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Question for anyone with Adams vibraphones, or anyone with connections to that company or Pearl Drums, their distributor.

I purchased a set of Adams Soloist vibes back in September from Lone Star Percussion. It's now mid December and I've still not received them.. I've been told a hundred different stories about where my vibes are....on a boat from Holland, waiting for motors, delays because of this and that....the salesman from Lone Star can't seem to get a solid answer from Pearl where the hell these things are, and when they're going to ship to me.

Does anybody on here have a set of Adams, and if so, are they a reputable company ? Also, does anyone out there deal with Lone Star percussion ?
They offered to refund my money, but told me that Pearl is updating them and the are all these delay scenarios.

I'm new to the world of vibraphone (guitar is my main instrument) so, is it usually THIS difficult to get a set of vibes? And is anyone out there connected with people from Pearl or Adams via endorsements or whatever that has a inside line to these people . I called pearl, and they haven't been able to tell me anything other than that they've had problems with the Adams shipment.

Im really excited about getting this set of vibes, but I'm at the end of my rope with the runaround I've been getting.

Comments

Randy_Sutin Mon, 12/16/2013 - 16:16

I would ask for my money back on the principal alone. Adams makes a good enough instrument, but it is not so great that you should put up with that. I don't know anything specific about the company, but there are plenty of other options. Musser and Yamaha are two worthy manufacturers. There are quite a few of us here who swear by our Musser M55 Pro Vibes or our Yamaha instruments.

...and of course, if you are waiting anyway, there is the Malletech Omega. See all the other threads here about that. It is a newcomer with great promise. There have been only a few made so far, but there have only been happy customers. With Leigh Stevens putting his name and knowhow into it, you can expect an artist quality instrument.

Or, if you want to go vintage, check out the Deagan Aurora that Bill Youhass has reconditioned up at Fall Creek Marimbas. He does great work and it is the original Aurora, so I am sure it is a sweet sounding instrument.

Good luck. Welcome to Vibesland. We will convert you... several of us started out playing guitar; very similar in a musical sense.

pax Tue, 12/17/2013 - 07:55

In reply to by Randy_Sutin

The creativity of sales people or manufactures and the stories they come up with to cover their ass and keep you waiting, If you bought it with a credit card, talk to credit card people, they can help!

tpvibes Fri, 01/03/2014 - 12:33

I haven't dealt directly with Adams or Lone Star, but they're both very well known in the vibes community and I haven't noticed any significant reputation issues. Did they give you a projected delivery date and then slip?

The first vibraphone I bought was a Musser M75 from a local store in Boston (Rayburn Music) in 1994. They initially told me it'd take 6 months to arrive and that's about what it took. The second vibraphone I bought was a Musser M55 from Steve Weiss in Philadelphia (about 2007 if I recall correctly). They told me it'd come in three or four weeks (they were specific, I just can't remember which) and it did arrive on schedule. However, it was damaged in shipment. Steve Weiss was very good about shipping another one out to replace it, but of course that took another few weeks.

The point here is that vibes aren't a get-it-the-next-day item. Musser seems to have good control of their delivery schedules though -- the instruments arrived on the schedule they initially set.

If Adams is not living up to its delivery promises it might be worth getting a refund and starting over. For what it's worth, in my limited experience with Adams vibraphones (three of them, I think) the sound was good but the tuning from the factory was not so good. I've heard many people say they had their Adams returned by Bill Youhass at Fall Creek Marimbas.

Tom P.