PedalPCB = A+ ... Mammoth = BIG FAIL

[bengarland]

I've only had good experiences with PedalPCB, but Mammoth Electronics let me down on my first order.

Has anyone else had a bad experience with Mammoth? Their quality control seems to be terrible.

I ordered an Octave Fuzz Kit, and the kit is completely MISSING the following parts.

4 - 10k resistors. The bag contained only one.
1 - 6K8 resistor.
1 - 1N4001 diode. The bag contained a 3K6 resistor instead (WTF?)
1 - On-On switch
1 - 14P IC socket
1 - 8P IC socket

Plus the PCB location for a 220p cap has THREE holes, but none of them are bridged, so it's not for accepting either 2.5 or 5 mm lead spacing. The center hole traces back to a pin on a nearby IC. What?

I could understand if like, one 10k resistor was missing... but how does a company screw up a kit so completely?

Needless to say, I am never ordering from Mammoth again!

 

[JetFixxxer]

I placed an order and they sent the wrong value POT. They were going to make it right and send a replacement. I just told them that what it would cost them to just send one pot wasn't cost efficient for them. Just add it in with my next order. Well they didn't add it to my next order so I will only use Mammoth when I absolutely have to.

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

Mammoth has always done right by me. One time an issue with an enclosure I ordered, and they took care of it right away.

OP... instead of dumping all over them on a public forum after one issue, why not just contact Mammoth directly? I'm sure they'll correct whatever needs correcting. We're all human, and we all make mistakes, right?

 

[bengarland]

I've emailed them days ago (twice) and they haven't responded. That + the kit missing so many parts (one small part is understandable, several parts is just sketchy) makes me think they are not a reliable company. I was curious if they have a bad reputation or if I just got extremely unlucky.

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

I've emailed them days ago (twice) and they haven't responded. That + the kit missing so many parts (one small part is understandable, several parts is just sketchy) makes me think they are not a reliable company. I was curious if they have a bad reputation or if I just got extremely unlucky.

Yes, I can see why that would be frustrating. When I had the issue, I emailed, and when I didn't hear back in a day, I called them and they (I think his name was Matt) was really helpful. The thing is, a lot of these companies are really small outfits, started by guys with a passion for building pedals, and aren't staffed with shipping departments, production departments, customer service people, etc. Not making excuses for anyone, as incorrect/incomplete orders do suck (!!), especially when you're psyched to start or complete a build.

 

[Earth Rocker]

I think you may have been unlucky. The lack of customer service concerns me though. I placed an order recently and it took them a week just to assemble and ship it. Usually it ships in two to three days after I place my order regardless of how big or small it is. It is actually coming today so we'll see. Maybe they have been busy. I hope you get your situation resolved. I've read that they supply some of the big name pedal makers. I hope they are not starting to neglect The "little guys" and the DYI in favor of them.

 

[Robert]

I've ordered quite a few UV printed enclosures from Mammoth, but never any kits.

I've only had one issue that I recall, and they straightened it out pretty quickly so I personally have nothing bad to say about them. Years ago they had a less than perfect reputation on some of the forums, but I think they've improved over the years.

 

[mywmyw]

I've ordered from them and have mostly been happy. some of the painted enclosures had small blems. I debated whether to make a fuss but never did.

 

[the_grumpy_gnome]

I hate to say bad things, but I've had a couple of experiences with them in the last year which made me decided to buy from them only when totally necessary: I had an order take three weeks to ship (friends have had similar experiences) and I had a separate order come with the wrong parts. The latter may not sound like a big deal, but I only ordered two products: a handful each of 1u and 10u Nichicon MUSE caps from them and when they arrived, they'd sent 1u standard electros instead of the MUSEs. I had to wait another week to get the right parts.

Edit: Overall, I have had good experiences with them. How I order things has also changed, these were just things that bugged me at the time. When I need MUSE caps again, I'll still order them there, as well as the occasional interesting bit of hardware.

 

[bengarland]

To follow up, I finally received a reply from Steven. He apologized and said they were having quality issues. I suggested that he could make it right by giving me a $10 refund (which they have the kit for sale at $10 less than I paid anyway) and he agreed that was fair. But I will be very apprehensive to order from them again because as I said before, they didn't just leave out one small part, they left out several parts, including 1 of 2 switches. That's just crazy.

 

[Kingdog+]

I buy supplies from Mammoth and I support what they do, They carry a pot selection that that you can't find in any other single place. I am sorry you guys guys have had a bad time with them. I have bought Parasit Studio kits from Das Muskding and every single componenl was labeled by hand, every thing was completely right.I had to wait for a backorder but I have never seen a kit so complete.

 

[the_grumpy_gnome]

Looks like Mammoth has a new Director of Sales and Marketing and the website is seeing some changes. I hope they restock soon and generally improve things.

 

[evitative]

Just got my first order from Mammoth today. I had erroneously ordered a bunch of mini- bulbs thinking they were LEDs that got left out of my order. The website clearly states they aren't LEDs, but they are listed on the website under 3mm LEDs. I take full responsibility for ordering them, but they could probably be listed in a more appropriate way. Didn't have a chance to talk to them about the fact they were missing from my order yet. I'll update once I talk to them about it.

 

[p_wats]

I actually couldn't even put in my recent Mammoth order attempt, as the cart wouldn't let me remove/adjust quantities. After talking to them and trying again I was able to remove/edit things, but not remove the cost for powder coating after I removed the enclosures that were meant to be powder coated. In the end I gave up.

 

[Iago]

Never had a problem with them. I remember once waiting quite a bit more than usual for a certain enclosure powdercoat color, but I think they got overloaded (they had had a free shipping everywhere sales that probably overwhelmed them with orders...). Never ordered a kit from them or anywhere else.

 

[p_wats]

I tried to take advantage of their recent 20% sale, but could never get the cart to work correctly---it would let me add items, but not adjust the amount or remove them. They promptly replied telling me they were having site wide cart issues and to try again. I was then able to edit/remove items, but when I removed some enclosures I couldn't remove the cost for powder coating. It was very annoying. I ended up just scraping my cart and piggy backing on a friend's order.

I got the enclosures today and the powder coating is not great---dark flecks over the light colour (seafoam) I ordered as well as severy marks and belishes on one of them. Not much I can do personally, as it wasn't my order, but the friend who placed the order says he's noticed the same lately too. Too bad, as they are the only place for some enclosure sizes (until I can convince Tayda to stock 1590BBT sizes).

 

[Kingdog+]

y experience with Mammoth is that they are a bit slow for the way orders are being turned around by most others in 2019, ovenight service is sort've expected theses days, I am slightly ambivolanr about thet. I wo want to recommend a Pedalpcb associate: Das Musikding, they label every component in a kit by hand, they are very impressive in the care they take.

 

[p_wats]

In my case, as I didn't actually place the order myself, I didn't expect anything from Mammoth, but wanted to give them the feedback. They offered 25% my next order, which is a nice gesture at least.

 

[the_grumpy_gnome]

I'm not going to share details, but Mammoth is aware of these issues and is actively fixing them. Given the changes they made, I'd expect to see them come back to the solid company they once were in the near future.

 

[bifurcation]

I took advantage of that 20% Mammoth sale too.

It's interesting, I got two pedal kits that they make in house: the "Russian" (green russian big muff clone,) and the send/return looper, and I have to say everything was perfect, all the parts were there (and really well labeled) and the guides were the most comprehensive an easy guides I've ever used.

But I also picked up three "GuitarPCB.com" kits from them. Those had missing or incorrect parts, the guides were not well laid out and worst of all the guides referenced parts that were different than the ones in in the kits.

That all said, I agree with Grumpy Gnome. Talking to them, they seem helpful, open to feedback and trying to work out their kinks.

$0.02