FreeWilly
414 posts
Mar 31, 2014
11:27 PM
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In the ridiculous thread, as I like to call it, there was a reference to Thomann being a possible vendor of american boutique amps. I then thought: why don't I try to do it? Make a harpwebshop and start selling some harp-stuff. Get a deal with a comb vendor, some amp sellers, you know the deal.
And after 5 seconds I thought: well, if I were Brian Purdy - renowned for customer service and personal commitment - why would I want someone that knows less than me about amps sell them? So that plan is of.
Still though: there is a big gap in the market on the (boutique) amp-front on this side of the pond. Our only access to harp-amps are Marble amps and Fox amps (as far as I know of) and some individual builders perhaps (no resales value). Both of which start at about 1250 euros for a 15 watt amp. 850 for 7 watts.
At Mission you can get one of their more luxurious 15 watt models shipped for about 900 dollars. That is 650 euros. Which is pretty much HALF of one of the European models. HALF. A double trouble costs around 817 euro's for the European model. Still only 2 thirds of the price of a Bluesonic.
If you want to get, say, the Mission here though, that 900 dollars become 970 because of extra shipping (is that about right, 120 $ to ship it here?), 1173 dollars because of 21% vat, handling fees of 20 dollars or something. Price is then 1200 dollars (871 euro). Still a hell of a lot cheaper, but riskier too. You can't play before you buy, customer service becomes expensive (have a look at my burned out caps please? Sure, that's be 240 dollars in shipping please!
Point is: why is nobody making harp amps at the rough pricepoint of a shipped mission (900 bucks for a 15 watt, which would be cheaper than a stock Princeton btw) in Europe?? Which is still 100 bucks more than a Double Trouble costs in the US. So we wouldn't be coming off cheap. And if somebody would, wouldn't they have a look at a big enough market to be profitable?? I would certainly be interested.. A lot of guys even have these US amps shipped here. Why? Well, there isn't much of a used amp market here either. So wouldn't the market be there?
Keep in mind, shipping without customs is possible from the whole EU zone. Wages is a country like Poland are way lower than they are in the Western parts of Europe. Where is the good Polish guy making a living out of harp-amps?
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