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Ampeg Vietnamese Cabs - Run away!

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#41
Its pretty sad yeah. As I posted elsewhere, I recently bought A BRE head and matching B115 cab... they showed up. The head was dead...returned it... Got another one and it sounded great...rehearsed it a few times.
Took it out to play a couple of shows with last weekend Friday n saturday and the cab died saturday along with the head. Head started making some odd whistling noise and farting away and then started cutting out then just stopped-by some amazing coincidence the cab died at the same time.
Am waiting for courier to come and collect and sadly thats me and ampeg over.... Sure theres no doubting the build, qulaity and reliability of the old stuff but appears that the new stuff is just a waste of time judging by my experience.
I did email Dino at Ampeg about it and got a real nice reply but all a little too late im afraid.............
 
#42
Kael said:
. Kind of like having a relative who works for the DOD buy me a CIA coffee mug, complete with the CIA's creed on it (who knew the CIA had a creed?), from a gift shop (who knew the CIA had gift shops?) then flipping over said mug to see a little sticker reading "made in china"...
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:p
Hahaha that IS funny. And we sow the seeds of our own demise. The American consumer wants cheap cheap, adn we got cheap cheap. Like kids eating Chiense lead paint.

New Ampeg sucks??. Simple solutions folks STOP BUYING JUNK!

So, dont bust on the Vietnamese, Chienses, Koreans, Thais, Poles, whomever., Hey, they just want to feed their family like you and I. The focus of your ire should be the finance guys who make these decisions, not the foreign nationals making wood chips.

And the best way to eff with a bean counter, in his wallet brother. Dont buy the junk., Period. Ampeg is a pimple on a rats arse on this sceme, the shelves of WalMart, on the other hand, is where the scale gets massive.

But Joe six pack still thinks saving a dime is better. And the rest of us have to pay for it.
 
#43
Jerrold Tiers said:
There was a change to baltic birch type ply a bit before the factory closing.

However, the baltic birch is THINNER than the old OSB. So it might look less strong. Not so.......

I fully supported the move to the thinner baltic birch........ I had been pressing for it before that.

baltic birch in particular, and RUSSIAN plywood in extra-special particular.


Why do I mention this?

Because the Vietnam cabinets as I understood it, were SUPPOSED to be made with Russian plywood, not the Finply. Probably they were, but maybe that changed. There is some asian plywood that is kinda funky.

'Nuff said.
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I second all of this. Why? Because I personally put together the cost report to supply to SLM using plywood vendors we went to with EAW.

Dunno what the Vietnamese cabs are made of, but I wish my stateside 610hlf was plywood, mine is def OSB.

Mon
 
#47
As for this thread, I'm ready to close it now. As always, some of you can't follow the rules. Even though I may agree with some of the sentiments expressed, politics has no place here at Talkbass and especially not in the Amps forum. I really would like to keep this thread open as potential Ampeg customers can get some valuable info about the current state of the company. However, it seems some of you want to force the issue and we have to close these threads down. If you really want to "get even" with Ampeg, bite your tongue and let the quality speak for itself. They will cut their own throats and have to rethink what they are doing, sell Ampeg off, or fail.

Now, last chance. Follow the rules. Whoever doesn't follow them will be temp banned and this thread will close. Got it? :eyebrow:
 
#48
Hawaii Islander said:
It seems to me that Ampeg SVT CL's have the same price point now (~$1500.00 USD) that they had when they were made in the USA. None of the prices have been lowered as far as I can tell. At least not significantly. Any advantage for moving manufacturing is soley for the benefit of Loud and not the consumer.
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Actually, many brands of amps reached new prices recently, Ampeg hasn't... If that counts for something. Next year, almost everything will be more expensive, except a few brands.

Edit: dah! I missed Kelly Lee's post, I hope I did it right.
 
#49
Hawaii Islander said:
It seems to me that Ampeg SVT CL's have the same price point now (~$1500.00 USD) that they had when they were made in the USA. None of the prices have been lowered as far as I can tell. At least not significantly. Any advantage for moving manufacturing is soley for the benefit of Loud and not the consumer.
Click to expand...

Where are you finding these for $1500? I couldn't get my Guitar Center to go below $1599.95 + tax on the latest one I purchased (USA made).
 
#53
steve9000gi said:
What's SLM and EAW?
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SLM = St Louis Music, the company which was sold in its entirety to LOUD Technologies, INCLUDING the Ampeg brand as well as Crate, Alvarez, Yairi, Knilling etc.

EAW = Eastern Acoustic Works, possibly the premier sound reinforcement speaker company in the US, ALSO owned by LOUD, due to a prior purchase by Mackie, which subsequently morphed into LOUD Technologies.

That accounts for why the other poster who worked for EAW would have been working on the economics of SLM (obviously post-LOUD-purchase) buying the birch ply.

Anyhow, since neither of us currently works for LOUD, neither of us can give a definite answer as to what the cabs are made of now.

As far as the Vietnam deal, last I heard, that wasn't going well, and plans were afoot to move production to china, where better quality should be obtainable (at a price). Given what I have heard (and personally seen) about Vietnam build quality, that may be a distinct step UP.

My spies also tell me that SOMEWHERE, more of the new products are being built, including the SVT-8PRO, and probably others. Either that, or someone is buying from the wrong list of parts. As to whether that is Vietnam, China, Paris, or Portland Oregon, I have no idea.
 
#54
Jerrold Tiers said:
SLM = St Louis Music, the company which was sold in its entirety to LOUD Technologies, INCLUDING the Ampeg brand as well as Crate, Alvarez, Yairi, Knilling etc.

EAW = Eastern Acoustic Works, possibly the premier sound reinforcement speaker company in the US, ALSO owned by LOUD, due to a prior purchase by Mackie, which subsequently morphed into LOUD Technologies.

That accounts for why the other poster who worked for EAW would have been working on the economics of SLM (obviously post-LOUD-purchase) buying the birch ply.

Anyhow, since neither of us currently works for LOUD, neither of us can give a definite answer as to what the cabs are made of now.

As far as the Vietnam deal, last I heard, that wasn't going well, and plans were afoot to move production to china, where better quality should be obtainable (at a price). Given what I have heard (and personally seen) about Vietnam build quality, that may be a distinct step UP.

My spies also tell me that SOMEWHERE, more of the new products are being built, including the SVT-8PRO, and probably others. Either that, or someone is buying from the wrong list of parts. As to whether that is Vietnam, China, Paris, or Portland Oregon, I have no idea.
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Jerrold,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop on everything you know. It seems obvious to me that you love(d) Ampeg, and while I have no idea what happened w/ your job, I feel that they lost an awesome employee with you. This hits close to home for many of us (especially us STL people), and I for one appreciate anything you can tell us!
 
#55
Manol said:
I just recently bought a MIV Ampeg 410HLF, and I think the build quality is great.

Feels like a rock, everything is in place, haven't had any issues with it at all, and more importantly sounds like a Mack truck.
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Same experience here. Sounds great to me. I was a little skeptical at first, but it's proved itself to me. I just wish the prices would come down a bit...
 
#56
Jeff Scott said:
Everything! :spit:
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And you have a Bill of Materials to back that up?

You know for a fact that they no longer use USA-built drivers, and that ALL electronic components in the circuits used, as well as every other piece in the construction is supplied from an offshore source.

Somehow I doubt that you know that.

If you don't like Ampeg gear for sound or for whatever reason, that is most definitely your right, but I don't think you should post what you can't confirm....
 
#57
Woofenstein said:
Jerrold,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop on everything you know. It seems obvious to me that you love(d) Ampeg, and while I have no idea what happened w/ your job, I feel that they lost an awesome employee with you. This hits close to home for many of us (especially us STL people), and I for one appreciate anything you can tell us!
Click to expand...

I agree. Loud totally blew it in that department.
 
#59
I hope this post doesn't cause the thread to close!

First, I applaud everyone who's trying to get honest, useful information out to players who may not realize what's going on in the marketplace. Thank you for your personal experiences and feedback!

The first I heard of quality issues with the Ampeg cabinets was during a multi-band show in a 4,600 seat venue in Puyallup Washington. The excellent sound engineer had provided a back line that included a brand-new out-of-the-box SVT Anniversary and matching 810 cabinet.

I told him I had never used a brand new SVT before. He pointed out that the tolex was already peeling all along the back. He also told me he had had to return his first new Ampeg 810 cabinet recently because the magnet assemblies on two of the drivers had fallen off the baskets when the truck went over a speed bump. In his opinion, that's because the magnet assemblies are now epoxied on.

Personally, I don't care where the products I use are manufactured, provided that they're well-made. But considering the high prices still being charged for gear that is clearly not as well made as it use to be, I'll be very selective about where I spend my $$.

Greg Backstrom
 
#60
Similar experience recently:

I'm walking through the "bass section" of my local GC and what do my wandering eyes find, but a blast from the past!! There it is...over in the corner!! yes!! it is!! There (are my eyes deceiving me!?!?!) is the logo I have hoped to see born again!!! ACOUSTIC!!!

A small practice amp...yet, YES!!! It is ACOUSTIC!!! I pick the small amp up and examine it....could it be that they are once again making the Holy Grail of all bass amps!?!?!

Then I see the small sticker on back.....


Made in China


So much for dreams.............


O-<
 
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