PS3: GH World tour drum set

[Tardaan]

OK, I'm not rich enough to have a PS3, I actually only have a PS2. The wife and I bought the kids GH World Tour for Christmas. We all had a ball playing it (my personal preference was for the drums ). Anyway, NYE comes and I have my sisters family over and we are all playing away nicely. We move onto a different game after a while (nuch to the disgust and protests of her youngest). Next morning the kids and I go to play and I find that the wires have been yanked out of the yellow cymbal (which happens to be the most used!). So I cut open the damn plug (they don't make it easy to repair) and re-solder the wires back on. It still doesn't work.

I took it to a mob here in Brisbane who said they would have a look at it for me. They tell me that the socket is damaged. They then tell me that it is a special socket and plug (has got 3 rings?) they've had a fiddle with it and they can't do any more with it. They also told me that the soldering job was good. I pick it up, pay them $60 something take it home and it is still dead. #$%@#$ I ring them back up and they wipe their hands, tell me I would be better off paying the near $500 for a new one.

I contacted the manufacturer who replied that they don't sell replacement cymbals in Australia. I have looked on e-bay and there are some complete drum sets available priced around the $200. I have played with it myself and got it working (took me about 15 mins and didn't cost me anything!) but feel that it is not going to last.

My questions are:

1. is there anybody elsewhere (most probably the US) that knows if replacement cymbals are able to be bought in their country? If so I'd be very interested (it's the yellow one that I need).

2. Anybody in Brisbane know a reliable repairer that would have a look at it and not rip me off like the last one?

Thanks

Tardaan

[Pure Mongrel]

I only just picked this up for my PS3 recently.

What took me so long to get it was the cost of the whole kit and the knowledge that here in Australia you have a 90 day warranty and (to my knowledge anyway) no where here that will fix broken units.

Where did you buy the set from mate and do you still have the receipt? If it was a big chain like Big W or K-mart, your best bet would be to jump up and down there until they replace the kit.

Make sure you add in things like "The kids are shattered", "My wife may hurt herself or a child if we don't get this fixed because they won't stop nagging!" ... just small things like that

[jatcave]

We have the PS3 one. Had troubles from day one. Yellow cymbal and red pad. Sent back whole kit (reply paid), they sent a whole new boxed kit. Close inspection reveals it is in fact a refurb, so a little skeptical at that point, but hey, it was the whole lot in the drums box (drum, stand, mic, etc). The yellow cymbal didn't last long in that one either. Sent it back, they returned another "new"one. All good now. The 90 day warranty is nothing short of a joke. Will be dubious about RedOctane gear from now on. I will give them praise for the exceptional turnaround time on the replacments.

And the brush off from Target when we went to return it intially... WHOA. Was practically "get out".... another story.

A friend of mines son (20ish) had a party the other weekend. Loads of that age drunk, slamming the kit all night. It survived no problem. His is on the Wii. Has had it for probably about 6 months now. Not one problem.

Ranting again... sorry. I fear that once this unit is broken, that's it.

[Tardaan]

Yeah, the only option I have is to return the whole set to Red Octane for a warranty. Trouble is I know that they will say that it isn't a warranty claim because it was damaged by the users (us). It's obviouse because I had to straip the hard outer of the plug to re-solder the wires. So I don't want to waste the money on it.

You can't return them to the stores because the stores do not have anything to do with warranty. Its a ridiculous set up. Looks like its a case of buying a set off ebay when I can afford it.

Tardaan

[jatcave]

bugger. maybe some google searching will uncover some fixes. I know there are alot of problematic ones out there. My son was telling me something about some dodgy soldering in them, so you might be on the right track.

[Pure Mongrel]

For what you pay for these items ... you should get better quality gear

[johncindy]

hi guys,
i have just joined i m fond of........!!!!!

[Cadder]

Taardaan, I'm not sure what your soldering/repair skillz are like, but as long as you're searching ebay, you might find specialist places that will sell just the socket piece that needs replacing?
If it were me, I'd have a go... and if it really was "a special socket" (ie, proprietary connection assumed) I'd look to see if there's any way of bypassing it by soldering in more conventional connections (eg, RCAs, DINs,). But that's just me - I'm a notorious tinkerer)

You can also sometimes happen across "hardware wreckers' yards" that strip down f*cked consoles and peripherals specifically for the purpose of selling the parts.
I've done that before with certain pieces of kit (circuitboard for slim PS2 Power switch for example) and have even sold some stripped PC pieces myself (Gfx bourds, sound cards, jump blocks, etc)

edit: I just did an ebay search for "Guitar Hero Cymbal" and there're a few replacement units and cables that came up for .99c, so you might get lucky if you keep a few watches.
You might have to bite the bullet and pay $30 for postage from the US, but hey, it's better than shelling out $500 for a whole new kit.

[ozivillan]

for anyone who has a PS3 and wants cheap drums

Logitech wireless Drum Controller - PS3 (eBay item 120668659203 end time 06-Feb-11 21:14:56 AEDST) : Video Games