys.

They did great fast work repairing my powered sub (out of warrantee). Reasonable price and its now booming away again. Thanks guys!

Avid lists these folks as one of their authorized repair facilities. So when I had a problem with my Eleven Rack, I sent it to them for repair. They said they «cleaned up some solder joints» and it was fixed. I got it back and it seemed to work. But a couple days after their 90 day warranty ran out, it started having the same problem. When I called again the woman I spoke with said «I’m sure we’ll handle it under warranty.» But after checking with someone else she said that it was out of warranty. She did say it would get first priority and that I wouldn’t have to pay a bench charge.
A couple weeks after sending it in I called to see if they’d looked at it. The guy I talked to said it was next in line but that the tech was out for several days. When I asked what happened to getting first priority, the guy was kind of testy and said «hey man, the guys not here. There’s nothing I can do, man.» He called back a half hour later and said it turns out the tech had actually checked the system. It turns out the mainboard is bad and needs to be replaced. Between the original and additional repairs, the total is more than a new unit.
I’m not looking for something for nothing. It would be good if they stood behind their work, though. It would also be nice if they offered me some credit for their original repair. Instead I get a very clear «that’s your problem» attitude when talking to them.
Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else.

Sent a piece of gear to them a month ago and was charged $ 200 to have it fixed. When I got it back it still had the same problem and when I called them up they said to mail it back to them (I paid for shipping) and two weeks after they got it they called me up to let me know they were going to charge $ 300 to fix the problem… Even though they already charged me $ 200 and didn’t do anything they now want another $ 300 making the total cost $ 500 to repair a $ 700 synth. When I tried to explain to them why I found this to be unreasonable I received a very rude comment about my perceived race from whoever I was talking to (I don’t have a name) who I guess thought I was being snooty. Needless to say I will be sending my equipment somewhere else to be repaired even if this is the only place nearby. I would rather pay more for shipping that have to deal with such poor treatment and shoddy workmanship.

Gotta say! After reading other reviews, I was skeptical. But a friend who worked at West L.A. Music said that they were great. So first I took my Digi 003 there. While I was at the front desk explaining the issue, a technician who was in the back room came out and gave me that inquisitive look. He took the board back, and came out front in five minutes and said that the problem was software related, not hardware. Bear in mind that they charge you just to diagnose the problem. I offered to pay him, but he waved me off and said «No charge.» I couldn’t believe it. But I took it home, reloaded Pro Tools like he said and sure enough, he was right.
So, about 2 months later I brought in my Fender Cyber Twin. It took them a couple of weeks to get to it, which they said would be the case. But then they called, told me what was wrong and gave me a reasonable estimate. In another two weeks, it was done. I just took it home last night and tested it out, and it’s fixed.
They did right by me.

Brought my Access Virus for warranty repair. They did repair my Virus but helped themselves to my LCD while they were at it and replaced it with a dying, washed-​out LCD.
They’re shady. Stay away. You have been warned.

Do yourself a favor and no not EVER bring anything here!
I have no clue how these guys have managed to stay in business. It’s a mystery to me!
Brought several vintage Mcintosh amps here for repair. 1 out of 3 was fine, the other 2 are a whole different story.
One of them took ONE ENTIRE YEAR to be «repaired» ! And guess what? After I got charged $ 960 (!!!) for repairs for one of the amps and I finally brought it home … IT STILL HAD ALL THE PROBLEMS IT HAD BEFORE. Nothing was fixed at all.
Seriously?
When I called and confronted them about my discovery, I hoped to at the very least get my money back for the repairs since it’s still broken.
Of course they aren’t refunding me. So I’m going to have to have my bank take care of it.
This place is the worst ripoff ever. Don’t make the same mistake.

Do not take any gear to them to get fixed.. .especially wurlitzers. They don’t know anything about how to repair vintage gear. Go to Ken Rich. You won’t be sorry.

I like these guys! (and cute gals behind the counter!). they recently fixed my Allen & Heath Mix Wizard board perfectly ! The mixer board had an INTERMITTENT electrical short, they found it and also a few other problems too which they repaired. I’ll use AME again ! The bill seemed not too unreasonable. $ 184.00.

This place has taken care of me a few times now. As promised, they deliver an estimate on your repair within a week; and as promised, the final cost of the repair is very near that estimate.
I’ve always found the staff courteous and professional, and I would say this business is a best friend to all musicians in the Los Angeles area.
Highly recommended.

Not sure what happened to this place. Used to like it for the fast free estimate and fast service. Looking back they only fixed my guitar heads, maybe that’s the scope of their services. This time I took a powered mixer in because it stopped turning on. They called and said that they had no problems with it. They couldn’t make it fail again. Cool! We’ll, I went and picked it up (drove from OC), got back to my house and guess what… wouldn’t turn on. There’s no way they even looked at it. I called and their response was «bring it on back». They didn’t care, showed no concern. Not worth the «free estimate». Again, not sure what happened to this place. Now when you walk in there all the employees seemed depressed and unenthusiastic, barely looking up to greet you. The guy who I’m assuming is the owner (cause he’s the oldest, always there sitting doing nothing), and has the typical jaded sound guy attitude.
In a world of word of mouth marketing and online reviews. Why risk your business by being an A-​Hole?
This experience was actually a blessing in disguise because I found a tech a few miles away from my house. Maybe this was a one time bad experience, but I hope they figure out a better way to treat customers.

Absolutely horrible experience. Aside from the fact that the place is virtually impossible to access coming west on venice blvd, I paid $ 110 just to get a quote of $ 800 to $ 1100 to fix a vintage synth. I asked if there was a more reasonable quote and said no. I took the synth somewhere else where they quoted me $ 250. It turns out the issues AME quoted weren’t even issues. I would never go there again or suggest this place to anyone.

I have an update that will delight all. I took my synth to another shop,
, who completed my repair for $ 139.00. My handy invoice offered the following info: «Open up the chassis, remove the keyboard assembly. Remove the key contact PC board, remove the affected rubber
contact strips. Clean the contact strips and the printed circuit contacts. Reinstall the strips and the PC board.
Recheck the performance. Ok.
Remove the PC-​mounted lithium battery. Install a new battery and solder it in place.
Locate and install a replacement foot that matches the other three. Recheck all. OK.»
All parts and labor are broken down on the invoice as well. Which shop would you rather go to?

Super friendly folk here, and not a bad labor fee and they are a repair place, picture this…
Photos lining the entrance way about 5′ in from top to toe, then a counter littered with invoices and mail, with a freindly man framed by speakers on the wall and amps on the floor, that’s when you know this ain’t no Guitar Center, you best know what ya need cause they know how to fix it.
Check em out if you need a mix board or a monitor fixed, I know I did and they both work great!
Enjoy!

I took my Korg Trinity over here because it was the nearest service repair center to me.
They were nice and courteous, however their quoted prices are some of the highest in LA. How the procedure works is that you take it in, they keep your product for about a week, and then they call you and give you a quote. They do this so when they quote you a price, no matter the cost, you generally accept it, because you’ve already gone to their store and dropped off the damaged merchandise.
They gave me a ‘guesstimate’ which was $ 100 for a broken eb4 key. After 8 days, they quoted me at nearly $ 240 (the keyboard costs $ 300). I took it to another competitor and got LESS THAN HALF the quote, and at a quicker turnaround.
I recommend avoiding this place if you enjoy value, but they are certainly nice people.