Fame?!

studiojunkie

Was just browing the musicstore website!
Has anyone ever used any of that Fame gear that they sell like the studio mics and monitors or the speakers?
This stuff seems good value or is it just crap?

eoin5

I got a fame 7pc drum mic set, great price but the stuff isnt a patch on the real deal. You get what you pay for I suppose.

trackmixstudio

There are many variations on "fame" or "tbone" or "harley benton" etc.
If you ever get to go to the Frankfurt or NAMM Music Industry trade shows, you will see MANY stands or, more often, little booths full of cheap chinese made rubbish. These guys will put any logo you like onto the product and ship it to you in bulk. You can often see the exact same item made in the same factory with different brand names on them.
I would suggest getting a few more quid together and buy quality gear that will last a long time and give you good resale value if you want to change it at a later date.

BumbleB

I f you want a mic get a shure sm58 ,studio monitors behringer truths ,they aren't all that expensive .; Shure's are industry standard and only 100 euro a pop , I have the truth's and i like them a lot though they aren't exactly flat response speakers .

PaulBrewer

trackmixstudio wrote: »

There are many variations on "fame" or "tbone" or "harley benton" etc.
If you ever get to go to the Frankfurt or NAMM Music Industry trade shows, you will see MANY stands or, more often, little booths full of cheap chinese made rubbish. These guys will put any logo you like onto the product and ship it to you in bulk. You can often see the exact same item made in the same factory with different brand names on them.
I would suggest getting a few more quid together and buy quality gear that will last a long time and give you good resale value if you want to change it at a later date.

In my experience there's no way to get 'cheap and good' , there's only ' good and what it costs' in my world, which may be inexpensive, but not cheap!!

Eoin5 is right, you get what you pay for. I would rather see my customers coming to me less frequently but investing in 'proper' gear that has a life, will stay working and has a resale value than a pile of cheaper stuff.

Again, in my experience, it's a difficult lesson for lads to learn. There's always the attraction of 'Da Bargain' .... which rarely turns out to be so.

Savman

I'd generally go along with the view that cheap is very rarely good. But, I don't think those of us who haven't heard a particular product should really speculate on how good or bad it is. It's just silly to dismiss stuff you've never heard or used

FWIW I heard those Fame drum mics, they were passable.

unclebill98

I've used Oktava mic drums in a studio, cheap and great results. Then the engineer took them on the road, one hit of a stick killed the tom and snare mic.

So it can depend on its application. A E604 on the other hand can take a pounding.

studiojunkie

I suppose the old cliche 'you get what ya pay for' generally holds true!
But then again there is the other cliche 'don't knock it til you've tried it'

I recently went with the latter and bought a few of those Fame mics and they ain't half bad at all. The drummer I play with got a set of those Fame drum mics which are not bad either. Got some Fame monitors too which are great for the price.

Nothing ventured noting gained I guess. Some of us are on a really tight budget! In some cases its better to be making noise with budget gear than not making any dreaming about the more expensive pro stuff.

PaulBrewer

Fair point StudioJunkie....

eoin5

I think theres a sweet spot for most people with regards budget vs application and it can take a lot of messing about to find it.

Theres two temptations, one is that these knockoffs are very good value and save you lots of money, and the other is that buying a really fantastic mic will solve all your problems.

I find that sometimes its hard to see through the bullsh1t and just buy what you need.

eamon234

Savman wrote: »

I'd generally go along with the view that cheap is very rarely good. But, I don't think those of us who haven't heard a particular product should really speculate on how good or bad it is. It's just silly to dismiss stuff you've never heard or used

FWIW I heard those Fame drum mics, they were passable.

I agree - there's a lot of good budget stuff out there especially some of the Behringer gear - I would be wary of 'branded to order' stuff like Fame though it's usually the bottom of the barrel.

studiorat

Some of the Branded to order microphones are tuned and modified by companies before being sold on, an nice example of these is Cascade Microphones. Ribbon mics made in china and then has the ribbon tensioned and tuned and the output transformer upgraded.