Contributing more then stupidity at the very least, My MAS-Stick, I had for years and years never had a problem, Everyone’s already admitted the button’s are terrible because of the switch from iL you’re just repeating yourselves and being asses about it and contributing nothing to help anthony actually go through and fix it, You can rant and rave all day it gets you no where.
I guess I’ll get flamed as well, but I’ll say what I have to say regardless because its truth.
The newer sticks better be using quick disconnects because I’ve had to go through a fair share of repair/mods on MAS sticks. It causes an unnecessary amount of work for the stick owner to just to swap out the microswitches for when they wear out.
The newer sticks should also do something about the PICs. Having them literally scotch taped down to the case is an unexceptionable method of mounting anything. I do remember seeing one MAS stick that had a very large PCB(much better than a taped down chip) so I think that is the PCB that was mentioned as being in the very old versions and later discontinued. It wouldn’t be all that expensive at all to have a small pcb produced that has a chip socket soldered to so the chip can be inserted to and have. Have a hole in the pcb’s design for mounting. It would also make wiring much easier as you would be able to have labels on the pcb where the through holes are at for the wires to be soldered at . I’ve actually had my own pcb designs been manufactured so I do have some experience with that and know what the costs would be.
I do have some other small concerns, but the two issues I’ve mention are the most important ones.
I don’t mean to make it sound harsh in means of detouring business away, but I hope you do take it as constructive criticism in means to better improve your stick designs.
I hardly consider $67000.00USD (not counting 4 bonuses) as last year’s salary anything but “entry-level”. However, you are correct. My certifications ARE entry level. My BS degrees in telecommunications and computer sciences are not, I assure you. Yet, it all means something very much to me and achievements I hold in high regards to my personal life. I have not seen anything inside of a product from MAS that I have not before encountered in anything commercial retail. The product is proven. It works. And the overwhelming majority of customers who have purchased in the last ten or so years (I can assume you can count that high, yes?..no fingers, no toes…) report complete satisfaction. As a matter of fact - I won’t go so far as even beyond this very thread of the few here that have commented so positive.
So please, before you make a complete ass of yourself by even attempting to come after me, based on my own personal opinion(s), get your facts in order by what exactly is being tanscribed here. These are hand-hade units produced by fewer than two persons from a small local company. Not factory-produced, streamlined machinations from bulk-purchased materials that roll off an assembly line at over 100 units per hour. If you can do better, produce a superior product at a comparable price point - then I encourage you to put your uber-skills to work for the benefit of us all in the community and refrain from speaking out of your anus. I think it is safe to assume that no one at MAS is becoming obscenely rich over this venture. I mean really… if you have something WORTHWHILE to contribute here, by all means do so. Make a suggestion. I am sure constructive criticism is always welcomed. But if you have nothing more to do than make trivial grade-school pokes and jabs, then just please piss off.
We offer red, blue, yellow, and green, as well as white and black for the sides.
As for the whole PCB to PIC switch, we didn’t make the switch to piss people off, we made the switch because no one ordered them even with PCB’s, so for everyone to be in an uproar is just ridiculous. If you know of a manufacturer that can produce custom PCB boards for cheap, then we can start talking, but until then, this is what we sell, and that’s all I can say. Arguing over it isn’t going to change a damned thing. And yes, we are struggling to pay bills, and that’s the honest truth. We aren’t getting rich over this. Our frames are still quite sturdy though and you’re more than welcome to just purchase those alone if you want. By all means, put the controller together yourself if you can afford a nice PCB board, but we just can’t afford to do that right now.
I came on to these forums to help our business out, not argue over the design we use, or how we put our controllers together. Comparing us to MadCatz is a little bit unfair at this point. If you’re happier with one of those, then go for it, but don’t give me trouble about our controllers when you can’t even suggest a reasonable solution.
- MAS Systems
Wow, where did this thread go? First of all, anyone wanting to know what the inside of the MAS looks like just check my link earlier in this thread. Second, chill out…
You cant compare a TE to a MAS. A TE is a factory build, plastic made stick. The MAS is a custom. Second, give them a break. MAS is/as a pioneer in the stick industry. Nobody was doing this back then. Do they need to get with the times a little to keep up, maybe but this guy was making his own board and using the best possible parts you could get for a stick when half of you guys were in grade school.
You can give them some ideas sure but you don’t have to be a bunch of assholes to the guy. Think about it, they made almost every system work without any resources like sega or sony. The guy just made his own shit and for the most part they worked.
Grummowned, I doubt you’ll get flamed they got flamed because of they way they presented themselves :P, Not because of there criticism
I called Industrias Lorenzo about their joysticks, so maybe I can make the switch, but it really depends on the cost. Naturally, the cost of the controller will reflect that cost, while still being reasonable about it of course. Again, if anyone knows a manufacturer that will sell PCB boards in bulk for cheap, let me know. But what you have to realize, is that our controllers half reflect our ability to produce one, and half reflect our costs. We’re not a huge company like MadCatz, and we can’t exactly meet those standards either. Thanks for your time.
- MAS Systems
P.S. I got a call back from iL, it looks like we may be able to use those instead of Happ. I’ll start looking into PCB boards for you guys.
Very nice.
For pcb boards, the smaller the size of the board the cheaper it will be. Also the more you order, the cheaper it will be.
I’m currently using Pad2Pad. For a 1inch by 2 inch pcb @ 100 pcs its $2.10 per board. For the same size board, but increase the quantity to 200 pcs, the price drops to $1.18 per board.
I consider this cheap when you consider the benefits you gain when you have pcbs for the chip to be put on.
Edit: I’ve used futurlec/ before and they have really cheap pcb manufacturing.
Yes but… 1 inch by 2 inch isn’t practical. If you’ve seen our older PCB’s you would know that we use very large ones to account for all the chips we add on. It’s not a small little board for one console. People want other consoles added on. This is where the high cost comes from.
- MAS Systems
As a modder and in general someone who’s extremely familiar with electronics, I agree wholeheartedly with Gummowned. Please don’t do the sandwiched PIC chips scotch taped into the case. It’s shitty, and without proper support, the legs of a PIC chip can be easily shorn off. A small PCB for proper support costs next to nothing compared to the cost of one of your fully build sticks, and I think people would appreciate a bit more quality in that regard. Other than that everyone else I’ve talked to about MAS sticks loves the shit out of them, so good luck in the endeavor.
First time I looked at the underside of a MAS, and I saw this:
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/4979/whatisthisd.jpg
Again, please don’t do this.
edit:
read your post, and technically yes you would probably need a larger PCB than 1"x2" or so, but even so, you can easily find places to fabricate your boards for still around what Gummowned mentioned, even at a larger size.
If you could suggest any companies, that would be great. Thank you.
- MAS Systems
I gotta say, I have no interest in MAS cases (due to i play on JP shit).
But this Anthony guy, is trying very hard to update his family’s business to be competitive with the current market. Props man.
I’ve used pad2pad and futurlec. Futurlec will probably be cheaper but will take longer to receive the boards.
For the most part I’ve really only seen people have their MAS stick for ps2 and dc. Since thats both done on the one chip you would only need the small pcb.
I’m not trying to add to a dogpile, but I have to wholeheartedly agree with the critiques given so far. While from an electrical standpoint, that sort of thing is perfectly valid and works fine, it is severely less stable from a physical standpoint, failures from general abuse will be far more frequent.
But I will definitely say this: I’m glad you’ve convinced them to make an effort and presence on SRK; it’s long overdue.
Also, the cases may not be to my personal liking, but they are SOLID. You don’t get used by Marvel players unless you can take a beating.
Definitely take a peek over the Cthulhu boards and the new PiiWee boards and discuss them with your family; I think it’d be a very easy way to help improve your sticks, especially on newer consoles. Feel free to contact me if there’s anything I can do to help.
Asking Kyle ahead of time about making the thread shows a touch of class I have to respect. Seriously, welcome.
How did you get HAIR inside your stick?
I would take a guess that it got in there when they had the stick open and hair fell in.
You’d be surprised by the amount of hair I find wrapped around the bottom rubber feet on TE’s.
I tried mentioning PCB boards and it’s just not going to happen. It’s not practical for us. We’re a family of 4 struggling to do our best, and we have to minimize costs as much as we can. We don’t have 500+ dollars to spend on PCB boards, and from the engineer’s point of view, whether there is a board or not shouldn’t make a difference. A lot of the problems that come from not using a board, also happen when you do use a board. Don’t treat your controller like trash, and you shouldn’t have a problem (those are not my words, just trying to summarize how he put it).
Also, we don’t support you opening up the controller and trying to do things on your own. We give you a six months grace time (warranty so to speak) to cover you in case something goes wrong. If it’s our fault, we’ll fix it for you, however not many people have ever had problems with our method of putting the controller together. We aren’t concerned with how it looks on the inside, only if it works or not. If you don’t like it, just buy a case and do it yourself.
My father is basically a one man team, and as much as I try to help, or anyone else, it never really seems to show any actual results. That’s all I’m going to say. I don’t want to share my life with you, and I only came here to do business. The bottom line is: we sell a product, and you either buy it from us, or you don’t. The amount of work that is added on from all of these suggestions is just far too much for the engineer to handle, believe me. Just please understand that our product is what it is, and we can only go so far with customizing it for you, while trying to incorporate everything else. The engineer has made it clear to me, very clear, that he will not comply to these changes. Not becuase he doesn’t want to, but because so much else goes on that he has to take care of, we’re a family after all, and a lot of things just go on. I don’t really know how else to put it to you. I’m not asking for you to understand or feel sympathy as it’s none of your business, but I had to explain a little bit so that you might have a little insight as to why our controllers are made the way they are. Suggestions, as nice as they are (it was my idea to try and get suggestions) was just too much for the engineer to handle. I’m sorry.
- MAS Systems
EDIT: I can still get us to use iL instead of Happ though, because the engineer doesn’t handle that part. But honestly, I’m taking a lot of heat from mentioning so many changes, and it’s just not even worth it from my own stand point. I’d rather keep my own father happy moreso than just you guys. Family is family, and I can only go so far with how I treat them as opposed to you guys.
So, we sell controllers, some like them, some don’t. There’s not much we can do about that. If you would like to place an order, you’re more than welcome to. We sell fully functional controllers for the consoles listed on the original post, and we also sell just empty cases. From now on, I won’t be responding to anything related to changing the way we make our controllers. Thanks for your time.
Most likely from opening it up a lot. We don’t support that, and our controllers weren’t meant for others to do that. If a problem ever occurs, send it back to us, and we’ll fix it for you.
Anthony, I advise you PM Kyle about cleaning up all the flame in the thread and lets get back to a fresh start