Any American taxpayers here who are willing to bail them out a-la AIG?
They get their freakin' bailout after *I* get my bailout!
Which means NEVER...
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LOUD..going...going....GONE
- Thread starter Tony Gray
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They get their freakin' bailout after *I* get my bailout!
Which means NEVER...
From what I can tell Loud is pulling itself together. As far as I understand they have changed management at a high level. I have high hope for a future, and I do not see them needing a bailout
I hope they do pull it together. However, if their "new" management is a bunch of bean counters like the old guys = same old story.
They need people at the top who are players or at the least know that they need players and / or people who know music at all levels of management, sales, assembly, and customer service.
I know that this is TB so we are focused on Ampeg, but wouldn't you think that Mackie is a better line for LOUD as far as profit goes? They might still sell off Ampeg and keep Mackie.
Perfect fit = Peavey. They should take them over. That would make perfect sense. Send the cheap low end crap to china, and all the good stuff have them make it in the Peavey factory, whatever is left of it.
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Lol cool pic were did you get it from?? off the topic but that made me laugh
Lol cool pic were did you get it from?? off the topic but that made me laugh
Dude, how can you make that assessment? The ink's not even dry on the de-listing papers. If they're making a comeback, they have a pretty funny way of showing it.From what I can tell Loud is pulling itself together. As far as I understand they have changed management at a high level. I have high hope for a future, and I do not see them needing a bailout
I hear both sides of this too. Lotsa negatives in the financials, crapola communication to the guys that matter - THE BASS PUBLIC! - but I am seeing recent personnel moves and yes, additions to staff, that don't look like the ones a company would make when they are ready to shut down. Still working on the report...and awaiting specifics...
Can anyone name ONE company in the MI industry that has ended up better off by sending their product lines off to Asia? Are there any success stories at all? Where do these guys get the idea that their company and it's image and products will remain any way near what it was before jumping ship?
Sorry, my brother. LOUD is guilty until proven innocent at this point. They've been pulling way too many stunts. But I will say that getting rid of that moronic bean counting ----head Jaime Engen was a good first move. But a company like Ampeg needs to be run by people who appreciate music and musicians, not soulless MBA's and lawyers who couldn't give a crap what they sell. The entire reason SLM was successful with Ampeg was because the people cared. It wasn't the best product in Ampeg's history, and they didn't always make the brightest decisions, but they cared and they tried hard, and musicians appreciated it. LOUD might as well be making plastic lawn chairs for as much as they care.
Hartley made a comment recently in Premier Guitar Magazine, to the effect, that he and Jim Marshall are the only two big name amp guys left, that are still running the buisnesses they started. It's a good interview, and Hartley talked about how many music and sound companies have been bought up and conglomerated to where they live or die, and companies do die, but it's the brand names that have an afterlife.
Hartley and his company is still a big U.S. producer, careful about what product he does import in. Right now he seems intent on proving that he can build gear as well as anyone else and beyond, to start cracking the botique level market. I know he's taken a turn at keeping Trace Elliott from the ash heap, but I don't know if he'd want to buy up what's left of Ampeg, when he seems refocused on making sure his name is going to be spoken as being among the legendary greats of amp making. If he did, you could be assured that a new Ampeg line under his direction would produce top notch gear.
- Apr 3, 2003
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- Editor-in-Chief, Bass Gear Magazine
I am a definite Peavey fan (and I agree, that was a good interview!), but I do think that it's worth pointing out that Mesa/Boogie and Carvin both have 40+ year histories, and both are still run by the same people/family. Gallien-Krueger is up there, too, and Bob Gallien still calls the shots.
Tom.
Yeah you are right, Peavey needs to keep Peavey going at this point. I know Genz makes the shuttles in Taiwan, I have one, but they still make much of their line in house, don't they? They didn't make the Shuttles here, then ship them off. They didn't rely on their "made in america" status for those items.
The best solution for an Ampeg would have been to simply keep the high end stuff made here, and outsource the entry level crap that gets people buying the brand.
For some weird reason I keep following the Ampeg story, even though I honestly couldn't ever bring myself to buying an Ampeg product. They are simply too defacto out there. Like buying a Fender bass. I just wouldn't do it. I've never gravitated to the big names, whether it be mountain bikes or bass guitars. I like the underdog nature of Peavey and some of the others.
But, it still blows my mind that Ampeg had to sell out to anyone. If anyone had name recognition and product awareness it was Ampeg.
Good points! How could I have forgotten these other fine amp makers? I think Hartley Peavey brought up some interesting observations in that interview that we in the common community of musicians rarely get to hear.
I'm also an Ampeg fan and I am interested as to how this latest chapter in it's history is going to play out.
bongomania
Commercial User
Sadowsky and Lakland seem to have done pretty well with it. Granted they didn't stop their US production, but they have put a lot of Asian-made basses into the market without diminishing their brand rep.
I think that Loud should have taken it's cues from much larger models like the auto and computer industries - design in USA, outsource components overseas, and do the final assembly in the USA. Real, big companies figured this out a long time ago like Toyota, Mazda, Dell, HP, IBM, you name it. I so wish I could personally buy the Ampeg brand and run it with the justice it deserves but I'm no eccentric fanatic millionaire...... ok, just leave out the millionaire part. 
You can stop there and you'll answer your own question. Plus Lakland and Sadowsky didn't release anything until it was ready and met the standards of Dan Lakin and Roger Sadowsky. LOUD rushed everything to market after outsourcing every part, and put out crap for a good year or two.
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