How bad is quality control in Oktava´s

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TamaSabian

TamaSabian

Peruvian skin beater
I´ve read a lot of posts about Oktava´s bad quality control. Do you have any idea how really bad it is?. I mean could you tell a number.... 1 out of 4 Mc 012 fails, or 1 out of 10, or something??.
I´m looking for a pair in Ebay, what do you think, is this the right place??.

Check this out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2545998361&category=15198

They got 10!! available, I know that if I buy a pair won´t be matched, but it doesn´t matter at all.
 
I dont think its so much a X for every X fails but more that certain mics sound much better (aka - as they are supposed to) than a bunch of the others. Ive seen it documented that the SoundRoom gets the cream of the crop and Guitar Centre just gets a whole slew (in other words - you need to find the cream of the crop mics within the morass).
Hope that helps a little bit (and I hope Im not being too delusional)
 
I purchased two Oktavas MK-012-01s at different times from GC and both are exceptional. In fact they are identical sounding. When I put them in X-Y setup they produce very high quality results.

They can currently be bought for $75 and are one of the best buys that can be had right from GC. These things used to sell for $300 a couple of years ago. So, my story with them is major thumbs up for recording acoustic instruments.

When the sales guy goes to retrieve them ask him to bring back 2-3 and let you plug them in. That way you can weed out any bad ones.
 
I have 10 MC012 preamp bodies at last count: 4 originally from The Sound Room, and 6 originally from GC. Of the 6 from GC, two have had problems due to dirty PCBs (LF rumble noise)- easily fixed by defluxing the board. One was profoundly dead out of the box (I bought several of them in a panic, without listening to them, while on the way to a live gig for which I needed more mics). The dead one I replaced with a refurbished unit from The Sound Room. The ones sourced directly from The Sound Room have been no problem at all.

Ditto on the capsules that came from there: no problem. Out of the 25 or so capsules I have, the GC capsules have only turned up with one problem, and that one was really cosmetic: the screen holder on one of the cardioid capsules was loose and would fall off (shipping damage, about which more below). Some superglue fixed that. I've had no problem at all with diaphragm tension, or contamination causing leakage or noise. None of my capsules qualifay as a dud.

The most telling thing to me is the condition of the mics when you first get them. The GC mics are packed in those little plastic clamshell factory cases, with the capsules in pockets beside the preamp body. Look at the bodies for little fingernail-shaped dents: those are caused by the capsules bashing into the preamp body when the box is dropped (or maybe the whole pallet of boxes!). *Every one* of my GC mics has had at least one such ding when the box was opened when new. Only one of the Sound Room bodies had that, and it was the one that I bought as a refurb... Maybe that speaks more to abuse suffered at my local GC, and less to Oktava's QC. Your mileage may vary: but mine from GC had consistently taken a bit of a beating, and the dents tell the tale.

Moral of the story: if you're going to take these mics out for location work, make a better road case for them. The factory clamshells are completely _useless_...

The mics themselves, on the other hand, are definitely _not_ useless. They are the best bang-for-the-buck going in SDCs, for my money, and are very applicable to a lot of situations. Dents and all! Put in a little TLC, and you'll find them to be good mics that will serve you well.
 
I ended up buying around 9 mics ( ML-52, MK319 and MK219) and found all to be working fine. They all sound great and the price was great. I guess you cannot deny the people who have had bad ones. But, there have not been many people who have had bad ones when you consider the sheer volume of these units.
Oktava puts out so many mics that it is mind boggling.
So, If Neumann sold the same volume as Oktava, I bet the number of bad ones would be about the same.
 
:D I have 6 Okatavas, the fit and finish leaves a little to be desired, but they work/sound real well.


da MUTT
 
Thanks for all your comments about this "bad quality thing". Now if I have to decide between MK012 and 603, I know what will you recommend me. But if I tell you where I´m going to buy each one, things could change. If I go for the Oktavas I´ll buy them in Ebay, the 603´s at 8th street dot com. There´s nothing else I can do because I live in Perú, I can´t give them a try and compare, I have to decide using the information that you guys provide to me.
 
I live in Peru, a country of South America, near Chile, Brazil and Colombia.
 
The quality control on the ones Digital Village sell had better be damned good, seeing as how they charge about as much as the Sound Room.
 
Acorec, sure you want to take me up on a Neumann vs. Oktava "bet"?
(I can always use the extra $$)

Chris
 
I have both a 603s and a MC012. IMO they are very similar in sound. With the Oktava, however, you can buy additional caps in the future. When I bought mine I asked for two so I could take them home and select the best one. Although they both sounded identical--at least to my ears--one had bad threads and the cap was hard to screw on and the 10dB pad wouldn't screw all the way on.

So if it were me, I wouldn't buy an MC012 online unless the seller guaranteed the mic was in perfect condition and had a 100% refund policy.

Also, I've heard of some folks here getting a stereo pair of the 603s with shock mounts and alum case for between $159 - $179 (from Shreve Audio, I think). That's a sweet deal.
 
chessparov said:
Acorec, sure you want to take me up on a Neumann vs. Oktava "bet"?
(I can always use the extra $$)

Chris
Click to expand...

Sure, why not? I have worked designing electrical stuff from high end to low end. The workmanship in both worlds are about the same. The real difference (used to be) in the testing and quality control over the product from start to finish. Lately, companies have been downsizing and eliminating most QC jobs AND sending stuff to asia and south america for manufacture. The statistics for 6 sigma show that approaching 1% failure rate among any manufactured product costs huge $$$. ANY product is subjected to at least a %5 failure rate. This is the norm these days and is getting worse. So, Nuemann vs. Oktava. Not picking on either. How many Oktavas are sold? Look at the sheer numbers. GC has unloaded more Oktava mics in a day than Nueumann will unload in a year. Neumann undoubtedly has better overall quality, but the number of failures/ defects are still there. Of the people who complain about Oktavas, very few got a mic that did not work. Most were defects in sound/workmanship. Look at the posts and find out how many people complain about the sound of Neumann mics. The U87 has lost most of its following and the rest of the line is reported as so-so sounding. So. this is a major step down in quality as far as I see it. What can you say? Oktavas cost 15 times less that Neumanns.
 
If anyone contacts Scott Dorsey who repairs Oktava's (among other makes),
he'll tell you about the inconsistant build quality.
He opened up many that have incorrect parts, sloppy soldering, etc.
Apparently they'll throw in whatever is handy if there'a a shortage of
parts in the factory on a given day. Some of these defects won't show up
until some years pass BTW.

The QC between Oktava and Neumann is night and day.
Capsules/mics that don't meet the spec's at Neumann are eliminated for all
practical purpose, no 5% about it from the consumer's perspective.

Kind of like comparing the reliability of a Yugo vs. a Mercedes. :)

Chris
 
So...you wont recommend Ebay for buying Oktavas??. I mean there´s a lot of risk for me to buy this particular mic???.
I´m thinking before buying a pair of 603 because I´ve listen to one drum track recorded with them and I didn´t like it at all. I have one MXL990 that I used as OH and when I compare that recording with what I´ve done, the cymbals sound similar to me, too much bright, IMO. Besides both use the same capsule.
 
TamaSabian said:
So...you wont recommend Ebay for buying Oktavas??. I mean there´s a lot of risk for me to buy this particular mic???.
I´m thinking before buying a pair of 603 because I´ve listen to one drum track recorded with them and I didn´t like it at all. I have one MXL990 that I used as OH and when I compare that recording with what I´ve done, the cymbals sound similar to me, too much bright, IMO. Besides both use the same capsule.
Click to expand...

Buying Oktavas from Ebay may not be a good idea. If you go to GC and TRY some out, at least you KNOW you have a working one. Ebay sellers MAY have a bad one, and you may end up with it! Although I am happy with all of mine, even I would not e-bay these.
 
I´m afraid that I can´t go to GC because I live in Peru, a country located in South America where you never find a GC store. Never mention brands like Oktava or Neumann, just Shure or Behringer. That´s why I wait for a chance to travel to USA, or buy through my Po Box in Miami, but in this case it´s better for me to buy products under $100 to avoid high taxes. Under $100 allows me to pay just shipping & handling costs. Now you see why I like E-bay, I don´t have more options.
:(
 
old thread, but I really like my mk012 on acoustic guitar, even more imho than the 603/991. but i only have one, so far. got fm gc $100. x/y w/ 603/991 was really awesome, but alone, mono, mk012.
 
I've got a pair of mc012s and a pair of mxl 603s... the mxl 603s dominates on acoustic in my opinion. It just makes me smile.
 
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