From: merk@unislc.uucp (John Merk)
Subject: RE: ART Nightbass -- Lemon parts?
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 13:56:56 GMT

> Anyway, later the same day, I was talking to one of my friend/dealers and
> he told me that he liked the Nightbass too, but he wasn't fond of ART. He
> had sold two of their products (I don't know what) and both were returned to
> him because the slider switches on the units went bad...I'm just guessing
> it was a chance thing that the two units he sold came back due to 
> manufacturing defects...
> 
> ...or was it? I was wondering, anyone out there have any experience with ART
> equipment (particularly the Nightbass) and things going sour on it? My 
> friend's opinion on ART is that their customer service sucks -- it took
> nearly a month to get the first unit back from ART after the repair was made
> (no data on how the second slider is working).

Well, I owned a Nightbass for a few months at the begining of the year.  There
are a lot of effects on this unit, making it very difficult to check out in
the store.  I only noticed the problems my unit had after getting it home.

One of the Nightbass' features is a series of LED's that indicate which 
effects are active.  Half of these didn't work.  It turns out that the ribbon
cable that connected to them was installed incorrectly, off by one pin.  One
LED never did work.

I also noticed a high-pitched ringing that was particularly noticeable when
the tube pre-amp (a single, cheap 12AX7) was on.  The noise got worse however
when I turned the rotary selector nob.  I should have returned it at this
point, but I had worked out some killer pre-sets and was hooked.

At a band rehearsal, all of a sudden my sound just went bad.  It turns out
that the expander was at fault.  I called ART to arrange for sending it back
to them.  I found out that I had to pay shipping to Rochester,NY and they
would take care of shipping it back, but they only use UPS Ground.  This 
meant that at best I would be without my unit for three weeks, most of
the time being spent in transit.  I shipped it and waited...and waited.
Finally, I called ART and found out that my unit had been received, but no one
was working on it!

When I finally got it back, they indicated that the expander had been 
adjusted, the tube replaced and the rotary selector also adjusted.  The
other noises I mentioned were brushed-off as "unit limitations."  Well,
I started using it again.  About a week before my band's first concert
the expander went out again.  I took the expander out of all the presets
I intended to use and went on with the concert.  About halfway through
the concert and during a song, I lost all sound for about 3-4 seconds.
I'd had enough at this point and was ready to return it.  That's when
things got *real* interesting :-(

The customer service rep told me that the CEO of ART had directed them to
*not* replace any units for any reason.  This of course is in direct violation
to the ART warranty.  I was told that they could replace everything except the
case, resulting in essentially a new unit, but I had to again pay shipping.
I refused.  The store I bought the unit from had full knowledge of all this
but remained uninvolved.  I decided it was time for a change. ;-|  After
making a total pain-in-the-a of myself they gave me my money back.

I can only say this about ART: STAY AWAY!!  They are a small company that
is rushing new products to market early, too early!  If you like being a
pioneer, and have money to throw away, then go for it.  I seriously doubt
they will stay in business for more than a couple years unless they start
taking quality seriously.

John

merk@unislc.slc.unisys.com