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Building an Ampeg Heritage
- Thread starter hodgy
- Start date
Nothing negative on Hodgy, his work is fast and high quality. And he is just cool.
But the amp design is basically the same built here or elsewhere. And it would seem to me they could build more in the US.
Check out this story:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
IMHO the main difference for Ampeg to build in the US versus overseas is the cost of labor. Not the materials. Somethings have to be shipped no matter where they are assembled.
The cost per craft-person for these amps is high. In the US or overseas. There's a lot of manual steps. The price of labor elsewhere is so much cheaper. It doesn't make much sense to change the manufacturing process as labor overseas is so much cheaper.
If more efficient assembly was done to yield higher output per craft-person would increase and it would be possible to bring more than 1 job back to US. It's my hope.
It may be redesigning things so they can be assembled by automation, or assembled faster. There's resistance to this concept, but it's a sound business practice since Henry Ford. US could have more jobs, if more efficient assembly was done. It does not downgrade the quality if done right and monitored.
But the amp design is basically the same built here or elsewhere. And it would seem to me they could build more in the US.
Check out this story:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
IMHO the main difference for Ampeg to build in the US versus overseas is the cost of labor. Not the materials. Somethings have to be shipped no matter where they are assembled.
The cost per craft-person for these amps is high. In the US or overseas. There's a lot of manual steps. The price of labor elsewhere is so much cheaper. It doesn't make much sense to change the manufacturing process as labor overseas is so much cheaper.
If more efficient assembly was done to yield higher output per craft-person would increase and it would be possible to bring more than 1 job back to US. It's my hope.
It may be redesigning things so they can be assembled by automation, or assembled faster. There's resistance to this concept, but it's a sound business practice since Henry Ford. US could have more jobs, if more efficient assembly was done. It does not downgrade the quality if done right and monitored.
The 'plan' is to return them to the manufacturer, but the reality is that we have an area set up for 'scrap' stuff and it's been sitting there for quite awhile. Dunno what the engineer's schedule for returning stuff is. Speakers we don't really have a problem with- out of the box I've had less than a handful that are bad. The rest are scrapped due to 'mishandling', ie.. being dropped (Sorry!), or having a hole punched in the cone with a driver (Sorry again!). Tubes we have a much higher failure rate. We test and do a burn-in on every tube that comes in and I keep track of all the failure data.
Tim- you don't want what's in there.
Seamonkey- well put. There's always talk about bringing more manufacturing here and nothing would make me happier. Right now it's me and a guy that puts stuff in boxes.
Alex- don't quote me on this since we haven't started production yet (though I will be writing up work instructions sometime in the next couple of weeks) but I THINK we'll be getting the hand-wired head part from one place, and the loaded speaker cab from another place (both US), then I'll do the final assembly/testing/play test/ whatever here in Woodinville.
Seamonkey- well put. There's always talk about bringing more manufacturing here and nothing would make me happier. Right now it's me and a guy that puts stuff in boxes.
Alex- don't quote me on this since we haven't started production yet (though I will be writing up work instructions sometime in the next couple of weeks) but I THINK we'll be getting the hand-wired head part from one place, and the loaded speaker cab from another place (both US), then I'll do the final assembly/testing/play test/ whatever here in Woodinville.
hey, watched the video. nice work, and FWIW you don't look "douchy" at all.
you say in a previous post that its just you and a "mailroom" type guy who does the shipping/receiving ?
interesting. volume must not be too huge on these.
thanks again, very interesting look at a commercial amp being assembled in the U.S. (even if it is just an Ampeg
)
you say in a previous post that its just you and a "mailroom" type guy who does the shipping/receiving ?
interesting. volume must not be too huge on these.
thanks again, very interesting look at a commercial amp being assembled in the U.S. (even if it is just an Ampeg
)
That's really cool. Nice to see techs get some recognition and actually see the guys who do the work.
Word. I thought Hodgy did excellent, too. He's straight up, he knows his stuff, and he loves to bash out the rock and roll. More Hodgy!
Thanks for the video. A heritage 410 will be my next cab to go with my acoustic 370 for more portability than my current mesa1000 (designating it permanently to practice space). If a heritage v4b is released don the line I'll get one, the 300 watt is overkill for me right now. By the way a bit off topic, anyone ever try hooking up a b15 head to a 410 8ohms cab?
Sure did. I bought my B-15 off of a guy who initially let me borrow it when my 3 Pro broke, and I would plug it into my old Tube Works 410t. Sounded like a B-15 plugged into a 410. Quite good and louder than you'd think it would be.
hey, watched the video. nice work, and FWIW you don't look "douchy" at all.
you say in a previous post that its just you and a "mailroom" type guy who does the shipping/receiving ?
interesting. volume must not be too huge on these.
thanks again, very interesting look at a commercial amp being assembled in the U.S. (even if it is just an Ampeg
Not a 'mailroom' type at all. In addition to my area (Ampeg production) we have the Triage group, which essentially processes returned stuff from Mackie, EAW, Thump, etc. I handle the Ampeg returns. There are several techs, a couple of testers, and a couple of guys that rebox everything. One of those guys boxes my Ampeg stuff. The shipping/receiving is a different department.
Last year's initial build plan was for 150 4x10s, 200 8x10s, and 350 heads. We ended up building all of the 4x10's, about 150 of the 8x10s and something like 267 of the CLs. Like any place, we build when there are orders.
It is really interesting to see the Heritage construction process Hodgy. It looks like a really nice work environment. It was especially interesting to have a glimpse at some of your test equipment.
It is interesting that you receive matched tubes and after a burn in period, retest them on the MaxiMatcher. I think that that extra QC step is important. A lot of tube sellers simply match tubes and don't burn them in. Your matched set may not be matched as well after the burn i period. To me, it pays to deal with a vendor that takes the time to burn in and test the tubes, even if it cost a little more.
When you set the bias in the amps, do you use equipment to fine tune the settings or is it sufficient to simply use the bias LED's on the back of the amp?
It is interesting that you receive matched tubes and after a burn in period, retest them on the MaxiMatcher. I think that that extra QC step is important. A lot of tube sellers simply match tubes and don't burn them in. Your matched set may not be matched as well after the burn i period. To me, it pays to deal with a vendor that takes the time to burn in and test the tubes, even if it cost a little more.
When you set the bias in the amps, do you use equipment to fine tune the settings or is it sufficient to simply use the bias LED's on the back of the amp?
Yep.
Oh please. Marketing speak at it's finest.
EVERYTHING that can be done? It would be impossible to buy wood from a US source? Sorry, don't believe it.
Jim Carr
Dr. Jim
- Jan 21, 2006
- 16,223
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- Disclosures
- fEARful Kool-Aid dispensing liberal academic card-carrying union member Musicians Local 72-147
Thanks for the tour. I dig Hodgy and the work they do in WA, but I am surprised by the video.
I used to build scanning electron microscopes. While we did not wind our own transformers or fabricate our own display screens and ICs, we did design, build, and test each and every printed circuit board, vacuum system, frame, cabinet, wiring harness, electron scan tube, and software system (firmware, OS, apps), etc. It strikes me that the Heritage builds are in effect final assembly operations. No problem with it, just surprised.
I don't think it is semantics. "Building" to me begins closer to the component bin and wave/hand soldering station than final assembly, and hands one greater responsibility, too. In my case, international competition from Germany and Japan made the pressure on us, the workers, very intense.
Again, I dug seeing and hearing about Hodgy's work, and have nothing but respect for him. I am just surprised how much of the component level work is done abroad, even on the Heritage line.
I used to build scanning electron microscopes. While we did not wind our own transformers or fabricate our own display screens and ICs, we did design, build, and test each and every printed circuit board, vacuum system, frame, cabinet, wiring harness, electron scan tube, and software system (firmware, OS, apps), etc. It strikes me that the Heritage builds are in effect final assembly operations. No problem with it, just surprised.
I don't think it is semantics. "Building" to me begins closer to the component bin and wave/hand soldering station than final assembly, and hands one greater responsibility, too. In my case, international competition from Germany and Japan made the pressure on us, the workers, very intense.
Again, I dug seeing and hearing about Hodgy's work, and have nothing but respect for him. I am just surprised how much of the component level work is done abroad, even on the Heritage line.
