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Customer feedback
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Oskar



Joined: Jul 29, 2004
Posts: 1751
Location: Norway

PostPosted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 6:14 am    Post subject: Customer feedback
Subject description: Starstruck!
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Two and a half years ago I bought a few Heil mics, one of which has become an important part of my live vocal sound. However, it wouldn't latch properly on to the XLR plug, so I rattled off an email to enquire as to whether there's a quick fix. Within a few hours I got a reply from Bob Heil himself, THE Bob Heil, live sound legend, being responsible for many of the inventions and improvements that came out of the Grateful Dead camp during the 70s, 80s and 90s. Seeing as i'd described the hazards of a non-latching plug in a Roger Daltrey type mic-twirling moment, he gave me a few tips, topping it up with a couple of anecdotes about his 8 years running FOH for The Who, and how he solved Daltrey's problem of having mics fly off into the audience mid-twirl. He even included pictures documenting that particular hack, plus giving tips on how to hack the plug to help it latch properly to make it safe for a bit of light showmanship, although probably not the full Daltrey. Anyway, WOW, that's what I call customer service, having the boss respond to a rather wordy enquiry that quickly. I suppose that's ONE of the reasons why he's such a highly respected of person in engineering circles. He's been everywhere, done it all, got the tie-dye shirts to prove it, but he still gets in there and communicates with the punters.
I'm actually rather pleased about that.

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bamboombaps



Joined: Oct 23, 2015
Posts: 66
Location: Glasgow

PostPosted: Thu Nov 26, 2015 6:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

what were the hacks, out of interest?
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Oskar



Joined: Jul 29, 2004
Posts: 1751
Location: Norway

PostPosted: Sat Nov 28, 2015 5:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

bamboombaps wrote:
what were the hacks, out of interest?


From Mr Heil's email (I'm being a bit naughty, as I haven't asked him for permission, but seeing as there are no major industrial secrets being leaked I'll chance it):
"If you are having problems with the XLR not locking in, pay attention to the connector. Some of them have a rubber O-ring that does not allow them to proper latch into the microphone. It will latch and connection will be perfect BUT - it is not a good idea to play Roger Daltrey with ANY microphone or cable unless you do what I did for Roger.
On the very first show of the Who’s Next tour - that started around an 8 year run with the WHO, Daltrey did one of his famous windmill twirls and of course - the microphone ended up in the crowd so I fixed it and even today, Roger does the ‘Heil fix’ for the mic cable….. doing a loop back of the cable and wrapping it with duct tape. I also did a wrap of red tape so he could see it coming back out of the lights. I never saw him miss or loose it and after our tape warp, never lost a microphone."

No hocus pocus, just sensible stuff, really, but I hadn't thought about that rubber ring thingy. Getting my cables out this weekend, see if there's on I can use for this particular mic.

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Where there are too many policemen, there is no liberty. Where there are too many soldiers, there is no peace. Where there are too many lawyers, there is no justice.
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Oskar



Joined: Jul 29, 2004
Posts: 1751
Location: Norway

PostPosted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 4:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

And it worked! Now the xlr plug latches properly on to the mike.
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Where there are too many policemen, there is no liberty. Where there are too many soldiers, there is no peace. Where there are too many lawyers, there is no justice.
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DrJustice



Joined: Sep 13, 2004
Posts: 2114
Location: Morokulien
Audio files: 4

PostPosted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 6:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Do I take it that you'll will be windmilling the mic on your future shows? Obviously, the guitar spins weren't enough for the audience Shocked
Last edited by DrJustice on Wed Dec 02, 2015 6:47 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Oskar



Joined: Jul 29, 2004
Posts: 1751
Location: Norway

PostPosted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 9:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

DrJustice wrote:
Do I take it that you'll will be windmilling the mic on your future shows? Obviously, the the guitar spins weren't enough for the audience Shocked


Sometimes, yes! When the stage is big enough, and I'm not encumbered with my guitar... Cool

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Where there are too many policemen, there is no liberty. Where there are too many soldiers, there is no peace. Where there are too many lawyers, there is no justice.
Lin Yutang (1895-1976)
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