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David Nordschow Amplification

#221
As a curiosity, I looked up when US Music (Washburn) bought Eden. For future reference, it was Feb 1, 2003. I wonder if he had a seven year non-compete clause. At any rate, note the date - I think most of the animosity toward Eden is after that time, the period when David had significantly less control of how the business was run.

A bit more history (as well as I know it, sorry if this is common knowledge): David was always more of a speaker guy. As a background, he was doing PA stuff before Steve Rabe of SWR had him do the original Goliath 4x10. When he and Steve parted ways David started specializing in bass amplification. His focus was on cabs and when he needed amplifiers he would bring in consultants, James Demeter did the VT .40 and Russ Allee (he designed much of AMP's line, which is the basis for Thunderfunk) to do the WT series.

KO
 
#223
kraigo said:
A bit more history (as well as I know it, sorry if this is common knowledge): David was always more of a speaker guy. As a background, he was doing PA stuff before Steve Rabe of SWR had him do the original Goliath 4x10. When he and Steve parted ways David started specializing in bass amplification. His focus was on cabs and when he needed amplifiers he would bring in consultants, James Demeter did the VT .40 and Russ Allee (he designed much of AMP's line, which is the basis for Thunderfunk) to do the WT series.KO
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Pretty much right-on. I recall reading in MMR (Music Merchandise Review, the trade mag for NAMM) a few months before the USM buyout about his history. He was involved with a speaker company when the Guild/Hartke 4x10 cabinets came out and made a big splash. His sales reps were being hammered for a 4x10 bass cab and he figured that the Hartke stuff wasn't the best design. He started working on the design but didn't want to market it so he hooked up with Rabe for the Goliaths. Not sure what happened next, but when Nordschow decided to market amps, he and SWR had to part company.

My experience owning Eden stuff since late 1997 is that well before the USM sale, they were running into CS problems. But that was mostly an issue of the company getting too big too fast. Seems they were still trying to offer small shop services, but didn't have the capital to expand staff fast enough. Pretty typical of a lot of businesses- the owner has a great idea and product, but RUNNING the company takes them away from why they started in the first place.

Wish him good fortune with his new adventure, and I'm looking forward to seeing the new gear. I love my WT-400, but I don't have any particular burning brand loyalty to amps or cabs. Whatever sounds good and is reliable is what I seek first off. But I'm leery of repeated CS problems. While that's seemingly popular in the US, fact is most consumers do NOT want to pay for good service. I'd love to see if GB is as good as a lot of former Eden fans report, but there're no dealers around here. Heck, all I find here in town are Peavey and Ibanez bass amps now (population around 125K for the twin cities, surrounding county's population is 150K). Nearest dealer with anything real is 60 miles away.

John
 
#224
kraigo said:
As a curiosity, I looked up when US Music (Washburn) bought Eden. For future reference, it was Feb 1, 2003. I wonder if he had a seven year non-compete clause. At any rate, note the date - I think most of the animosity toward Eden is after that time, the period when David had significantly less control of how the business was run.
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I think this is totally true. I think that they started getting big and maybe had some CS problems starting, but the buy out is when it went down the drain.

I hope the same thing doesn't happen to Genz Benz.
 
#227
bongomania said:
Again, he's almost certainly had professional relationships with these people for years--they are endorsers of Dave himself at this point.
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He's a speaker guy and friends with David Funk of Thunderfunk. It makes perfect sense for him to address speakers first and at least on the page they have speakers listed for products (I don't know if they actually exist beyond prototypes at this point).

KO
 
#230
SteveC said:
I think this is totally true. I think that they started getting big and maybe had some CS problems starting, but the buy out is when it went down the drain.

I hope the same thing doesn't happen to Genz Benz.
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From what I've heard from some quasi-insiders, Fender was very excited about Genz's CS reputation, and even asked Jeff to consult with them to try to bring the same level of CS across the board to the other companies in the 'conglomerate.' Hope it works out that way.

Cheers,
Liam
 
#232
A few weeks ago I had my TF550B serviced in Dave Funk's Home which is a short drive from where I live...One of the nicest, most helpful people I have met...He mentioned he is close friends with David N. ...they live close to each other...

While there and conversing I almost asked Dave F if he had ever considered collaborating with Dave N....now THAT would be something eh? Never did ask...

Imagine Thunderfunk Amps paired with David N.s cabinet making skills....that would be HOT..:)
 
#233
liam_g said:
From what I've heard from some quasi-insiders, Fender was very excited about Genz's CS reputation, and even asked Jeff to consult with them to try to bring the same level of CS across the board to the other companies in the 'conglomerate.' Hope it works out that way.

Cheers,
Liam
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you know, it's kind of a sad commentary when cs like genz benz' cs is consider exceptional and not the norm. this doesn't take anything away from jeff, andy and roger, but it does take away from a lot of other companies whose cs isn't as good.

here's what it boils down to...the gb guys do two things...they listen, and they react. they don't ask you, "how did you get this number?" like ibanez did to me. they don't say, "sorry, we're too big to handle your problem" like fender used to do (they apparently learned somewhat) and us music still does. they don't farm out cs to someone in india, nor do they trash you when you have an operator error problem. they listen and they react. that's all you have to do...listen and react.
 
#234
Jimmy,

That's what tends to happen when one dept. needs the authorization of another (handling "the books") in order to act on an issue. You get the red tape & run-around. It's not the fault of the person answering the phone, they're just trained to follow protocol and possibly troubleshoot simple issues (like "Are you sure it's plugged in?")

I think one of the keys to good customer service is to have a supervisor there on the floor w/whomever is fielding calls w/the authority to approve an RA (Return Authorization) and take action immediately. The other key is for said supervisor to be fully trained and knowledgeable about the product line and it's inner-workings, or have direct immediate access to someone who does.

Just my 2 cents.
 
#235
I'm not so sure Dave N. can be categorized as simply a "speaker" designer. When I talked back and forth with him in the '96 - '97 time frame he explained a number of changes he had made to the Demeter design, enhancements to the VT design on its way to becoming the WT, and actually repaired/rebuilt my own amp himself because it was summer, a tech or two were on vacation, and I was on the road and needed immediate service. It was wonderful service indeed (my amp hasn't burped even once since that episode)... but I suspect that was just before the "wave" rolled over him.
 
#236
ya growl, what you say makes sense. i guess there's a big advantage to calling gb cs and jeff genzler answers the phone. most heads of companies hide from their customers and would never answer the phone.
 
#238
Smallequestrian said:
You're misusing the term there. Vaporware is a product that is announced and has no sign of actually being released. They haven't even announced anything yet.
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True, I guess it implies doubt and I'm reasonably sure that DNA will produce something. My "gripe", and that's too strong of a word, is with the list of endorsers. How can you endorse something when it doesn't exist? Yes, you can twist the meaning of endorser, but in the musical world an endorser is someone who plays the gear, usually for some form of compensation although not always. Without a single product I just don't see how you can have a list of endorsers. It would be like me being an endorser of Roger Sadowsky (disclaimer: example only, I am not). I don't play his basses and have never touched one but I'm sure he could make me a very nice one based on his reputation. What kind of an endorsement is that? Call them all-star future beta testers, but they're not endorsers.

I hope DNA comes out with some killer amps, but it's getting to be a crowded market with a lot of really nice bass gear out there now. The bar has been raised significantly over the past few years.
 
#240
In my case, I didn't say "just", I said "primarily". I think that's a fair generalization. I have no doubt that he knows a lot about amplifier design but is smart enough to hire people who know the field better than he does (e.g. Russ Allee and James Demeter) for much of the work. I doubt he took a hands off approach to the final product.

KO

TomB said:
I'm not so sure Dave N. can be categorized as simply a "speaker" designer. When I talked back and forth with him in the '96 - '97 time frame he explained a number of changes he had made to the Demeter design, enhancements to the VT design on its way to becoming the WT, and actually repaired/rebuilt my own amp himself because it was summer, a tech or two were on vacation, and I was on the road and needed immediate service. It was wonderful service indeed (my amp hasn't burped even once since that episode)... but I suspect that was just before the "wave" rolled over him.
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