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KORG ACQUIRES AGUILAR

#62
brianrost said:
I had a chance to play the original Aguilar DB680 tube preamp and DB728 tube power amp (before they made cabs) at a festival back in the 90s. The bassist in another band was a clinician for them. He asked to use my EAW cab for his set and offered to let me use his amp for my set.


It was one of those out-of-body amp experiences. Totally unaffordable (for me) but a lot of fun!
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I dream about finding an affordable DB728/DB680 rig
 
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#63
Mili said:
I didn't know about Tobias but I think nowadays doing business is way more professional and riskier than past so decisions like this will turn good and safe.
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Business is not that different than a decade or two ago. The environments change but aproaches and practices aren't that different. We're not talking about a long time ago at all for many of these examples (e.g. Genz Benz). These are also fallible humans making decisions and there are plenty of examples of companies making bad buyout decisions and overextending themselves financially.
DJ Bebop said:
I head some talk here on TB, that Gibson is possible acquiring Mesa Boogie :Ol
Official Mesa Boogie Subway Series Club
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Say it ain't so! :eek:

Frank77 said:
The company I work for has changed hands at least 4 times, and I've been there for 2 of these. It has changed nothing for me as an employee, the products we do are still in line with what the company has always been about.
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It can definitely be this way - this is certainly my hope for this case as well.

retslock said:
From what I know of Korg their stuff is not too shabby so I’d expect good stuff will come from them in the future. Ditto for Yamaha. Both make good stuff.
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100% agree. I feel much better knowing that it's owned by a company who has a long history in the musical instrument business, rather than some hedge fund.

ficelles said:
Not forgetting Fender - Genz Benz and SWR.
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Absolutely not forgetting those! May they rest in peace.
 
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#65
I am an Ampeg SVT guy at heart, but don't own the real SVT. I have the SVT-7 Pro. I played the Aguilar DB750 for years at a mega-church I played for and that is my other favorite. In retrospect, I'd probably like it as much if not a little more than my 7 Pro and if I were starting over with that decision, I probably would have bought the DB750. The only really better to me amp is the SVT Classic. (to be fair, I haven't played or been around Berg or other boutiques, so am only going from my own experiences here with this statement; not knocking other people's loves)

I like Aguilar stuff so much that I bought a set of their pickups and put them into a brand new Ibanez Mikro when I bought it. It sounds great. I'd put those pickups in anything and be very pleased.

My experience with Yamaha owning both Line 6 and Ampeg has been very good and impressive so far for me from a customer service standpoint; I hope this continues and they really keep Ampeg legendary. Korg is a great company, so I hope the same applies with this because I plan to buy more Aguilar stuff.

That said, I agree with many here who have long-term concerns because over time, the new ownership company makes changes because they can't help themselves and frankly just because they have uniform policies that will start applying to all. It can take 8-10 years to start noticing, but in that time, the new company's policies and culture take over. One manager at a time; one line worker at a time, one policy at a time. The only real way to try to keep this from happening is to ensure that management stays independent as in the current case with the CEO staying on. If they keep it arms length it can stay great.

Think of purchasing. If they think they can save a buck by leveraging purchasing power (which they can), they can begin saying we are buying more components under the same name now so we will push for standardization of suppliers and leverage contracts. One company may not be able to buy the transistors or whatever component they always used before because of the purchasing push to save money and standardize. Sounds small, but then it's another component and another until what made it special is no longer there. I get a kick out of people here who can tell the difference in a $2 tone pot from one brand to another. Think how that can add up on an amplifier with all the electronics that could be substituted. That's just a small piece of what could change and why people get nervous. I really hope that doesn't happen, but companies have to find profits and it is often tempting to start tweaking something that was already great.
 
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#69
Geri O said:
Thats kinda silly if you own a current Mesa product and you know when, where, and under whose watch it was built.

I’m not sceered. My day, my gigs, and my WD800 and pair of 115 Subway cabs won’t magically stop working because of a change of ownership of Mesa.

Everyone really needs to pause and take a breath here. But being it’s 2021 and common sense is now a long-forgotten virtue, I was laughing at the previous sentence before I even finished writing it.
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My Mesa gear is gonna be buried with me..
 
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#72
BlueTalon said:
I caught that too. It made the whole thing read like an Onion article.
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My first comment was too snarky... Dave, if you're reading this, enjoy your garlic farm! You've had a great long run. We thank you, and you can do whatever you damn please!

(I have a cousin who grows garlic in central NY as a hobby - as someone posted above, it is indeed a good climate for it.)

I've had several Aguilar products over the years. Still have the octave pedal. Uniformly great gear.
 
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#73
As big business marches on, I tend to wonder if we are all loosing something.

Seems all these mergers and buyouts, go on and on. But the either drop the line to focus on something else (ala Genz Benz and SWR), or start adding some new ideas and cheap product lines to flood the market with (kinda what I'm seeing with all the changes in Spectors). And that individual brand name recognition of special boutique looses. Just because of recognition out there.

I mean nowadays you can get a brand new Spector bass for $400 (bottom line) to $6500 for a standard USA model.

"You keep spreading that peanut butter so thin on that bread, and pretty soon all you have is a Jelly Sandwich."
 
#74
Benj-jammin said:
Hey nbsipics - proud owner of a 3 Korgs - Karma, TR and a 20 year old SP-200 digital piano. Best synths/keys I've ever owned! My first one was a Poly-800 in 1984!!
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I started with the MS20 mini. Then ordered the new MS20 FS ( still on order! ).

And then I was lucky enough to score a new KARP 2600 FS. The holy grail.

Yep, Korg fan here. And if you never played the Korg iMS20 app, check it out on a large iPad. It was that app that drove me to the above hoarding :)
 
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#80
Too bad. Dave Boonshoft deserves the rest after guiding Aquilar through the recession and keeping a small boutique oriented business going strong even if it meant giving up certain things that made the products special. The current line up is wonderful and certainly some of the best gear you can get. The company will not be the same no matter how much the press releases deny change. I am sure the wonderful customer service will hang on for a while, but a corporate giant like Korg simply cannot maintain that sort of customer care.
Anyway, thanks for all you have offered us Dave but what's up with the garlic?
 
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