Reliability problems? Actual experiences vs. perception

[ragingplatypi]

Sure, we could design some crazy car stereo-like ID where the entire cluster slides out and pivots up but that's risky on a tour reliability front (not to mention the public perception of reliability problem)

That bit in the parentheses got me thinking about what gear I've had that has actually failed, and what I realized was actual reliability to me means that it failed twice in the same way. But also, how good the gear is in general greatly colors my perception.

I had a digital Blackstar ID:Core 100 that reset everything I programed into it. After the second time I gave up on it.
I've had my HX Stomp and my Helix LT fail me at different points. In both cases the problem resolved when I reloaded the firmware. I'm way more forgiving of the Line 6 failures because they have not repeated, but also because the Line 6 gear has been life changing for me, whereas the Blackstar amp was not.

My Vox Tonelab SE was fine for 14 years before one of the switches died. The Baggs X-Bridge on my guitar failed after 17 years. Most of my cables, cheap or expensive, have started failing after about 20-30 years. I look at a lot of my old gear as ticking timebombs, but I don't think of it as a reliability problem.

I think we don't trust touchscreens because the phone industry tells us they must be replaced every 3 years. The oldest touchscreen product I have is a 9-year-old iPad. After being manhandled by children for most of those years half the screen is a different hue, but it technically still functions. Granted my kids never spilt a beer on it.

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

Granted my kids never spilt a beer on it.

I play mostly in church these days. Baptist, not Lutheran, so the chances of having a beer spilled on it are significantly diminished. (But never zero)

When I think of the kinds of abuse my gear took while playing bars and it still not failing: transporting, setting up and tearing down, bumps, and once even a fight between members of our opening band, I wonder if I make too big a deal over reliability.

 

[ian_dissonance]

Outside of what I would consider beginner or practice tools (small combos, headphone amps, Behringturd anything that isn’t a digital mixer) most reliability issues are exaggerated greatly online. If a company sells 30,000 units and 10 have issues that’s really not a reliability issue, but those 10 people will make a stink every chance they get if that’s what they perceive. Most of the time when I see someone with a broken piece of decent hardware you can tell by the dust and the jizz and the generally sloppy area the item lives in that it’s not a reliability issue, it’s a user abuse issue, lol. The perception of stuff like touchscreens, footswitches, adjustable components as being an issue is mostly because people with jerk-off hands handle everything like it’s a leather boot.

 

[EOengineer]

It’s mostly what I consider “consumables” that have broken for me historically. Strings, cables, tubes, etc. there have been a few unexpected hardware failures though;

1. Ibanez floor processor died with only bedroom jamming after a year or two.
2. Alesis MIDIVerb died after a year or so of light gigs back in the late 90s.
3. PodXT Live started freezing and eventually died after 3 years.
4. Mesa 2:90 failed in a spectacular display of smoke in the early 2000s
5. Mesa Mark III power tube failure and fried grid resistor 5 years ago.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

A few years ago, I bought a Framus Cobra. Thomann had some remaining stock of this amp, which had actually been out of production for several years.
But somehow I never really gelled with it; it was super complicated to dial in and sounded a little too harsh and sterile to me overall.
So, I placed a classified ad and quickly found a buyer. He had quite a long drive to get here, about three hours from Cologne. Shortly before he arrived, I turned the amp on to say goodbye with a few riffs. And suddenly it was dead. Dead as a doornail.
Five minutes later, the buyer arrived and I was ashamed to the point of wanting to disappear into the ground. How embarrassing. Fortunately, he was friendly and didn't yell at me. But of course, he drove home empty-handed. So he had driven six hours for nothing.
Thanks, Framus Cobra.

 

[laxu]

I've had an Egnater tube amp die and require repairs. Other tube amps that have had tube issues.

For modelers I had to fix an encoder on the Hotone Ampero 2 Stomp, and the DC jack became loose enough that I decided to replace it too. The encoder was a fluke, and DC barrel jacks are not exactly a great design for durability as it's easy for the tab that holds the plug to become loose over time, or the plastic gets a bit out of shape making it looser.

Otherwise on modelers the biggest issues I've had have been:

• Issues on startup. This has only happened on the Fractal FM3. It could boot with garbled audio or a non-working footswitch (no display). Rebooting fixed it every time.
• Random crashes. I've been able to get this on a Helix Floor, FM3 and Axe-Fx 3. It was usually a one time thing, and rebooting fixed it.
  • This is why modeler bootup time matters. Nobody cares if you need to wait 15 seconds for a Helix Floor to reboot, but your singer better have a bit of banter while waiting over 100 seconds for a Quad Cortex to boot.

Then there's things like scratchy pots on old guitars, faulty instrument or patch cables etc. Those are the most common faults in guitar gear.

As for touchscreens, they tend to have three states: pristine, works but with a huge crack in them, and busted. I haven't had a cracked screen in years but it happens. But it's not like non-touch LCD screens are immune to this either, as those don't necessarily have more protective glass on them like touchscreens do.

 

[metropolis_4]

I’ve had tons of gear failures over the years, but when I compare it to how many shows I’ve played across how many years it’s still a relatively low occurrence.

The problem is perception. Some of those gear failure incidents are traumatic and they make a BIG impression. So they get more weight than they deserve in my memory.

Still, I always gig by the old musicians version of Murphy’s Law “anything that can break will break” and diligently keep spares and backups at all times.

 

[Mongillo19]

Thanks, Framus Cobra.

I know the Framus Cobra for 2 things

1) being used by KSE
2) it's ability to be constantly malfunctioning

Not sure if Internet lore (the basis of this thread) but the Framis Cobra seems to have a reputation of not reliable

 

[JiveTurkey]

I know the Framus Cobra for 2 things

1) being used by KSE
2) it's ability to be constantly malfunctioning

Not sure if Internet lore (the basis of this thread) but the Framis Cobra seems to have a reputation of not reliable

I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wanted one back in the day but I never heard good things about it ever other than that KSE guitar tone

 

[Digital Igloo]

I think we don't trust touchscreens because the phone industry tells us they must be replaced every 3 years. The oldest touchscreen product I have is a 9-year-old iPad. After being manhandled by children for most of those years half the screen is a different hue, but it technically still functions. Granted my kids never spilt a beer on it.

Fun fact: Almost all modern touchscreens are just normal color LCDs (which can often be purchased as is), except with a touch layer added for additional cost. Many LCD manufacturers don't even have a special "touchscreen" section in their catalogs; you just pick your LCD and ask the company to add a touch layer.

Okay, that fact wasn't necessarily fun.

 

[bucephalus]

Fun fact: Almost all modern touchscreens are just normal color LCDs (which can often be purchased as is), except with a touch layer added for additional cost. Many LCD manufacturers don't even have a special "touchscreen" section in their catalogs; you just pick your LCD and ask the company to add a touch layer.

Okay, that fact wasn't necessarily fun.

But it was slightly interesting to me.