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What can we possibly expect from Yamaha taking over Ampeg?
- Thread starter gwangi
- Start date
It seems to me that getting a good used Ampeg is not that difficult. Lots of players don't want to mess with tube amps for the obvious reasons of weight and tube replacement.
So if Yamahahaha does not do the brand right I dont think it will be that big a deal. Unless of course you are wishing for a brand new top shelf SVT from them. I guess we shall see soon enough.
So if Yamahahaha does not do the brand right I dont think it will be that big a deal. Unless of course you are wishing for a brand new top shelf SVT from them. I guess we shall see soon enough.
Occasional re-designs can be beneficial. The CL was a re-design and it worked out quite well IMHO. Give it a cosmetic makeover if you want, too. I got no problem with that as long as it still sounds like an SVT.
Why do that when you can own the company outright? It's Yamaha...they have the money. Besides, LOUD wasn't licensing Ampeg...they put it up for sale. Either you buy the whole thing or not at all.
You should go tell them how to do business, man! Why, if you ran things, it would be the most awesome success ever!
This thread is a real hoot!
You should go tell them how to do business, man! Why, if you ran things, it would be the most awesome success ever!
This thread is a real hoot!
So your finally coming around to see my surperior intelect? Its about time .
I'm not sure what you're talking about. Your link goes to the Nikkei which is a stock market index, much like the Dow Jones and doesn't own anything. Yamaha is self owned. It is the flag brand for the Nippon Gakki group.
Isn't there something like 5 ''groups'' that control 90% of Japanese industrial production? Employees of each group are duty bound to buy ''their'' group's car, air-conditioner etc.
What I'm actually wondering about here, thinking about the Ampeg acquisition again, is if it will affect what we see in retail. It has always bugged me that Yamaha seems to have a number of bass models but I rarely see them in stores, except recently for the TRBX line that GC seems to have taken to. I wonder if Yamaha holding Ampeg will mean more distribution deals with retail stores to push more Yamaha basses, as linkage to the better-established Ampeg demand.
The old buy some potatoes and we'll sell you some steak deal?
That's what I'm speculating. I haven't worked retail but some stores I've talked to have hinted those kinds of deals happen. "Buy some of these and we'll give you a discount on those," or "you need to meet a quota on X to be eligible to deal Y."
I think the big box sellers hold too many of the cards for that to fly across brand / product lines.
Mesa wound up limiting stockists to those who played Mesa's game. It didn't hurt Mesa. Maybe Yamaha plays it similarly.
Mesa wound up limiting stockists to those who played Mesa's game. It didn't hurt Mesa. Maybe Yamaha plays it similarly.
You are missing one huge piece of the puzzle.
Old guys with disposable income buy used amps. Young people just starting out buy new, inexpensive amps with bells whistles on them.
Old guy get in TalkBass and say "Mesa is dumb. If they put a tuner on the front of their $2,000 amp I would buy it in a second!" (But they rarely buy new and won't buy that amp with a tuner on it either.)
Young people say "You give be bluetooth on my amp and downloadable sounds for it and I'm in!" And Fender sells thousands of them.
What is "inexpensive crap" to you makes up a much larger part of the market than "high quality" amps.
For reference, I worked in musical instrument sales for a decade. This is not just anecdotal ramblings. The music industry makes MILLIONS more off of starter packs and Boss pedals than it ever will from the other end of the spectrum. The Fender Rumble combo will always sell more than the Ampeg SVT-CL. Period.
And speaking of Fender, can we all hope and pray that Yamaha doesn't follow the same procurement model?
(This would mean agreement on a singular idea...)
(This would mean agreement on a singular idea...)
True. Didn't mean to single out either brand. I was speaking more in general terms.
Fender does seem to have its finger on the pulse of the bells and whistles side a bit more (as does TC). But, to your point, Ampeg combos will be more profitable to Ampeg than the high-end stuff as well. They just sell in such greater numbers.
Jimmy, sorry -- I didn't explain myself very well.
Obviously, Yamaha had a desire to get into the MI amplification market. They could have gone about that in several ways.
One would be to start from scratch and design & build their own amps, build a sales force, establish channel relationships, etc. That would be fairly expensive with no guarantee of success.
Two would be to acquire an existing amp company. In the end, that is what they did. They may have talked with multiple companies before settling in on Ampeg. That is something we will never know (e.g., was there a 2nd shooter on the grassy hill?).
A third way would be to license designs and manufacturing from an existing amp company and label it with the Yamaha name. As you know, this happens very frequently in the guitar and bass markets. Often in a deal like that, the licensee (e.g., Yamaha) would also make a cash infusion into the licensor (e.g., Ampeg/Loud) in exchange for warrants. Warrants are similar to stock options, but they are issued to outside firms instead of employees. Also, they tend to be senior documents and subordinate other options. Companies like to do this since it carries a lower risk profile. For example, if they later choose to exit a market (e.g., no longer make/sell amps), they can do so at a very low cost.
It could be that Yamaha approached Loud about a licensing deal and Loud told them they would sell all of Ampeg to them. So, option #3 turned into option #2. I was involved in a scenario just like that around 1990. A company wanted to license products from the division I was working for (a chemical company) and have us do the manufacturing. Our parent company told them, why don't you just buy Company X from us. They did and the rest is history.
Sometimes when I post something here, I assume that everyone has the same background as me and that is a very bad assumption on my part. Again, sorry about that.
Was there a mention about MTI in this thread? It is after all the 2nd time Ampeg becomes japanese.
I think SLM made Ampeg what it is today. They refreshed the brand as a whole and many of their designs still are flagships.
I think SLM made Ampeg what it is today. They refreshed the brand as a whole and many of their designs still are flagships.
