Oktava & Guitar Center

  • Thread starter Thread starter Paj
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When their importer started sourcing from a Chinese company, then started cost cutting to meet GC's pricing requirements, resulting in a higher failure rate (and probably a higher return rate).
 
That's a messy situation and as an outsider looking in it appears the old distributor took it upon themselves to make Chinese clones of the original Russian designs for a while which has really confused the market. Now everybody's wondering which ones are Russian originals and which are Chinese?

I've been a long time fan of the Oktava MK-012 mics on acoustic guitar and some other sources and have long recommended them (Russian made) even though we didn't sell Oktava. However I am glad to report Oktava's new (and seemingly quite honest and forthcoming!) US distributor contacted FEA this week and asked us to actually sell the Oktava brand.

I can tell you this: any Oktava sold by us or any other authorized dealer (you can find out who the dealers are by asking Oktava USA) are Russian made and not some kind of GC Chinese knockoff. Also, it was explained to me that as Oktava was pushed and pushed and pushed by the big box store for lower costs (sort of like dealing with Wal-Mart) that QC was out the window for a while and they did everything they could to keep up with the demand while slashing costs (like cutting back on good QC) and in the end damaged their own reputation trying to please someone who wasn't interested in quality or well being.

I'm also told by the distributor that QC is back in place and Oktava has gone away from that business model and more towards quality and longevity. Also, for the first time in years Oktava is designing and releasing new models of ribbon, tube and solid state microphones...another sign of their change in direction and efforts.

As we receive them in the coming days to check them out I'll finally be able to know for myself.

War
 
So you're saying that now that they've come clean and have gone in a new direction and embraced a new business model, that folks should forgive the past deceptions and give them a chance? :rolleyes:
I know I would :)
 
kojdogg said:
So you're saying that now that they've come clean and have gone in a new direction and embraced a new business model, that folks should forgive the past deceptions and give them a chance? :rolleyes:
I know I would :)
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It was the old distributor that made the counterfeit mics in recent times. Before that, Oktava did kinda mess up by getting sucked into high volume production by GC. I don't think Oktava ever deceived anyone.
 
sdelsolray said:
It was the old distributor that made the counterfeit mics in recent times. Before that, Oktava did kinda mess up by getting sucked into high volume production by GC. I don't think Oktava ever deceived anyone.
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'deceptions' was a poor choice of words-- my bad-- 'indiscretions,' 'passive collusions' maybe?

Edit: didn't mean anything against Oktava here incidentally, might want to get some of the MK-012's with Lomos or Red capsules down the line :)
 
Oktava wasn't deceiving in my opinion, and shame on their old distributor for building essentially counterfeit microphones and shame on the big box store who was willing to push them and confuse the market place.

Oktava got caught up in trying to please a Wal Mart type of situation where the buying power is big but the requirement is "if you want to keep selling to us you must continue to LOWER your price".

Bad judgement? Yes.

Deception? No.

Are those days over? Apparently so.

War
 
Warhead said:
Oktava wasn't deceiving in my opinion, and shame on their old distributor for building essentially counterfeit microphones and shame on the big box store who was willing to push them and confuse the market place.

Oktava got caught up in trying to please a Wal Mart type of situation where the buying power is big but the requirement is "if you want to keep selling to us you must continue to LOWER your price".

Bad judgement? Yes.

Deception? No.

Are those days over? Apparently so.

War
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Absolutely, please see the edit to my previous post. Def not trying to stir up any anti-Oktava sentiment. I'm glad that whole thing has been cleared up (I got one of those $99 GC specials some time back which was shite) and am looking forward to getting some genuine ones down the line :) .
 
i'm gonna be purchasing another pair of oktava's soon, i'm glad they're trying to get more distributors aside from the ebay based oktavausa company
 
dgatwood said:
When their importer started sourcing from a Chinese company, then started cost cutting to meet GC's pricing requirements, resulting in a higher failure rate (and probably a higher return rate).
Click to expand...

I hope that's not what they're doing with their mxl line.. it seems GC are the only one who carry the mxl 9** line, which doesn't show on the mxl website.

Sorry to change subject. Just a side note.
 
Warhead:

Thanks for that reply/info. I'm sure the days of the $50 MK319, MK219, and even MK012 are gone (sigh!) but how does the pricing look?

Paj
8^?
 
Paj said:
Warhead:

Thanks for that reply/info. I'm sure the days of the $50 MK319, MK219, and even MK012 are gone (sigh!) but how does the pricing look?

Paj
8^?
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I'm wondering what will be the difference between
these and the Oktava's the other place sells.
 
Front End has em by the millions on their website!!!
 
Paj said:
Warhead:

Thanks for that reply/info. I'm sure the days of the $50 MK319, MK219, and even MK012 are gone (sigh!) but how does the pricing look?

Paj
8^?
Click to expand...

Since you're asking, all of the current pricing is correct on our site (just uploaded about 3 days ago).

Still have to upload descriptions etc.

For example, an MK-012 single mic in a plastic case is $189.

War
 
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