MXL available in Australia..........but don't get too exited.

  • Thread starter Thread starter ausrock
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ausrock said:
I've seen their factory tour, was sent their CD along with a bottle of Rode Red and a nifty little Rode jewellers screwdriver set, etc etc, quite some time ago..............all because I phoned them and asked some specific questions for background info regarding a "discussion" here at HR.com, and that wasn't my first contact with them, but was probably the most rewarding.

:)
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Wow, that's way cool of Rode to give you all the neat stuff... I love free stuff. :) Hey, are the MXL mic prices high over there?

For example...

MXL603S - $72.95 US
MXLV67G - $99.95 US

Prices from http://www.8thstreet.com/product_search2.asp?combined=Marshall_Electronics&site=Go+to....
 
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DJL,

MXL pricing here is what prompted this thread originally........not that you would know it:D .

MXL603;
US Street....$72 = $110 Aust. Aust List (RRP)......$269 = $174 US

V67G;
US Street....$99 = $152 Aust. Aust List (RRP)......$599 = $389 US


I doubt that Aust street would be more than 15-20% off the RRP.

:cool:
 
Glawfindle said:

Alan seems quite happy to air his opinion on a lot of things - why would he not want to answer something simple - like why do SP mics have to go from China, to the USA and then to Australia instead of straight from China to Australia - even if the cost is minimal - there are still additional costs which the end user ultimately has to pay isn't there?
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Glawfindle,

I am happy to air my opinion on this matter...All you had to do was ask!

If the level of business was strong enough to ship a container of goods their direct, then we would do it. The business is not, so we use a distributor. Our factory will not send 8 or 10 Master cartons there direct as the paperwork nightmare would be prohibitive. In addition, these shipments could only happen when I was to get mine, as each shipment is built for me. The factory does not stock my products. So if Oz needed some goods, that would not happen unless a shipment was ready to come to me.

We ship 2 containers every 60 days. That is a lot of freakin mics. The USA eats up the bulk, Canada is doing very well and thay have big issues with their currency, and the EU is starting to kick some ass...

As for the costs, all I can say is that I sell our mics to the distributors at a very low cost. So low, that the distributor should be able to sell it to the dealer for the same price I do to my US dealers, plus any taxes, shipping and other costs. The dealers should be able to sell it to you for the same price it is sold here in the USA, plus any taxes, shipping and other costs.

If this is not happening, then it falls back to the distributor and the dealers. Our program is working very well in many of the countries. Where it does not work is where either a distributor or dealer wants to add on another 25%. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about that, especially at the dealer level.

It happens to be that Mick at Front End is doing a very good business for us. He buys a decent amount of units on a regular basis, so these mics must be going somewhere!

Based on this, I have no desire to make any changes to my distributor. He has lowered the pricing, so perhaps it is time to question the dealers. You can always call Mick as well. He is your Countryman...I am sure he would be happy to speak with you, but unless we are shipping large quantities, it is not cost effective to ship direct to Oz.
 
alanhyatt said:
Glawfindle,

I am happy to air my opinion on this matter...All you had to do was ask!

If the level of business was strong enough to ship a container of goods their direct, then we would do it. The business is not, so we use a distributor. Our factory will not send 8 or 10 Master cartons there direct as the paperwork nightmare would be prohibitive. In addition, these shipments could only happen when I was to get mine, as each shipment is built for me. The factory does not stock my products. So if Oz needed some goods, that would not happen unless a shipment was ready to come to me.

We ship 2 containers every 60 days. That is a lot of freakin mics. The USA eats up the bulk, Canada is doing very well and thay have big issues with their currency, and the EU is starting to kick some ass...

As for the costs, all I can say is that I sell our mics to the distributors at a very low cost. So low, that the distributor should be able to sell it to the dealer for the same price I do to my US dealers, plus any taxes, shipping and other costs. The dealers should be able to sell it to you for the same price it is sold here in the USA, plus any taxes, shipping and other costs.

If this is not happening, then it falls back to the distributor and the dealers. Our program is working very well in many of the countries. Where it does not work is where either a distributor or dealer wants to add on another 25%. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about that, especially at the dealer level.

It happens to be that Mick at Front End is doing a very good business for us. He buys a decent amount of units on a regular basis, so these mics must be going somewhere!

Based on this, I have no desire to make any changes to my distributor. He has lowered the pricing, so perhaps it is time to question the dealers. You can always call Mick as well. He is your Countryman...I am sure he would be happy to speak with you, but unless we are shipping large quantities, it is not cost effective to ship direct to Oz.
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Thanx for the clarification Al - I did ask several times but I understand that you must be a busy man - I guess I'll try to email you directly to get a quicker answer in the future - we do appreciate your efforts - even though SP mics are still a fair amount more expensive here in Australia than over there in the US - or even, NZ (yes, I know...). Are you aware of your distributors trade price - ie. to his dealer? I'm not expecting you to give us the answer - I'd just like to know if you knew - then you would know for sure if it is your distributor or their dealers that are hiking the price up? Are you aware that your distributor also sells directly to end users - this really pisses off some dealers. Don't ask me, just ask any of the main SP dealers in Aus that you may or may not be aware of: (eg. www.musiclab.net.au) FYI, the distributor for BLUE does the same thing in Aus. What do you think of this Alan?
 
Every Country does things differently. What is acceptable in one place, is not in another...So, I have no conflict with what Mick is doing, especially if he is not getting the dealer support.

I think NZ has much lower prices, so you can always call the distributor there. This is up to you, or buy from the USA. I think it takes two to Tango, so that is between Mick and the dealers. Unfortunately, the business is just not that big. If it was, I think everyone would sing a different tune.

I don't want to sound harsh, after all, I have jumped in and we have seen some reduced prices. I will always try and do my best, but I can't set the pricing there.

:)
 
Glawfindle said:
Are you aware that your distributor also sells directly to end users - this really pisses off some dealers. Don't ask me, just ask any of the main SP dealers in Aus that you may or may not be aware of: (eg. www.musiclab.net.au) FYI, the distributor for BLUE does the same thing in Aus. What do you think of this Alan?
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BTW, the fella who runs the BLUE distributor is the brother of the fella that distributes Neumann in Australia. Do you have any idea of the extraordinary prices of these mics in Australia?! Without looking up specific examples at the mo' you can quite literally save thousands by importing some of these mics. They both make some beautiful mics but I just really don't feel comfortable spending a few grand on something by importing it from OS and not have any local service (if required, of course).
 
The thread that JUST WON'T DIE!!!

Seeing it was originally about MXL mics in Australia and subsequently got diverted to other brands, I thought I'd return it to its primary topic.

Those of you in Sydney may have been aware of the Allans Music warehouse sale over the weekend. I was wandering around there and saw MXL603s for $169 each - and yes, the RRP was shown as $269. I picked up a couple seeing I remembered this thread and I've been having issues with my NT5s matching up with my guitar - figured I'll sell whichever set I liked least.

Haven't actually tried them yet but looking forward to it - my thinking is that there won't be much difference, but we'll see.

Cheers
 
Armi,

Try the 603's as a strero pair. I have had some very pleasing results with our Matons. I now have a pair of B1's which I have only used briefly at this stage..........I'm looking forward to comparing both mics on acoustics. I haven't used the Rodes, but from the comments I have seen I would think the 603's may be somewhat brighter...........let us know your findings here please.

I just need time to finish searching for a gremlin in my console.............at the moment I'm trying to get the courage to do some diagnostics with a CRO I have here..........I have stuff all idea on how to use it. :D

:cool:
 
Aus

I've had a brief - and I do mean brief - play with them - not taking too much time in set up, just putting them a fair bit back 40-50 cm, one at each edge of the guitar body pointing straight in (ie. about 12th fret and bottom edge) - haven't tried XYing or anything fancy.

My initial thoughts were that they had slightly less of that middy sound I've been fighting with, a little brighter than the NT5s as you suspect - but there was still something I didn't quite like in the general tone - so figuring that 2 sets of mics which most people like and I don't get decent results - something else must be the issue.

Went back to the drawing board with EQ after recording for a while and have managed to get some better results by throwing out my assumptions on EQ and starting from scratch - have ended up with a quite decent strummed acoustic sound, quite happy with that, but also definitely better fingerstyle sound. Still not what I'd hoped, but I haven't given it much time as I'm recording mostly electrics at the moment and I want to finish off the current song before going back to acoustics (God electric is easy by comparison!)

What this has done is really forced me to listen to the sound that I make when I play, gradually getting used to the fact that the Matons sound like Matons and not other guitars - and still fighting with the boominess - great guitar to listen to because of the strength and clarity with which they project, damned hard to record though!

Anyway, I'll give them a decent try next week I suspect, so I'll resurrect this post when I do and give you an update on how it's going. Quite eager to put my new EQ curves against the NT5s as well, see how that goes.

Incidentally, I've had good results using an NT2 as a 2nd guitar amp mike - SM57 up close and NT2 back about 30 cm or so then panning hard left and right - not bad at all - using a Laney 30W all tube combo so it's a pretty good sound to start with.

Let you know how it goes.
 
I understand what you mean by Maton's sound, but I know from experience that each model has it's own characteristics.............I'm lucky enough to have my ECW80C and my son's EM525C slimline here all the time and I can assure you they are quite different to each other. The slimline doesn't have that full bodied tone you seem to have probs with. We always restring before starting a serious session too.

I used the 603's in an X-Y approx 200mm out on the 525 slimline........one at the 12th fret the other just between the soundhole and the neck............it was just a casual positioning while we did some scratch tracks, but the results were bloody nice.



:cool:
 
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