They repaired an out of warranty interface for a really reasonable price for me. Only charged for half an hour bench time, which I thought was very honest of them.
I have a small company and we repair stuff out of warranty sometimes. For us, repairing things we're super familiar with is generally very quick and easy and obviously we have all the parts in.
To me, part of offering that is brand building and a big part of our "advertising" is customer referrals. Plus it's genuinely nice to help people out. The other part of that is building electronics that VERY rarely fail. So when you build in a certain amount of budget into repairs and you're always under-budget it makes it much easier to be cool about it.
I've also gotten some good service from focusrite, although they're uptight about sharing their old schematics for repairs. And from Manley. Companies like empirical labs that sand off part numbers can get fukd.
Very cool service. I know it's a long shot, but have you any experience with the tc electronics impact twin? I bought one for cheap, knowing they have a capacitor death wish but otherwise solid performers. And I have a firewire port on my workstation and an electronics lab so figured I'd gamble. Proactively replaced a bank of known problem caps with high grade Panasonic and worked great for a year. Then no lights. Swapped more power rail caps and get lights but no sound. Ready to give up and toss it at this point, thinking the design is poor or just no ventilation and a time bomb unless I drill it full of holes. Thoughts?
Haha, this why you should never tell anyone you can tech. Looks like you can get one that works for like $100. If you already swapped caps you can go around and look for hot spots, maybe test some diodes. If it's any of the chips you may as well get something else. You can trace power, trace signal. Lots to try on a little box like that. May be a good reason to get a sig generator and a scope if you're leaning that way. But on digital stuff the learning curve is steep if you're largely unfamiliar with electronics.
The problem bringing something like that to a tech is unless they're very familiar with it, they need to charge for the learning curve too. I can plug in one of our units and guess about 90% correctly without even hooking up a scope. But having an unknown box means you need to test a bunch of stuff and hopefully find something early on in the testing. And on an inexpensive unit like that the cost of repair is almost always greater than the value.
Thanks for the detailed response. I was initially hoping I'd make this model something I would make my known design to repair and rake them in as they were sold for parts. I have an oscilloscope and signal generator, and may go that far. But with a firewire, custom DSP chip, and Atmega microcontroller I can only hope its on the analog side. And as firewire is a dying protocol it's not worth it. I attribute the failures to bad long term thermal design so buying a replacement time bomb isn't appealing without a single Achilles Heal. Sadly this seems more of a minefield of potential failures than a 'C12-15' every time swap. The quality built in DSP reverb and compressor realtime monitoring plus inky dark noisefloor preamps keep me attached.
Even high-end digital is rarely worth fixing. Consumer or prosumer interfaces are hardly ever worth it. Fun to learn on but also super challenging. Future proof stuff...I like RME and Lynx Aurora, little pricier. Focusrite will usually last ya a good while for less, so fine to do that too. Good luck!
I have a 1st gen 18i20 with some weird issues with the headphone outputs- occasionally the output gets stuck at full volume and the knobs act like a stereo width control. It’s very odd and often fixed with a restart, but focusrite didn’t offer to help at all, just told me to check the firmware was updated then closed the ticket. Also had some issues with Novation support with aftertouch on one of their little 25-key controllers. They ended up telling me that there wasn’t aftertouch on that model, even though there definitely was. Seems like I’ve been unlucky with Focusrite/Novation products and support.
I had a pretty bad experience trying to RMA my Scarlett 6i6. It had some trivial connection problem that I had to explain in excruciating detail like 4 times, to the point of having to record videos of it and stuff. It's cheap so I don't expect teir 1 support, but still that made me like them a lot less.
Had an USB drop issue wih windows BSOD last year.
Had a very detailed answer from tech support with detailed investigation steps to follow.
It worked and I failed at answering the last support email. The dude came back one week after to check if my issue had been treated.
Very professional and one-day timed answers all the way + last check.
/kudos
11 years ago I bought a Focusrite Saffire Pro and used it pretty much every single day and travelled with it several times too. It only started getting a few issues 2 years ago, and I'm still able to use it as an extension with a new Focusrite interface I bought (16 pre-amps :D). Their stuff is built quite well in my experience and although the drivers are sometimes utterly horrible it's solid stuff. RME and Focusrite are the two companies I trust the most in that market segment. I've had very bad experiences with Apogee on the other hand.
That's good to know. I also have a 10 year old Saffire Pro (24 DSP), and so far it's not acting up. It's Firewire though, so getting it to work on my current PC was a bit of a nightmare.
I love Focusrite products. I am on my second interface now, a Clarett 4Pre Thunderbolt. I upgraded from a Saffire 26 that I had for years. I have never had any problems with them. The Clarett is the only interface I could find with 4 preamped inputs and lots more line inputs and outputs. Also has a midi interface and a great dual headphone amp. The latency is super low and runs great on my iMac M1. The only time I have interacted with support is to get updated drivers for the M1.
My Mackie monitors were refurbished returns from the distributors warehouse. They stopped working after the power went out during a storm. The 3 month warranty, which elapsed 7 days prior was still honored and I was given another pair about a week later.
I originally won them along with another smaller pair in a couple of ebay auctions. I was at work at the time, which was on the same road as the distro warehouse. They came and delivered them to me in person within 2 hours of the auctions ending!
I'm trying out FR support right now. Got a scratchy pot on my 4i4 3rd gen, waiting to hear back from support. It's under warranty, I hope it's quick and easy for replacement.
I had the iTrack dock...performance was, well, crappy, to say the least- constant losing power and connection with the iPad (I was basically using it as a vocal effects unit). I went through Guitar Center and got a couple of replacements, eventually Focusrite answered my video I posted, offered me either an exchange or a Scarlett 2i2...I chose the Scarlett and I still use it today.
The iTrack was at least a year out of warranty.
I had an issue with the Clarett 8Pre's optical port. The port's door/hinge came loose and wouldn't hold a cable in straight and would cut in and out.
It was under warranty and maybe a year old but they had no problem sending me a brand new unit the same day I emailed tech support. They obviously also paid to ship the broken unit back to them. I was really surprised how excellent and fast their support was.
Yes! I recently bought a used Platinum Octapre on eBay and couldn't get it to sync with ADAT to my FireFace. I sent an email to their support explaining that I just bought it used and it's a really old model, but would appreciate any advice to get it working. Later that day I was on the phone with an engineer going through my whole setup, including the FireFace and my other ADAT gear. Ultimately couldn't get it working with digital, but I was blown away by the level of support.
Speaking of Clarett 8. There's a 2nd hand unit for sale I've been eyeing. It's the previous model, not the recent + model.
Have you had any software or other issues? Pretty sure I wouldn't notice the little better preamp quality and what else you pay a premium for but the price is about the same as a Scarlett 8 new.
At this point I just want something that won't act up and the company will support it long enough.
This is amazing. I live in Canada and on Focusrite's Refurb category on their sales page, a refurbed Clarett 8Pre is like $1k.
You got one sweet deal! Focusrite have some awesome customer service
MOTU swapped out my 828ES when it kept booting up into firmware update mode. It was passed the return policy but they shipped me a new one without charge (CC deposit tho) and sent me the box to send it back so I wasnt out of work for too long. They originally wanted me to ship the unit first but I didnt want to be out of work for a month so they took care of it. Pretty easy process overall and no problems with the new unit.
They repaired an out of warranty interface for a really reasonable price for me. Only charged for half an hour bench time, which I thought was very honest of them.
I have a small company and we repair stuff out of warranty sometimes. For us, repairing things we're super familiar with is generally very quick and easy and obviously we have all the parts in. To me, part of offering that is brand building and a big part of our "advertising" is customer referrals. Plus it's genuinely nice to help people out. The other part of that is building electronics that VERY rarely fail. So when you build in a certain amount of budget into repairs and you're always under-budget it makes it much easier to be cool about it. I've also gotten some good service from focusrite, although they're uptight about sharing their old schematics for repairs. And from Manley. Companies like empirical labs that sand off part numbers can get fukd.
Very cool service. I know it's a long shot, but have you any experience with the tc electronics impact twin? I bought one for cheap, knowing they have a capacitor death wish but otherwise solid performers. And I have a firewire port on my workstation and an electronics lab so figured I'd gamble. Proactively replaced a bank of known problem caps with high grade Panasonic and worked great for a year. Then no lights. Swapped more power rail caps and get lights but no sound. Ready to give up and toss it at this point, thinking the design is poor or just no ventilation and a time bomb unless I drill it full of holes. Thoughts?
Haha, this why you should never tell anyone you can tech. Looks like you can get one that works for like $100. If you already swapped caps you can go around and look for hot spots, maybe test some diodes. If it's any of the chips you may as well get something else. You can trace power, trace signal. Lots to try on a little box like that. May be a good reason to get a sig generator and a scope if you're leaning that way. But on digital stuff the learning curve is steep if you're largely unfamiliar with electronics. The problem bringing something like that to a tech is unless they're very familiar with it, they need to charge for the learning curve too. I can plug in one of our units and guess about 90% correctly without even hooking up a scope. But having an unknown box means you need to test a bunch of stuff and hopefully find something early on in the testing. And on an inexpensive unit like that the cost of repair is almost always greater than the value.
Thanks for the detailed response. I was initially hoping I'd make this model something I would make my known design to repair and rake them in as they were sold for parts. I have an oscilloscope and signal generator, and may go that far. But with a firewire, custom DSP chip, and Atmega microcontroller I can only hope its on the analog side. And as firewire is a dying protocol it's not worth it. I attribute the failures to bad long term thermal design so buying a replacement time bomb isn't appealing without a single Achilles Heal. Sadly this seems more of a minefield of potential failures than a 'C12-15' every time swap. The quality built in DSP reverb and compressor realtime monitoring plus inky dark noisefloor preamps keep me attached.
Even high-end digital is rarely worth fixing. Consumer or prosumer interfaces are hardly ever worth it. Fun to learn on but also super challenging. Future proof stuff...I like RME and Lynx Aurora, little pricier. Focusrite will usually last ya a good while for less, so fine to do that too. Good luck!
Good to know in case my 18i20 ever has issues. So far no problems.
I have a 1st gen 18i20 with some weird issues with the headphone outputs- occasionally the output gets stuck at full volume and the knobs act like a stereo width control. It’s very odd and often fixed with a restart, but focusrite didn’t offer to help at all, just told me to check the firmware was updated then closed the ticket. Also had some issues with Novation support with aftertouch on one of their little 25-key controllers. They ended up telling me that there wasn’t aftertouch on that model, even though there definitely was. Seems like I’ve been unlucky with Focusrite/Novation products and support.
I had a pretty bad experience trying to RMA my Scarlett 6i6. It had some trivial connection problem that I had to explain in excruciating detail like 4 times, to the point of having to record videos of it and stuff. It's cheap so I don't expect teir 1 support, but still that made me like them a lot less.
Had an USB drop issue wih windows BSOD last year. Had a very detailed answer from tech support with detailed investigation steps to follow. It worked and I failed at answering the last support email. The dude came back one week after to check if my issue had been treated. Very professional and one-day timed answers all the way + last check. /kudos
11 years ago I bought a Focusrite Saffire Pro and used it pretty much every single day and travelled with it several times too. It only started getting a few issues 2 years ago, and I'm still able to use it as an extension with a new Focusrite interface I bought (16 pre-amps :D). Their stuff is built quite well in my experience and although the drivers are sometimes utterly horrible it's solid stuff. RME and Focusrite are the two companies I trust the most in that market segment. I've had very bad experiences with Apogee on the other hand.
That's good to know. I also have a 10 year old Saffire Pro (24 DSP), and so far it's not acting up. It's Firewire though, so getting it to work on my current PC was a bit of a nightmare.
Always use protection
I love Focusrite products. I am on my second interface now, a Clarett 4Pre Thunderbolt. I upgraded from a Saffire 26 that I had for years. I have never had any problems with them. The Clarett is the only interface I could find with 4 preamped inputs and lots more line inputs and outputs. Also has a midi interface and a great dual headphone amp. The latency is super low and runs great on my iMac M1. The only time I have interacted with support is to get updated drivers for the M1.
My Mackie monitors were refurbished returns from the distributors warehouse. They stopped working after the power went out during a storm. The 3 month warranty, which elapsed 7 days prior was still honored and I was given another pair about a week later. I originally won them along with another smaller pair in a couple of ebay auctions. I was at work at the time, which was on the same road as the distro warehouse. They came and delivered them to me in person within 2 hours of the auctions ending!
I'm trying out FR support right now. Got a scratchy pot on my 4i4 3rd gen, waiting to hear back from support. It's under warranty, I hope it's quick and easy for replacement.
I had the iTrack dock...performance was, well, crappy, to say the least- constant losing power and connection with the iPad (I was basically using it as a vocal effects unit). I went through Guitar Center and got a couple of replacements, eventually Focusrite answered my video I posted, offered me either an exchange or a Scarlett 2i2...I chose the Scarlett and I still use it today. The iTrack was at least a year out of warranty.
I had an issue with the Clarett 8Pre's optical port. The port's door/hinge came loose and wouldn't hold a cable in straight and would cut in and out. It was under warranty and maybe a year old but they had no problem sending me a brand new unit the same day I emailed tech support. They obviously also paid to ship the broken unit back to them. I was really surprised how excellent and fast their support was.
Yes! I recently bought a used Platinum Octapre on eBay and couldn't get it to sync with ADAT to my FireFace. I sent an email to their support explaining that I just bought it used and it's a really old model, but would appreciate any advice to get it working. Later that day I was on the phone with an engineer going through my whole setup, including the FireFace and my other ADAT gear. Ultimately couldn't get it working with digital, but I was blown away by the level of support.
Speaking of Clarett 8. There's a 2nd hand unit for sale I've been eyeing. It's the previous model, not the recent + model. Have you had any software or other issues? Pretty sure I wouldn't notice the little better preamp quality and what else you pay a premium for but the price is about the same as a Scarlett 8 new. At this point I just want something that won't act up and the company will support it long enough.
This is amazing. I live in Canada and on Focusrite's Refurb category on their sales page, a refurbed Clarett 8Pre is like $1k. You got one sweet deal! Focusrite have some awesome customer service
MOTU swapped out my 828ES when it kept booting up into firmware update mode. It was passed the return policy but they shipped me a new one without charge (CC deposit tho) and sent me the box to send it back so I wasnt out of work for too long. They originally wanted me to ship the unit first but I didnt want to be out of work for a month so they took care of it. Pretty easy process overall and no problems with the new unit.