rockmonkeyguitars
11 posts
Mar 03, 2014
4:20 AM
|
I recently tried a Hohner Blues Blaster mic and liked so I decided to buy one. The mic worked great for about 10min and then started to cut in and out until finally it died. When I'd shake the mic it would give a clicking noise through the amp which indicated a bad solder joint. When I opened the mic I saw that they had not insulated a single one of their solder joints so they were able clunk around inside the mic and make contact with the shell causing the mic to short out completely. I also found that one of the solder connections had broken so I had to re solder the bad connection and then insulate all the connections with some electrical tape. After the fix the mic worked great for about 10 min then died again. I opened it up and everything looked ok so I turned my attention to the cable. The new cable which had only been plugged in and unplugged 2 times had already broken on the Xlr side. I fixed the cable and started playing again only to have the mic die a 3rd time. This time it was the other side of the cable. So I've spent more time fixing this mic than actually using it. The mic it's self broke in 10 min but wasn't properly insulated anyway and the cable broke twice and in less than 30min use. I'm not impressed. I've messaged Hohner about it and have gotten no response.
To make matters worse, hohner doesn't use standard wiring for their XLR jack which means anybody that doesn't know how to wire their own cables has to either spend lots of money on an overpriced costum cable or they have to keep buying these horrible Hohner cables. Luckily I do know how to fix this stuff otherwise I would have been even more frustrate than I already am.
Are problems like these normal with the current generation of blues blaster mics? Are there other mics that should be avoided for similar reasons?
|
NiteCrawler .
272 posts
Mar 03, 2014
4:49 AM
|
If you hit the forum search on this mic you will find out the issues with it.I bought one solely for the shell $50.when they were on sale obviously.The element cheesy IMO and the cable is going to fail.some sooner than later.The screw on connector is slightly larger than the norm switchcraft but I did manage to get one on with the intention of leaving it there.I loaded a decent cm into the shell and its good to go.Bottom line,with most everything today,its made to break.Some folks on here use them at home and I,m sure they,ll last longer but if you plan on taking them out on a date, your lucky if you make it to second base.JMO
|
jbone
1514 posts
Mar 03, 2014
4:57 AM
|
I would say you get what you pay for. Those mics are likely made in a third world country as cheaply as humanly possible to maximize profits. The shell is maybe the best feature of the mic.
You could send the whole mess to a builder like Greg Heumann and he could make something you could depend on, or you could upgrade cable, connectors, whatever.
I personally prefer a well built mic. I am a bit ham handed but have managed to do a bit on a couple of mics. But for real quality I expect to pay a fair price and get good quality from a skilled mic artisan, and I need that if I am to successfully play a night with no hitches.
I hear this about the current crop of "new" mics, long on appearance but short on quality and longevity.
My method, old school, has been to use a good element, say a cm, and solder a cut off guitar cable to it, with some sort of strain relief. I have one mic that has survived that way for about 15 years. It's been played, dropped, neglected, everything but used for a hammer. It helps to know how to solder, but decent cable is obviously a must. Shrink tube is nice. I never attempted to install a screw on connector because of the tooling involved.
I'd say either buy a good one or have that blues blaster rebuilt by a pro.
----------
http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000386839482
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa7La7yYYeE
Last Edited by jbone on Mar 03, 2014 4:59 AM
|
slackwater
12 posts
Mar 03, 2014
5:07 AM
|
I don't know about currently but I bought one about five or six years ago and it was pretty much crap. You didn't mention how the paint falls off by one merely looking at it, and you may want to drill a little hole in the shell alongside the XLR output and whack in a screw to stop the thing falling out. That'll probably be next. My cable didn't fail altogether but it was as noisy as buggery (rubbish shielding) and pretty much useless. Oh, and the element was a two bob (that's about a quarter in US money) kobitone bit of shit.
It's a shame too because once upon a time they were great mics. I was given one about thirty something years ago and I believe that then they were still made by Astatic for Hohner- it definitely had an Astatic MC127/MC151 element in it with heavy wire and pretty well put together. Goodness knows who makes 'em now.
I put a Shure CM in the shell of the newer one, completely rewired it and made a good mic out of it,and I took all the paint off, with my fingernail basically.
Last Edited by slackwater on Mar 03, 2014 10:45 PM
|
rockmonkeyguitars
12 posts
Mar 03, 2014
7:16 AM
|
That is too bad. I was kind of hoping I just got a lemon.
I wouldn't have thought this was a cheap mic. In the uk it costs significantly more than a shure sm57. I've got a shure 520d (new old stock from the late 80's) that I purchased about a year ago for a third the price of a blues blaster. I didn't expect to be blown away with quality. I knew a lot of people didn't like the element, but not insulating the wires is unacceptable. Even cheap mics insulate the wires floating around inside the shell.
|
CarlA
463 posts
Mar 03, 2014
10:22 AM
|
It's odd how the Honer company could allow such absolute rubbish of a product as the "Blues Blaster" mic to even be manufactured.
I guess marketing really does work! Just slap the word "blues" on something and it should sell must be their mantra.
|
Udderkuz03
42 posts
Mar 03, 2014
10:31 AM
|
Lemon law....LOL...
|
rockmonkeyguitars
14 posts
Mar 03, 2014
11:07 AM
|
are their other brands that should be avoided due to quality control issues? By this I mean other mics that are known to falling apart, failing, being defective, not being properly assembled...
|
jpmcbride
29 posts
Mar 03, 2014
11:14 AM
|
Rock,
Generally I don't post about other microphones because I have my own microphone business (Bottle 'O Blues) and my comments might be received as not objective. But, the problems with the cable that you mention are very common with Bluesblasters. I've fixed quite a few for other people.
If you like your Bluesblaster, then I suggest the following ... this is what I do to them.
Resolder the wires to the XLR so they are on the standard pins.
Throw away the cable that came with the mic.
Buy an XLR to 1/4" adapter and plug it into the mic.
Use a guitar cable.
If you do this you won't have any more problems. If you prefer to use an XLR cable, at least resolder the wires so you can use a standard XLR to 1/4" cable that you can buy at a music store. The cable that comes with the mic is wired non-standard, and is low quality, and will not last at all.
----------
Jim McBride
www.bottleoblues.com
Last Edited by jpmcbride on Mar 03, 2014 11:14 AM
|
atty1chgo
862 posts
Mar 03, 2014
12:07 PM
|
Why bother fixing it? Throw it in the garbage, and tell everyone far and wide that this was the best thing that could ever happen to this mic. :) Then go out and spend the money and buy a quality microphone. It's not worth the hassle as a harp player to try and save money and go cheap.
|
yogi
70 posts
Mar 03, 2014
12:22 PM
|
@Jbone
''Those mics are likely made in a third world country''
Have we not all moved on from such comments. Where are you referring to? India? China? Both are kicking my and yours economies into touch rapidly.
Time to move on from such ignorant comments.
|
barbequebob
2483 posts
Mar 03, 2014
12:47 PM
|
These have been made in Japan ever since Astatic stopped making them themselves and the reason Astatic stopped making them was because the company making the crystal and ceramic cartridges stopped making them and then Hohner bought put the rights to it and the crystals they're using are made by Kobitone of Japan.
I've never really like the switch to an XLR cable at all and at times, the soldering wasn't quite right or the connector wasn't always properly pressed in, even when Astatic owned them (and it was even worse when they used the mini-XLR cable setup and I found that you would find bad cables with the XLR to 1/4 cable set up much more frequently than with the old screw on connector and with the screw on set up, you could always get an adapter so that you can use a guitar cable, which often times were better cables to bergin with.
----------
Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
|
slackwater
13 posts
Mar 03, 2014
1:50 PM
|
Someone suggested throwing it in the bin, well you can if you want but, the shell/body may be a starting point to make a decent mic. As I said above, I put a Shure CM in one of those bodies. At least it wasn't a total waste of money.
P.S. I didn't use the volume control with the CM. At 1MEG Ohms I reckoned it was rated way too high.
Last Edited by slackwater on Mar 03, 2014 4:52 PM
|
capnj
199 posts
Mar 03, 2014
8:51 PM
|
The best inexpensive Mic I own is Jim McBrides bottle of blues.I kinda understand hohners getting people playing a cheaply made knockoff,something to start on,but never satifies when you continue progressing,and understand big boys toys cost.So you will end up shelling out to upgrade a stinker,don't feel bad,that road has been heavily travelled.
Last Edited by capnj on Mar 03, 2014 8:53 PM
|
Greg Heumann
2625 posts
Mar 03, 2014
8:53 PM
|
If you think the BluesBlaster is cheaply made, you should see the Hohner Roadhouse JT30. It makes the BluesBlaster look like a Cadillac while the RH-JT30 is a Pinto.
Hohner's track record with electronics is awful. It is clear they simply want the cheapest possible product they can sell to unsuspecting beginners. Whether it is greed or ignorance it is inexcusable. They also have a $300 amplifier (with optional wireless mic) called the HooDoo that is also embarrassingly bad. The VHT Special 6 is WAY better by comparison, and cheaper. Surely with just a little genuine care Hohner could have done better. The elements in the BluesBlaster and JT30-RH can be had for a few bucks.
Maybe they laugh all the way to the bank because there's a constant influx of new users - but to me its a lousy long term business strategy as it puts a bad taste in customers' mouths.
Hohner should stick to making harmonicas!
----------
***************************************************
/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
See my Customer Mics album on Facebook
BlueState - my band
Bluestate on iTunes
Last Edited by Greg Heumann on Mar 03, 2014 8:54 PM
|
rockmonkeyguitars
15 posts
Mar 04, 2014
1:25 AM
|
Well, I have taken the advice to rewire the thing to fit a regular xlr to quarter inch cable and added a grub screw so that the xlr jack doesn't fall out. I like the tone I get from the element and transformer inside this mic so I'm going to keep those until the element dies. The pot in this mic is actually a quality pot so I'm keeping that too.
It's experiences like these that remind me why I build my own gear.
|
jbone
1517 posts
Mar 04, 2014
4:24 AM
|
@yogi: This was not intended as a slur but as a fact. True those economies are beating the good ol' USA, but it's not by embracing quality, it's by flooding the market with cheaply made goods. Tell me I'm wrong. I personally don't care who makes an item, if it's got good quality I buy it. Other side of the coin I will not support bad quality. Relaxing our standards in this country in particular has led to our current situation imho.
I buy mostly Suzuki harps for their superior quality. I used to buy Hohner until they got complacent and let their quality slip too far. If an American manufacturer came into being I'd buy American made harps. IF THEY were QUALITY.
My mics are largely from the 60's or before. Made in USA.
----------
http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000386839482
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa7La7yYYeE
|
Greg Heumann
2626 posts
Mar 04, 2014
7:54 AM
|
"to fit a regular xlr to quarter inch cable" - no such thing. There are simply two standards - pin 2 hot and pin 3 hot. The BB comes wired pin 3 hot.
Element and transformer? Not the original element in the BluesBlaster, ever. They always had a crystal of one kind or another - no transformer.
----------
***************************************************
/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions
See my Customer Mics album on Facebook
BlueState - my band
Bluestate on iTunes
|
rockmonkeyguitars
20 posts
Mar 04, 2014
11:33 AM
|
^mine has a transformer in it so they obviously did/do use transformers in their blues blaster. And before anybody says it might be fake, I can say with certainty that it is real. I purchased it directly from hohner's UK distributor.
As for the nonexistence of "regular xlr to quarter inch" cables, I think you are being a bit picky. Yes there are 2 standards but one standard is widely used in todays music industry. The cables are easy to find online, most music shops have them in stock and many many companies mass produce them. The other standard is not used very much any more, most music shops don't carry them, they are difficult to find online unless you get them custom made or buy them from Hohner.
|
