Non “replaceable” fader in Kontrol S4 may mean we part company
I am annoyed with this situation. I truly love my S4 and have no real desire to part with it but the warranty (as I understand it) may mean we have to go our separate ways.
If I upgrade the cross fader - I void my (3 year with Guitar Center) warranty
If the cross fader breaks, its not covered under the warranty, so if I replace it - I void the warranty.
Is this everyone else’s understanding? I know some of you may be of the opinion that the warranty is irrelevant as we are all mod freaks but I already have a dodgy channel on one of the line inputs so I am not feeling particularly cavalier.
The cross fader wasn’t a big deal when I purchased the unit but now Vangogo is sponsoring me to be the World’s oldest DMC champion (based on me training for the next 10 years) I feel the S4 cross fader isn’t up to the job.
Is anyone else in this situation? Has anyone else moved away from the S4 onto a “better” set up?
i wouldn’t worry about the warranty and just the fader. If your considering changing the fader i’m guessing your strapped for cash. If the controller breaks in a year or two. either fix it or buy a new one.
I am not sure I understand any of what you said here.
I want to change the fader as I don’t feel the standard S4 fader is right for me. In another mixer I can swap out the fader without screwing up the warranty as they are designed to be replaceable. With the S4 I cannot upgrade it and it may not even be covered in the warranty. The cash has little to do with anything though I, like many others, probably aren’t happy just to buy another controller a year or two into the purchase.
yes it sucks that the s4 xfader is non-user replaceable
even the NS6 has the “easy-to-replace” crossfader socket which can be very easily accessed, while with the S4 we have to open up the whole unit and void the warranty
you know even after purchasing the S4 I still miss my TTM-56s which was packed away in a storage box due to the lack of space, i am thinking of maybe getting rid of the S4 and bring back the TTM-56s back out - imo the best faders in the business!
My understanding of guitar center’s warranty is that it’s not a warranty but an insurance policy on the gear…at least, that’s what they told us when I worked there and they were trying to convince us to sell them.
IIRC, it doesn’t matter if you open it up and mod it…the GC Pro Coverage still applies, even if you provably cause the damage that you want to get it replaced for. The only catch is that when it gets repaired/replaced, you have to buy a new pro coverage contract when you take delivery of the repaired unit or the replacement.
Please actually call the company that underwrites it and correct me if I’m wrong about that, as I’ve never done it myself and wouldn’t want you to be out a $900 controller because I didn’t remember things correctly (or because they’d changed).
I have Pro Coverage on a decent bit of my gear, but it’s never come up. The one thing that I didn’t get PC on–a guitar amp–has been rebuilt twice and stopped making noise again this summer. Seriously, never again.
i don’t think throwing a thousand dollars at the problem is the correct answer…
seeing as how the controller is pretty new we have no idea of the reliability of it…i am sure it’s a quality build coming from NI…i say stick with it and replace the cross fader as/if needed…hopefully the controller out lives it’s warranty…
DNX-1600. No soundcard needed and it’s got enough dedicated midi buttons and encoders on it for basic transport and sample decks to hold you over. I have a feeling there’s going to be more than a few used X1’s pop up for sale when the Xone K2’s come out. In fact if you like I’ll put your name on one of mine to reserve it when the time comes.
I think you may be correct. I think it may end up being easier after the first year given that NI are totally out of the picture. Had it not been for the dodgy RCA jack on the back on my S4 I would be a lot more confident in just doing it. I am going to get a proper copy of the policy and have a read. The woman I spoke with on the GC Pro Coverage Line was not helpful at all. I was trying to get an understanding of how the coverage worked and how long I could possibly be without my S4 and all she wanted to do was bang through the claim. I ended up telling her to forget it. I will have another bash.
Yeah…calling people like that always yields weird responses in my experience.
The few times I’ve had things replaced, it’s always easier to just go to a GC. But, well, I’ve only had LiveWire cables replaced under their normal lifetime warranty.
BTW, LiveWire cables aren’t good enough for use in a recording studio, but for live applications and especially for bedroom applications, they’re golden. Something breaks, you bring it into GC and they give you a new one no questions asked. They also cost the store like 25% of the sticker price because GC manufactures them, but still…it’s a lot easier than breaking out a soldering iron unless you need it fixed right then.
