Members hcprimerib Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 I mean, I can't think of a Japanese amp maker of note? you can't tell me there aren't any Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Spizzledude Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 Yamaha? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 Tokai had some pretty kick-ass SS amps in the '60's and early '70's. There used to be a brand called Elk that were made in Japan and copied the look of the Fender amps of the day, but not the circuit. But can't think of a big internationally popular, production Japanese amp company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Urban Ghandi Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 They probably realized there is more profit in guitars than amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members teemuk Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 There were tons of Japanese amp makers in the 1960's - 1970's, there still are. Biggest and most recognised today are likely Yamaha, Roland, Ibanez, and KORG, that has its hands on both Marshall and especially Vox. Plenty of modern Vox amps are Japanese KORG designs and since Univox days to 2010 KORG was running Marshall and Vox distribution in USA. Then there's "smaller" companies mainly specialising to "bargain" amp categories, TASCAM/Teac, Zoom, Daphon, Samick, Suzuki (that owns Leslie and Hammond brands), and Fernandes (that also owns Hiwatt trademark in North America). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hcprimerib Posted June 20, 2011 Author Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 yamaha? I haven't seen a Yamaha guitar amp on stage or in a store in forever...if ever. roland jazz chorus is about the only recognizable amp I recall seeing in forever. weird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 There were tons of Japanese amp makers in the 1960's - 1970's, there still are. Biggest and most recognised today are likely Yamaha, Roland, and Korg who has its hands on both Marshall and especially Vox. Plenty of modern Vox amps are Japanese Korg designs. Ah, that brings up one of the most famous vintage Japanese amp brand...Univox, which is the company that became Korg. Roland JC series is definitely a famous line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dicky sofa Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 not enough $ in the amp market... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members teemuk Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 yamaha? I haven't seen a Yamaha guitar amp on stage or in a store in forever...if ever. That's your problem though. Yamaha has made many absolutely fabulous amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 That's your problem though. Yamaha has made many absolutely fabulous amps. Unfortunately, they are also infamous for butchering their Soldano collaboration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hcprimerib Posted June 20, 2011 Author Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 That's your problem though. Yamaha has made many absolutely fabulous amps. :-) Not a problem at all. Just an observation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members magh8 Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 I bet there are some boutique builders in Japan that never leave Japan or the surrounding area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LaXu Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 There were tons of Japanese amp makers in the 1960's - 1970's, there still are. Biggest and most recognised today are likely Yamaha, Roland, Ibanez, and KORG, that has its hands on both Marshall and especially Vox. Plenty of modern Vox amps are Japanese KORG designs and since Univox days to 2010 KORG was running Marshall and Vox distribution in USA.Then there's "smaller" companies mainly specialising to "bargain" amp categories, TASCAM/Teac, Zoom, Daphon, Samick, Suzuki (that owns Leslie and Hammond brands), and Fernandes (that also owns Hiwatt trademark in North America). Most of those are probably made in China though. I start sounding like a broken record but I really like the Yamaha DG amps. They were years ahead of the competing modelers and had the exact right idea what a modeler should be - not some emulation collection of specific amps but digital technology simply harnessed to replicate tube tone. It sounded like its own thing, its amp models were generically named, it had a great user interface and just the right amount of effects. None of this 100 of everything crap they do these days just to have impressive feature lists. The amps were made in Japan and combos came with top notch Celestion speakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Valtiel Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 I bet there are some boutique builders in Japan that never leave Japan or the surrounding area Dumble moved to Japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members teemuk Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 Most of those are probably made in China though. Most likely, as pretty much the majority of today's amps are made in China, Korea or some other cheap Asian country. I was merely going from the point of view that the company / trademark is a Japanese one. But anyway, I think with today's globalism the lines are quite blurred. Japan was a cheap country to manufacture stuff (eg. guitars and amps) back in the days but not so much any more. Now a lot of the production has transferred to cheaper countries. I think it has happened with the guitars today as much as it has happened with amps. Then you have international, global businesses owned by shareholders from around the globe and having subsidiaries and divisions in various countries. Take "Vox" for example: the trademark was originally owned by British Jennings Musical Instruments but later it was purchased by Rose Morris, which was later then acquired by Japanese Korg, Inc. and transformed to division named Korg UK Ltd. They setup a company named Vox Amplification Ltd. to handle the production of products carrying Vox trademark and to operate "sort of" individually from the distributing arms. The modern Vox amps are therefore product of collaboration with British, American and Japanese designers - or sometimes only design crews from one of those countries. Then, KORG/Vox can manufacture their amps either in China or in UK, or sometimes in some other random country, usually contracting suitable manufacturing houses / factories in whatever place they are cheapest or most convenient by some other manner. In some cases many similar companies may even buy some of their products as OEM - usually from various Asian companies that have specilialized in that sort of industry. Take for example Vox AC-15RI: Korg contracted the production of that model to American boutique amp manufacturer Bedrock, Inc. Later Marshall Amplification Plc. (which also has affiliations with KORG) snatched that manufacturing deal from Bedrock. You have also Vox amps that are designed by Tony Bruno or series like Valvetronix that are pretty much Japanese design courtesy of Korg's engineers. It's not a black & white thing anymore. Biggest companies are global now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HKSblade1 Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jnurp Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 Thats China's deal i guess, nothing like a guud WANG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eudaimonia02912 Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 Are these any good? Haven't played one, though I've had the chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zeppelin Rules Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 Japanese manufacturers seem to focus more on electronic music gear. Stuff like keyboards, synths, DJ equipment. An amp is far too lo-tech by comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cap'n'crunch Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 The circuit boards and components are too large for the robots to manufacture efficiently. Also, amps last too long and do not outdate often enough. Much more money in cell phones and stuff with the micro circuits that people use for 6 months to a year then discard it and buy a new improved model. I don't buy into that crap. I've has the same cell phone for 6 years..lol. Probably be another 6 years till I buy a new one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members magh8 Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 Are these any good? Haven't played one, though I've had the chance. they actually are...there is one in daddys system have it brought to warwick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted June 20, 2011 Members Share Posted June 20, 2011 To kinda go back to why there just didn't seem to be clones by Japanese companies, especially in the '70's...I really don't know of a reason they couldn't have. They just never seem to do it. Perhaps tube design wasn't as popular in Japan since they didn't have the same cold-war arms build-up that the US/Europe/USSR did. Tubes were super available in those areas because until late in the 1980's their militaries all still used tube technology. Where as Japan had a chance to modernize during their reconstruction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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