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Bass Amps not from China

#81
nnnnnn said:
Might want to read your own original post again, it didn't say anything about the actual physical labelling of the gear or how the manufacturers describe the country of origin, it simply stated that certain specific amps are made in China and asked about other amps that are not.

Given the reasons others stated in later posts for not wanting an amp that was made in China the origin of components in an amp is directly relevant to the discussion.

If you're now saying you just care about final assembly location and what the "made in X" label on the actual physical amp says then that's fine, no more discussion of components, but your original post was not that restrictive.
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I referred to "Made in China" in my original post, and you're right that it could be taken to mean different things. I saw the thread going in that direction, and I posted a clarification at posts #22 and #24. But you know how these things go... I don't own the thread, I can only try to clarify what I was asking.
 
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#82
Lamar Fandango said:
I've had a Mesa/Boogie for a long time, but it conked out and I wanted to buy a cheap backup...you know, for when I have to ship the amp back to Mesa and wait around for 3-4 weeks. So I start looking at 200-300 watt amps heads, preferably with an FX loop or power amp in.

Ampeg Micro VT: Made in China
Trace ELF: Made in China
Peavey: Made in China
GK MB200: have been made in China, can't tell about the new ones

Anybody have any insight on newer amps made anywhere but China?
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I'm going to actually tell you a little story about "made in China". Stuff made in China can be "best in the world" quality or they can be crap. It depends on the factory you use to build your designs and how closely you have your people monitoring the process and quality control.

A case in point is Eden Amps. Eden was made in the USA for many years. When they came out with their Nemesis series (mid-price amps with less power), they were made at a factory in China. The design was excellent, but they all used 100% FET front ends instead of the hybrid preamp with the tube that their WT (World Tour) series used. Sound was surprising close, but lacked the warmth that that hybrid preamp produced. AND, they were built like tanks, just as the WT series was. I became a member of the Eden forum back in about 2008 and we almost never had questions from anyone who had a Nemesis amp. My first Eden amp was a Nemesis RS400 and I still keep it as a back up - Great amp and I never had a problem with it!

David Nordschow (founder of Eden) sold Eden to USM in that same year. Eden amps and cabs had always been made in Montrose, MN. Shortly after USM bought them, they moved the manufacturing to Mundelein, IL. They lost a lot of their techs who had been making their amps when they did that because those Minnesotans didn't want to move to Illinois. Wasn't a problem at first. In 2009, David left Eden and in 2010 he started a new company, DNA (David Nordschow Amplification). Sometime after he left Eden, all of a sudden there was a high incidence of defective amps. Prior to this they were great amps that seemed to last almost forever.

USM never did get a handle on it at their Mundelein factory and finally started having them manufactured in China at the same factory that had made Eden's Nemesis for the last 10 years or so. All of a sudden, all the problems disappeared. Virtually none of the "made in China" amps had any defects or problems. They continue to be made at that same factory in China and they still almost never have any problems at all with them.

I must confess that my Eden amp was a made in Montrose, MN amp. But, if I were looking at the used market and the choice was between a "made in Mundelein, IL" Eden amp and a "made in China" Eden amp, I would be all over that "made in China" one in a New York minute. And, since I was one of the moderators of the Eden Forum before Marshall closed it down in late 2019, I saw ALL the messages from people having problems with their amp or asking how to use them correctly.

So, "made in China" isn't necessarily bad thing. You need to dig a little deeper to find out whether or not the quality is where it needs to be. With the Eden amps, it is. Of course, Eden isn't cheap. But they've been around so long, there's usually a decent number of used Eden amps around.
 

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#84
After my expose' above about "made in China", I'd suggest doing a search on Eden Nemesis RS400, EN400 or Eden WTB400 (identical insides, just cosmetic differences). All of those are black-face amps as opposed to the Eden Gold-face amps.

It puts out 400-watt @ 4 ohms and 275-watts @ 8 ohms. It has an effects loop, a bass, mid, and treble EQ along with one semi-parametric EQ that will sweep all the frequencies, an auto-compressor that is great for slap (and just about nothing else), and a dead quiet DI with level control. Also came with a footswitch for mute and to turn enhance control on and off.

rs400-jpg.3721618


Don't get too excited with that "Distortion" control. If you are running with a fairly hot gain and you are loud, it can give you a bit of overdrive or grit, but not what I would call true distortion. Oh yeah, you can also slave another amp out from the headphones jack besides the effects-send.

I paid about $400 for mine new and I've seen them used for ~$200...worth a google search. And no, mine is not for sale.
 
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#86
Flog said:
Over the past couple decades China has been sneakily buying up the electronics industry ( they produce over 95% of rare earth elements vital to electronics production..)
They also are taking over the drug manufacturing and supply business. (China RX is a scary read...)
And now the most concerning, the bass amp market!

Man, if we ever go to war with China us bass players are screwed!
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Anybody remember the Orange Smart Power cabs? SP210, 212, 410 with neodymium speaker magnets and the speakers one behind the other facing forward? Very nice efficient light weight cabs that were discontinued suddenly because the Chinese government declared neodymium to be a militarily sensitive material. AT LEAST that’s what I read on the Internet back then. If I’m murdering this story and you know better, please correct me. Something has changed because now it seems that everyone is using neodymium. Maybe the truth was that those cabs were just very expensive.
 
#91
Politics aside (not going to touch that) what's the big deal about gear made in China? Some of the most expensive classical musical instruments are made in China. China was making musical instruments long before Western civilization... unless you consider a stick and a rock a musical instrument... there is no "magic" in an instrument made in the USA.
 
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#93
GK stuff is made in USA, they brought production back from China several years ago. Even their smallest 30w practice combo is made in USA. Bob Gallien said that the amps are 'assembled in the USA' because they use components from Japan, Korea, and Europe in their amps. They claim to use the best components they can get and I believe them. I love my GK amp and am going to get one of their new ones.
Mesa of course.
Aguilar obviously.
Eich and Glockenklang are made in Germany.
GR Amps are made in Italy.
Some Ashdown stuff is made in England.
Mark Bass used to be made in Italy, now I believe are made in Indonesia (if the amps they manufacture there are anything like the basses, a safe investment)
TC Electronic stuff is made in Thailand, their Blacksmith model is made in Denmark.
EBS stuff is mostly made in China, but a few of them are made in Sweden.
 
#94
Rip Van Dan said:
After my expose' above about "made in China", I'd suggest doing a search on Eden Nemesis RS400, EN400 or Eden WTB400 (identical insides, just cosmetic differences). All of those are black-face amps as opposed to the Eden Gold-face amps.

It puts out 400-watt @ 4 ohms and 275-watts @ 8 ohms. It has an effects loop, a bass, mid, and treble EQ along with one semi-parametric EQ that will sweep all the frequencies, an auto-compressor that is great for slap (and just about nothing else), and a dead quiet DI with level control. Also came with a footswitch for mute and to turn enhance control on and off.

rs400-jpg.3721618


Don't get too excited with that "Distortion" control. If you are running with a fairly hot gain and you are loud, it can give you a bit of overdrive or grit, but not what I would call true distortion. Oh yeah, you can also slave another amp out from the headphones jack besides the effects-send.

I paid about $400 for mine new and I've seen them used for ~$200...worth a google search. And no, mine is not for sale.
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That's been my main and only amp for the past 8 years now. I'm certain that this series would've sold like crazy if it only wasn't for the tacky blue light and very cheap looking letter font because the amp is awesome, it only needed a nicer front end aesthetic that would see wider appeal. The only poor feature indeed is the distortion circuit, which for some reason requires you to crank the preamp gain all the way up before it kicks in. And even then it doesn't sound good. The rest is all great, including the ability to run the amp without a cabinet for DI recording which wasn't exactly the standard 10 years ago.

It's been kicked around. knocked over, saw some road abuse, and still runs great. I've never had a failure of any kind, no cutting out or anything. Very underrated budget amps.

I had to do some basic maintenance however, the push-pull preamp gain pot is a dust magnet so once a year I would run a bit of contact spray to clean it up and that's that. As as consequence of this, since I had an amp for quite a while at this point, the top cover screws have gotten stripped and worn out, and so far I haven't managed to find direct or close-enough replacements in any of the hardware stores.
 
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#95
Bassdirty said:
I "heard" GK amps are not in china anymore, someone please confirm.?..

If you are looking for an "inexpensive" backup, then no, they will all (most likely) be made in china. What about a 2nd Mesa?


And welcome to the world of manufacturing, its kinda been headed this way since at least the mid to late 70's (that's when I figured it out anyway).

T$
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Believe it or not, lots of manufacture has been leaving China as well.
 
#97
Rip Van Dan said:
So, "made in China" isn't necessarily bad thing. You need to dig a little deeper to find out whether or not the quality is where it needs to be. With the Eden amps, it is.
Click to expand...

I had an Eden Nemesis RS-410 combo. Best amp I ever owned. 320 watts in a 4X10" enclosure made in China. Sounded great and never had an issue during years of gigging. Only reason I sold it was I got a great deal on a GK MB212-ii which is much lighter...and I'm getting older.
 
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