Jmartin - I bought one of these recently. I've got a Music Man Sabre II, and it's a strange guitar - it has active electronics and a preamp onboard, and really loud output. One of the characteristics of the pickups is that they can sound really huge - I can plug headphones straight into the guitar and distort the 'phones - but with the wrong amp they also sound quite colourless. Banal might a better description. In my case, I have an odd amp (circa 1964 valve PA head made by Jansen) that does a great job of adding that colour back by virture of an oddly metallic sound (like an AC30 but sorta 'bouncy', in the way that a train is sorta 'bouncy' when it derails...anyhoo....). The Jansen is a heavy bastard, about 60KG, so I thought I'd cheat and grab a percolator to use now and then because it won't kill someone if it falls over.
So anyway, I ordered one, it turned up three weeks later, and it was dead. It works in the bypass position, but not when switched on. I made sure I had my input and output the right way round (input left, output right), and replaced the battery, checked the battery connector (a noted issue on a few pedals by Chuck), checked my cabling, my amp, my guitar....
It is dead. Dead dead dead. I emailed
chuckcollins@prodigy.net, but there was no reply. I emailed him a week later, no reply. I sent him a slightly testy third-strike email yesterday, and he replied. I had told him that I'd tested it with a new battery, and in his reply he asked me if I'd tested it with a new battery....hmmm. Not so good. However, he said I could send it back for testing, for which he wouldn't charge me....hmmm. Not so bad.
I just want this thing up and working asap because I'm doing some recording soon, the studio is booked, and I'd like to use the pedal. I've offered to do the work myself if it'll speed things up, but I haven't heard back from him yet.
So I dunno. I have a dead/brand new pedal here which I'm keen to play with, and by all accounts they're quite good, but my experience has left me hesitant to recommend them so far, at least from the perspective of support, if not quality control. I do have to say that the build quality left a bit to be desired, the aluminium chassis had lots of small (CONDUCTIVE) aluminium flakes in it from the self-tapping screws used to hold it together....I don't mind rough kit at all, but I like that kit to work.
We'll see tho - he might come thru with a good response, in which case all will be forgiven - the ball's in his ballsack. Watch this space, I'll update as it progresses.
