Hey guys!
First, I'd like to explain what happened: our engineers and I worked very hard at the Microtubes X series, and they are the pedals I truly wanted to make when I was working on the B3K ten years ago on my college bedroom.
We work extremely hard with the goal to make you guys happy with our products.
Among other things, my engineers and I pushed for a very precise and clean compression circuit, and went for a high-end VCA chip that should have worked perfectly at 9V (its minimum operating rated voltage was actually 8V), and all of our tests were satisfactory (using different power supplies, ranging from a cheap1Spots, to €1000 lab power supplies), and in our tests everything ran very well.
It was only after we heard from a user in this forum of the issue some of you were having, that we realized that there might have been something off with some of the component specifications we relied on.
Even then, so far, out of all the pedals we have shipped since last month, we have had less than 0.5% of reported problems with the X7 (this included), which is a good thing.
With that being said, when it comes to issues like this, I want to make sure we go from 0.5% to 0%.
Please keep in mind that we have only been aware of this problem from you guys in this particular forum, for ten days or so.
So the main reason I hadn't offered any other solutions than the 12V recommendation was because we were working around the clock to engineer the necessary changes, we have found 2 solutions, one in the form of a power supply we are testing and a slight re-design to be implemented in the next revision, which we are currently prototyping.
To users that are experiencing problems with undesired saturation on the Low Comp section at 9V, we'd like to offer you the possibility of sending us your serial number and shipping information to
support@darkglass.com.
We will notify you once the power supply is available and/or next revision is available and coordinate a shipment of the supply or a PCB swap (depending on what you prefer and what your time constrictions are, as the free power supply will be available much sooner).
Both options obviously entirely free of charge (for the swap, we will cover shipping both ways). We will also make sure to include a Darkglass gift as appreciation for your patience.
Obviously you can also return the pedal to your dealer for a full refund, which is a great policy most stores nowadays offer.
We work very hard to make the best effects we possibly can (the amount of circuitry and new technology we have incorporated in our latest products can attest to this).
But we are not perfect, and mistakes have and will be made from time to time.
I can assure you, however, that whenever this happens, we will find a quick and satisfactory solution.
Again, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to let me know.
EDIT: added the power supply option, which is an alternative we started working on 10 days ago as well that just became available.
