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New Soldanos: NAMM '20 Demos


RobB

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On 1/21/2020 at 7:19 PM, Tortious said:

Whois info for the site references egnater.com, which also happens to have the same physical address. Not sure if Bruce still owns Egnater, last I knew he was trying to get it back from Rocktron? like 15 years ago maybe? No idea.

At any rate, it seems to be connected with Egnater somehow. Yet Egnater is not listed on the BAD site. Weird indeed.

Egnater is on the left, right under Friedman. http://www.boutiqueampsdistribution.com/

Looking at the website for Egnater, it makes it sound like Bruce Egnater is still involved with the company.

Looking at the building at the address, it looks like a standard light industrial building / warehouse. No signs at all, which is not uncommon.  Also listed at that address is :B-52 Professional / E.T.I. Sound Systems, INC.

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On 1/21/2020 at 4:18 AM, scottcald said:

I'm curious since this and a number of other products are now built by Boutique Amps Distribution.  Does anyone know who owns/runs them?  Their website has zero info the company.  Is it just me or is that weird?  It seems purposeful that they don't have this info anywhere.

Guys, Boutique Amps Distribution appears to be  just what it says it is, a distributor. It builds nothing. 

Many manufacturers that begin to ship in large quantities with a large number of dealers prefer to shift their business model to a two-step distribution process consolidating their shipping of products to a single customer (the distributor) one destination, also shifting logistical issues such as dealer sales,  shipping and receivables to the distributor, freeing the manufacturer up to focus on manufacturing and design.

It then becomes the job of the distributor to handle sales to dealers, shipping, billing etc.

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14 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

Guys, Boutique Amps Distribution appears to be  just what it says it is, a distributor. It builds nothing. 

That's not true. They build Friedman, Soldano and other brands. They are a distributor and manufacturer.

 

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49 minutes ago, RobB said:

That's not true. They build Friedman, Soldano and other brands. They are a distributor and manufacturer.

 

Damn, you learn something every day.

i haven’t had time to watch both of these, but I jumped through a few spots and tripped over Dave Friedman working on something in there at 1:05. I’ll check it out some more when I have time, but it would appear at least from what I saw that he’s pretty involved with his brand still. 

I met with Dave five or so years ago and he was building everything on premises. There was talk of growth and distribution, so I presumed it was just a distributor.

Is it possible that this is sorta a PBG type arrangement where the builders became partners? 

 

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2 hours ago, gtrdaddy said:

 

Is it possible that this is sorta a PBG type arrangement where the builders became partners? 

 

I believe it is something like that.  I listen to Dave Friedman's podcast pretty often.  He does a lot of hands on work with his amps, which are built by Boutique, but his relationship is deeper than that.  He's still the guy testing the tubes and doing the burn ins.   I believe they are all signed by him as well - haven't opened my BE-50 up.   He also knows a lot about the other amps there - he knew a ton about the new transformers used for the new Soldanos - but he doesn't have a stake in Soldano I don't believe.  Mike is also only a consultant with the brand really at this point, but he's an important part of the equation still.  

So there is some aspect of these boutique builders banding together to operate at scale.  I don't know if they created BAD or if BAD was a preexisting thing that grew larger from this.  I also think Friedman Amps and possibly Wampler are an important part of what it currently is, but no idea how. 

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I watched both video’s!! They are enlightening and the second one down right humorous. It appears that they have great tech’s doing the builds of the amps and each and every Friedman is tested with a guitar for tone by Dave. They have an unusual business model, but it certainly looks like if you want handbuilt quality they have it in spades!!!

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23 hours ago, gtrdaddy said:

I met with Dave five or so years ago and he was building everything on premises. There was talk of growth and distribution, so I presumed it was just a distributor.

Is it possible that this is sorta a PBG type arrangement where the builders became partners? 

 

Well... Toneking was a PBG brand, and now that they are gone, they are with BAD. I mean it's a pretty good idea, and definitely saves overhead. All amplifiers are basically made from the same components, and the can share the faceplate machines, etc.

I wonder if the Friedman guitars are built there as well. Or are they made by Grover Jackson at his own shop?

I also didn't know that Wampler pedals pretty much has always contracted out their pedal production and distribution. They used to be made in Kentucky by a WGS speakers contractor.

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On 1/22/2020 at 7:53 PM, tbonesullivan said:

Egnater is on the left, right under Friedman. http://www.boutiqueampsdistribution.com/

Looking at the website for Egnater, it makes it sound like Bruce Egnater is still involved with the company.

Looking at the building at the address, it looks like a standard light industrial building / warehouse. No signs at all, which is not uncommon.  Also listed at that address is :B-52 Professional / E.T.I. Sound Systems, INC.

That was a well-disguised, stealth Egnater logo. 🧐

Looking around a bit more, BAD appears to be owned by Eli and Avi Elkiss (aka El-kiss). They are the ones behind those B-52 amps & low-end pro audio stuff, though that operation seems to share only an address with the boutique amp part. Not sure why they are so low key about it, but the operation appears legit. At least up until the doors are locked one day and everything and everyone is gone. 😮

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