Why NOT Mammoth?

[jkokura]

I had missing pot hardware with my last order. I ordered 135 pots...

Jacob

[Haberdasher]

Here's hoping there won't be a lot of missing hardware on the group buy.

[gtr2]

Sorry for your experience pickdropper.  This is why I no longer use mammoth at all.  This is not the norm for powder coated enclosures from PPP. 

I've brought up the lack of quality control numerous times to Blake (mammoth) and I was sent this email on my last problem.

Josh,

Thanks again for your feedback and between the powder coat and missing parts, those are the 2 things that we are taking major steps (hiring and firing) to get under control. My apologies to you for our lack of QC. I hope you will give us a shot in the future. We want to make it up to you.

Sincerely,

Blake Studdard
President

I have not ordered since.  Apparently the QC is still lacking or totally missing now...

I choose to buy elsewhere.

Josh

[lloyd17]

Ppp
Smallbear
Mouser
Tayda

Yep tried the usual suspects, this is the cream.

[pickdropper]

Sorry for your experience pickdropper.  This is why I no longer use mammoth at all.  This is not the norm for powder coated enclosures from PPP. 

I've brought up the lack of quality control numerous times to Blake (mammoth) and I was sent this email on my last problem.

Josh,

Thanks again for your feedback and between the powder coat and missing parts, those are the 2 things that we are taking major steps (hiring and firing) to get under control. My apologies to you for our lack of QC. I hope you will give us a shot in the future. We want to make it up to you.

Sincerely,

Blake Studdard
President

I have not ordered since.  Apparently the QC is still lacking or totally missing now...

I choose to buy elsewhere.

Josh

Thanks Josh.  I was more curious about than anything.  Everybody makes mistakes.  I just started ordering pedal parts, but I've certainly gotten the wrong things shipped from Mouser and Digikey in the past.  It happens.  After seeing some of the posts here (particularly yours), it seems that theyse exact problems are very common at Mammoth and the likelihood of them being corrected seems low.

As far as hiring and firing to improve quality.  I am highly skeptical that it would improve things.  This seems like a systematic problem.

I'm going to give PPP a run this time and see how they do.

[claytushaywood]

i just ordered from mammoth- $12 shipping on a $60 order.  every knob I ordered was marred bad.  transistors not functional, and a burr brown opamp completely fucked up from shipping.

i have to take pictures of everything and measure every transistor thats not working for a store credit.  It's like $10 worth of stuff and i've spent like $300 there.  not really worth the $10-- considering I'll have to pay an outrageous shipping price again!

only thing worth it from there was discount enclosures and knobs.  now their knobs are fuct.

oh yeh, and whoever thinks mammoth has good prices... you're not looking around... at all.  nichicon electrolytics for .50 cents???!?!? cmon...!  tayda has lytics for like .02 cents

[bigb1984yaherd]

I almost exclusively order from mammoth now because I have found them to be rather prompt and I have never had a problem with thier parts. When they did mess up one of my orders they acredited my account with them which was very nice the next time a placed an order. They also give you a number of shipping options USPS is always the cheapest and based on weight so if you order alot of enclosures it would be high. Ive never paid anything over $10. You also have to figure that this is a rather new company and there are going to be some bumps in the raod early on. I also feel that their prices are fair compared to the competition. Shipping has never been an issue for me with them and they do have the ability to track your package and email when it has been mailed.  I have found that powder coating does take a bit more time for the order to come in.... go figure the more work that needs to be done the more time it takes. I just hope they bring back the stock of blemished enclosures.

[gtr2]

I just hope they bring back the stock of blemished enclosures.

I thought all their stock was blemished.   

[claytushaywood]

I just hope they bring back the stock of blemished enclosures.

I thought all there stock was blemished.   

"blemished" at mammoth actually means you cannot screw the lids into the enclosure

[claytushaywood]

Are some "powder coated" enclosures clear coated... and some not?  All the enclosures I've gotten from mamoth are really easy to scratch and marr.  I mean it's almost impossible to keep them clean.  I have no idea how they get scratched up on my pedal board... maybe 1/4" plugs touching them... it's ridiculous

Ordering parts is such a huge part  of pedal building, it drives me nuts.  I hate that mammoth has the easiest and cleanest site to order from.  I feel like I just resort to them sometimes because I dont feel like dealing with smallbear and mousers sites.  if mouser, digikey or small bear could match that site, they would be stupid good.  I mean what the fuck is up with the same exact components costing different amounts (and I'm not talking about the minimum order thing) I've seen it all over mouser and digikey.  Sometimes it will be the same exact resistor or something with one unit number changed and a different temperature coefficient.... such a pain in the ass

[jkokura]

I too found the Mammoth enclosures to be subpar when it came to the finish. Part of the reason I think is that the enclosures are getting treated differently.

At PPP each enclosure is done by people when you order the enclosure. They have some stock already ready to go, but most of the time they do them by hand so you get a better finish. The do them in batches, which is why they can charge as little as they do for their finishes.

The Mammoth enclosures come already powder coated from the manufacturer, in this case, 4site. Because of that, I imagine they're done assembly line style by machines. This is a complete guess, but it's an educated one. That's part of the reason they cost a little bit less, but it may also be why they aren't as durable - the process is much different and gives a different quality.

Jacob

[gtr2]

Yeah that would certainly make sense on the enclosures Jacob.


claytushaywood

I actually prefer ordering from mouser for a lot of items.  Sometimes it costs more or less but I can get an order really fast.  The user interface for ordering isn't to bad once you get used to it.  Plus you can look at your past orders, which is helpful at times.

Josh

[irmcdermott]

Yeah that would certainly make sense on the enclosures Jacob.


claytushaywood

I actually prefer ordering from mouser for a lot of items.  Sometimes it costs more or less but I can get an order really fast.  The user interface for ordering isn't to bad once you get used to it.  Plus you can look at your past orders, which is helpful at times.

Josh

I agree, mouser is the way to go with most things for me when I need them fast. Maybe I'm a sadist, but I kind of like searching all over their site to find what I need. The only thing that I usually don't get from them is enclosures, pots, knobs, 3PDTs, and jacks. For the rest, depending on how quick I need them I go to (in order): PPP (has all those things I don't get from mouser), Tayda (if I can wait a bit), Smallbear, then Mammoth. 

[timbo_93631]

My last order from Mammoth was missing one pot and they send external nut DC jacks instead of internal nut ones.  Real bummer was getting charged $10.95 for shipping and it came in a small flat rate box.  I had to email them twice to get a response from Blake, when he did he said my first email had been moved to the trash bin and he didn't know how it got there.  He asked for the number in the top left corner written in pen (I assume it is the employee ID# for whoever fulfilled the order) and then credited me back for the parts and $5 for shipping.  If you have a gripe with an order it is worth reporting it to the boss.  Chances are you'll get things fixed.  Eventually he is going to get tired of having to personally deal with errors and maybe they will be able to implement a better quality control process.  

[pryde]

My experience with Mammoth has been fair. They ship very fast and I have not had incorrect parts; however, my orders were not all that big. I will say I was disappointed in the quality of their davies clone knobs. Very cheap and many had bad blemishes and imperfections on top.

I usually use SB and actually received a wrong part on my last order but Steve made it right quickly.