i hope electro harmonix has good customer service

permanent hearing damage · Post by **permanent hearing damage** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:10 pm

i just plugged in my brand new 12AY7 pre and it totally burned up immediately - started smoking, wouldn't pass signal when i tried it later. oh and the power light stayed lit for about 5 min after the 30 seconds or so i had it plugged in. ugh... was really looking forward to using this, too.

Gummy · Post by **Gummy** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:17 pm

I had the same thing happen to me. I am in the middle of trying to get a new one, but I went through the place I bought it from. I have always heard great things about EH and would think they would be the way to go. I wonder why they are having these problems?

red cross · Post by **red cross** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:05 am

Price point? What's the use of a great sounding 150 dollar tube preamp if it doesn't work right? Sigh.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:43 am

That sucks. What is the f'ing deal with the shit coming out of EH these days?
Why are we hearing this over and over? the DESIGN of the 12AY7 is great, but the build seems to be sucking more and more.

EH needs to step up to the plate, for real. Eventually we will all stop trying to support that cool little pre if it just blows up in peoples faces and is not reliable enough to actually use in a session...

C'mon, EH! jeez...

JohnDavisNYC · Post by **JohnDavisNYC** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 6:16 am

that is lame.... i am lucky to have one of the really early ones, i guess... used it yesterday for a distorted vocal track... U87 > EH pre (all the way up) > 1176 > radar... sounded really great.

i wish that everyone's pre's worked as well as mine, because it is an amazing little preamp.

EH is pretty shitty when it comes to build quality... is their stuff made in china yet? maybe the quality would go up if they sent manufacturing overseas... they don't seem to be able to hire very good workers or QC folks... a shame, really, as the sound of so much of their stuff is really great.

john

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 7:06 am

toaster3000 wrote:i wish that everyone's pre's worked as well as mine, because it is an amazing little preamp.
john

Same here! The prototype 12AY7 i got for beta testing is still going totally strong!
The sounds are great, but the build seems to have suffered a bunch, as you said, John...

permanent hearing damage · Post by **permanent hearing damage** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 8:00 am

pretty sure the box says "made in the USA". and unfortunately for me, i bought the thing from some ebay store. hmmmm.... maybe i can buy one from guitar center and do the old switcheroo - buy a new one and return the busted one? either way, it goes back to electro harmonix, right?

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 8:13 am

audionaut · Post by **audionaut** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 10:24 am

The ONLY stuff I ever see (online) about Electro Harmonix's new product line is either
1) Customer complaints about defective equipment (poor quality control) or
2) FS listings.
Not a very good sign.

E.Bennett · Post by **E.Bennett** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:05 am

we have a few of those 12ay7 pres around our place. one of them was bought used and broken on the cheap. we sent it back with a $10 bill in the box. we got it back in 3 days in perfect working order.

Gorilla · Post by **Gorilla** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:28 am

I bought one earlier this year, it was broken new in the box,never passed signal. I just assumed it was damaged in shipping or whatever, but the retailer replaced it right away with another that works fine.

fossiltooth · Post by **fossiltooth** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:47 am

Goddam shotty american craftsmanship! Go back to selling services rather than goods you damn yankees!

I had a similar experience with my vintech 273. First channel sounded great. When I used the second channel, I was surprised to that find it was horribly distorted and a good 10 db lower than the first, and the channel would go dead if the EQ was engaged.

I sent it back and got a replacement unit. The replacement unit came in and worked fine...

...Until I tried it on a line-level source. The Line and Impedence selector switches were dirty and needed to be massaged quite a bit before they would reliably switch in without shorting out. On top of that, the line inputs were wired out-of-phase from eachother, necessitating the use of the polarity switch unless the signals were out of phase to begin with! I decided to keep it rather than going through the hassle again. It still sounds great, and I just flip the polarity switch on stereo line sources.

These problems could have easily been avoided if the company just *gasp* tested their products before shipping. Plug it in and test each circuit. Done.

Sounds like EH has the same problem. Quality control is important. Perhaps the pre is built like a tank with good parts, but put together by the "new guy", or assembled using shotty, untested parts. Any decent manufaturer will tell you they have to throw tons of parts away when they buy wholesale. That's just how it works.

I really hate to admit it, but I'd rather buy something made in China if it was built well, with pride and quality control, than a badly-assembled, untested American-made piece.

Write a letter to the company telling them calmly and rationally how disappointed you are. Otherwise, they'll never know. It's not like they're actually testing these things!

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 12:32 pm

i have no experience with the EH pres, but just wanted to share a story about a Good Company:

a couple years ago i ordered 4 channels of A/D direct from Lavry. they were cards that just plugged into the chassis i already had. when i got home from my day job that day there were voicemails from both Priscilla Lavry and Tim their lead tech guy saying that they'd discovered a minor (easily fixable) problem with some of the cards, and there was a chance that the ones they sent me might be messed up. they left detailed instructions on how to fix the problem, and Tim emailed me as well. as it turned out the cards were fine, but i really appreciated them being super upfront about the possible problem.

JASIII · Post by **JASIII** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 12:38 pm

Way to go dude. Everyone was totally h8ing here and you come along with your sunshine and lollipops...

Marc Alan Goodman · Post by **Marc Alan Goodman** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 12:45 pm

Yeah, EH stuff is infamous for breaking down. Since the company began as far as I know. However that's part of how they compete at such a low price point with companies like Behringer and Roland, who have HUGE economies of scale to help them out. You've kinda gotta know what you're getting in to. EH makes a lot of cool items that you really can't get from anyone else (instead of just clones of the same thing like everyone else) and they compete on the international market without being owned by some giant corporation. So they still get some love in my book.

Anyway, back to the point I highly suggest the Guitar Center switch. Just double check their policy on defectives before you do it (they might want you to send it back to the company, which would leave you screwed). That way you might be able to avoid waiting the months you'll have to dealing with EH.

-marc alan goodman

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i hope electro harmonix has good customer service

i hope electro harmonix has good customer service

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