Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: JamesHealey on September 17, 2009, 04:06:27 PM
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Finally launched!
Please check out
www.healeyamplification.co.uk (http://www.healeyamplification.co.uk)
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which shops in leeds? i only live over in hudds.. could be a reason to pop over
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Finally Launched!
Check out www.healeyamplification.co.uk (http://www.healeyamplification.co.uk)
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Interesting!
What's your background James? Something in engineering or electronics?
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imo.. big deal would be a waste of time, cos its not really the place to test out an amp
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Hey James great to see you take the step to professionally building the amps :)
As much as I like Big Deal I agree with above on that it's not really suited to trying out amps. They don't actually let you plug in if you come on the weekends. Can't really blame them too much cos it's a tiny shop.
Another shop in Leeds I can recommend is Red House Music in Cookridge. Very helpful honest people there. If you want to venture out a bit, Mor Music in York and that guitar shop in Hudds centre near the train station (forgot the name) are both great shops.
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Hey James great to see you take the step to professionally building the amps :)
As much as I like Big Deal I agree with above on that it's not really suited to trying out amps. They don't actually let you plug in if you come on the weekends. Can't really blame them too much cos it's a tiny shop.
Another shop in Leeds I can recommend is Red House Music in Cookridge. Very helpful honest people there. If you want to venture out a bit, Mor Music in York and that guitar shop in Hudds centre near the train station (forgot the name) are both great shops.
The shop in hudds is GTR.. the owner is pretty strange though
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Finally Launched!
Check out www.healeyamplification.co.uk (http://www.healeyamplification.co.uk)
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Finally Launched!
Check out www.healeyamplification.co.uk (http://www.healeyamplification.co.uk)
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this will financially ruin me for life if it goes wrong
And you're self taught with regard to electronics? Then I wish you the very best of luck, because I really think you'll need it. It's a tough market out there.
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good luck :)
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Good luck man!
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Sounds like a dream amp. You should a good website with Pics, and soundclips.
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I'm waiting for the link to be back :(!And will follow this thread :) Wish you all the luck for the run!
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James good luck, I'm sure you build fine amps.
As others have said, you face some pretty stiff competition. You will need some good marketing, I've just had a look and there are 2 other UK builders offering 4xEL84 hand built heads for less so you would need to explain why folks would shell out a little more on your amp?
I hope you succeed but risking financial ruin on a product more expensive than the competition when you have not yet built up a brand name might be a little risky.
But all the best, you could be the next Dumble and I'll wonder why I didn't buy one of your amps for a mere £850!!
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Good luck. There are plenty of success stories to be read.
I may be wrong but aren't Diamond amps and 65 amps set up be people that learnt how to do it themselves?
Having a crazy genius grandfather will be a massive help.
I'm pretty certain most amp builders would envy the experience my granddad has in the field.
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Good luck. There are plenty of success stories to be read.
I may be wrong but aren't Diamond amps and 65 amps set up be people that learnt how to do it themselves?
Having a crazy genius grandfather will be a massive help.
I'm pretty certain most amp builders would envy the experience my granddad has in the field.
Yea I think if you have the good product it will sell. Just make sure you have as many PR tentacles out there as possible (blogs Myspace other forums your own website (with a forum where people can talk about how good your amps are).
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Its a good name you have though Healey Amplification. Its good
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Its gonna be about PR for sure.
Getting the name out, letting people know what they can do.
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I may be wrong but aren't Diamond amps and 65 amps set up be people that learnt how to do it themselves?
65 amps were indeed. The guy who started it, Peter Stroud, said he got sick and tired of his amps breaking down on tour so decided to get stuck in (or something like that). Really hope it works out for you - Healey is a great name to have on an amp. Not sure why but it just sounds right.
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I personally don't think £850 is bad - he has some pretty high spec parts - those PEC pots are a tenner a pop, so in a typical channel switching amp with clean gain, bass, middle, treble, volume plus dirty gain, bass, middle, treble, volume plus master volume and presence you have £120 worth of pots alone PDT_030
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The shop in hudds is GTR.. the owner is pretty strange though
He is. Tony was great though.
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Seriously man I don't know what everyone else is going on about with this good luck business. The way I see it its a piece of cake. If I was marketing an amp I would demo it next to the sound I was trying to replicate or improve. I would make posters sound clips, and a website. My marketing professor told me once that lots of great products fail to reach the public due to what he called "hunting on an empty stomach" Which means that when your desperate and you just throw your product out there without proper public exposure or preparation you appear desperate and confidence is what makes a sale. I would say back off a bit get an awesome website get some posters made up the works. Think about how you can inject your sound that your creating into the minds of the public. I mean if this thing is a part time thing for you and not something you would want to pursue than do it however you want. But say you want to sell 6 amps a month you should think big. By your description of the tones you could get out of the amps it sounds like it deserves some proper marketing.
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I personally don't think £850 is bad
its not at all, dont try to justify it.
just dont expect to be rich overnight or ever really ( i can tell you dont by the way you have priced these) if you are doing it because you enjoy it and are striving to make things better and supposrt another income then it may work. if you are hoping to make a living off it instantly it will probably fail. nothing to do with the quality - just be realistic about the market
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The market for boutique amps in the UK just isn't what it is in the states. Over here, most people want the big brands. That's just the way it is.
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edit
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the balance thing... is that like the symmetry trimmer on an uberschall?
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I personally don't think £850 is bad
its not at all, dont try to justify it.
just dont expect to be rich overnight or ever really ( i can tell you dont by the way you have priced these) if you are doing it because you enjoy it and are striving to make things better and supposrt another income then it may work. if you are hoping to make a living off it instantly it will probably fail. nothing to do with the quality - just be realistic about the market
when I price amps up, I don't price to be competitive with anyone. I list everything that goes into the amp, then estimate how long it'll take to build and price it according to my current salary, i.e. if I was to do this full time, I'd want at least the same wage coming in each week. believe me, it's not a fortune.
pricing up something like a 50w channel switching head, I would easily pay £600-£800 for parts including the head cab, so you can see how this quickly becomes a considered purchase.
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exactly HTH, I don't want to be the next "Matchless" or even worse "Marshall".
Im talking about building 3 world class amplifiers and the price is good for the quality of the build.
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I don't doubt that what you're building will be a nice amp.
Who do you think your target buyer is? That's the question...
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Pricing strategy is probably the most interesting counter-intuitive aspects of marketing I have EVER encountered professionally.
It really is a wonderful subject to be involved with and can sort the (rich) men from the (poor) boys.
Equal parts psychology, economics & pure chutzpah...
I could talk for hours on this but good luck with your new venture. PDT_003
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Pricing strategy is probably the most interesting counter-intuitive aspects of marketing I have EVER encountered professionally.
That is so true. My experience has been that sometimes people will have two options in front of them and their will be a more expensive option and a cheaper option and I will tell the client that they are virtually the same thing, and they will go for the more expensive option because apparently the people who priced the amp know something I dont. So they will go for the more expensive option because it is more expensive. It can almost be a bad Idea to give people too good a deal. They wonder whats wrong with it.
Edit: Just cleaned up your quote. :) DnL
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yeah, definitely. while a lot of the time you get what you pay for, it's not always the case. if you have the brass neck to charge more, you'll persuade a lot of people that your product is better, even if it's not.
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Finally launched!
Please check out www.healeyamplification.co.uk (http://www.healeyamplification.co.uk)
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...which in my opinion is pretty much half of the guitarists out there...
I think your market is much MUCH smaller than you think and I strongly disagree. What about:
* Bedroom only noodlers
* Modelling fans
* Mesa Boogie super gain metallers
* Stoner/Doomers
* People who only buy established brand names
* People who can't afford £850 for an amp head
* People who are happy with their current high end gear
* etc
* etc
None of the above would be interested in your amp :(
I'm not trying to be a douche-bag by the way, I just think it'll be tough to sell a very niche product in a flat market. As I said earlier, I wish you very best of luck as I don't think it'll be easy for you. It's the PR stuff that'll make the biggest difference to your success, not the product alone....
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...which in my opinion is pretty much half of the guitarists out there...
I think your market is much MUCH smaller than you think and I strongly disagree. What about:
* Bedroom only noodlers
* Modelling fans
* Mesa Boogie super gain metallers
* Stoner/Doomers
* People who only buy established brand names
* People who can't afford £850 for an amp head
* People who are happy with their current high end gear
* etc
* etc
None of the above would be interested in your amp :(
I'm not trying to be a douche-bag by the way, I just think it'll be tough to sell a very niche product in a flat market. As I said earlier, I wish you very best of luck as I don't think it'll be easy for you. It's the PR stuff that'll make the biggest difference to your success, not the product alone....
you could level those same points at any manufacturer though Dave with the exception of your 'established brand names' point.
I personally think the pricing is wrong on that amp. there are quality parts in there and its hand wired so people will look at comparable amps and say to themselves "why is his amp half the price of amp-x". I'd pitch that amp in the £1200 range personally.
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I agree Ian, it's the "half the guitarists" comment I was referring to. For many, many reasons any one product isn't on the wish list of 50% of guitar players.
Unless it's a hot groupie ;)
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Finally launched!
Please check out
www.healeyamplification.co.uk (http://www.healeyamplification.co.uk)
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HTH, I think £1200 is a fair price and a good place for this amplifer to be priced at but the first 3 will be £850 regardless..
I've made 5w stuff before and a 1.8w amp using a single 12AU7 as the output valve, it's all fine and dandy but it's not really giggable stuff and im looking at the working musician.
the 1w valve amp is a popular concept with guitarist, however nobody wants to pay over £250.00 for one, so its a non-starter imo. I'd be wanting £500 minimum - theres just as much work goes into them.
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Any update on these James? Did they sell? What's next in the pipeline?
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As far as i know the first three sold and there has also been a trainwreck express clone sold in the seconds out on this very forum.
http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=21758.0
I know that he is now working on a High Gain Metal amp which i know of a fair few people that have placed interest in these before construction even started.
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Question in December, answer in August. WTH??
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Didnt realise it was that long ago.
My head is still stook in early 2010
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Four amps in 12 months isn't a great record :(
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I personally dont think thats too bad to say hes doing it alongside another job and full time Uni plus being a parent too
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Not to bad at all, certainly a start.
That TW clone is messy though, the soldering looks poor. Back to basics needed before moving forward....
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I agree Ian, it's the "half the guitarists" comment I was referring to. For many, many reasons any one product isn't on the wish list of 50% of guitar players.
Unless it's a hot groupie ;)
Fair point, the other 50% being telecaster players ;)