BLUE mic repair

[standup]

I've got a Latvian-made baby bottle with low output. Now that BLUE makes mostly plastic USB mics in China, should I be worried about sending one of the older mics in for repair? Or I'm worried about nothing?

[Nate Dort]

I sent in a pair of Latvian-made OmniMouses about this time last year for warranty work (excessive RF pickup, which was fixed in later revisions), and they were very professional. Be warned, though, that the beginning of the year seems to be the service department's busiest time due to all the new mics people get over Christmas. At least, that's what I was told. There was about a 2 month turnaround time from when I sent them in.

[vatoben]

I live near Blue in Ventura County CA. A few months back I decided to gamble and bring my Blueberry by for service completely unannounced. They greeted me at the door, took the mic & my info and sent it back 100% fixed in about a week. They were a little surprised by me ambushing them but it ended up working for out the best and I don't think I made any enemies over there. I had tried to contact them on their site a few times with no success. Since I drive past the location almost daily I rolled the dice. I give them props for such a fast turnaround. I've had similar experiences with Royer in Burbank too. Both companies are okay in my book.

[standup]

I sent my mic to BLUE for repair (baby botttle) and they seemed OK at first. Sent me a bill for more than the purchase price of a new mic, but that was a simple mistake and quickly fixed with a phone call. So a $95 (I think, this was a week ago) repair. Then I get an email today saying they're going to replace the mic instead of repairing it.

Well, the mic I sent them was one of the first batch made in Latvia. The mic they're going to replace it with is made in China. Now they may have matched the sound and performance very closely for all I know (and I have no idea). But why in the hell can't they just repair the mic I sent them and ship it back?

This is the very kind of thing that made me post this question in the first place. I have no actual idea if the current mic is (or is not) the same as the mic I've had, but the mic I've been using for most of a decade is a known quantity.

Mumble. Etc. They didn't reply to my last email asking them to just send back the mic I sent them. We'll see what shows up in the mail.

[standup]

Update: After a few more e-mails they have agreed to send back the microphone I sent them instead of replacing it.

Who's up-to-date on BLUE? It looks (from a quick look at Blue's and Sweetwater's website) like BLUE still makes their studio mics. It seemed to me their emphasis had shifted to consumer USB products, I suppose that was mistaken.

The manual for the current Baby Bottle doesn't say where it's made. The manual for the Reactor, a new-ish mic of theirs I had never heard of, says that mic is made in China. I'm wondering if the current crop of Bottle/Mouse/etc. mics are as good as the originals, and I have no idea. They may very well have maintained quality control and BLUE may be making mics in China equal to the originals.

I appreciate that they agreed to repair and return the mic I sent in. The oldest Baby Bottle does have design flaws -- opening the case is a nightmare, and apparently they don't always stay in one piece. The newer Baby Bottle, they claim, fixes that flaw.

I have two of their mics -- the Baby Bottle and the "Deluxe" Dragonfly. The dragonfly supposedly has 'premium' electronics and one of their higher-end capsules. I would hate to go through this again if anything goes wrong with that mic.