January 12, 2008 at 2:42 pm | blabbing.

I never thought it would be so hard to buy a working product. The comedy of errors around the Chameleon Labs 7602 pre-amp channel strip is truly epic in proportions. I am defeated and I have given up on the idea of owning one of these.

I had heard some really good reviews of this product and everybody seemed to agree that it was a great deal for the money and that it sounded good. Sounded great to me. I was ready to step up my Mic Pre game for my home studio.

I found it online at Musicians Friend so I ordered one. When it arrived I realized that it did not come with a power supply. The items description on the site said that it would come with one so I called up Musicians Friend. After about 5 days and multiple phone calls MF agreed that it should have a power supply and that it was kind of important. The kicker being that they do not carry the power supply, and had no way of getting me one. They had three things that I could do.

1. Try to talk to the missing part department at Musicians Friend. The person on the phone told me that this was not a good idea, because they were weeks and weeks behind schedule and that this would be like “falling into a black hole”, her words not mine.

2. I could go and find a CPS-1 power supply some where else and that I could “TRY” to get a credit from MF for the price. You can see how my faith that I would actually get a credit for this would be kind of iffy…

3. I could send back the Pre-Amp using a UPS call tag and they would credit me once they received the item.

I went with what was behind door number 3.

Even with all these problems, I still wanted the product. So I thought I would try Guitar Center (sometimes referred to as Retard Center). I called my local GC and they had the product and over the phone they told me that they also had the power supply. Wow I could pay another $100 bucks and maybe this nightmare would be over? Nope…. Not so fast.

When I got to the actual store they told me that they do not have the power supply, they have the $10 cord that connects the device to it’s power supply. So, in fact they also carry the 7602 Pre-Amp but were also selling it without the power supply. So that is two major distributors for Chameleon Labs that are selling their product WITHOUT the ability to actually turn the product ON. Both continue to sell the product under the guise that when you buy it you will actually be able to use it. But in fact it is a $780 doorstop.

I would have bought it from Sweetwater, but they do not carry this line of Pre-Amps. Looks like its back to my first choice, The Apogee Mini MP Pre-Amp. I wonder what kind of power supply that one has.

My luck just stinks.

Update: I must be totally insane, because when I called Musicians Friend they some how convinced me that the other 7602 Pre-Amps have power supplies and that they should ship one of those out to me and take some money off my price for the trouble. I swear if this one comes without a power supply, I am gonna pull what is left of my hair out and go screaming into the night.