EHX == Shite Build Quality

Hemisaurus · August 06, 2012, 10:01:18 PM

Seriously PO'd by this, had to replace a bad output jack on a LPB-1. Went to ease off the press fit knob (when did we stop using proper setscrew knobs?) and the fucking shaft came out the pot. Note the careful way they hot glue the pot to the circuit board as well, nice, and hope that it makes contact with the bare bit of PCB underneath good grounding here.

So now I have to either find a mini-pot that's splined for a press fit knob AND PCB mount, that I can order in a hurry, without making up a full order, or try and bodge the shaft back into the pot. Thanks you fuzzy headed asshole, whose name I can't quite remember, fuck this shit.

Mr. Foxen · August 06, 2012, 10:08:54 PM

US made one?

Hemisaurus · August 06, 2012, 10:31:03 PM

Yup Made in NYC, USA course it doesn't matter where it's built, if it's a crap design built from crap parts.

Lumpy · August 07, 2012, 12:02:52 AM

I would mail it to EHX with a nice, non-angry letter. Or if you bought it new, see if the store will take it back (Musicians Fiend or whatever).

Of course it's poor quality, that's why it only costs 35 dollars.

Corey Y · August 07, 2012, 12:11:59 AM

The inside of my NYC Big Muff might as well have been made of spiderwebs. I did a simple tone stack bypass and replaced a broken pot, every wire I touched came disconnected from the PCB. My friend who is very handy with pedal building went ahead and redid all the off board wiring for me, with thicker gauge wire and upgraded some of the components for me.

Lumpy · August 07, 2012, 12:14:44 AM

Supposedly, the build quality has always been shitty. Maybe the new, spendy pedals are built more solid (Flanger Hoax?) but who knows...

I did a quick solder on my friend's 80s Big Muff and inside it looked like it was made by amateurs.

bitter · August 07, 2012, 12:39:14 AM

I had one of the earlier double muffs in that half plastic enclosure and that strange undersized power tap. While I can't comment on the electronics, I really disliked the way they put that pedal together. The battery retention clip was on the door, but was so tight that I couldn't get it out w/out damaging the battery terminal by stripping the wires. Ended up having to let the battery float freely in the enclosure, which only smashed up the components causing unwanted noise.

giantchris · August 07, 2012, 01:04:34 AM

I'm not much of an electronics expert but my guitar player just got the new Freeze and the first one he had literally broke right when we got back to the space. The salesman in the store actually wouldn't let us step on it when we tested it in the store *_* wonder why. We opened the thing up everything about the inside screams ultra cheap to me and I barely know anything about electronics.

Admittedly when we got the one that worked its a pretty fun pedal. But I'd seriously question its ability to hold up longterm.

johnny problem · August 07, 2012, 01:15:03 AM

I only own one piece of EHX gear, the NYC Big muff reissue. Giant piece of crap. Whenever I stomp on the pedal, sounds like my foot will cave through. Will never purchase anything of theirs.

Ayek · August 07, 2012, 02:21:20 AM

My Q-tron+ seems to be ok. I ain't had to get the pcb out on it yet, so don't know if there'll be issues there. Weird thing I though was they had a 3pdt footswitch in there but hadn't wired it for true bypass switching. I changed the power on led so it would only be on when the pedal was engaged, too.

clockwork green · August 07, 2012, 02:22:50 AM

My green Russian muff was pretty poorly made but I've never had major problems with any of their pedals. I'm about to pickup one of the new Superego's.

Hemisaurus · August 07, 2012, 06:16:08 AM

Quote from: Lumpy on August 07, 2012, 12:02:52 AM
I would mail it to EHX with a nice, non-angry letter. Or if you bought it new, see if the store will take it back (Musicians Fiend or whatever).

Of course it's poor quality, that's why it only costs 35 dollars.

I see, so at what price point does their gear become better? Also note if I have it, it's because someone does't want to send it back to EHX with any kind of letter, nice or honest.

I imagined it was $35 because it's only a single transistor booster, and the transistor not being made of magic unicorn excrement in the 1960's, meant they couldn't hype it and charge $90 for it.

Lumpy · August 07, 2012, 06:23:56 AM

It didn't occur to me it was somebody else's pedal

Have you ever poked around here?
http://surf.to/stompbox

Effects builders, etc. (Forum). Maybe somebody has a switch they can sell you, or some useful advice.

Baltar · August 07, 2012, 09:29:43 AM

Quote from: Corey Y on August 07, 2012, 12:11:59 AM
The inside of my NYC Big Muff might as well have been made of spiderwebs. I did a simple tone stack bypass and replaced a broken pot, every wire I touched came disconnected from the PCB. My friend who is very handy with pedal building went ahead and redid all the off board wiring for me, with thicker gauge wire and upgraded some of the components for me.

I found the same problem when I did this mod. I did end up replacing the wiring in a number of spots. I had to do the same for my T.O. Crybaby as well. Also, the RATE pot on my Mem Boy DLX came broke, but I bought it used. His stuff is cheap, but newer stuff seems to be a bit better, the new Tone Wicker Muff looks pretty solid. I'm glad he's putting the mods already in the pedal, but you get what you pay for.

Slow · August 07, 2012, 11:43:42 AM

The higher end EHX stuff definitely is pretty decent in terms of build quality... Component quality is another thing. That being said, I have a POG, A Catherdal Reverb, a couple different compressors, Big Muffs, Qtrons, etc. None of them are broken, none of them seem like they're going to break. You ever see who does all of the assembly? It's Hispanic chicks, mostly. I dunno why.

The Shocker · August 07, 2012, 01:00:25 PM

Maybe he likes them like I like the sistas?

Slow · August 07, 2012, 01:51:23 PM

Questionable moral/business practices aside, I dig EHX.

grimniggzy · August 07, 2012, 02:16:02 PM

Quote from: Slow on August 07, 2012, 01:51:23 PM
Questionable moral/business practices aside, I dig EHX.

Same, some awesome pedals. Love my big box Qtron & I'll never let it go.

Hemisaurus · August 07, 2012, 03:16:45 PM

Well it was full of dry solder joints, that turns out to be the real problem, but the PCB itself, along with the other parts, were low quality, traces were lifting, which is something I can't remember the last time I had that bad a board. It probably explains the cold joints, the assemblers will know it can't take heat enough to make a good join.

Not the first LPB-1 I've had on the bench recently, and it's common to them all, though this is the first one the pot came apart as well. Last that happened to me was a Fender amp one of the solid state ones, a Stage or Super or Showman, something like that.

This could have been made in the US, China or Mexico, by Buck, Tanaka or Juan, and it would still have sucked.

'Nuff said.

Slow · August 07, 2012, 03:21:11 PM

It's a simple boost, why use a gigantic board like that in the first place? F U Surface mount jacks and pots.

harm.on.x · August 07, 2012, 03:36:22 PM

I also don't like the way they build things. I had a Russian Muff (the green one like Clockwork Green had) and the wiring, switch, pots and battery compartment was a complete fucking joke. Not to mention the input and output jacks being in the opposite order than any other pedal. The sound was good but I was always stressed out about having the thing crapping out on me at the wrong place and the wrong time. After the Black Keys became famous every hipster out there was looking for a Green Muff. I swapped mine, together a compressor and a couple other cheap gizmos for a Tele. Sweet deal.
I also have an old Electric Mistress. This is better built but still...nothing to write home about.
I checked some of their new offerings and they are cheaply made. It seems that they are cutting corners everywhere.

Hemisaurus · August 07, 2012, 04:09:09 PM

Quote from: Slow on August 07, 2012, 03:21:11 PM
It's a simple boost, why use a gigantic board like that in the first place? F U Surface mount jacks and pots.

See new post.

fallen · August 08, 2012, 02:04:50 AM

Made in China enclosure, board, components, pots and jacks all surface mounted and assembled in NYC.

I know that their pedals aren't built to last forever but for the price they are pretty good. Still better off finding a MIJ Boss or Ibanez pedal... not that they make too many envelope filters or other weird effects.

EHX does make some great pedals, good ideas and some good sounds but their digital pedals can cause a lot of hum if you don't feed them with their own power supply.

Corey Y · August 08, 2012, 12:58:26 PM

Out of the everything EHX sells, ironically I think the Nano line is the most sturdy. I've had a pile of their pedals and a lot of problems with them falling apart with heavy use, but my Small Stone Nano has always been solid. Since a lot of that line are reissues of their oldest pedals too, they tend to solve some issues that people have modded the originals to fix. Like the volume drop and tone suck in the Small Stone. I bought it because Analogman posted on his website that he wasn't producing the Small Stone mod anymore, because the Nano addressed all the issue his mod did. It only took 30-40 for them to do a second round of R&D on most of the pedals. EHX has a lot of really cool pedals, but a lot of their designs come out half baked in the execution and their shoddy build quality reflects that attitude a lot of the time. Sometimes their shit lasts forever and it sounds great, sometimes it seems like a half finished idea and it falls apart the first time you open it.

Hemisaurus · August 08, 2012, 04:33:07 PM

NB it was an LPB, they've been making it since the 70's, it's not digital, it's not surface mount, it's just shoddy.