GC blowing out Oktava

  • Thread starter Thread starter Richard Monroe
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timboZ said:
I dont give a rats ass if it was built in Russia of China.
I have a good sounding tube mic for onli $99.oo :) :) :)
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That's the right attitude! :D
 
I would want that wooden box tho, so I guess I'll pass on it.
 
timboZ said:
Hay, I got mine from down by you. Rockville GC
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Damn -- I wanted to go there tomorrow and get one :D Are there still some left? Did you check it out yet? Any good?
 
Giganova said:
Damn -- I wanted to go there tomorrow and get one :D Are there still some left?
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...judging by Ebay's premature ending of the (speculative) Oktava auctions, and GC's generous 30 day return policy, my guess is that the GC inventory of counterfeit Oktavas should be replenished in a few days...

...just curious...if you hear that funny "pffftttt" sound and a puff of smoke pumps outta the power supply, who do you go to for warranty support?...Oktava? (don't think so)...GC? (small chance)...that guy that sold the counterfeit mics to GC? (what's his name?)...
 
all i can say is, what a crazy bunch of circumstances surrounding this whole okraßa thing. it's really bizzare and i'm not getting any of them.

i don't care if they go down to $39.

i have one mk-012 w/ the -10dB and docs w/ freq. resp. cuvre, but it's a combination of the 2 images supposedly Chinese vs. Ruskies. i'll keep that one, don't know for sure what it is, but it's the only one i'll have for sure. got it about a year ago, like it.

it's amazing what a real or perceived scarcity will do for sales....
 
The Oktava's that GC are selling are made in China by Alctron Audio which is the same manufacturer of the Apex 460, Nady 1150, Carvin 100, and the infamous Telefunken M16. I received an email from one of the reps from Alctron confirming they do OEM for Oktava. Hope this helps in all of the confusion over the origin of the latest Oktava's from GC.
 
Funny how a supossedly "leaked GC memo" changes the opinion of most of you guys. I don't even buy this memo story and think its a hoax.
 
The 319 that I bought last weekend came in a cardboard tube but has a frequency chart written in Russian. Don't know if it's Russian or Chinese but it sounds better than one I had and traded away about 4 years ago.
This whole deal reminds me of the Blue controversey. Makes you wonder who's innocent, who's guilty and if we should feel bad about getting a good sounding mic for dirt cheap.
Anyway, I also felt suspect of the Guitar Center memo. It seems that a store wide memo would've had better grammer.
 
I just can't believe that a giant seller like the GC (= biggest music gear seller on the planet) wouldn't know that the mics are from China. That's hard to imagine.
I assume that they must have ordered directly from China -- but why would a store put its reputation on the line for such a relatively small profit??

The hole story stinks IMHO. Nothing really makes sense here.
 
Giganova said:
I just can't believe that a giant seller like the GC (= biggest music gear seller on the planet) wouldn't know that the mics are from China. That's hard to imagine.
I assume that they must have ordered directly from China -- but why would a store put its reputation on the line for such a relatively small profit??

The hole story stinks IMHO. Nothing really makes sense here.
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...it's simple...the US Sales Rep for Oktava was let go by the home office...he's been servicing the GC account for years...before anybody noticed his departure from the company, he went ahead and filled existing orders that were secured for GC prior to his parting with the company, by contracting product himself directly from China...GC gets delivery of the product at their main distribution center, unsuspecting of the origin of the product (but really, what's the difference to GC where the mics were made...Russia...China...I mean, it's entry-level priced goods...where do you think most of the other entry-level priced guitars, basses, amps, PA's, mixers, etc. are comin' from?...C-H-I-N-A)...the product gets distributed to all the local stores...easier to liquidate the inventory in a blowout sale, than reship all that product back to the distribution center and negotiate returning goods to a manufacturer, who now claims "they're not OUR goods!"...
...this kinda shit goes on all the time in major chain retail stores...I was a sales manager for a manufacturing company in NY for years...we supplied many of the big chain stores...you got a big order...you find a way to FILL the order...it's all about dollars...
...ever buy some BVD underwear in Walmart?...check the country of origin...Malaysia...Costa Rica...Honduras...El Salvador...you think Walmart cares who stitched that crap together?...if you don't buy it, some other poor slob will...
...if 30-40% of these conterfeit Oktavas get returned to GC, somebody else will gladly pony up the dough to take home a tube mic for under a $100...no sweat off GC's ass...none at all!...make any sense now?...
...point is, if you're happy with your purchase, that's great!...great value is a judgement by the buyer...I just wonder if these SAME exact mics were selling for these SAME exact prices, BUT they had the name "Nady" or "Behringer" on them instead of Oktava, would everybody be running out to grab one up?...
 
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<i>The 319 that I bought last weekend came in a cardboard tube but has a frequency chart written in Russian. </i>

Mine is exactly the same. I had guitar center order my mk319 from another store since their 2 in stock looked abused and had no mic clips. It came in a tube with a manual printed in russian, individual test chart and a date stamp ending in '03. I would say that this is from Russia. However, their mk012's are chinese for sure. The easiest way to tell, they don't come with the -20bd pad or metal clips. I didn't know that the mk319's were also reproduced in China, but I'm pretty sure mine isn't. I'm sittin' pretty for $70.
 
timboZ said:
I dont give a rats ass if it was built in Russia of China.
I have a good sounding tube mic for onli $99.oo :) :) :)
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You got that right! I think most of the "sour grapes" are coming from people that missed their opportunity to buy one themselves, or have some other axe to grind. A good deal is a good deal. I used my MKL-2500 last night... a $90 tube mic (GC gave me a $10 discount for being an ASCAP member) never sounded so good, regardless of where it was built... :)

PS : mine appears to be one of the "hybrid" versions someone mentioned... it came in a plastic case (not wood) and there was no shock mount or spec sheet included; the mic has a serial number on the collar (which indicates a Russian mic), and the power supply has "PS-2" silkscreened on the three-sided cover which attaches to the chassis with four screws, two per lower edge of the two sides (which indicates a Chinese power supply).
 
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kid klash said:
I used my MKL-2500 last night... a $90 (GC gave me a $10 discount for being an ASCAP member) tube mic never sounded so good, regardless of where it was built... :)
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...nobody ever said that the Chinese can't build a sweet mic for just a few bucks...Chinese product quality has been better than Russian (at similar pricepoint) for over a decade...no reason why that mic shouldn't sound very decent...Enjoy!...no sour grapes here...most of my mics are Chinese made and they perform very well...

PS...those "Russian" charts that were included with the mics could easily be duplicated as part of the counterfeit product...judge the mic by it's performance, not by the country of origin...in the guitar biz, "lawsuit" guitars (knockoff models of brand name guitars in which the original manufacturer sued the counterfeiter to cease production) are often worth more in the long run than the original model that was duplicated...
 
hardcore guy said:
<i>The 319 that I bought last weekend came in a cardboard tube but has a frequency chart written in Russian. </i>

Mine is exactly the same. I had guitar center order my mk319 from another store since their 2 in stock looked abused and had no mic clips. It came in a tube with a manual printed in russian, individual test chart and a date stamp ending in '03. I would say that this is from Russia. However, their mk012's are chinese for sure. The easiest way to tell, they don't come with the -20bd pad or metal clips. I didn't know that the mk319's were also reproduced in China, but I'm pretty sure mine isn't. I'm sittin' pretty for $70.
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Yeah, cause if you're going to make a counterfeit russian mic, the writing on the papers should be in chinese... :rolleyes:

I got a chinese MKL-2500. I checked by the missing serial number and the letters A.S.M. on the back. It sounds great!
 
oh shit, i just remembered. the guitar center in jacksonville that i went to the day before labor day (the one that said they "MIGHT" go on sale tomorrow...) came with an extra capsule and the -10 pad. i guess i was too mad that the salesman was being a dick.. i should have bought them up like crazy.
 
and i've noticed the "real" ones are coming down in price on ebay-- $125 for a single one buy it now!
 
I'm not denying the possibility that my mk319 is chinese. But the russian manual with individual frequency chart (partialy hand written) with a hand written serial number, individual date stamp ending on 03(did they even have knock offs in 03?), hand stamped "OTK-B" and being hand signed seemed pretty convincing. As far as I know, none of the knock offs came with these. It's possible that it's chinese and they went through all the trouble to counterfeit these documents and fill some parts out by hand, although for a company that has promised sales through guitar center either way, doesn't seem like they need to do a lot of convincing. Furthermore, I haven't been able to find any real info about fake mk319's. I saw some supposed guitar center memo that could easily be fake itself, that's all.

With all the controversy, you're right. It doesn't matter where it was made, it matters how it sounds. I'm going to play with it today and we'll see.
 
nobody's gonna bother to fake a freq responce chart just to fool you. they'd just not include it.

vendetta? much?
 
Seems reasonable that if its hand written, then its the real deal. My chinese one didn't have any, so that makes sense too. If they were just trying to fake everyone out it would just be a photo copy. As far as I know, the clones started appearing this year, so '03 is safe.

If they are cloning the whole thing, including reverse engineering the capsule, they should sound fairly close to the real deal.
 
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