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High-End bass amps

#23
Comming from Germany, I have to throw in some german brands.

Mayer "Mywatt" amps are fine clones of Hiwatt-Amps.

Glockenklang is already well known in the USA. Pristine Amps!

Rheingold amps, a small factury that only builts full-tube amps, and only for advance order. Three models, 100, 200 and 300 Watts.

For the more conventionel user there are a lots of brands we like. Lets say GenzBenz, Aguilar, Eden, EBS. You have to have some Ampeg-Amps in your store.
 
#24
Matt Dean said:
Somebody's moving Mesa cause they're doing well as a business. I know I have been buying Mesa for a few decades now.
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Their guitar amps are fantastic--used to have one in my younger days and it was hands down the best made amp I ever owned, with lots of amazing features.

Great company (and made right here in California!) but the bass amps just don't blow me away the way the guitar amps do. And GK is making its stuff in California again, so that's not as deciding a factor as it used to be for me. (I know it's silly but I like to buy stuff made here in CA whenever I can.)
 
#25
From my experience in working in a music store I seem to remember certain companies requiring a specific number of units to be bought in order to stock their product, others were a nightmare to work with an made it unrealistic to stick their product in a smallish store.

If neither of those are issues I'd recommend Gallien Krueger. Great sounding amps, reasonably priced and have products ranging from micro amps to building shakers. Many high end bass amps seem to serve well as dust catchers unfortunately.
 
#27
It might be worth seeing if you can keep a fEARful or two in your shop. That will be a different business model than the typical retail arrangement, but then again, a different business model might help stay ahead of the game in this economy.
 
#31
fdeck said:
It might be worth seeing if you can keep a fEARful or two in your shop. That will be a different business model than the typical retail arrangement, but then again, a different business model might help stay ahead of the game in this economy.
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^This! If there was a shop anywhere near me that carried ANYTHING by fEARful/Xsonics/LDS/Baer/Glasstone/Audiokenesis/Barefaced/Avatar, and whomever else I forgot, I'd probably be there every other day! Even if you just keep a few demos for folks to order off of, that'd probably be huge! That way, you could just add a couple of choice amps to your line up, have a few super cool cabs that you don't really have to stock, and you'd have one of the SWEETEST, high-falootin' bass departments on the planet! I'd find a way to get there...:bassist:
 
#32
Well, I might be labeled a stick in the mud for this, but the trend I am seeing is folks going to brick and mortar shops to try stuff, then order the same thing online from a cheaper source. I wish you luck, but I can't see the future of brick and mortar shops being long term viable.
Especially given the highly price competitive market that folks have easy access to, with just the click of a mouse.
I believe that to survive today, you absolutely must have a strong online presence and be able to offer customers the same or better service, than the big shops.
Fishheadjoe
 
#33
I have to put a plug in for AER. Great sounding, and very compact.

As Joe said, I have seen others pursuing the lowest dollar in the net. I prefer to deal with my local. We have a solid relationship, and if he doesn't ordinarily stock something I want, he'll try to get it for me anyway. I may have to pay a couple of percent more, sometimes, but no one on the net is going to show up at my gig with a replacement if my amp fails, and this shop will!
 
#35
I know this is a stretch, but if you could get your hands on some vintage stuff like TRACE ELLIOT V series. V4 V6 V8's are waycool amps. Hiwatt's are waycool. I personally like the oldschool Mesa 400+ and Ampeg SVT. I love my Trace V8, truly an awesome amp head. Alembic Preamps are cool as well. Phil Jones Bass equipment is really cool.
 
#36
I would look for a line of amps that is upper tier, but not necessarily unattainable. They should have a fairly wide range of offerings, a recognizable name, and cache among bass players. Keep in mind that many of the boutique brands exalted here in talkbass are virtually unknown outside this community. I would also look for a brand that has high quality control and a good customer service department. (You don't want stuff coming back to you.) It is hard to find a company with all these attributes. Aguilar has only three amps, but they are quite popular. They are an established brand and offer other products that would do well in a brick-and-morter such as their pickups and effects. They also manufacture cabs. I would recommend Genz Benz too. There has been some rumors going around about Fender, their parent company, ending the brand. I would still talk to them though. I would also consider Gallien-Krueger. They may not be as sexy a name as some of the others you mentioned, but they are very popular and offer a wide range of very good products at affordable prices. Considering you have Orange, Ampeg, and Kustom, I think Aguilar would be a good fit in keeping with the rock/blues oriented lines you already offer. G-K may compete too much with the Ampeg line. Aguilar is more in line with Orange, (at least the higher end Orange stuff), but has a distinctly American sound. (More along the lines of Ampeg than Orange.)

(Just my opinion.)
 
#37
I believe the question should have been written:
What are some obscure brands I can mark up and not have to compete with online because you probably wont recognize it anyways?

But as it reads, Tecamp, Thunderfunk, Glockenklang, Aguilar(but that pretty common).

Good luck sir, I miss a good brick-and-mortar shop that cares about bass as much as guitar.
 
#40
senp5f said:
I think Mesa suffers from being viewed as a guitar amp company, and one that specializes in hard rock at that.

Mesas are well built professional amps, but when I've played them alongside other bass only makers, I've felt they had middle of the pack tone and limited versatility with a high end price, which is a shame because I think they make some of the best guitar amps on the market.

To the original question: high end botique bass amps are tough to stock because they are mostly very specialized niche tools. From a business perspective, it doesn't make much sense to physically stock anything but bigger brands -- gk, ampeg, ash down, orange and eden and Aguilar -- unless you are in a major metro area with a big draw or intend to sell online. A lot of guys would love to play a Matamp, for example, to finally hear it, but it's harder to actually sell them without the weight of a known name.

Also remebet that many gigging bassists don't do big amps any more. Me, I use a small combo or else run a good DI into a PA or my own powered speakers.
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Funny, I've always thought of them as a bass amp company
 

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