Welcome, all! This new blog is designed to address some of the many questions I receive regularly from musicians about technical issues. We’ll cover a variety of topics, and I welcome comments and questions.

Yes, But Can You Get It Fixed?    Part 2

Hi! We’re back. Last time we discussed the level of available service on electronic musical products, focusing particularly on guitar and bass amplifiers. As promised, this time we will talk about pro audio equipment, keyboards, and effects units, and how the availability of repair services varies greatly by brand name.

First, let’s focus on PA equipment for a moment. Since some of the larger amplifier manufacturers also build PA gear, we’ll touch on some names briefly that we discussed last time. Peavey comes to mind first. Peavey offers a wide variety of pro audio equipment and even commercial PA gear for building installations. As I said last time, Peavey has one of the better service departments going today, and service availability shouldn’t be a concern at all when it comes to purchasing Peavey equipment.

Mackie has also been a major player in PA gear for the past 15 years, but that is changing. Mackie is part of Loud Technologies, and we discussed the abysmal support that they offer for their products earlier when we touched on the Crate and Ampeg lines. Their support, both during and after warranty, is simply horrible. If you have a broken Mackie product that must have a factory part in order to make it function, chances are slim that it will work again. If you value your gear, you won’t make Mackie part of that equation.

On a brighter note would be Yamaha. Much like Peavey, they have a great parts department, offer fine support for their service centers, and really do build some quality products. My only beef with Yamaha PA products is their EMX line of powered mixers. Due to the design of the power supply, they have an unusually high failure rate in my opinion, and they are quite difficult to repair. After warranty, that translates into high repair bills for the EMX product line. If you steer clear of the EMX powered mixer line, Yamaha offers some fine equipment and good support.

A quick rundown on other brands of pro audio equipment: My five-star list would include Yamaha, plus Crest, QSC, Allen & Heath, Community Sound, A*R*T, Bag End, and Klark Teknik. My four-star list includes Crown, JBL, Alto, Peavey, Ashly, Denon, Lexicon and Numark. Three-star would be Phonic. Two-star would include Nady, Galaxy, Rane and Behringer. One-star would include Mackie and EAW (also part of the Loud Technologies family.

Now, a word about keyboards. We’ll touch on what I would call the “big three” – Yamaha, Korg and Roland. Yamaha tops the list in support – see the discussion on their quality of service in the PA section, above. Korg comes next, with a pretty good service center. I rank Roland last, not because they don’t have good support, but because they are very picky about how many service centers they have and their qualifications and requirements for being approved as a service center. You would think that their requirements would be a good thing – and in a way, it is – but they make it so difficult and so costly for the service center to qualify that there are actually very few Roland service centers. That means when it comes time for service, you may not find a Roland service center close to you. And that means more of a hassle for you, compared to the ease of finding service for Yamaha and Korg owners.

Finally, a quick note on effects units. Most floor pedals cost between $100-$200, and in many cases after-warranty service isn’t cost effective. However, I’ll make note of the companies that do a darn good job of supporting their products (and those that don’t). Dunlop is excellent at support, so fear not if you own a Cry-Baby or an MXR pedal. Visual Sound is a small company in Tennessee that makes a few types of quality chorus and delay pedals, and their service and support is outstanding. Morley is another outstanding company. Digitech and DOD used to be quite good for repair and support, but they are now part of Harman International, and that knocks them down to about a three-star rating. Boss is part of the Roland family – see above discussion on Roland. A Behringer pedal is a bargain compared to the others, but consider it a throw-away if it should fail after warranty.

I hope this has shed a little light on some “behind-the-scenes” information on service that a lot of musicians might not know – until it’s too late. Until next time, keep on playin’.