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New Head: Valkyrie from Baer Amps... Thoughts?

#201
Well it's the middle of September and the Baer website still says "Products will be available direct from Baer Amplification starting in Summer 2010". Any word on availability of the Valkyrie amplifier? Or is this product in permanent prototype mode?
 
#203
It's better to be patient and get a good result. I think that these will be worth the wait. There are alot of real practical things with this line of gear. I really think that going with carpet to save a few dollars on these cabs is a bad idea. Everything looks like it's designed for real gigging guys and carpet is not good for dirty clubs. I think that bedliner would protect the birch cabs pretty well. Carpet soaks up liquids. Sticky pink drinks.
 
#209
The more I hear about Duratex the more interested I am.
Three good coats of that stuff should be pretty sturdy and you can always touch it up yourself if it does gets damaged.

Ozite is very durable, but it does have its negatives.
Still, I'd chose Ozite over paying a substantial price for a bedliner-type coating.

Economics are what they are, even having options is sometimes difficult/risky for manufacturers.
 
#211
kringle77 said:
It may be comparing apples to oranges but, LDS charges $50 extra for a bedliner covering on most cabs. Just saying. :smug:
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kringle77 said:
... I really think that going with carpet to save a few dollars on these cabs is a bad idea...
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Don's situation is different. Don is a one man shop and does all the construction himself and sends out the cabs for spray. Don has been very fortunate to find a shop that only charges $50 and at that price, I highly doubt that Don is marking that up at all. Honestly, I don't know how he does it, but kudos to Don for pulling it off.

We don't build the cabinets in house and as such, have to buy them in larger lot quantities from our vendor. The product that our shop offers is very different than anything I have seen on a cab before. Not rough or bumpy looking. Their spray is very smooth and honestly looks and feels just like Tolex. Wonderful stuff, but very expensive. Remember that I'm not trying to save me a few bucks, I'm trying to save you a considerable amount of money. There are some cheaper products out there but I refuse to use any of the water based products that are little more than thick paint, or a cheap bed liner product that looks like someone sprayed cottage cheese on our cabinets.

We didn't make this decision lightly. We really do want to offer the absolute highest quality cabs on the market, but I feel the cost savings on the carpet are significant to our customers. The feedback we have been getting is that in this economy, players would rather be able to purchase our cabs at a more reasonable cost than pay considerably more for just the covering. That said, I'm also in this to give you guys what you want. If I get enough feedback from you guys that you are willing to pay an extra 15% more for a poly urea finish, then I'm all for giving the customers what they want.
 
#213
Hey Roger. Maybe you could post the prices of your two cabs with carpet and then post what the cost for bedliner would be and then have a clearer image of what some of us would be willing to pay. You may even sway me! Im mosty interested in the head but thought that ordering a head and cab together may be an option.
 
#214
kringle77 said:
I have 6 pa cabs covered in duratex. If I had it to do over again, I would have went with bedliner. It's just better. Especially with light weight woods that are softer.
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lo-freq said:
The more I hear about Duratex the more interested I am...
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Being a water-based product, Dura-Tex also has some issues for our shop on a production scale. The poly urea literally dries within seconds of application, allowing the cabinet to be moved around quickly to cover all the sides. A batch run of cabinets can be sprayed very quickly and moved off the production floor. Dura-Tex has to be sprayed and then the cabs have to sit until they are dry enough to be moved so the other surfaces can be sprayed. The cabs also need a decent curing time before they can be handled and hardware installed. Having a run of 25 cabinets taking up shop space waiting to dry really slows down the shops production lines, and forces them to charge more for the Dura-tex than I think it is worth.
 
#215
R Baer said:
We have spent a lot of time trying to reduce the cost of the poly urea coating on the cabinets but, between the material itself and the equipment needed to apply it to the cabinets, it is just a very expensive material to work with. While I firmly believe it is a superior coating, it does drive the cost of the cabinets up considerably. And the bigger the cabs get, the more expensive that coating becomes. Doing the poly on a cab the size of an 810 cab would drive the cost of that cab almost $200 higher than that of a standard covering. We understand money is tight for everyone right now, so in the interest making the cabinets as affordable as possible, we have decided to go with a carpet covering for the cabs as the standard finish.
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Just so I'm clear, does this mean that the poly urea coating will still be available - but only as an upgrade? Or will the cabs be "carpet only" - until/unless customer demand justifies making the poly urea coating available? :hmm:

MM
 
#216
R Baer said:
Being a water-based product, Dura-Tex also has some issues for our shop on a production scale. The poly urea literally dries within seconds of application, allowing the cabinet to be moved around quickly to cover all the sides. A batch run of cabinets can be sprayed very quickly and moved off the production floor. Dura-Tex has to be sprayed and then the cabs have to sit until they are dry enough to be moved so the other surfaces can be sprayed. The cabs also need a decent curing time before they can be handled and hardware installed. Having a run of 25 cabinets taking up shop space waiting to dry really slows down the shops production lines, and forces them to charge more for the Dura-tex than I think it is worth.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have done some serious considerations...
BTW, best of fortune to you in your endeavors and I hope for everyone's sake that this economy really does improve substantially soon.
 
#218
MysticMichael said:
Just so I'm clear, does this mean that the poly urea coating will still be available - but only as an upgrade? Or will the cabs be "carpet only" - until/unless customer demand justifies making the poly urea coating available? :hmm:
Click to expand...
i'm sure he'd have mentioned the upgrade if he was going to offer it.

btw, i can attest that roger has thought long and hard about this decision and it was not an easy decision for him to make. he's discussed it with a lot of bass players, including me, and he really wants to make something high end that isn't so expensive that he prices himself out of the market, which is a major concern in today's poor economic conditions. the truth is that for every one bassist who would rather pay $200 extra for the poly urea, there are probably 100 who wouldn't. you have to take that seriously.
 
#219
It seems to me that Roger is really doing his homework before putting the products into the market. I have a lot of respect for that. You can't make everyone happy in business, especially in this business. The goal is to make enough people happy to pay the bills so you can continue to make something that you believe in. I wish Roger the best in doing just that and more.
 

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