All Genz Benz products on "standby" by Fender ??

[B-string]

Originally Posted by PurpleDrank

As much as I would like to see GB as an independent again, I don't think Fender would like to unleash a competitor that has superior products. I hope it's just a distribution modification.

Personally, I love Genz-Benz stuff for many reasons and hope to buy more in the future. I'm hoping what is happening here is that Fender is trying to position Genz in between their starter junk and Rumble series on the low end and their all-tube amps on the high end. Kind of slot them in as their high-end solid-state/hybrid amps and lightweight cabs (a position they currently occupy in the market anyway). I think they were trying to do the same with SWR, but, unlike Genz, SWR failed to continue to innovate for whatever reason, and fell by the wayside in the Fender pecking order. It would be really short sighted for Fender to be thinking about killing off the strongest line of bass amplification (and acoustic amps for that matter) in their portfolio, so I kind of doubt that they are.

I'm just really hoping that the news is about getting more GB products into the North American Fender dealer networks, and that's why they have to throttle the European deliveries until production ramps up.

A guy can be optimistic, right?

SURE CAN!

[Rockin Mike]

Sometimes big corporations buy competitors in order to bury them.

Sequent was making cool scalable supercomputers, all of NASDAQ used to be on Sequent, then IBM bought them and they just sort of went away.

[DigitalMan]

First thing I think of when a reseller isn't getting more product delivered is that they (the reseller) are behind on paying the bills.

Not sure what else you could infer from the OP.

[nutdog]

Originally Posted by DigitalMan

Not sure what else you could infer from the OP.

That agedhorse will announce a new Fender marketing campaign at NAMM featuring transvestites on trampolines?

[willsellout]

Originally Posted by nutdog

That agedhorse will announce a new Fender marketing campaign at NAMM featuring transvestites on trampolines?

And in true GB fashion, the transvestite will weigh 4 pounds.

[steve_rolfeca]

And have a kick like a mule.

[lowfreqgeek]

Originally Posted by nostatic

ok, I tell you what. I'll throw in SWR. And a cookie.

Wow! How could I get any more lucky?

It's a deal!

[B-string]

With a transferable warranty.

[willsellout]

Originally Posted by B-string

With a transferable warranty.

TRAN-SFERRABLE........

[SactoBass]

Originally Posted by willsellout

TRAN-SFERRABLE........

I'll shiver in antici.....................pation!

[SactoBass]

Originally Posted by nutdog

That agedhorse will announce a new Fender marketing campaign at NAMM featuring transvestites on trampolines?

I heard it was gonna be lesbian nazi hookers who were abducted by aliens and forced into weight loss programs.

[will33]

Originally Posted by two fingers

You seem to be pretty jaded when it comes to corporate affairs. However, I would offer this. Sometimes it is BEST not to be too involved with your product if you are a CEO. I knew a man who ran 12 piano stores. He took the company from almost bankrupt to making tons of money per year in only a few short years. He improved everything about the company. He neither played nor wanted a piano. The man who had almost run the company into the ground was a very accomplished pianist, but couldn't sell his way out of a wet paper bag.

Bosses aren't evil. Corporations OWE their shareholders the BEST bottom line. It's not ugly or evil. It's actually beautiful in its simplicity and mutual benefit. There will always smaller shops you can buy from if you like your hand held through the process. If you want to be able to call Mr.Widget on the phone to ask a question about your Widget 2000, then Fender or GB is not the company for you. There are plenty out there who will build you a bass, a rig, or even a pedal and paint it whatever color you like and chat you up on the phone 15 times before, during, and after your purchase. Doing that on a grand scale is neither profitable nor practical. And even attempting to do those personal touches for thousands and thousands of customers is both unrealistic and a waste of time/resources. Mass markets have a place in this world. They keep costs down for everyone. They make quality goods available to the masses in a way that is convenient and affordable. The "cost" of that is not so many touchy feely warm fuzzy frills in the process.

There is wisdom in this too. It's not to be "poo-poo'd or anything like that. (Why is there an apostrophe in 'poo-poo'd'?....I don't know). There is the fact that, over history, whenever a company passes hands from folks who give a $#!+ about it, built it, have a real personal interest, etc. to folks who just view it as profit center/moneymaker....$#!+ usually goes downhill.

[modulusman]

Originally Posted by will33

There is wisdom in this too. It's not to be "poo-poo'd or anything like that. (Why is there an apostrophe in 'poo-poo'd'?....I don't know). There is the fact that, over history, whenever a company passes hands from folks who give a $#!+ about it, built it, have a real personal interest, etc. to folks who just view it as profit center/moneymaker....$#!+ usually goes downhill.

Eden comes to mind. Use to be some of the best gear available. Bought by US Music, quality goes to hell and David Nordchow leaves.

[MetroBass]

With a world economy in a tailspin like the one we're currently experiencing, only the stong survive. Mom and pops, "boutiques" will have to restructure, re-position, re-whatever to make it through the recovery. The big boys see this as an opportunity to gobble up the pearls and get rid of the mediocre.
Whatever is happening to GB will probably happen to G-K, Hartke, SWR, maybe TC. I read somewhere where the micro amp crazy is a fad, maybe so, we’ll have to see how it plays out. When you consider the exorbitant cost from design to production for these guys to make one amp and then marketing and distribution cost there’s not a lot of profit left. Plus how many amps do you think GB really sells? 1000 or 10000? Somewhere in between. Ampeg, Fender, Mesa, Peavey are here to stay but I expect a fallout with the smaller manufacturers. No idea what will happen to the foreigners: Markbass, Orange and EBS.

[arai]

Originally Posted by MetroBass

...I read somewhere where the micro amp crazy is a fad, maybe so, we’ll have to see how it plays out. ...

I can see working bass players around the world suddenly realising that even though their micro sounds great they are just so sick of being able to carry the amp with one hand

[odineye]

Originally Posted by arai

I can see working bass players around the world suddenly realising that even though their micro sounds great they are just so sick of being able to carry the amp with one hand

AMEN!!! That really is just soo... so common. I can't wait for the day when all these lazy, short sighted Lemmings wise up and go back to carrying around a SVT CL and a couple of fridges. You know... Like it SHOULD be.

[odineye]

BTW. How in the world can this thread be up to page 13, and there STILL be serious conversation going on???

[joelb79]

Originally Posted by odineye

BTW. How in the world can this thread be up to page 13, and there STILL be serious conversation going on???

Because the topic at hand is important dang it!

Originally Posted by odineye

AMEN!!! That really is just soo... so common. I can't wait for the day when all these lazy, short sighted Lemmings wise up and go back to carrying around a SVT CL and a couple of fridges. You know... Like it SHOULD be.

If the reliability of the few "lightweight" heads I've had recently is any indication of the future; then I'm going back to lead sled and re-tubes. I'm sitting on a $105 for parts + $75/hr shop labor to swap it +Shipping to repair my LMII, a brand new PF-500 than I'm on my second Warranty unit with the same cutting-out problem; which I'm sure will just be an endless chain of new units shipped to me with no change in performance. People knock me for being hesitant to become a GB customer with this "rumor" going on, but really I've seen threads of dead GB's of the Lightweight kind. I know its more expensive to replace a board inside these amps than repair bills for the older style amps. And honestly; I'm sick of having no sound in the middle of a bass solo, or a heavy part of a song; only to have to wait to have my unit shipped to some place or have parts shipped for a board swap that costs more in parts than any other repair. The dang transformer on my Hartke 7000 went out in 2004 and it was cheaper than the LMII repair bill. I'm wanting out of this lightweight fad quick.

[odineye]

Originally Posted by joelb79

Because the topic at hand is important dang it! .

HA! Well, yeah, it could be. But I think I'll wait till I see something more than a post in a forum that " some guy in Europe told some other guy in Europe that GB is on hold, therefore GB is now a rotting corpse in the fetid swamp of corporate raided has been music manufacturers..." before I take the whole thing seriously.

Originally Posted by joelb79

If the reliability of the few "lightweight" heads I've had recently is any indication of the future; then I'm going back to lead sled and re-tubes. I'm sitting on a $105 for parts + $75/hr shop labor to swap it +Shipping to repair my LMII, a brand new PF-500 than I'm on my second Warranty unit with the same cutting-out problem; which I'm sure will just be an endless chain of new units shipped to me with no change in performance. People knock me for being hesitant to become a GB customer with this "rumor" going on, but really I've seen threads of dead GB's of the Lightweight kind. I know its more expensive to replace a board inside these amps than repair bills for the older style amps. And honestly; I'm sick of having no sound in the middle of a bass solo, or a heavy part of a song; only to have to wait to have my unit shipped to some place or have parts shipped for a board swap that costs more in parts than any other repair. The dang transformer on my Hartke 7000 went out in 2004 and it was cheaper than the LMII repair bill. I'm wanting out of this lightweight fad quick.

OUCH! Yes, that'd turn me away from the whole "lightweight head" idea as well if I had any attraction to them in the first place, but no... I'm perfectly happy with my "lead sled" sm-400as a preamp into a qsc rmx 1450 behind me. I was really just vamping on someone else's joke to try to "lighten" this whole thread up... That being said, I do know plenty of players here locally who are using a lightweight head in one form or another (mostly GBs) who are extreemly happy with their setup.

Sounds like you my friend might need to just come back to the old school though.

[Rockin Mike]

Originally Posted by joelb79

Because the topic at hand is important dang it!



If the reliability of the few "lightweight" heads I've had recently is any indication of the future; then I'm going back to lead sled and re-tubes. I'm sitting on a $105 for parts + $75/hr shop labor to swap it +Shipping to repair my LMII, a brand new PF-500 than I'm on my second Warranty unit with the same cutting-out problem; which I'm sure will just be an endless chain of new units shipped to me with no change in performance. People knock me for being hesitant to become a GB customer with this "rumor" going on, but really I've seen threads of dead GB's of the Lightweight kind. I know its more expensive to replace a board inside these amps than repair bills for the older style amps. And honestly; I'm sick of having no sound in the middle of a bass solo, or a heavy part of a song; only to have to wait to have my unit shipped to some place or have parts shipped for a board swap that costs more in parts than any other repair. The dang transformer on my Hartke 7000 went out in 2004 and it was cheaper than the LMII repair bill. I'm wanting out of this lightweight fad quick.

I have a 30-pound amp from a major manufacturer that's been replaced once under warranty and then repaired under warranty. My backup, a Genz-Benz Streamliner, has never had a problem and has seen more action than my so-called good amp.