Electro-Harmonix Technical support?

[jswartsel]

Has anyone delt with them that can tell me what I should expect? I bought a HOG second hand, and it worked perfect at first but now i'm getting this odd "freeze up" issue where I can't change any of the buttons or footswitches, but the sliders still work. Very strange. I'm hoping EHX can point me in the right direction... I left a voicemail with their tech support this morning but I'm not sure what to expect when dealing with them.

[SpectralJulian]

Is it still under warranty? You can send it in to them and they'll fix it.

[dZjupp]

ha ha, good luck,
they are great in communication but as per them when i asked for specific paperwork "We don't do paperwork or keep records of any repair, if we did it would cost you more".

Therefore when i sent in my graphic fuzz with the repair surcharge (the g.f. hadn't worked right since i bought it new) i had no clue what they did to it, if anything, so when i got it back and it worked for about 15 minutes correctly and then started doing the exact same thing, i was duped out of a repair charge, and since there was no paperwork whatsoever i couldn't tell you if it just got there and sat on their work bench for a week and then they maile dit back.

but i love thier efx, i've got alot of them, and i pray day after day that none of them break, or i'm screwed....

[slight-return]

Ive had very good results. I used email BTW.
for a lot of tech support, I find it works better. the support guy can take th time to research; service prints, photos, sound clips, etc can be attached; lists, instructions and specs can be inserted a reviewed

but yeah, I believe a guy named Chip answered my emails and when he couldn't
(they were some decently dense questions ) he put me in touch with someone on the engineering staff

I also had some problems with their labeling/finish flaking on a second-hand unit (hog foot controller)...they fixed it. I sent it back, a (presumably) new one came back to me (I only paid to send it to em)


I was extremely impressed as they even responded to some left field questions (I'm comfortable with PIC programming, so I had some questions about the HOG control protocol)

[dZjupp]

Ive had very good results. I used email BTW. for a lot of tech support, I find it works better. the support guy can take th time to research; service prints, photos, sound clips, etc can be attached; lists, instructions and specs can be inserted a reviewed but yeah, I believe a guy named Chip answered my emails and when he couldn't (they were some decently dense questions ) he put me in touch with someone on the engineering staff I also had some problems with their labeling/finish flaking on a second-hand unit (hog foot controller)...they fixed it. I sent it back, a (presumably) new one came back to me (I only paid to send it to em) I was extremely impressed as they even responded to some left field questions (I'm comfortable with PIC programming, so I had some questions about the HOG control protocol)

 

 

 

Yeah Chip is great in communication through Email, i know it might of sounded like i was bashing them, i mean they probably just couldn't fix it. but my position is that it had its problems the day i bought it, i kick myself in the head for not returning it.

 

i have never had the problem of their labels coming off, i always though i would but i keep mine pretty tidy.

 

i've got /had from ehx

 

deluxe mistress

micro synth

big muff USA

big muff russian

pulsar

hoax

tube zipper

pog

switch blade

graphic fuzz

 

out of all of them the only issues i had were the g.f., so that is a one out of 10 reliability rate, which isn't bad i guess, the light on the pulsar gets finnicky as well, but i just tap the top of it and it comes back on.

 

i think their front end service is great, just the repair side-say your prayers

[slight-return]

 

Yeah Chip is great in communication through Email, i know it might of sounded like i was bashing them

 

 

Oh, I didn't mean as a rebuttal to your post - I was composing my post as you posted yours (cross-post, didn't see yours while I was composing)

 

i have never had the problem of their labels coming off, i always though i would but i keep mine pretty tidy.

 

 

I suspect it might have been a production problem with particular runs (had it happen to both the HOG and the 2880 foot controllers, which are really the same unit)...paint/decal incompatibility, maybe wrong oven temp, etc -- something like that

[slight-return]

BTW - sounds like you have a bad solder joint on that led - you could prob just go in and touch that up if it becomes a problem

[dZjupp]

yeah i looked at it and its just a cold solder, but its still 3/4 of the way working, so, i haven't messed with it enough. its about to make it's way off my board to make room for the SMM w/haz.

[jswartsel]

Is it still under warranty? You can send it in to them and they'll fix it.

 

 

Thanks everyone for the replies. It's a second hand unit, and I don't any warranty info on it so i'm not sure what my luck is there. I talked to John in their engineering dep. and he told me to send an email to rik@sovtek.com ... sound familiar anyone? What are their non-warranty repair costs generally like?

[dZjupp]

Thanks everyone for the replies. It's a second hand unit, and I don't any warranty info on it so i'm not sure what my luck is there. I talked to John in their engineering dep. and he told me to send an email to rik@sovtek.com ... sound familiar anyone? What are their non-warranty repair costs generally like?

 

 

10-15$ i believe, but with a hog, who knows,

[slight-return]

hmmm, yeah I'm not sure they even have a std bench fee or rate

 

I n general, I've had good experience with Tech support in general (and this may have to do with having logged hours on the other side of that line) by just trying to keep the attitude that WE have a technical situation and WE can cooperate to get things working right.

It can be pretty astounding how much extra effort a support guy will give when he knows his effort is appreciated

(not saying any of the negative experiences are b/c of a lack of that - just saying as a general demeanor I find it helpful, and it keeps my blood pressure lower)

 

 

for {censored}s n giggles (ie you can stop reading, I just have to RE a lot in my work, so it's a habit and just a fun guessing game here)

 

I'm thinking that with the amt of buttons and sliders that the buttons are probably MUXd onto the same input line (ie button 1's state might be tied to the first bit value, button 2 to the second bit value ) so that if there is a fault on that line, the buttons wouldn't work, but the sliders (which i assume would have thir own A/D input lines) would still work.

 

Just a guess and I've never even seen the schems so I don't know if that's the scheme they are using, if they would be muxing on a separate IC, or using

resistor ladders and an A/D or if it might be a firmware problem or what

but it's a good mental exercise for me to think about the different ways you could make a box like that go