I hate to do this, but...

[efisch@artnet.net (Eric R. Fischer)]

I hate to do this, but...
I know that I need to tred carefully here, so I will choose my sentiments
as thoughfully as possible..

First, let me say to Kim and Matthius thank you for an unbelievably focused
and clever piece of equipment. You have single handedly renewed my interest
in playing, and the possibilities of "guitar as orchestra".
Second, I should clarify my personal background. I am a professional,
working Recording Engineer and  Tech in Los Angeles. I am also guitarist,
guitar builder and electronic tinkerer going on 25 yrs. Please know that my
point of view does not mean I am "flaming", just observing.
Third, I have experience, in the past, working within a large
bureauracratic organization, as I am sure many people on this list do.

What I am trying to say is I have sympathy for all parties involved. But
most of all Andre. I thought about emailing him personally (we have
exchanged email in the past) but I arrogantly felt the list might want to
read this too. I have been without my Echoplex for about 8 months total of
the 3yrs I have owned it. The first round was thermal problems fixed gratis
at the factory in NoCal. A month and a half down. After I got it back I
performed the resistor change outs detailed on the web page in an effort to
bring down the noise floor(a software noisegate!?!?). This was a help. The
second bout was an ongoing distortion in the recorded program material.
Dean Fouts recommended an authorized repair shop in LA to fix this, to save
the time & hassle of sending it to the factory. These guys turned out to
very slow & took forever to get the documentation from Oberheim. They
didn't pursue it at all, & I had to badger the factory to get the
schematics to this shop!! Turned out to be the output IC's(no relation to
the mod). Another 4 months and $200.00 lost. I was out of town on biz right
after I got it back this time, and also in the process of finishing my rig,
so I didn't use it for a bit. When I finished my rig & fired it up, guess
what? No output from the Echoplex at all!!! Back to the shop in LA since I
figured it might be related. after 2 months and no phone call from these
guys, they give up and sent it to Oberheim without even telling me. Right
around this time Andre started his posts. So as you can understand, I'm
dissapointed. I am going to have to get something to replace my
Echoplex(probobly a PCM80-yikes!).

So let me make a few points here. This is a CONSUMER piece of gear. It is
very cheaply powered, with a flimsey chassis, and a -10db input/output
section, with unbalanced 1/4 jacks. this means from a gain stage point of
view it is relativly incompatible with the gear in my rack, and any gear in
any pro studio. Kim has stated in the past he didn't want the price to
exclude potential consumers from buying this product. Understood, but it
relagates this to being a CONSUMER piece of gear. It exhibits all the
problems of consumer gear. I personally own pro gear that has never broken
down, and the studios I work at depend on pro gear to work consistantly and
for long periods of time. We have outboard gear that stays on for months at
a time, year after year with NO problems. What I'm trying to say is that I
shouldn't expect the Echoplex to be what it is not. The big problem is that
not many pieces of gear come close to doing what the Echoplex does!!!

I am trying to finish my record, and another artist's CD that I am
producing, engineering and playing on. Being without my echoplex has been a
huge pain, and I can wait no longer to get mine back. God forbid I should
want an upgrade! That will be another couple of months I guess. So Andre's
experiences are not isolated. I don't blame anyone in particular for this
nonsense. Dean Fouts has been trully helpful. Chalk it up to
Oberheim/Gibson's bureaucracy and a product that didn't meet my
expectations. Lesson learned on my part.
I apologize for any hurt feelings or for not being cheery, but in
professional situations this kind of track record sinks products. I'd hate
to see that happen to the Echoplex.
Eric R. Fischer