Harms Labs — Local services in Fort Collins

It is important to note that I am an audio professional. I have been making records as a Producer and Engineer for about 15 years. In all this time I have never met a "tech" who knows less about pro audio gear than Steve does.

Initially I brought some gear down to the shop that needed some work (Universal Audio LA5 Compressor, Lexicon PCM60 Reverb Unit, Fender Champ Guitar Amp, SansAmp Classic Bass Guitar Pedal and a Custom 4x 4-Band Equalizer set made by a defunct company called Westar).

The Champ & PCM60 came back quickly and in great shape. A good start!

The LA5 came back weeks later in a state that has undoubtedly caused devaluation. He glued or epoxied the meter bridge in place instead of purchasing a new meter. He also replaced one of the metal switches with a cheap plastic switch that doesn't even switch! It just gets stuck. This is amateur work at best and I would have happily paid for the parts needed to do the job right. Why Steve chose to use cheap parts and jerry rig the meter bridge is completely beyond me.

The guitar pedal I brought to him was working fine but not passing signal in bypass mode. I explained this to him and when I got it back "fixed" it was completely opposite! The pedal would pass signal in bypass mode but would not pass signal when switched on. I brought it back two or three times and each time he would call and say it was ready, I'd get it back to the studio and nothing had changed. Every time I brought it back he told me it was working and I must be crazy. I asked him each time to demonstrate to me the pedal in a working scenario but he refused to show me the pedal in a proper set up even though each time he told me they had it working in the shop.

The Equalizer has been the most annoying part of this process. As I stated it is a custom build so I have to assume that it will take time to fix. No problem there! I just want it done right. The first time I brought it home two of the four equalizers were not working (receiving no power). I brought it back and explained this to him. Some weeks or months later he told me it was OK to come down and pick it up, "It's working". I brought it back to the studio, plugged it in and found that two of the four equalizers were still not powering on. So, I brought it back again. About two months went by and numerous phone calls. At this point Steve is no longer taking my calls or returning them. So, I went down to the shop again and he's got pieces of the equalizer spread all over the office. He explains that three of the four equalizers are now working but the forth has a pot that got bumped and bent. This he blames me for. He refuses to take the blame for broken pot. This is baffling since I haven't had the equalizer in my possession for more than 48 hours out of the last 8 months or so. His shop is a mess, there are multiple employees and my gear is all over the place. How can he possibly know that it didn't happen at his shop? Baffling.. Anyway, I leave it at the shop again hoping that he will simply fix it this time so I can move on. Four weeks go by. I call and leave a message. Two more weeks go by so I decide to go down to the shop to pick up my remaining gear and wash my hands. While I am in the shop Steve gets increasingly agitated and keeps telling me my expectations are too high. This makes no sense! Either the gear is fixed or it is not.

At the end of the conversation Steve literally threatened me with physical violence in his store in front of another customer. "You should leave with your gear before I do something I am going to regret".

Steve Harms is NOT a tech. I am sure he knows how to install a car stereo and replace a tube in a guitar amp but if you have any complicated electronics do not trust this man with them! He doesn't know what he is doing and instead of simply admitting that something is beyond him he will drag it out, stop answering your calls and ultimately do nothing about the issue after charging you...

Steve, the owner of the shop, was highly reccommded from RockFan. Unfortunately Rockfan didn't tell me that Steve only cares about you if he thinks you have big pockets.

I went in about 10 months ago to get the sliders on my Numark replaced with Harms labs. At the time Steve seemed very friendly and knowledgeable. He is neither of those things. After almost a year or giving me the runaround I started going to see Steve in person. He did not like this... Now I could see that my board was in a million peices. With no organization.

Every single time I called or showed up in person Steve would say "I'll have it for you next week"

The end of my story is a sad one. Steve REFUSED to put my DJ board back together in any way or even give me the parts that he "ordered" to fix them. After 10 months of a dragging me through the mud, he gave me my $800 numark DJ controller in hundreds of peices with no instructions or references to someone who actually knows what they're doing. My board is absolutely worthless now and he didn't even give me all of the original parts back since he threw some of them out. Any maniac could've ripped apart my board and given it back to me. Steve just does it professionally

PLEASE STEER CLEAR. THIS BUSINESS SET MY MUSIC CAREER BACK MONTHS PLEASE DO NOT TRUST HIM WITH ANY VALUBLES OR SENTIMENTALS THERE IS NO GARUNTEE THAT YOU WILL GET YOUR THINGS BACK IN WORKING CONDITION...

This might be one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had with a business. I brought my receiver to be repaired by Steve. It took over 6 months to fix, which at the time seemed ok since he was ordering a part that would take a while to come in. I was patient and hopeful that it would be fixed. When I finally received the “fixed” receiver I found that one of the channels wasnt even working. By that time I had already moved an hour away.

I called him to let him know that it wasn’t fixed and needs to be brought back to him. He seemed like he was going to take care of it but little did I know that he was going to run me around for another YEAR. Each time I called he said it is on the table and will be fixed by the weekend. I wanted to trust him but after about 7 different calls over the year I realized he was lying to me. This guy was never going to fix my receiver. I think he expects people to just forget about their electronics. I honestly don’t know how this guy is still in business.

To anyone looking to get vintage electronics repaired, please please do not go to Harms Labs. I would suggest bringing it to one of the more trusted businesses near Denver. The previous reviews similar are so on point...