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

[Wally Malone]

Getting ready to make a move on a used ShuttleMax 9.2. This talk here has absolutely no bearing on my decision to move on this.

Wally

[gregbackstrom]

Originally Posted by Wally Malone

Getting ready to make a move on a used ShuttleMax 9.2. This talk here has absolutely no bearing on my decision to move on this.

Wally

... and your decision to move on this has absolutely no bearing on our talk here!

BTW, it's a great amp!

[boristhespider9]

Originally Posted by B-string

You have a bunch of great new ideas. To develop those ideas takes.....MONEY. In walks a big corporation that you have caught the attention of. Do you sit back in angst and muddle through or get swayed by the funding? Likely?

You have to look at the long term. Some initial funding is meaningless if they fold up the company you built.

[B-string]

Originally Posted by Wally Malone

Getting ready to make a move on a used ShuttleMax 9.2. This talk here has absolutely no bearing on my decision to move on this.

Wally

Excellent! This is after all just talk.

[Wally Malone]

I made my statement since I have seen posts, not just in this thread but other situations with companies being bought out and those thinking of purchasing not wanting to buy that product any longer. Even if a product is no longer made it doesn't make it a bad purchase.

Wally

[fdeck]

Originally Posted by SteveC

We're things at Genz Benz so bad they felt they had to sell? I know that TB is a small, small sample of the bass world, but it seems like they were doing fine? I hate to hear when good "small" companies get bought out/up by the competition. Eden used to have great gear. Sold. SWR had great stuff. Sold. Genz Benz had great stuff. Apparently sold.

I guess it's harder to make it than we all think. I'm glad my little GB mini stack is working great. I don't know what I'll buy if/when that isn't doing it for me any more.

Sometimes a business gets sold because it is too successful. This happens all the time to small businesses. They do OK when they are small enough for one or two people -- typically the founders -- to handle everything from design to sales.

As the business grows, they have to get into more complex business issues such as getting abused by large retailers, international sales, HR, and so forth.

Sometimes a big sales opportunity comes along, such as getting hooked up with a large retailer, but they don't have enough cash to expand their production quickly enough.

Getting themselves under the umbrella of a bigger company is a way to overcome these issues and continue growing. And sometimes the big company can also use its clout to take better care of the employees in areas such as health insurance and retirement.

[smeet]

I have a ShuttleMax 9.2 and a Neo212t. I like both of them a lot regardless of what happens to the company, but I am not optimistic. This has very little to do with GB, Fender, FMIC, or even the music industry. This is the world economy of today.

I work for a huge, well-known company in a very profitable industry. Guess who is laying off, outsourcing, squeezing workers' wages, etc? Doesn't seem to make sense, does it? Get ready for a few more decades of this. I hope I'm wrong, but I fear I'm not.

[Freddels]

Originally Posted by 60bass

If GB was "acquired" by FMIC and let's say that Jeff left the company, It's almost standard procedure now to have someone sign a no compete agreement.

Genz was acquired by FMIC several years ago.

[sevdog]

This is sad to see but it's the way it goes.

I've worked for almost 10 years for a company that started out private, did well, sold out to a large multinational corp, then the corp went down in the '08 crash and a local individual bought up the piece of our private company (because it was still doing well when not being drug down by the rest of the corp's holdings). I have to say that these buyouts do make a number of people very happy in both the long and short runs...none of them are employees or customers

[Freddels]

Originally Posted by nutdog

I may not understand what I read but it appears GC is very profitable except it has massive interest payments due it's debt structure.

At least somebody's getting rich even if the company goes down the drain.

Standard operating procedure for Bain. Load it up with debt and take all the money out, then kill it.

[B-string]

Originally Posted by Freddels

Standard operating procedure for Bain. Load it up with debt and take all the money out, then kill it.

You forgot: Then run for president?

[sevdog]

Originally Posted by B-string

You forgot: Then run for president?

Do you write for Leno?

[BuffaloBob4343]

Originally Posted by B-string

You forgot: Then run for president?

Actually, get the money into off-shore accounts, then, for the couple of returns you're going to let people see: donate some money to make you look like a good guy, take a few less deductions so that your tax rate doesn't look obscenely low, and THEN, run for President.

Oh, and after you lose, go back and amend those returns to take those deductions after all.

But I digress!

[B-string]

Originally Posted by sevdog

Do you write for Leno?

Letterman

[B-string]

Originally Posted by BuffaloBob4343

Actually, get the money into off-shore accounts, then, for the couple of returns you're going to let people see: donate some money to make you look like a good guy, take a few less deductions so that your tax rate doesn't look obscenely low, and THEN, run for President.

Oh, and after you lose, go back and amend those returns to take those deductions after all.

But I digress!

Too many words, but true!

[plankspanker13]

Meanwhile, on FB, Genz tried to ignite a neodymium discussion, but I got subversive, and linked this thread. Lots of likes and responses to my post; anything to build awareness of the situation (and TB, for that matter, too). Us Genz aficionados must do what we can, to save what we love.

[60bass]

Originally Posted by Freddels

Genz was acquired by FMIC several years ago.

IIRC wasn't it Kaman Musicorp that became part of FMIC several years ago? With GB being part of KMC and operating as their own company under the KMC umbrella so to speak rather than being under the Fender umbrella?

In rapidfirerob's post Eric Molinari from FMIC with a @fender email address states that GB is now part of the Fender organization and is working on a transition into the organization. Whatever that means is yet to be determined.

I still find the lack of any GB booth whether located at KMC or FMIC for the NAMM show disconcerting. I'm not buying Eric's explanation that the lack of "new" products from GB is the reason there's no GB booth this year.

If GB is now going to be part of Fender, and if Fender was glad to have GB operating within their organization, wouldn't you want to have a booth in your area for them? Even if it was just a small booth with some gear there with Jeff and the gang from GB on hand to let people know what's going on?

I guess we'll eventually know exactly what the story is but IMO the outlook for GB surviving doesn't look good right now. I sure hope I'm wrong as I LOVE my GB gear and the tone from it

[chuck3]

Originally Posted by plankspanker13

Us Genz aficionados must do what we can, to save what we love.

Amen, brother!

[Freddels]

Originally Posted by 60bass

IIRC wasn't it Kaman Musicorp that became part of FMIC several years ago? With GB being part of KMC and operating as their own company under the KMC umbrella so to speak rather than being under the Fender umbrella?

Yes. Genz was acquired by Kaman and then Kamen was acquired by FMIC. So, Genz was acquired by FMIC in that deal.

[Musicman20]

I think we should wait for an official statement. I doubt after all the sales and the latest NX2 cabs they are going to stop GB all together. If they do, it will probably just change hands like Trace did, and perhaps lose the essence of Genz....who knows. I love Aguilar as well, and they are building a lot of rep...maybe one day they will get bought out as well. It seems to happen with cool brands.