I bought a GML EQ several years ago. It was in the shop at least 3 times to replace bad opamps. It seems they had a bad run, and had no way of identifying them until they went out. They always fixed it at no charge. Shall we call that a spade, too?
I have an Avalon 2055 that had bad pots from a defective batch. Is that a spade?
Things happen. What counts is how the company responds to problems. I'll count this as a good experience.
Personally I mix with a mouse on my Mix++++ rig, through a Coleman Audio M3, so the whole surface is unnecessary for me. But I wouldn't say the whole thing is crap. $4000 for 24 motorized faders, 16 preamps, a control room section with ext inputs and speaker switching is not such a bad deal. is it? Check out the price of a Euphonix controller sometime.
By the way, the control room level is acutally a digital control. That's why it has the level steps as you turn it down. It's not a flaw, it's just the way it works.
Steve