Biskit Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Hi Guys, I'm after a couple of spare parts for a Spirit 4^2 desk. All I need are two pot knobs: one blue and one yellow. Does anyone know where I could source these? If they are very cheap (ie less than the postage) I'd get several extras for spare stock. These are not the same fit as the knobs from the smaller spirit desks, although they do look the same on the outside. Any ideas? Anyone stock these? Ben. Just to note - last time I contacted Soundcraft for spares they told me to go to my nearest distributor (Sound Control Leeds), who told me the parts I needed were well below their minimum order level, so they couldn't help me. Back to Soundcraft, who eventually agreed to a direct sale, but charged me £15 for a single pan pot (which I later realised was a standard part I could have bought from RS for £1) and a knob to go with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Check the usual component suppliers - CPC, RS, Rapid, Farnell. They may well have something similar. Even if they don't it may be more cost-effective to buy a dozen new knobs and replace the ones on the other channels than to source the original one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 £15 for 1!!! Jeez I was quoted something like £17 inc postage for a slider knob, couple of gains, couple of aux/eq ones. But I will have a look on RS etc. If you find the part numbers let me know. On a side note I have a collection of knobs and faders from the company who supply Soundcraft and most sound desks with knobs, they wont actually sell unless its a couple of thousand to the public, weird for a company at plaza I thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatfrog Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 I paid 30p once for a fader cap from allen & heath. Although postage did cost 12 pound...** laughs out loud ** Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techtech Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 Try and find someone with an old sound desk that is beyond repair and offer to 'dispose' of it for them? :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biskit Posted May 6, 2008 Author Share Posted May 6, 2008 £15 for 1!!! Jeez I was quoted something like £17 inc postage for a slider knob, couple of gains, couple of aux/eq ones. I know... I think the actual parts were only a pound or so, the rest was made up with small order fee, handling charge, postage, VAT... the usual scam! I naively hoped they might supply them for free or for a token price, playing on the Customer Service aspect, but clearly they're not so helpful! About 5 or 6 years ago I needed some pot knobs for a Peavey mixer amp, so I contacted their UK office direct, and the guy sent me a couple of photos (which he had to take specially) so I could identify the type I needed. He then sent them out for free as a goodwill gesture. We may knock Peavey for their gear, but I couldn't fault the service on that occasion! Ben. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 ...the actual parts were only a pound or so, the rest was made up with small order fee, handling charge, postage, VAT... the usual scam!Go on, explain. How is this a 'scam?' Have you actually worked out how much it costs to service a small order like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 Yesterday, somebody sent me two Sony Betacam tapes. One blank, one new with a small note saying could I copy one to the other. So I did. I've still got the kit, so it was just a case of fire them up, patch them together, wire up a monitor. Put them in a Jiffy bag, go down to the Royal Mail depot, buy the right postage, generate an invoice, and post that. Charged them £25, which I thought reasonable for what amounts to a couple of hours of my time plus the postage, packaging and a bit of head hours on the kit. They phoned last night to see if they'd arrived - and were not amused when I said they were done, and back in the post. They thought £25 was extortionate. They thought it would be a fiver, on the side. The price of a knob isn't the real issue here - it's insignificant, but probably went through 4, maybe 5 different people to get to you when the request arrived. If you work in a garage, and somebody brings in a car for a new lightbulb to be fitted you pay the minimum charge, which is many times the cost of the bulb. A new key for my Transit cost nearly £100 because it needed a technician to do the programming - and cost me an hours labour. I'm with Brian - where is the scam? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biskit Posted May 6, 2008 Author Share Posted May 6, 2008 I'm with Brian - where is the scam? Yes I do see the point. I can imagine it is highly annoying for companies like this to be asked for an odd spare part here and there. To be honest though... I send an email, one person reads it in, say, 1 minute, forwards it to someone in the warehouse who spends a further 2 minutes popping in to the warehouse, getting the part from a bin, put in an envelope and drop into the post bag. Okay so they're down 3 minutes of staff time, one knob, and a tiny postage fee, but they have a customer who is over the moon with the service and will more than likely buy their products in future, or recommend to others. I do agree with you though Paul, I had a local school send me a signal generator recently with a wobbly binding post. Nothing else wrong, just needed tightening up. In the end it took me an hour because it needed completely dismantling. I charged them £20 which I think they thought was on the high side. I'll probably end up paying a similar amount to Soundcraft for these bits, however this time I'll make sure I get some extras as spares so it doesn't cost me again. Cheers for the input guys, Ben. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 For the record, we sent a large-format Soundcraft mixer (a Venue II) back to Soundcraft last week for a full service. It's probably 15 years old, and we were having problems with intermittent connections. Rather than try to fault-find ourselves, we sent it back for a full service. We got a call today - they had opened it up and said it was "immaculate" inside. The only problem was a few dry joints on the XLRs, caused by repeated plugging and unplugging. They resoldered these, and all is now OK. They said no service was needed! It's now on its way back... Excellent service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mixermend Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 I have a few spare Soundcraft Spirit knobs - including a Yellow and a Blue one - so please e-mail me (via my Web site would be most direct) - with your postal address and I will be happy to send them to you....... JG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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