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From: playonAT@comcast.net on 14 Nov 2005 01:22
I have a Gefell UM70s that I believe is 80s or early 90s vintage that
suddenly started working intermittently. I used it successfully on a
session two weeks ago then tried to use it a couple of weeks later and it
was working in spurts, (more off than on)... then it quit entirely. I
thought it might have been a connector problem but not sure if it could be
the capsule? The XLR connector on the mic seems like it could be tighter,
there is some wiggle in it. Now the mic does not work at all, so I'm
looking for repair suggestions, who should I send it to? Hopefully not
back to Germany...

Al
From: Scott Dorsey on 14 Nov 2005 09:18
playonAT(a)comcast.net <playon> wrote:
>I have a Gefell UM70s that I believe is 80s or early 90s vintage that
>suddenly started working intermittently. I used it successfully on a
>session two weeks ago then tried to use it a couple of weeks later and it
>was working in spurts, (more off than on)... then it quit entirely. I
>thought it might have been a connector problem but not sure if it could be
>the capsule? The XLR connector on the mic seems like it could be tighter,
>there is some wiggle in it. Now the mic does not work at all, so I'm
>looking for repair suggestions, who should I send it to? Hopefully not
>back to Germany...

Send it to Gefell. They have a US office that does some amount of repair
work, and this probably isn't going to be a serious problem to fix.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
From: David Satz on 15 Nov 2005 07:39
Al, the XLR connector on many condenser microphones has some "wiggle"
in it, but the electrical contact between pin 1 and the chassis should
still be direct and secure.

Gefell has an excellent reputation for customer service and I've never
heard anyone claim that they overcharge for repairs. You didn't say
where you're located, but assuming that you're in the U.S., I believe
the distributor is still C-TEC in Canada. In any event you can write
(in English unless you know German better) to info(a)gefell-mics.com to
get their advice.

Editiorial: People often ask where to send their high-quality studio
microphones and other equipment for repair. I think that the prevalence
of this question indicates a fundamental problem, which is that people
have ceased to expect a service commitment from equipment manufacturers
and dealers. (Dealers? What are they? Oh, do you mean Web sites?)

I don't want to ramble at length about this, but clearly, something
essential is being lost here. An entire generation of customers has
come into the audio equipment market with their service expectations
reduced to near-zero. The mode of thought is to buy as cheaply as
possible and ditch the gear at the first sign of a problem (that's what
eBay is for, isn't it?). And in the short term, that mode of thought
can even make a certain kind of sense.

But if that is the main character of buyers' short-term behavior in the
marketplace, that will soon be the only kind of marketplace we will all
have in the long term.

--best regards

From: Arny Krueger on 15 Nov 2005 08:04
"David Satz" <DSatz(a)msn.com> wrote in message
news:1132058393.805311.310550(a)g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com

> Editiorial: People often ask where to send their
> high-quality studio microphones and other equipment for
> repair. I think that the prevalence of this question
> indicates a fundamental problem, which is that people
> have ceased to expect a service commitment from equipment
> manufacturers and dealers. (Dealers? What are they? Oh,
> do you mean Web sites?)

Which begs the question, what do people expect when they pay
the big bucks for a mic?

As an aside, I purchased three MXL603 cheapies on eBay, and
ended up with two samples that were noisy. I sent them (the
two noisy cheapies from eBay) back to the manufacturer, and
in due time I received very fine replacements.

> I don't want to ramble at length about this, but clearly,
> something essential is being lost here. An entire
> generation of customers has come into the audio equipment
> market with their service expectations reduced to
> near-zero.

Obviously, even lower than those of us old-timers who buy
cheapie mics.

>The mode of thought is to buy as cheaply as
> possible and ditch the gear at the first sign of a
> problem (that's what eBay is for, isn't it?).

In my case, not even EBay! ;-)

>And in the
> short term, that mode of thought can even make a certain
> kind of sense.

It seems like the only reason to not repair a mic would be
if it were more expensive to repair than replace. At Gefell
prices, it seems like that point should be a long time
coming!

> But if that is the main character of buyers' short-term
> behavior in the marketplace, that will soon be the only
> kind of marketplace we will all have in the long term.

Agreed that we should hold manufacturers responsible for the
quality of their products, not only initial quality, but
also over time and use.


From: Mike Rivers on 15 Nov 2005 09:10

David Satz wrote:

> Editiorial: People often ask where to send their high-quality studio
> microphones and other equipment for repair. I think that the prevalence
> of this question indicates a fundamental problem, which is that people
> have ceased to expect a service commitment from equipment manufacturers
> and dealers. (Dealers? What are they? Oh, do you mean Web sites?)

I think this is at the root of many problems. People buy from
non-service web dealers, or worse, from an eBay source, maybe a
legitimate dealer, maybe a gray market seller, maybe bought used and it
didn't turn out to be in "perfect" condition as advertised but the
price was so good they don't want to press the seller to take it back
and give a refund.

Mercenary Audio sells Gefell mics and I'll bet that if you bought a new
one from them and had a problem with it at any time, they'd help you
out. But the guy who smuggled a few in from Germany ten years ago and
decided to sell them now wouldn't be of much help.

I also think that there's a reluctance to go back to the original
source thinking that someone else will always do the work cheaper, and
maybe even better. Having a dead microphone (particularly one that was
dead on arrival) might be an opportunity to get something different by
sending it out to a non-factory repair. Stephen Sank's "DX" ribbon in a
Beyer M260 is a good example of this. His ribbon replacement is less
expensive than sending the mic to Beyer, but it won't be an M260 when
it comes back. This might be good or bad depending on what you want.
Same with getting a new capsule for your Neumann mic from Stephen Paul
Audio or Klaus Heyne.

I don't know what the original poster was after here. Maybe he was
simply unaware that there really is a Gefell to send the mic back to
(though if he's smart enough to come here, he should be smart enough to
locate the company - laziness perhaps?). Or maybe he was looking for a
cheaper repair, or a modification. Complete questions are important but
seldom asked.

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