Is £2000 for an amp "painfully expensive"?

[Ian Price]

That's a nice looking Bassman.

My take on stuff, guitar related equipment in particular, is that it's worth what you/someone else pay for it. By that I mean if you see something you like an pay the price for it, it is worth it and not "painfully expensive". Bit of a simple way of looking at it and I know that logic wouldn't pass the Devries test*  :o



*That is of course if you like the Devries!

[Lew]

I don't think of Rivera as a boutique amp. They are high quality, but still PCB amps.

What's PCB got to do with being boutique?

Of-course, I do hate the term boutique too - it should be kept for describing small kitch indie clothes shops located in the styx +  I've owned both and I've found absolutely no evidence that a PTP/Turret amp sounds better than PCB just because it's hand wired, I can understand why a small builder would use it as I imagine it's alot more cost effective and easier to do custom work but other than that I think it's a cr@ppy myth to get people to justify costs.

:)

[martinw]

I don't think of Rivera as a boutique amp. They are high quality, but still PCB amps.

What's PCB got to do with being boutique?

Nothing directly. But if it's made on a PCB, that means you're making a lot of them. If you're making a lot of them, that goes away from the orignal use of the word boutique in the context of amp builders.

[Lew]

I don't think of Rivera as a boutique amp. They are high quality, but still PCB amps.

What's PCB got to do with being boutique?

Nothing directly. But if it's made on a PCB, that means you're making a lot of them. If you're making a lot of them, that goes away from the orignal use of the word boutique in the context of amp builders.

I'm with ya there. But I think the original meaning has been skewed. Bogner, CAE/Suhr etc... are often referred to (wrongly imo) as boutique for example.

[HTH AMPS]

I'd say that £2k for a mass-produced amp is a little over the top bearing in mind the economy of scale.

Bearing in mind myself (and others on this forum) could build the last amp you'll ever need (tailored to your needs) for that kind of money with no cost spared on quality components, then the value aspect diminishes, imo.

[Ian Price]

I'm with ya there. But I think the original meaning has been skewed.

Yep:

"A boutique, from the French word for "shop," is a small shopping outlet, especially one that specializes in elite and fashionable items such as clothing and jewellery"

and then:

"Recently, the term "boutique" has started being applied to normally-mass-market items that are either niche or produced in intentionally small numbers at very high prices. This may be referred to as boutique manufacturing."

Which I agree with, apart from the niche or produced in intentionally small numbers bit.

Apologies for the shameless C&P from wiki!

[Elliot]

I'd prefer the blonde bassman - but for a pro or serious pub gigger amp workhorse £2k isn't that much - I'm of the amp is more important than guitar persuasion, but still, to spend that much money, you have to be making some money out of your playing to justify it.

[HTH AMPS]

My view is that whatever your guitar costs should mirror what your amp costs (in a roundabout way)

[Ian Price]

My view is that whatever your guitar costs should mirror what your amp costs (in a roundabout way)

Dave - are you read to match your ME with an amp in the same price bracket 

[dave_mc]

It's a fair price for a high quality product. To me that precludes the use of the word "painful".

We're so used to paying peanuts now, for cheaply made cr@p, that when you're faced with paying the right price for something, it seems expensive by comparison.

If we would all learn to buy less, and pay more for it, and then look after, service and repair our high quality, expensive equipment, and stop shipping container loads of junk half way round the world, we'd all be a lot happier.

agreed.

that being said, at £2000 it better be darn good. and I also agree with what HTH is saying about the smaller amp companies. I don't really give a shitee that it costs more to run a big factory, I want the best amp at the cheapest price, running a big factory doesn't make it sound any better. The whole point of capitalism (not that I necessarily agree with every tenet of it, but I didn't pick the system, and these big companies don't mind taking the advantages of capitalism when it suits them) is that the most efficient company wins. And the whole point of mass production was that it was supposed to increase efficiency and lower costs, I thought.

While I would agree that if you spend under a certain amount, it's going to be cheap cr@p, you don't have to spend £2k to get something "good", especially if you know what you're doing and are willing to hold out for a good deal.

[Twinfan]

My view is that whatever your guitar costs should mirror what your amp costs (in a roundabout way)

Dave - are you read to match your ME with an amp in the same price bracket 

I don't know any £4000 amps, other than that Larry thing Hunter brought up in another thread  :lol:

I'm quite happy with my custom designed Martamp that I got for a very reasonable price thank you very much...............

[dave_mc]

yeah, i don't agree with "cost" so much as "quality" in matching amps and guitars. if you have a high-end guitar, you should have a high-end amp to do it justice, regardless of the cost. Certainly if you play mainly blues and classic rock, you can get high quality low gain amps for not all that much, but it's not so much the case if you need high gain and multiple channels etc.

[Philly Q]

I can only compare with the Rivera R55 I used to own, which had pretty much identical spec (although I'm sure there are subtle but profound differences passing me by here..... :? ).  That was about £700, many years ago but amps haven't gone up that much.

I don't know about painfully expensive, but it's.... expensive.

[Pete24v]

I don't know any £4000 amps, other than that Larry thing Hunter brought up in another thread  :lol:

Van Weeldon Twinkle Land is just under £5k

[mikey5]

Id go for a blackenship or diamond del fuego