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Baer Amplification Megathread!

#5,241
R Baer said:
With a Streamliner and P-Bass, too. Nice combo!
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Yeah, really loving it! The bass is a j0616bass special...a lot of fun to put together. Ok, i had plenty of help from my wife who does a majority of the instrument repairs at her family's music store. ;)

Regarding the Baer vs. Berg post: these were the two product lines that i had interest in when i was shopping as well. I agree that the cabs take some getting used to in terms of general tone and how it reacts to your amp tweaks. What has been said before is true - they really shine in a live setting. I had two gigs this weekend. Friday was a corporate event cover band deal in a typical room for those types of events. Saturday I was playing an all original show at a brewery....literally in the brewing room. Neither space is sonically ideal, but my Baers certainly delivered! Big cushioned low end, but punchy and articulate up top. The bassist for the band before us was quite impressed and we talked about them for about 20 minutes. Hopefully I made Roger a sale ;)
 
#5,243
So it is being discontinued? WHY. Most of his cabs are discontinued too. except fr the 112.. WTH is going on. Is he still in business?
At one time it looked like a good thing
monsterthompson said:
Nope. Better get the one in the classifieds before it goes.

The new DI is due out soon. What's the word on that?
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#5,246
svtb15 said:
So it is being discontinued? WHY. Most of his cabs are discontinued too. except fr the 112.. WTH is going on. Is he still in business?
At one time it looked like a good thing
Click to expand...

There's a bunch of posts about why back when he first announced it. The bottom line is that production costs to get things how he wanted it were prohibitive. I'm assuming the ML212 has to do with sales volume.

The 112 and 115 seem to be working. He's also got the new DI in the works.

Small business in Souther California is expensive. He's in a tough spot, but time and money are factors.
 
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#5,247
svtb15 said:
So it is being discontinued? WHY. Most of his cabs are discontinued too. except fr the 112.. WTH is going on. Is he still in business?
At one time it looked like a good thing
Click to expand...
The 112 has moved to series II with updated drivers and dimensions.
ML115 still in production
The only out-of-production cab is the 212, which is most likely being redesigned.
New D.I. box
Definitely still in business
 
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#5,248
That makes sense... my good friend builds basses in Upland at Alleva Coppolo.. Not only the production but the CA taxes and blah blah CA rules regulations etc etc are murderous.
But honestly. That Valkyrie looks killer good.. Set up shop to have it have in another state where with lower costs per worker, less taxes and any EPA stuff ... I mean Aguilar makes thoes 751s in NYC... .. they do charge a bundle + an arm and a leg to the buyer.. . I like teh feature set on teh Valkyrie much more .
It was nice to see a well thought out amp like the Valkyrie that is not Class D...
Hopefully he will figure out a way

monsterthompson said:
There's a bunch of posts about why back when he first announced it. The bottom line is that production costs to get things how he wanted it were prohibitive. I'm assuming the ML212 has to do with sales volume.

The 112 and 115 seem to be working. He's also got the new DI in the works.

Small business in Souther California is expensive. He's in a tough spot, but time and money are factors.
Click to expand...
 
#5,249
svtb15 said:
So it is being discontinued? WHY. Most of his cabs are discontinued too. except fr the 112.. WTH is going on. Is he still in business?
At one time it looked like a good thing
Click to expand...

The Valkyrie was just too difficult and expensive to build for us. Plus the fact that in reality the number of guys buying larger, heavier, high dollar rack sized heads has dwindled to just about nothing. You still see a lot in the touring circuit, like the DB750, but those are mostly done through artist deals where the margins are ever smaller. We are looking into some different power sections and hope to get the Valkyrie back in production at some point when we figure out how to get the build cost down.

The ML212 wasn't a big seller, due to the size. Once again, guys just want smaller, lighter gear these days. We are working on a redesign and hope to have out in summer. We are also kicking around a couple new cab designs, to see if we can come up with something cool. We are still finishing up small design details on the VTI direct box and should have that out in summer and we are starting the industrial design work on a smaller amp, which will probably be the next thing we focus on.

So, we are still plugging on and really trying to focus on getting more products in our line up. I've always had a focus on doing things that are a bit more left of mainstream and that always involves trying things, which sometimes don't end up commercial successes. We try to keep taking what we learn and rolling those into new ideas. Hopefully we get a few winners along the way.
 
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#5,250
Thank you.. I must say I really liked your idea ,format on your amp...
The entire amp had just about everything a bass player would want.
I too use lightweight gear alot BUT i keep my TB1200 around for when i want feel it in my chest...

I understand guys with lightweight. But I still see many that are now buying and using the ampeg V4b, the new mesa tube amps and i see a resurgence of moderate weight amps among the local guys here and when i travel..

Im no fan of the 750 or 751. I could never get what i wanted from one.. Not that many others wouldn't give a kidney to own one. Just not my thing. I was just tossing it out there as a heavy amp that is being made in an area with super high RENT for assembly space.. But that's besides the point.
THANK YOU for writing a full reply. I appreciate that..
I hope you are one day able to manufacture them again. The front end seemed real cool...
Personally i dont mind a 25 to 30 pound amp haul on my local gigs... Doesn't bother me at all. And I'm not a young guy.

When i was young, an amp lie a Valkyrie would have been considered a lightweight amp compared to SVTs, Marshall Majors or Rack mount power amps like the crown PSA2 or BGW 750... But its all we had back then.. hahha

R Baer said:
The Valkyrie was just too difficult and expensive to build for us. Plus the fact that in reality the number of guys buying larger, heavier, high dollar rack sized heads has dwindled to just about nothing. You still see a lot in the touring circuit, like the DB750, but those are mostly done through artist deals where the margins are ever smaller. We are looking into some different power sections and hope to get the Valkyrie back in production at some point when we figure out how to get the build cost down.

The ML212 wasn't a big seller, due to the size. Once again, guys just want smaller, lighter gear these days. We are working on a redesign and hope to have out in summer. We are also kicking around a couple new cab designs, to see if we can come up with something cool. We are still finishing up small design details on the VTI direct box and should have that out in summer and we are starting the industrial design work on a smaller amp, which will probably be the next thing we focus on.

So, we are still plugging on and really trying to focus on getting more products in our line up. I've always had a focus on doing things that are a bit more left field and that always involves trying things that don't nessesarily always equate to good sellers. We try to keep taking what we learn and rolling those into new ideas. Hopefully we get a few winners along the way.
Click to expand...
 
#5,251
svtb15 said:
....When I was young, an amp lie a Valkyrie would have been considered a lightweight amp compared to SVTs, Marshall Majors or Rack mount power amps like the crown PSA2 or BGW 750... But its all we had back then.. hahha
Click to expand...

I still think of 30lbs as easily managed, but in the age of amps that fit in your gig bag, perceptions have changed. We are woking on something smaller, but I will probably never do one that small, as I don't care for the micro format. Just old school, but I hate using an amp with tiny little knobs and buttons and #4 font, that I have to secure to my cab. I'm working with some new design guys and we are definitely going to look at making the Valkyrie easier and cheaper to make. As it is, just assembling one Valkyrie (not including loading the boards) took us about 10 hours to build, set up and test. That's just too long for anything we would like to make higher quantities of. My goal is to have something new to show at NAMM 2016, but we are really going to have to move to hit that target.
 
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#5,252
R Baer said:
I still think of 30lbs as easily managed, but in the age of amps that fit in your gig bag, perceptions have changed. We are woking on something smaller, but I will probably never do one that small, as I don't care for the micro format. Just old school, but I hate using an amp with tiny little knobs and buttons and #4 font, that I have to secure to my cab. I'm working with some new design guys and we are definitely going to look at making the Valkyrie easier and cheaper to make. As it is, just assembling one Valkyrie (not including loading the boards) took us about 10 hours to build, set up and test. That's just too long for anything we would like to make higher quantities of. My goal is to have something new to show at NAMM 2016, but we are really going to have to move to hit that
Click to expand...

You just let me know when you are ready to take orders for the VTI Tube DI.
Took my ML112 stack to a private gig a few weeks ago. Hung one off each side of my WT800. Beautiful. Cabs are so good as a stack (tall wise this time) that the amp was barely idling and the room was full of Baer tone. Love it.
 
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#5,253
Lowendtech said:
You just let me know when you are ready to take orders for the VTI Tube DI.
Click to expand...

Got really good feedback from some studio engineers and are implementing a couple of changes based on their comments. Going to build one more prototype to make sure we got everything just right. From there, we should be able to start planning the first production run.
 
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#5,255
There's some new class D stuff out there and it's getting better. We have been working with a couple of two channel units that are pretty impressive. If we could get one of those in the Valkyrie, I might be convinced to go that way as long as the tone is still there. I've always wanted the Valkyrie to do 2 ohms, but one of these units would let it do 2 4 ohm channels, which is the same thing in my book. I'm not sure class D will ever replace class A/B in my book, but it might be a worthwhile trade off if it can get close and trim about 12lbs off the amp.
 
#5,256
Not that you need suggestions from the peanut gallery, but even if you don't go to a smaller case (internally) if you could do an aluminum shell without rack ears (or removable ones) that would satisfy a lot of the form factor/weight concerns. Smaller is better but IMO just getting rid of the rack case is a big step in the right direction.
 
#5,257
Jeff Moote said:
Not that you need suggestions from the peanut gallery, but even if you don't go to a smaller case (internally) if you could do an aluminum shell without rack ears (or removable ones) that would satisfy a lot of the form factor/weight concerns. Smaller is better but IMO just getting rid of the rack case is a big step in the right direction.
Click to expand...

We are starting on a smaller, lighter design that will satisfy that market. The Valkyrie was always mean to be the big 2ohm amp for guys on tour. As much as the micros are in demand, when was the last time you went to a concert and saw a tiny micro amp head on top of the stack?
 
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#5,259
Jeff Moote said:
Not that you need suggestions from the peanut gallery, but even if you don't go to a smaller case (internally) if you could do an aluminum shell without rack ears (or removable ones) that would satisfy a lot of the form factor/weight concerns. Smaller is better but IMO just getting rid of the rack case is a big step in the right direction.
Click to expand...

I'm kind of hijacking this point to apply it to my ML112s....i have two smaller heads (GB Shuttlemax 9.2 and GB Streamliner) and like to keep at least one in a rack. When the cabs are horizontal, the handle gets in the way so my rack rocks (and not in the bassface awesome way) on top of it. I'm sure i can come up with a good solution, but thought I'd ask here: anybody else had this issue and find a good fix?

It's never slid off or anything (yet)...i guess I'm just looking for some peace of mind!
 

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