That's very odd for EV's customer service. We had 4 EV N/D 257 mics go out on us last year, they were purchased with the initial install of our sound system back in 1993, so these mics held up for 12+ years (still have 4 left as well). I contacted our Dealer/contractor and asked him about getting them repaired or what ever would be the best for us, he said EV normally charges about $25 or so for the repair plus shipping costs, so we sent them in. Later he got an Email from his EV rep asking if would mind just receiving new mics, the N/D 267, just for the cost of shipping since they were out of the elemnts needed for our mics. Of coarse we got the new mics. So EV replaced our 12 year old mics with new ones for just the cost of shipping.
We also ordered an RE2 system back in 2004, I went to set it up and every time I turned it on I got insane amounts of feed back. After I looked it over, I notice that the element had been installed upside-down (the standard RE2 does not have interchangeable heads). Once again I contacted our Dealer/contractor and told him the situation, EV overnighted us a new tranmitter, so we would have it by sunday morning.
I would contact EV again or have your dealer contact them, I would think that they would replace those mics without any problems. I also like the sound of the EVs better that the Shure mics, they sound a little warmer to me.
As far as the compatability, it depends on the particular catridge and the manufactures. We have an old VHF Samson handheld system with and EV 857 head on it. That system was ordered that way from Samson. I would think that if the connectors are the same and wired the same, and if it will screw into the transmitter then you wouldn't have any compatbility issues.
