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Post subject: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 2:12 pm
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Rock Star
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Time is coming to upgrade. What amps ARE made in the USA? After Googling, the only one that came up with was Carvin.


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Post subject: Re: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 2:19 pm
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Among contemporary offerings, pitifully few I'm afraid.

:(

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 2:24 pm
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Are the new all tube Bassman not made in U.S.A.???? :?

Not Genz-Benz???

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Post subject: Re: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 2:29 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
Among contemporary offerings, pitifully few I'm afraid.

:(

Arjay


That's what I'm finding. Since I posted, I've been searching. what a crying shame.


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Post subject: Re: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 3:28 pm
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The Gallien-Krueger MB210-ll is USA.

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Post subject: Re: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 4:25 pm
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I think Genz Benz are manufactured in Indonesia, from what I read somewhere. I'm not 100% sure, though. Carvin seems to be about the only one, unless you go with some boutique brand where you have to mortgage your house and sell your child into slavery to afford, I suppose. Gallien-Krueger was half and half with USA and Chinese-made at one point (I wonder if the RB series are still made in the US?)

It seems like everything is manufactured in China these days. Cheap labor=larger corporate profits, I guess. But that's probably getting into politics, which I like to generally avoid, especially on music forums. I've noticed in the past that always ends badly with a lot of endless arguing and aggravation.

I just remembered, from what I've deciphered on the Trace Elliot website a while back, I think their amps are being made here, whilst still being designed in the UK. I recall seeing the label on the back of some of their amps, that indicated this. I think Peavey is at least distributing them here.

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Post subject: Re: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:43 am
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I went through this research not too long ago.

100% USA MADE: ALL MESA BOOGIE, ALL CARVIN, ACOUSTIC USA, ALL AGUILAR, TECH 21 LANDMARK HEADS, ALL THUNDERFUNK and ALL ACOUSTIC IMAGE. (Good luck on the Acoustic USA 360 as there are only 3 dealers so far.)

Some of the GK stuff is made in the USA but not all. Some Epifani but not all. Ampeg's Heritage Series is USA made but the rest of the Ampeg line is not. Some of the Peavey Tour Series is made in the USA but can't say for sure it all of the Tour Series is USA but at least some is. I've also heard that Peavey was building the USA made Trace Elliot stuff under contract but don't know for sure if that is true or not. Ashdown of all companies opened a plant to make amps in Kentucky a few years ago but I don't know which models are (or were) made there. I think Tech 21 discontinued the Landmark 600 model which sucks but still makes the Landmark 300 in the USA. That's about it.

Oh, Avatar Cabs 100% USA made in Idaho.

It should be pointed out that even the USA made stuff will have foreign components and also that companies can move production any dang time they choose and this post will be instantly outdated.


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Post subject: Re: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:45 am
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This will be the only time i take my time and shop right. Ampeg may be the way to go as I don't think I can try a Carvin anywhere, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. an American Acoustic is interesting.

What would really get my blood pumping would be an old Kustom 200 with two 15" speakers.

Thanks for all the help

Stay tuned..


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Post subject: Re: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 8:48 am
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The Kustom 250, with the 2X15 JBL cabs would be the tops.

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Post subject: Re: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 9:39 am
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Mr. Nylon wrote:
The Kustom 250, with the 2X15 JBL cabs would be the tops.


+1

In turquoise-sparkle tuck and roll!

8)

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 10:02 am
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> It should be pointed out that even the USA made stuff will have foreign components [...]

Well-said. Drill down deep enough into any product and you'll probably find something not U.S. made. E.g. those ICEpower modules are showing up everywhere. In quantity the 170 watt bridged jobs are way under $100 and they'll run forever as long as you don't bump them around. (G forces + heavy chokes = murder for a delicate PCB, and silicone stabilizer goo is only a mitigator, not a deterrent.) I don't know where they're manufactured but I'm pretty sure it's not in the U.S.

Not to run this off the rails, but country of manufacture is 100% n/a to me. First thing I look at is warranty length. For mainstream bass amps, I believe Fender owns the show at five years. I know of one non-mainstream amp at ten: Aquilar's DB751. Their other amps are at three. So are Behringer's. Ampeg's Heritage and Classic series are at five except for tubes; the other lines are at two. Markbass is at two. Carvin's at one but that would need to change to at least two before I bought another. (I've always wondered how come Carvin's PA amps are at three but their bass amps are at only one.)

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Post subject: Re: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 12:02 pm
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DECISIONS! DECISIONS! DECISIONS! :mrgreen:

THE PHYSICAL SEARCH HAS YET TO BEGIN!


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Post subject: Re: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 12:07 pm
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craig.p wrote:
It should be pointed out that even the USA made stuff will have foreign components


+1

As well, even during the heyday of the blackface/silverface era, Fender amps could be frequently found with "foreign-made" tubes (ie: Telefunken, Amperex, Mullard, etc). Those were great bottles, made for superior tone and maximum durability. The lack of such diligence among companies making contemporary electronic components today is cause for consternation.

:(

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 12:36 pm
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> The lack of such diligence among companies making contemporary electronic
> components today is cause for consternation.

True dat.

There's also the problem of offshore fakes that look exactly like the real deal.

Tubes today... +1, forget about it. Nothing like they used to be in the '70s and earlier. The music business gives me enough headaches w/o asking for more by hauling around a chassis full of Russian & Chinese firecrackers. We never, ever had tube-related problems like this in the '60s and '70s. Also I see more and more tube amps with the sockets PCB-mounted, which IMO falls into the category of How Dumb Can You Get And Still Breathe, especially with the crap solder the manufacturers are being forced to use now.

This is why, even if one's willing to spend thousands on a hand-wired (point to point) tube amp made in the U.S., the deal's still dead because you eventually have to fill the sockets if you want to use it for anything besides a badged free weight.

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Post subject: Re: American made bass amps.....
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 12:47 pm
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craig.p wrote:
Also I see more and more tube amps with the sockets PCB-mounted, which IMO falls into the category of How Dumb Can You Get And Still Breathe, especially with the crap solder the manufacturers are being forced to use now.


"How Dumb Can You Get And Still Breathe"

You're killin' me here, Craig!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Arjay

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