B.L.U.E. Ball & Robbie

[nacho459]

I have already discussed my disgust with the performance of the Ball here and to the BLUE rep at AES, where he looked at me like I was insane. Today I noticed on the BLUE page that they have a little forum for each product, and they are pretty much just praises of their gear (somethin tells me it's staged) http://www.bluemic.com/index.php?name=P ... wforum&f=2 I'm guessing if I posted something like, "This mic isn't worth the cardboard it comes in" they would delete it.

I was wondering if anyone had ever tried their Mic Pre called the Robbie. After questioning the BLUE rep on construction, and horrid sound of the ball, I asked him what was up with the Robbie.

I mentioned how I didn't like the weighted knob that could accidently be changed by a bump, and he simply said, "Don't bump it," I mentioned how I didn't like the shape, and that it isn't easily rack mounted, and he gave me a response like, "Too bad." I asked him why are all the buttons on the back and what the tube count is, and he gave me an answer of, "I don't know." It pissed me off that not only did he not know about the product, but when I critiqued the functionality of the Robbie he shrugged it off like it was MY PROBLEM. WTF? To me this just looks like a cheep transformerless mic pre where someone throws in a clearly visable 12AX7 (but they use the not so familiar ECC88/6DJ8 tube to make it exotic) so people say, "It's tube so it must be good." I lost a lot of respect for BLUE after hearing the Ball, I lost the rest after talking to the dude at AES, but if this Robbie turns out to be a $1,000 Belari pre, I will declare all out war.

The guy even denied that the Robbie pre resembled the NES Robbie the Robot's head.

[junkstar]

Not to be defeated by my Blue Ball purchase, I used it a few weeks back on some percussion tracking and am really happy with how it turned out. Tamb, Marac, Bells all sound great and blended really nicely in the mix.

[Dave Nutz]

sounds like he was an FNG.

I dont have anything personal against blue, but all their low end mics seem to be rather unremarkable as far as their usefulness and character is concerned.

[Coco]

I have never used any Blue products, but their lollipop capsules that fit onto old AKG 451 bodies is interesting me. A lot of their products seem to be designed with pure aesthetics in mind. Who cares if the Robbie looks good. It has to sound good, and I am skeptical of that. They put all the money into a fancy tube window and nice aluminum front panel, and in cutting a check to the designer. Will it sound good? I will have to try it out, but testimonials off a website will be taken with a grain of salt. What are companies still doing putting switches on the back of pres anyway. It bugs the shit out of me.

[nacho459]

Oh, Yeah, I remember I asked the rep at AES about the orange colored "Kick Ball" prototype. I asked him what the story was behind it, I was expecting it to be a passive condenser (if that is possible) or have like 5 capsules in it, I asked him what application is it designed for and what am I supposed to do with it, and he answered, "The name is kinda self explanatory." so I replied, "oh, I'm supposed to kick it around the floor of my studio? Cause that's all the ball is good for."

[cgarges]

when I critiqued the functionality of the Robbie he shrugged it off like it was MY PROBLEM.

Well, in a way, it is your problem. If you don't dig things about it, don't buy it. If they lose out on sales because they implimented ridiculous design elements, that's their problem. Did you go around to the manufacturers of ALL the companies at AES whose productions you found fault?

I've had very pleasant experiences with the guys at Blue.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[Moon Unit]

I mentioned how I didn't like the weighted knob that could accidently be changed by a bump, and he simply said, "Don't bump it,"

Actually, this guy sounds great. I wanna' buy him a beer.

That's a great answer. If I were in his shoes, and someone came along to my booth trashing my product, I probably would have reacted similarly.

[eeldip]

wait, does it have a weighted knob like an old silver "receiver" from the 70's? like you turn it to the right, and it just keeps going?

cause that's kinda cool, although totally useless for a mic pre.

and weighing in on the moral issues:

chis is correct in that you are on the moral low ground by going out of your way to bitch about a product.

however, the blue ball does suck for the price, and i am still angry at them for suckering me into buying their product. so good for you!

[nlmd311]

The guy even denied that the Robbie pre resembled the NES Robbie the Robot's head.

Darn it! I thought you were going to say you managed to mic Robbie (the NES Robbie) with a B.L.U.E. Ball and did something cool with it. That's what I first thought when I read the subject line. After reading the message I became just plain sad. Not cool. I wonder what the deal was? You think he was just trying to blow you off because he was talking with others? He just had no idea? Just worthless?

pretty nasty

-Darrill

[nacho459]

wait, does it have a weighted knob like an old silver "receiver" from the 70's? like you turn it to the right, and it just keeps going?

Yep

Did you go around to the manufacturers of ALL the companies at AES whose productions you found fault?

Yeah, If I saw something that didn't make sense, I questioned why they would do it. Isn't that the point of AES? What other time can you talk to the manufacturers face to face. If I'm gonna drop cash on a piece of gear I want to know about all it's faults. Now I didn't jump right out an say, "your product sucks." I more made statements as questions (I know that makes no sense) I wanted to know WHY THEY DESIGNED THEIR GEAR THIS WAY! maybe the switches on the back were to cut down on noise or something. When Guitar Center sells anything for a grand I want to know why. Maybe I did go harder on the BLUE guy than Geoff Daking or the Wunder guy, but I was extreamly suspect of this new product after I purchased the Ball. John Hardy and the OSA guys have their gear wide open so you can see exactly what you are getting. The Blue booth could have at least let me listen to their stuff! MXL, ADK and other Chinese mic companies let you hear their stuff, and BLUE makes way better stuff. It is like BLUE is trying to hide something.