I have been looking at importing a dedicated Harp amp into Newzealand from the States.Turns out that freight ,duty etc comes to near half the cost of the amp itself. I'm thinking that maybe getting a kit might be the way to go,much lighter and wouldn't attract as much taxes.
I've found a local tech who could do the build for me,in fact he's quite interested as a change from doing guitarists work. Something between 15-30 watts? Or there a Kit available for a Fender Princeton,i'd be happy with a Princeton. Thanks for any help on this.
Weber and Torres are a couple good choices for kits. I don't think Torres has a 5F2 Princeton kit?, but they have some great choices for 5E3 deluxe kits which is in the wattage range your looking for.
There's quite a few good harp amps builders in Europe, have you checked out any? Marble, Serrano, and the new Gregorius harps amps look and sound incredible!
The 5F2H kit from Weber sounds great but has less power than you are looking for. I'd suggest a 5E3 Tweed Deluxe guitar amp kit. You can order from Weber, Mojotone, Mission, and others. The mods to make it harp friendly would be easy to find online. The amp makes 15 watts from two 6V6 power tubes and should have a nice natural harp tone even when unmodified.
But.... assembling an amp from a kit is often expensive. But it might make sense for you since you are facing big extras costs with the import duties and shipping for a finished amp.
Here is a video from Tube Depot about how to assemble a 5E3 kit.
---Speakers are the killer. If you can source a decent speaker locally at reasonable $, and don't mind sorting out a cab it may be worthwhile. I expect NZ may be as bad or worse than OZ for this stuff. You can still make savings even if you have to import speakers, but it's definitely worth getting it right first time. -------
"Speakers are the killer. If you can source a decent speaker locally at reasonable $, and don't mind sorting out a cab it may be worthwhile." Don't forget about trannies as well for the same reason. If you could get a decent speaker & trannies locally then building a kit is way to go.
Last Edited by puri on Jun 17, 2013 6:36 PM
Heh man! I'm originally Waikato born, but been in Georgia for 14? years now. Where are you in NZ? I need to make one important trip back there inside the next 12 months.. E me anytime.... tweedaddict(at)hot-MAIL(dot)com.
Good points guys. I can build a decent cab no problems.I'm pretty sure that my Tech guyhas a decent selection of speakers at hand. He might also have some trannies.I'd better check with him. So no speaker(s) cab or tranny would make a nice small package. @Tweed from the 'kato to Georgia is a long way.. you must be loving it there. i'll flick you a mail later.(i'm in Auckland)
Ha! yep, moved to south auck when a lad, then moved all around... east,north, etc... I SURE miss decent fish and chips and a meat pie! Midge says needs a new amp too, I need to get off my arse and send or bring him something.
Jehosaphat - You can get PrincetonReverb kits and many others as well. It's all a question of how much money you can afford to spend. One idea that's not been mentioned so far is the Lone Wolf 6L6SE amp. You could probably build one of those relatively cheaply. The biggest expense is going to be having the tech build an amp for you. Bench fees aren't cheap on a project like that. Have you considered building it yourself? There a loads of good forums on amp building and plenty of people willing to help with advice, trouble shooting, etc.
IMO, you will not save much, if any if you buy the kit in the US and have a tech build it for you. My amp tech quoted me $600-$700 to build a harp modded Bassman if I buy the transformers and choke. Seems reasonable, but once I add shipping costs, tubes, speakers, I'm at the cost of a harp amp that's ready to play.
Last Edited by Harpaholic on Jun 18, 2013 7:34 AM
