Hey..... it's MI.... not high end home hifi....... is now, was back whenever, too. In fact it may be worse now, there is more competition, there are more copycats, it's rough.
If you want to see cheap, look at old Fender...... it was cheap to build the way they did..... it would cost a lot NOW, but don't go by that, it was cheap then.
The old Fender circuitry is simple stuff out of the tube manuals..... so is most all of the other early MI stuff.
It happens that the construction held up pretty well, and players learned to get what they wanted out of the circuits, so that stuff became "classic".
Now, Loud may or may not know how to get quality out of the third level manufacturers they use.... It isn't easy, I have been there and seen that.... both from this side, and also over in china.
Those folks in china want to make money too, and they don't have much to lose with lower volume customers. MI does not sell like consumer goods, and likely tends to be "fill-in" production. 5000 pieces, which is a big run for a single MI product unless lowest end, is really just getting started, it's over so fast they hardly learn what to do.
I've gone around and around on products with the same errors cropping up again, even though the documentation was clear. We even had the contract folks change a PC board in a way that made the amp fail.... guaranteed.
On top of that, the chinese are actually running out of factory workers..... its true.... there is a big push toward trying to keep them, instead of having the traditional attitude that there are ten more waiting to take the place if one quits.
The result is that only the poor workers will work for the secondary and third level factories, that pay poorly and overwork folks.
Guess where that leads........
I think it has more to do with Wooten getting a better deal, but also because Larry Hartke IS Hartke. You need an MBA to figure out Ampeg's history.
