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I’m officially offended (by Victory amps) 😡

Xpensive Wino

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 3, 2012
Messages
7,035
I’m into watches and was on the waiting list to get a Rolex.. but then had a realisation that my daily Hamilton khaki never skips a beat and tells me the time.. so I promptly cancelled the Rolex.. (and spent the money on guitars)

perspective is a wonderful thing..

Stick to your roots..

I’m a working man.. not a yacht owner.


Let me guess....was your father a toolmaker, by any chance? :D
 
Joined
Jun 16, 2009
Messages
52
the new Victory “boutique” amps cost circa £6,500! which is utterly ridiculous.. !!
in the video they even market the amp (keep in mind Lee Anderton is part owner of the Victory company) to men with “man caves” and to match the colour of the leather with their Porsche.. ffs.

Why is the guitar fraternity hell bent on making the guitar scene a high end “dentist” luxury item market.. ffs.. guitars and amps have always been (and will always be) a working class thing.. by pushing the products into the luxury market is basically saying to working class kids .. “you can’t afford the nice stuff” which makes me utterly offended..
and ..
the amp sounds shit.. which is great .. coz “top knot” has ordered one.. pfft.

Bon-bloody-jour.

Don't confuse the the guitar fraternity with the Business community. People that have money are more likely to buy stuff than people that don't so naturally they are going to target that market. That amp is a lot more profitable than a model that costs $1200. So what? Its a business that are paying employees. That's a good thing. You don't have to buy it
 
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Hiwatts-n-Gibsons

Well-known member
Joined
May 10, 2024
Messages
759
Don't confuse the the guitar fraternity with the Business community. People with money are more likely to buy stuff than people that don't so naturally they are going to target that market. That amp is a lot more profitable than a model that costs $1200. So what? Its a business that are paying employees. That's a good thing. You don't have to buy it
Snake oil is always a booming business.
 

clapciadrix

Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2007
Messages
95
the new Victory “boutique” amps cost circa £6,500! which is utterly ridiculous.. !!
in the video they even market the amp (keep in mind Lee Anderton is part owner of the Victory company) to men with “man caves” and to match the colour of the leather with their Porsche.. ffs.

Why is the guitar fraternity hell bent on making the guitar scene a high end “dentist” luxury item market.. ffs.. guitars and amps have always been (and will always be) a working class thing.. by pushing the products into the luxury market is basically saying to working class kids .. “you can’t afford the nice stuff” which makes me utterly offended..
and ..
the amp sounds shit.. which is great .. coz “top knot” has ordered one.. pfft.

Bon-bloody-jour.

I think I understand what you’re saying, and I’m not sure I totally disagree, but don’t you think there’s room for it all?
 

MarcB

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 1, 2023
Messages
1,494
I think I understand what you’re saying, and I’m not sure I totally disagree, but don’t you think there’s room for it all?
99% of musicians are broke.. but they’d like the best gear for their art..but are told they can’t have it coz they can’t afford it.. making amps, guitars and pedals to appeal to dentists, that use all the premium and best components, is not fair.. the musicians deserve the best too.. which includes young artist too..
15 yrs ago.. we could all afford the top end gear if we saved up enough.. now it’s impossible.. the divide between the rich and poor grows ever greater and is compounded by these bastards creating bullshit products for them..

that said.. let them buy the expensive bullshit.. as I’m a big believer that these bullshit products separate the men from the twats.

Carry on kemper’in.. big wig.
 

Hiwatts-n-Gibsons

Well-known member
Joined
May 10, 2024
Messages
759
I think I understand what you’re saying, and I’m not sure I totally disagree, but don’t you think there’s room for it all?

As long as they're selling enough amps to stay in business and turn a profit, then there is enough room. While I wouldn't buy one of their more expensive amps, some of their pedals appeal to me, and if it weren't for the ostentatious logo I would possibly be interested in one of their more stripped down affairs. I don't really feel the need for two or more channels with multiple voicings anymore. If I did happen to get such an amp it would likely be another Mesa Tremoverb, or MkIIC+.
 

TM1

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Messages
8,407
I guess if Victory can do $6,500. amp that justifies Gibson doing $20k Murphy Lab guitars. The whole thing has made the stupidity absurd. I'll buy an expensive guitar before buying an uber expensive amp! A great, hand wound output tranny only goes for $300. It's gotten to the "way too rich for my blood" point.
 

charliechitlins

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2021
Messages
1,254
15 yrs ago.. we could all afford the top end gear if we saved up enough.. now it’s impossible.. the divide between the rich and poor grows ever greater and is compounded by these bastards creating bullshit products for them..
I disagree.
There is a golden age of guitars right now.
Guys like Jack Pearson are gigging Indonesian Strats.
Jimmie Vaughan tours his Mexican signature model.
I have a couple $600 (used) Korean guitars that are amazing, pro-level instruments.
American Strats can be had for a tick under a grand and Les Pail Standards for 1500.
Put that with a, early '70s Deluxe Reverb or Super Reverb for another 1500 and you have a rig to die for.
 

Hiwatts-n-Gibsons

Well-known member
Joined
May 10, 2024
Messages
759
I disagree.
There is a golden age of guitars right now.
Guys like Jack Pearson are gigging Indonesian Strats.
Jimmie Vaughan tours his Mexican signature model.
I have a couple $600 (used) Korean guitars that are amazing, pro-level instruments.
American Strats can be had for a tick under a grand and Les Pail Standards for 1500.
Put that with a, early '70s Deluxe Reverb or Super Reverb for another 1500 and you have a rig to die for.

Don't get me wrong, the quality of brand new budget level guitars is probably the best I have seen in my lifetime.

But, when I started playing in the late '80s through the mid '90s the incredible range of amazing used vintage guitars for cheap as hell prices that are high dollar items now was unlike anything I have seen since. I got a beautiful transition era '71 LP Standard for $450. You could find gorgeous '60s-'70s guitars, Tweed and Black Face Fenders, JMP Marshalls, Vox AC15's and AC30's, and others for prices that were comparable to many SS amps and budget tube amps. And the biggest difference is many of those amps and guitars were hand crafted high quality component peices with things like Nitro finishes, Celestion, EV, JBL, Jenson, and Fane speakers, compared to the cheap component quality, thick poly finishes, cheap speakers, and such that come in much of today's import gear.
 

MarcB

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 1, 2023
Messages
1,494
I disagree.
There is a golden age of guitars right now.
Guys like Jack Pearson are gigging Indonesian Strats.
Jimmie Vaughan tours his Mexican signature model.
I have a couple $600 (used) Korean guitars that are amazing, pro-level instruments.
American Strats can be had for a tick under a grand and Les Pail Standards for 1500.
Put that with a, early '70s Deluxe Reverb or Super Reverb for another 1500 and you have a rig to die for.
I’m not saying that todays guitars are not built well.. I have a ‘21 60s standard bought for £1700 and it’s absolutely perfect.. and would suit any new guitar player 100%.. what I’m saying is that .. the makers of instruments and amps have added the “yacht club” section to their product page.. which is what I disagree with..which prices the average Joe out of that market .. and I’m not saying they can’t do this.. either, they can do what they want.. what I am saying is it’s all bollocks.

Bonjour
 

charliechitlins

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2021
Messages
1,254
I’m not saying that todays guitars are not built well.. I have a ‘21 60s standard bought for £1700 and it’s absolutely perfect.. and would suit any new guitar player 100%.. what I’m saying is that .. the makers of instruments and amps have added the “yacht club” section to their product page.. which is what I disagree with..which prices the average Joe out of that market .. and I’m not saying they can’t do this.. either, they can do what they want.. what I am saying is it’s all bollocks.

Bonjour
The yacht club can go a long way towards keeping a company successful, financing the working-class stuff and keeping it available to regular folks.
When you're in business and there are rich people interested in what you do, the only sensible thing to do is to get your hand in their pockets.
When I had a motorcycle shop, I had a sliding scale based on what I could observe.
I'd get some kid's bike running and something like this would go down:
What do I owe you?
Nothing.
Nothing?!
Yeah...the dude with the Rolex who left 15 minutes ago inadvertently paid your bill.
 

MarcB

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 1, 2023
Messages
1,494
The yacht club can go a long way towards keeping a company successful, financing the working-class stuff and keeping it available to regular folks.
When you're in business and there are rich people interested in what you do, the only sensible thing to do is to get your hand in their pockets.
When I had a motorcycle shop, I had a sliding scale based on what I could observe.
I'd get some kid's bike running and something like this would go down:
What do I owe you?
Nothing.
Nothing?!
Yeah...the dude with the Rolex who left 15 minutes ago inadvertently paid your bill.
I’d admire your perspective.. and will take away the notion that we are all just trying to get our bills paid (by someone else) and if we can (and I have done) pay it forward too.

Bonjour.

*edit: it would seem in this day and age philanthropy is non existent.. and it’s the working class that are constantly having the step up for charity donations and continue to “pay it forward”
I don’t see Elon Musk, Bill Gates or any government paying anything forward.. pfft.
 

Hiwatts-n-Gibsons

Well-known member
Joined
May 10, 2024
Messages
759
The yacht club can go a long way towards keeping a company successful, financing the working-class stuff and keeping it available to regular folks.
When you're in business and there are rich people interested in what you do, the only sensible thing to do is to get your hand in their pockets.
When I had a motorcycle shop, I had a sliding scale based on what I could observe.
I'd get some kid's bike running and something like this would go down:
What do I owe you?
Nothing.
Nothing?!
Yeah...the dude with the Rolex who left 15 minutes ago inadvertently paid your bill.
This is a very good point.

There are a few luthiers now whose USA hand made instruments are way outside the price the average musician can pay such as Bourgois that are offering import versions of very high quality. Now the Bourgois imports can hardly be considered budget guitars, but in their defense all the same tone woods that are used on their USA models are used on their imports. The woods are selected and cut here in the US by Bourgois, so you don't have to worry about wondering what kind of wood was used for your guitar no matter what the marketing materials say. The tops are also tap tuned here by Bourgois just like their all USA made guitars. Then the woods are packed up, and shipped over seas for final construction. They are in the same price range as a mid range Gibson or Martin, and the reviews for them are very very good.

This would never have occurred if so many very deep pocketed players did not buy up the limited numbers of USA Bourgois Guitars year after year raising their mystique and demand. Many people who want one of his guitars are forced to wait for the exact guitar they want to pop up on the used market for a price they can afford. Bourgois saw the used market price range, and realized by offering a very high quality import version of his guitars targeted to those buyers he could offer brand new guitars in the same price range.
 
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