Quote Originally Posted by Dedman View Post
Well, I think this and the number of faulty amps from Fender proves that Aus is their QC failure dumping ground.
I don't know Dedman... There was no way of easily telling from the box that there was a StratoTele inside. All the box labelling looks like the normal bar-code jargon with "Deluxe Strat VBL MN" and a correct serial number written underneath...

And as far as the tube amps go it is industry known for many years that tubes themselves all have a 5% failure rate when new.... Be they tiny 1W 12AX7's or a 15kW rated 4CX15000 or anything in between, you can expect (well most electronics techs know) that about 1 in 20 tubes to be in some way faulty out of the brand new box...

What you say may be true in other product arenas, but I'm doubtful in this instance on calling AUS a 'dumping ground' ...