AB168 + QU-16 Failure

[JLargentParticipant]

After 35 years in the biz and being an early adopter (1986) of digital tech I would tell you that the recipe for disaster is installing new software the day of a gig! Well, I happily stand corrected. I installed 1.71 this morning just two hours before my first gig with the Qu-32 and dual AB168s. Both the dSnake preamp problem and the expander issue were solved! I worked the entire day… 7 hours without a single glitch! Bravo A&H, Bravo!

While I did not have nearly the angst Tonmeister had I do think we need not drown ourselves in the A&H coolade just yet. I believe the best use of this forum is to be able to (respectfully) hold A&H’s feet to the fire. If something doesn’t work it should be recognised and fixed as quickly as possible. To A&H’s credit I believe they did that. However, 6 months is a long time to have to trundle out analog snakes when the purchase was most likely swayed by the dSnake promise to begin with. We’re all professionals here and we all understand (for the most part) that things happen… Prices change, software has bugs, it takes time to remedy anything. When a manufacturer goes periscope down over issues like this or even worse, tries to deny them, that leaves the customer feeling betrayed. Even if the manufacture believes they are doing everything possible the trust has been broken. I think we all need to understand that trust isn’t built on promises or even delivering on those promises… That’s reputation. Real trust is earned (or lost) by our behaviour when things go wrong.

[[XAP]BobParticipant]

Never install software on the morning of a gig – unless it has a known fix for a problem you have experienced or are likely to experience.

In this case it was a known bug which is catastrophic and can be well understood.

What I’m not sure about is why there wasn’t an option to release a PC (Win/Mac/Linux) application to reset the stagebox – probably more effort than it would have been worth…

[johnParticipant]

Just saw this thread. I updated by Qu-Pac to firmware 1.71. Is there something I need to do to also update by AB168? I didn’t see any instructions on that anywhere. Thanks.

[mervakaParticipant]

Should just work.

[FinckParticipant]

I want to purchase a digital snake for my Qu16. Considering the problems listed above do you believe I would be better off with the AR2412?
Has anyone reported similar problems with it?

[GCumbeeParticipant]

I haven’t used a 16/8 but have been using the 2412 for over year and half both on QU and GLD. Sold several. So far no problems.

[DavidCoParticipant]

Hi Finck,

Firmware version 1.71 addresses the above issues.

Please read the release notes for more information:
https://www.allen-heath.com/media/Release-Notes-Qu-firmware-V1.71.pdf

DC

[airickessParticipant]

I recently purchased an AB1608. I’ve used it on two jobs and it has performed flawlessly. I’m running firmware 1.71 on my Qu16.

[[XAP]BobParticipant]

1.7.1 added the capability for the mixer to do sensible things to the AB1608 firmware.

They are all automagic and silent, but mean that this should no longer be an issue.

[McIvyParticipant]

Just to confirm the firmware resolution, this last week we lent an AB168 to a client, forgetting to ensure that they had updated their QU16 desk.(We thought they had, having sent them a previous instruction which was probably ignored….)

Needless to say, whilst in their care, the AB168 reverted to original firmware following a power failure and they lost control. The panic phone call later confirmed that they had not updated the desk to V1.7+, so we had to talk them calmly through the update. Solved the problem when the AB168 was automatically aligned, but not before client had lost half a show.

Stark warning to all!

[[XAP]BobParticipant]

Yeah – I’d call that as “not your fault”, as well as “service above and beyond”

[Author]

Posts