How often have you had to have mic pres serviced?

Funny you should bring this up, I’ve been wondering the same thing. The only Chandler gear I ever owned was a pair of Germanium Compressors. I bought them used and had to have them serviced too. The bench fee was pretty reasonable but the shipping and insurance killed me. It was probably $300-400 in total.

Right now I have a Sebstron VMP4000 that needs servicing, I’ve been trying to get a hold of Sebatron but haven’t heard back yet. If anyone knows a good tech let me know…I might have to take care of it domestically.

Not to add to the dog pile but I bought a Chandler Germanium Compressor used from Guitar Center once and the power supply smoked and failed on power up. I returned it, never got to try the thing.

Just had my Quad Eights serviced, first time since I got them in 2006.

I’d be interested to know which parts were the culprit with the Chandler Germanium pre: perhaps it has to do with the germanium transistors themselves. Wouldn’t be surprising if Chandler using NOS devices from a time when semiconductor industry in its infancy. For modern designs (typically silicon) many years of iteration (and something called HTOL testing) allow for a much better understanding of device aging and how to minimize it when fabricating devices —> the early transistor options would very likely have reliability issues in comparison. If I recall correctly some of the first commercial BJTs were germanium but only after a few years everything basically went silicon.

So NOS tubes are quite possibly from the pinnacle of tube technology (1960s) but early NOS transistors are likely to be sort of the opposite.

Having said that, it’s still quite possible that the differing germanium behavior (non-linearity) imparts something unique sonically and worth the trouble, at least to some users.


Update - I did a quick internet search and found at least one electronics forum post discussing reliability issues with Germanium vs silicon: www.antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=189798&start=20

Some of the issues they discuss can be handled with good circuit design techniques, but it’s possible these “fixes” would alter sonics also.

How exactly are these failing? Noise, or full failure? Full failure would suggest too high a voltage and/or too much current flow.

I know with vintage germanium, viability comes down to how well the physical package design keeps humidity out of the transistor. Most germanium is noisy for this reason. There are some package types that still play on fine after decades in service.

First two times were noise. Most recent time was noise though eventually no signal. I was told each time the germanium amps were bad. This time one unit had switched swapped out also. I love the units but with the frequent service, I could have bought new pres already.

Also forgot I had to replace a heat sink in the power supply also some years ago

Not to deter anyone from buying a Germanium Preamp, as I only had one of my several Chandler units go wack on me, but after several years of excellent results. I absolutely love that preamp and the whole germanium line. I’m a huge fan of Chandler, as I have used, and have owned several Chandler units over the decades. I’m a very happy Chandler customer. Great gear🤟🏻

Just like the good Doctor, never unless something breaks which has been extremely on the rare occasion side of things.

Toft stereo strip once . . . bad caps
Avalon 737sp, tube went bad but looked fine
Vintech 73i's - dropped over to Dallas's and he had a tech fix them on the spot whilst we jammed

minor little things on an old Neve.

Once a decade something needs some love, out of 50+preamps/channel strips.

After about 12 years I had to exercise a BAE's switches with Deoxit, fixed the issue.

Over the years I've had Daking, Hardy, Presonus and Stam preamps with issues. The Hardy went back twice, but it was just some flaky connections to the meters. Nothing all that bad. Cost a couple hundred each time. The Daking and Stam both had some larger issues. Daking took care of it quickly and again, it might have only been $250 or so. The Stam I had to figure out myself, but I have not had any further problems with it.