Ordering American Amps to Australia

[BassmanPaul]

Even Canada is pretty much in the same boat as Australia. Many factors come into play such as market size, transportation, duties, taxes. We pay much higher prices for American products than USA customers even when our dollar is at par or higher. Just a sad fact of life

Agreed BUT some of us at least can skip over the border for a fill up and a little shopping.

We were paying 30-50% more in Canada than the same items in the States even though our dollar was worth more.

 

[BassmanPaul]

Another point, if I may: just 'cos an amp has a SMPS doesn't mean that it will work on any input mains supply. Some are self configuring, some require a switch or link change while still others require the entire power supply changed out. As Agedhorse posted, if you bypass your local importer, he has no responsibility to look after you if things go south. That's the risk you take when you import goods.

 

[agedhorse]

Even Canada is pretty much in the same boat as Australia. Many factors come into play such as market size, transportation, duties, taxes. We pay much higher prices for American products than USA customers even when our dollar is at par or higher. Just a sad fact of life

So much for NAFTA eh?

 

[Feral Feline]

Most amps would have a switchable power supply. If it uses an IEC 'jug cord' type plug.
But you can't just plug it in and hope it works. The pins wouldnt fit anyway.


-RTK

That's the power cord found for PCs, right?

Most class D SMPS amps have detachable power cord.
Just plugin a cord with the correct pins, or use an adapter.

Just to clarify -- US is 120 V at 60 Hz, Australia (and NZ) are 230 V at 50 Hz. Australia was nominally 240 V until 2000.

You'll need an amp that can switch between these, or detect the voltage and transform appropriately (as in the TCE amps and several others, including, I believe, Genz Benz). Many, including Markbass and at least some of the G-K amps need to be factory set or modified, which will probably eat up any advantage you gain. Not sure about Ampegs. In any case, it's not just a matter of switching the cord to the appropriate plug configuration.

Finally, that Ebay Ampeg is used, the Billy Hyde one is new.

I recently bought a Genz Benz Streamlner off ebay and all i had to do was flip a switch over to 230 volts..as we say down these parts..''too easy''

Leslie

I bought an EA micro partly because I don't even have to flip a switch. Plug in the cord for whichever country and the EA auto-detects which voltage it must use. Too easy, and it sounds good, is small, light and portable.

Too EAsy!

 

[BassmanPaul]

My Carvin amps do that too.

 

[slaphappychappy]

I looked at doing this cos Aussie is too expensive with a lot of things. But aside from warranty issues, if it has a voltage switch like Ampeg its okay, but there's that, freight cost, etc. My Ampeg pf500 cost me 649 here, and in America it was cheaper, but some places wouldn't ship here, others were asking 2-300 shipping. The saving was only about $100 and it wasn't worth it. Plus, as much as I dislike billy Hyde music, they are good when it comes to warranty issues.

 

[slaphappychappy]

Also, someone said in Canada they pay more for USA items, well in Australia we pay more for Australian items. We played 300 for an Aussie made studio mike in Americas, here they wanted 600 for it. Work that one out considering the Aussie $ is higher.

 

[BassmanPaul]

A while ago I was looking at a Bryston (made in Toronto) power amp. It was almost half the price in the States as here!!

 

[lesliegl]

When i bought my amp i was quite aware of the warranty impications..i wouldnt expect the local importer to fix my amp under warranty if it goes down...if they are able to fix and theres a cost involved ..thts fine..if they say ''go jump mate youve bought it overseas '' ill send it to Genz banz in the US and see if they can fix it..when it goes out of warranty and it goes down well im still in the same boat anyway

Leslie

 

[rodl2005]

When i bought my amp i was quite aware of the warranty impications..i wouldnt expect the local importer to fix my amp under warranty if it goes down...if they are able to fix and theres a cost involved ..thts fine..if they say ''go jump mate youve bought it overseas '' ill send it to Genz banz in the US and see if they can fix it..when it goes out of warranty and it goes down well im still in the same boat anyway

Leslie

Same here.
If you decide to buy from the USA, you MUST make sure the amp has either a voltage select switch (110-120/230,240) , or internally detects the power voltage itself & adjusts accordingly, or has a transformer that has a 240v tap, & then get a tech to swap it.
OR..... You could buy a "step down" power transformer, which will change the voltage from our 240v wall outlets to the USA 110v.
I bought a Ampeg SVT II from USA & made sure beforehand that my tech would be able to swap it to 240v internally. Not that I could FIND an SVT II here, but even shipping that weight was cheaper than buying a similar SVT here :-/

 

[sad_katz]

We will do our best to support all products, but can not expect the importer to bear the costs of supporting product that they did not import. You can always return the produvct to the factory for service however, and the cost of international shipping may not be all that costly in the bigger picture. It's a choice that must be made on a customer by customer basis. I am also available here to walk customers through basic troubleshooting, and for today's more reliable products, the number of problems is really quite low in context.

It is very great to hear a manufacturer standing behind their product even out of warranty, thank you agedhorse.

Related to the thread, sometimes it's not a matter of cheaper price. Where I live we have limited choice of bass gear. Either cheap combo or very expensive rigs The second hand market is not thriving either.

 

[agedhorse]

It should also be noted that there are areas of the world that do not have access to much of a variety of bass equipment, either because the economics do not offer enough opportunity for the distributor to survive, or the market is not diverse enough to justify a large number of suppliers.

In these areas, it will be more difficult for players to obtain equipment that is not regularly imported, and it will also be more difficult to repair. This is just part of the equation of living (and playing bass) in these parts of the world. Each manufacturer will have their own way of handling these issues and they will likely vary from region to region as well.

 

[anonymous122511]

So much for NAFTA eh?

Despite the lies you were told NAFTA was NEVER intended to benefit our peasant asses.

For a product like an amplifier I'm ok with paying the extra cost to buy in Canada. The advantages of greatly reduced travel time and cost, being able to shop and compare over several sessions, face to face post sale service and supporting the brick and mortar retailer who stocks the strings I like vastly outweighs the 20% (at best) I might save on a mail order.

 

[rodl2005]

It should also be noted that there are areas of the world that do not have access to much of a variety of bass equipment, either because the economics do not offer enough opportunity for the distributor to survive, or the market is not diverse enough to justify a large number of suppliers.

In these areas, it will be more difficult for players to obtain equipment that is not regularly imported, and it will also be more difficult to repair. This is just part of the equation of living (and playing bass) in these parts of the world. Each manufacturer will have their own way of handling these issues and they will likely vary from region to region as well.

This applies to me too. Very little choice of products in my town. No GB, GK, & many others.
Easier to say which are represented.
Ampeg (recently re-introduced)
Fender, Ashdown,SWR & very limited range of Peavey & Mark Bass. There's a far greater range of beginner gear- SX, Ibanez (not that they're beginner, but what's here is).
And the range of the gear is very limited too

 

[Marley's Ghost]

So I am thinking of picking a new bass amp, probably a Markbass or an Ampeg SVT-3 head.

Markbass is made in Italy. Check with them on power options and pricing.

 

[sad_katz]

Markbass is made in Italy. Check with them on power options and pricing.

+1

Markbass amps' voltage are also limited to where they are originally purchased. US purchase = 110 volt, Europe/Asia = 240 volt. The power section cannot be changed, AFAIK.

 

[paradigm_shift]

I think there's more to this than you realze. Each country that imports products sets their own import fees, tarrifs and taxes, have different liability requirements for the manufacturers and importers and dictate how support must be handled. Distributors in each market take on these costs and must be compensated for doing so. Some countries have substantially higher costs of i,port than others do, based on their trade and social services programs.

I do understand the frustration of course.

AS a further note to this, Just because the dollar has gone up doesn't mean the cost of goods will come down instantly. Most distributors will still have the goods bought at the old buy price- to get there margins they have to sell it at a pre- dollar drop price. You also need to realize the size of an order will reflect the price aswell. A store buying 100 of a piece will get a much cheaper buy price than one buying 5 - Thus more room to lower price. Most of the BIG names are buying stock in such crazy bulk , the little guy cannot compete on price alone.