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Ampeg Heritage Line
- Thread starter MingusBass
- Start date
considering my stage b-15 rig is with a cab from vintage blue with an optional extension cab from fliptops...
however, they do say ampeg (i added the logos myself...naturally they can't sell them with the logos). and i do have to admit it's kind of reassuring seeing the name back there. and they sure are pretty. b-15's probably the prettiest tube amp ever. the "copies" i've seen so far don't look like them at all. so the look is kind of important, yeah. i got no problem admitting that.
Well, that did not impress me. He wasn't very well spoken, bad lighting,a blank screen in the background?and absolutly no umph, in the presentation. Hope they sound good.
Well said; what a horrible presentation
No thought to content or professsionalism
It's one thing to speak from a stream of consciousness perspective, but only effective if well thought out, informative, a logical order and presentation of facts, compelling delivery, etc
How could a large company allow such a presentation to occur at the largest industry convention, especially considering that they have big problems with product reliability, delivery, and more and better competition than ever before?
And then to throw this schlock job up knowing the certainty of video cameras with a guarantee that it will appear on the web is a horrible demonstration of business acumen or planning.
If this is the amount of effort that they put forth to introduce the "new" Ampeg products, one can only hope that the engineering staff (including 60's & 70's products as well as 7 & 8 Pro) can save them. The only positive thing that I am convinced of is that EAW can produce high quality products although we don't know if Ampeg has contracted them to build quality or cheap.
Jerold, are the old patents still protected?
If not, we are clearly only buying old memories as any competant manufacturer could market and build these reasonably simple products more effectively either here or abroad IMO.
If I didn't feel so strongly about the design and tone of this gear I wouldn't care in the least; suspect most of you feel the same way. Too bad as I have such strong and favorable memories gigging with and watching touring acts kick butt with this gear over the last 30 years.
Their top dog can barely talk in complete sentances during what is arguably their last chance at maintiang market share; disapointing at best.
- Jun 25, 2006
- 3,226
- 341
- Disclosures
- Owner, Pike Amplification & 3Leaf Audio
Nothing confirmed, it's just a pet project of one of the guys behind the Heritage line. Hopefully it sees the light of day.
- Jun 25, 2006
- 3,226
- 341
- Disclosures
- Owner, Pike Amplification & 3Leaf Audio
I was at NAMM yesterday and I had the chance to talk with the Ampeg guys about the Heritage line. The tubes are NOT the only difference between these and the import stuff.....many components are upgraded, circuit board is higher quality, tolex is much nicer. Transformers are the same as the import SVT. The Heritage stuff sounds noticeably better.
Im excited to see the new Heritage line from Ampeg. But I cant see myself paying that much for an SVT CL when you could buy a used one made by SLM for 1/3 the MSRP. Unless the new CL is point to point wiring then that changes my prospective.
The "Heritage" stuff is a bit amusing to some of us.........
What's most interesting about the "Heritage line" that will be made in the US is that Loud HAD the ability to do that when they bought SLM.
They could have been quality guys, supporting their old products, and producing cool new products. They OWNED NOS Ampeg parts, NOS US tubes, and other things which NOBODY will EVER have access to again. They had experienced assembly workers who really wanted to build the best and coolest stuff. They had probably the best service department in the US MI biz.
And what did Loud do with this irreplaceable setup? They dumpstered the parts and fired the workers.
They could have had the "heritage line" AND maybe a "custom shop" type operation, in operation 4 or 5 years ago, and would been already profiting from it. Yes, it WOULD have sold, at lower prices than they are proposing....it would have been less costly to keep what they already owned, than to start from scratch.
I hope they can make it work. I don't have anything against the present crew, unless they manage to mess it up again (and that is perfectly possible). What's done is done, and maybe it was time. I think SLM had Ampeg longer than any single management entity since Everett Hull.
But Loud should never forget that as a company, they already had in their hands what they want to do now, they pi$$ed it away, and they never even realized it.
What's most interesting about the "Heritage line" that will be made in the US is that Loud HAD the ability to do that when they bought SLM.
They could have been quality guys, supporting their old products, and producing cool new products. They OWNED NOS Ampeg parts, NOS US tubes, and other things which NOBODY will EVER have access to again. They had experienced assembly workers who really wanted to build the best and coolest stuff. They had probably the best service department in the US MI biz.
And what did Loud do with this irreplaceable setup? They dumpstered the parts and fired the workers.
They could have had the "heritage line" AND maybe a "custom shop" type operation, in operation 4 or 5 years ago, and would been already profiting from it. Yes, it WOULD have sold, at lower prices than they are proposing....it would have been less costly to keep what they already owned, than to start from scratch.
I hope they can make it work. I don't have anything against the present crew, unless they manage to mess it up again (and that is perfectly possible). What's done is done, and maybe it was time. I think SLM had Ampeg longer than any single management entity since Everett Hull.
But Loud should never forget that as a company, they already had in their hands what they want to do now, they pi$$ed it away, and they never even realized it.
So Ampeg admits their current lines are sub par. Good for them.
Progress is you get "more" for "less" - more quality, features, reliability - for less $$$
This is exactly opposite of progress.
This is some "re-issue' tactic to try and sell special editions at high prices. They should have done this all along. Progress should have been new lines of amps - which I see they finally are coming out with, and they should have had limited runs of re-issued amps.
Progress is you get "more" for "less" - more quality, features, reliability - for less $$$
This is exactly opposite of progress.
This is some "re-issue' tactic to try and sell special editions at high prices. They should have done this all along. Progress should have been new lines of amps - which I see they finally are coming out with, and they should have had limited runs of re-issued amps.
That is sad though I think what they are trying to do now is save their rear ends. Looks like they threw together some stuff to get a buzz going. I would not touch any of this stuff with a 10 foot pole. Look at what they did concerning all the service people, parts, etc....
When I buy gear I purchase it with the intent to keep it and use it. I buy it with an understanding the company is going to be around. Who knows where Loud/Ampeg/Mackie/Crate etc... will all end up.
A friend of mine purchased a Loud era SVT Classic which has been in the shop multiple times since he purchased it several years ago. It was repaired under warranty numerous times. He had a Gig recently and it went down. It's out of warranty now and it has been setting gathering dust. He does not have the money to repair it right now. I would be furious.
at the risk of pissing americans off in here, i have to say something about sub par loud stuff...
yes, there was a lot of qc problems with their stuff for the first couple years. but i got my choice of either an slm svt-cl/810e from 2001-2 and a newish loud cl/810e on my gig today, and i chose the loud. the heads both worked great. i didn't get to interchange them, but i thought each head sounded like any other cl i've heard. the loud 810e sounded a lot better. not as good as my 73 810, but way closer to it than the last batch of slm cabs from 2001 on. slm cabs previous to that were great, though, so it's not meant to be a dig at slm.
so i don't know how they're built or anything so i can't speak on the head quality (sounds like an svt to me), but i know how an svt is supposed to sound, and the loud cabs have the sound. credit where credit is due.
all the other stuff jerrold said could easily make one a strong disbeliever in loud, though, and it's hard to blame anyone for getting pissed over it. but i think the loud stuff i've played recently has been quality product. what can i tell ya? i'm not especially comfortable with what happened, but at the end of the day, i just want my ampeg. is that so wrong?
yes, there was a lot of qc problems with their stuff for the first couple years. but i got my choice of either an slm svt-cl/810e from 2001-2 and a newish loud cl/810e on my gig today, and i chose the loud. the heads both worked great. i didn't get to interchange them, but i thought each head sounded like any other cl i've heard. the loud 810e sounded a lot better. not as good as my 73 810, but way closer to it than the last batch of slm cabs from 2001 on. slm cabs previous to that were great, though, so it's not meant to be a dig at slm.
so i don't know how they're built or anything so i can't speak on the head quality (sounds like an svt to me), but i know how an svt is supposed to sound, and the loud cabs have the sound. credit where credit is due.
all the other stuff jerrold said could easily make one a strong disbeliever in loud, though, and it's hard to blame anyone for getting pissed over it. but i think the loud stuff i've played recently has been quality product. what can i tell ya? i'm not especially comfortable with what happened, but at the end of the day, i just want my ampeg. is that so wrong?
Are the later Loud products more reliable than the early units?
That would show progress.
Mr. M - While it is good that these cabinets sound better, there is no evidence to support that it was by design; could have just been an accident. If it was by design one would think the factory would have advertised it as such.
That would show progress.
Mr. M - While it is good that these cabinets sound better, there is no evidence to support that it was by design; could have just been an accident. If it was by design one would think the factory would have advertised it as such.
honestly jim, i couldn't care less which way it was
but yes, i totally agree that they are missing the boat by not advertising that. as for reliability, who knows? not realy long enough to establish a track record. i've heard that the tolex doesn't hold up as well. that's about all i know. but it looks pretty decently built to me. now if there's a pcb full of surface mounted components that has to be replaced as a whole, that would suck
but i don't know anything about that. all i can tell you is what it sounded like and as a longtime svt user/fan, i was sassified.They are the SAME products, pretty much....... just made in different places. Only now are we seeing newer Loud-era units that didn't exist before. If there is a reliability improvement, it would be from lousy back towards goodish*.... as the overseas folks got it together.
The Loud execs surely didn't hit the ground running with SLM products. For a year or more after the purchase, it was hard to get ANY new product approved. And for a year they totally ignored the Crate line that they got, which, like it or hate it, had a number of good products in it (and some pretty so-so stuff too). There was about nothing at NAMM that year for Crate.
We wanted to do some upgrades following production of the initial SVT-8PRO units, and that didn't go anywhere either. Back in the SLM days, Gene Kornblum would have been ASKING for new stuff, if we didn't come up with it, he would, and if a product had issues, he wanted them fixed before we made any more.
*At various times SLM had manufacturing issues also..... We closed the St Louis plant partially because the quality of employee was not so good. It's bad when you spot line workers coming out of the local 7-11 with a big malt liquor can, during lunch or break time.
Just occured to me that my previous rant might be misconstrued.
I was referring to the official 2010 NAMM press release:
I was referring to the official 2010 NAMM press release:
