Well it seems that the Beatbuddy has an attitude akin to a real drummer.
I bought my pedal back in May during the lock down and have not had the opportunity to use it until last night when the band had it’s first rehearsal in 7 months. It lasted just 50 minutes before deciding that it was not going to continue and simply stopped working. To be precise, the display suddenly went white before the screen turned off and the thing simply refused to switch on again. I tried a backup power supply just in case but it remained inactive. I purchased this as a replacement for a Boss 880 which has remained 100 percent reliable and I have to say that I am not impressed with the Beatbuddy considering it’s price. We have a festival booked in two weeks time and to be honest we need the time to rehearse with this new piece of kit but it’s not going to happen now, is it ?? I will be contacting Thomann who I purchased the pedal from and asking for a replacement under warranty but just how reliable is this going to be in the future. It’s not been a good beginning to our new relationship.
Barry Emmens (Coyote Country Band)
I’ve owned mine since the beginning, never had an issue. I suspect you either got a dud (which is unusual) or your power supply went south. Could also be your SD card.
I’m sure @BeatBuddy_Support or @BrennanSingularSound will jump in shortly with a couple of ideas, but, after five years’ worth of gigs (typically 50-60/year) and rehearsals, my experience has been excellent.
Before you return the pedal, you could try to restore the power by following the instructions at this link: Pedal does not power on
@clawhammer This doesn’t typically happen with most units. Have Thomann replace it. If they do not replace it, please email me at support@singularsound.com for additional assistance.
Thank you for your reply,
I have contacted Thomann this morning with regard to your advice and await a response.
Well, the saga with my new drummer continues, or should I say that the sage between myself and Thomann, from who I purchased the Beatbuddy continues. They have got to be the most intransigent and frustrating company that I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. As you will remember, my problem is with a drummer who stopped playing after 50 minutes and refused to re-start until I returned home, and then was happy to play again. The pedal was purchased back in May when the Covid-19 lock down meant that I could not use with my band and at the first opportunity simply did not want to join in with the rehearsal. I initially emailed Thomann on Monday evening 31st August informing them of the problem and requesting a replacement. This was met with a comment that the email would be passed to the customer care team for action. Tuesday came and went with no acknowledgement and I was forced to send a second email on the following day - Wednesday. I waited until late afternoon before contacting them on their live chat and was informed, ‘sorry, can’t seem to find your invoice details’. Sound familiar doe’s it ??? I finally called them and spoke to their customer services who insisted on repeating that they understood my problem but would not replace the pedal and that I would have to return it to them for their workshop to inspect and repair it. I told them that it would not contain any user serviceable parts, still the same reply.
We understand your problem etc etc etc. But Singularsound have contacted me and advised me to ask for a replacement, sorry we understand your problem etc etc etc. I am now stuck with no choice but to return it and in the meantime with gigs booked from 12th September look for an alternative.As far as I am concerned I will never again purchase anything from Thomann and advise anyone else to look for an alternative supplier. They are certainly not the company I wish to do business with is any way. To sum up, great product, but bad choice of distributor in this instance.
Barry Emmens ( Coyote Country Band )
Moderator: post joined with original thread
Did you try the potential fix?
Thomann just dropped off my list of potential suppliers.
How old is the unit? If it’s still under warranty, you MAY be able to get @BeatBuddy_Support to replace it (although they are absolutely NOT on the hook for that, Thomann is). You might also be able to swap it through Singular for a nominal fee if it’s no longer under warranty.
That said, though, it’s very weird that it works fine at your house but not at the rehearsal space. That strongly suggests a power issue – which Thomann would neither find nor fix. So, a few questions:
- Does any of your gear behave oddly there vs. anywhere else? That might manifest as “This [insert gear here] never sounds the same at gigs”
- Do you have access to a power regulator, like the APC Line-R series?
- Do you have a another power supply to try?
I am not convinced – nor am I completely dissuaded – that the Beat Buddy is the problem, so let’s eliminate power issues first, because they are the easiest to solve.
Keep working the other channels, but let’s see if we can isolate the problem together as well.
Hi,
Thank you for your comments and I will endeavour to answer your questions.
Firstly, SingularSound have contacted me and have made the generous offer of replacing the pedal and I cannot thank them enough. If Thomann displayed an ounce of their integrity it would be of benefit.
Different power supplies were substituted but the unit remained inoperable. To my knowledge there are no known power supply issues at the hall where we rehearse and all the equipment appears to function as it should. I cannot rule out a spike but I do not believe that this was the problem. I purchased the Beatbuddy in May of this year following a recording session in January where we used a drum machine in place of a drummer and decided that this was the way we wished to proceed. Because of the Covid-19 lock down the pedal was not used, because all of the programming was carried out using the manager software. Last Monday was the first chance we as a band had to get together and use the unit. In my book, this means that the Beatbuddy was effectively brand new. I purchased the pedal as B stock and suspect that it was previously sold by Thomann and returned due to it not functioning, but owing to the intermittent nature of the problem, was tested and found to be working and offered for sale. This is my opinion and I have no evidence to support the theory either way. I asked for a replacement because I cannot afford this to occur during a gig and seek total reliability. I have nothing but praise for the Beatbuddy, it is everything we need, and as the Bass player in the band I have complete control over the rhythm section. I just wish I had discovered it years ago.
So they’ve already taken care of you? Fantastic! I wish I could say it’s surprising, but @BeatBuddy_Support and the crew have been nothing but top-shelf for me, so I have come to expect greatness from them, and I have yet to be disappointed.
I suspect you may be right about the B-stock being returned for being intermittent, and I can tell you, by way of reassurance, that my Beat Buddies (I own a gigging pedal and a backup, just in case) have been electronically bulletproof. I HAVE worn out switches, which is why I keep a backup (and recommend you do as well). But software, firmware, and electronics have never let me down.
Oh, and also for your reassurance, the switches actually do last a lot longer than you have a right to expect. I believe at one point I calculated that mine failed after an estimated minimum of 70,000 presses. My current pedal has been in service for almost two years and is approaching 100,000 presses with – knock wood – no sign of problems. That’s 60 shows, 50 rehearsals and 2-3 hours of weekly practice per year. At some point, having a backup not only makes sense, but each pedal you own pays for the next one.
What kind of material do you play?
I can sympathize with the problem. I think it’s every performer’s nightmare to have equipment failure during a performance. I have been using the BB as my backing band now for over a year and a half with not one issue (not the BB’s fault anyway !) but “The show must go on!” so I have a second BB with backup SD cards and spare power supplies, just in case. It is, after all, a critical part of the show.
I’ve got hundreds of gigs under my belt in the past 4 years with zero problems with my Beatbuddy. I even bought a spare in case of some failure and have never had to use it. Your experience with this one sucks but don’t give up on BB. He’s your buddy!
After my first BB failed during a gig (and was replaced quickly by Singular Sound) I always carry a backup BB in my gig bag.