Why isnt there more talk about Budda amplification???

[JBecker]

Guess you guys missed this. It doesn't matter how many knobs it has, or how expensive it is. If it doesn't work when you need it to, it ain't worth {censored}e

 

 

Honestly, you're the first person in the 5 years I'm reading this board to have reliability issues with a Budda. Sounds like you had a lemon, but I've never heard a complaint about construction, build quality or reliability on these before.

 

One always slips through and I'm sorry you had a bad experience.

 

Btw, I never owned a Budda, FWIW.

[Weathered]

Dude...sweet. Anyway, claiming an amp is expensive because it has bad marketing = AN EXCUSE. Let me agree 100% with you for one moment. And I will take into account everything you said. That still makes me a consumer that is getting shafted for Buddas inflated prices due to your marketing theory.

 

 

Still missed the point. The reason that people would pay more money for something is due to GOOD marketing. Just like GOOD sales technique.

 

You aren't getting shafted if you didn't buy the damn thing. And someone who buys a Budda and is thrilled at the tone didn't get shafted, because they are happy about what they bought and how much they paid.

 

Value is a personal thing. You may find more value in a high gain channel switcher, but I personally want one GREAT channel, so I am drawn to less features. Therefore, I'd find more value in a great single channel amp.

[Marc Roy]

James Peters' first amp cost 600 bucks to buy off of him. The first one that would be fair to compare to what he's selling now for 1700 sold for close to 1000. He's had to raise prices to stay in business. That's how it works.

Didn't Bogner raise their prices too? But then again, the thing's got a lot more knobs....

[JBecker]

Mentioning James is PERFECT. He is a lone amp builder... AND HIS AMPS ARE THE SAME PRICE AS BUDDAS. If I had $2500 in my pocket would I buy this: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Budda-Superdrive-80-Series-II-2x12-Combo?sku=489705 Or this: You see? I could get an amp built by ONE MAN for the same price as one mass produced from Musicians Freind!!!!! IT IS INSANE!!!! haha.

You're still missing the point by about as much as our Missile Defense system misses the mark.

::sigh::

Start up a business, I'm sure you'll do great.

[JBecker]

Didn't Bogner raise their prices too? But then again, the thing's got a lot more knobs....

Unfortunately.

I could have afforded a Shiva now if they were still at the price they were when I first found love.

[Weathered]

Mentioning James is PERFECT. He is a lone amp builder... AND HIS AMPS ARE THE SAME PRICE AS BUDDAS. If I had $2500 in my pocket would I buy this: You see? I could get an amp built by ONE MAN for the same price as one mass produced from Musicians Freind!!!!! IT IS INSANE!!!! haha.

 

 

Mass produced? Budda is a 5 man operation, as far as I know.

 

Personally, I'd go for whatever had the tone I wanted, regardless of the size of the operation. The majority of boutique shops are 2-5 people, whether they use PCB or PTP construction.

 

And you linked to a 2x12 combo - the head is less expensive. Your argument fails right there, regardless of the point you are trying to make.

[chakosh]

I've got a Budda Verbmaster 1x12 combo. It's 18W Class A point to point hand wired. I paid $900/used for it, and I think I got a great deal. The 18W is friggin LOUD unless attenuated. I love the range I can get on it just by lowering the volume knob. Yeah, it's got 2 knobs for tone (bass and treble), one for volume, and one for the reverb tank (along with a switch to go from "sand" to "surf"). It's a great amp. I get the tone I want out of it (it's amazing clean), and I think I paid a good price for it, so I'm happy.

 

As for them being "overpriced"... Uhmm... what amp isn't "overpriced" in someone's book?

 

Double-barrel, that's the first problem I've ever heard about a Budda. Did you get your $$ back or a replacement?

[Attila]

Mentioning James is PERFECT. He is a lone amp builder... AND HIS AMPS ARE THE SAME PRICE AS BUDDAS. If I had $2500 in my pocket would I buy this: You see? I could get an amp built by ONE MAN for the same price as one mass produced from Musicians Freind!!!!! IT IS INSANE!!!! haha. Thank you for mentioning Peters amps. It proved my point perfectly. I would rather get a Peters amp that I could have some one on one requests on the building process with the person who is making it rather than the Budda.

huh?

[thefyn]

Idiot, i didn't go blah blah, i tried to esplained to you wht it is called in marketing and i stand by my post that they need better marketing. Probably some people don't need to go to college to know that, but since i am a fool i had to , twice!!!! Here's your amp, by the way, you are wrong on this one wether u admit it or not. I have read too many books to loose my time with you.

Oh the irony. haha.

[thefyn]

Honestly, all you've demonstrated is that you're not into non-high gain amps, don't know much about them except that you've plugged in a few liked some and didn't others.

 

Here are my BRUTAL high gain demos I recorded on my PC:

 

The first one has only one guitar track, one mic one track.

 

www.web-design100.com/Windy Days.mp3

 

www.web-design100.com/Eternal Summer.mp3

 

www.web-design100.com/Jackie O.mp3

 

www.web-design100.com/Rest Now Roman Soldier.mp3

[JamesPeters]

This discussion is a bit heated for me, and I'd like to stay clear of it... But at the same time I wanted to mention something about my R&D costs/time, and this:

 

James Peters' first amp cost 600 bucks to buy off of him. The first one that would be fair to compare to what he's selling now for 1700 sold for close to 1000. He's had to raise prices to stay in business. That's how it works.

 

The first amps I made (the original 3CP1 amps) in late 2001, which cost $600 USD at that time, were the ones which cost the least to build, by far, of all the amps I've made. At that time I also wasn't considering making it a business so much as it was an excuse for me to get chassis and enclosures made; I'd actually planned to only make the one model, sell 10 of them, then quit. I had a full time job that paid very well and had no intention of leaving it. Coincidentally the amps became in demand and things happened at my work which made me want to leave. As soon as I decided to give Peters Amplification a shot and leave my work, I sequestered myself for nearly 6 months while I worked on starting the business properly and prototyping the JP series. Those were to be the first amps I poured my heart out into; they had a higher parts cost, they took a lot longer to build, and I considered the costs of doing business when I priced them. It cost $1200 for the JP-10 and $1400 for the JP-50. Both were single channel amps. (When the 3CP1 was discontinued at the end of 2002, the price for it was $800 USD; that's what the last few sold for, just before I released the JP series.)

 

Consider the time period: 2002. The American dollar was almost 1.65x what the Canadian dollar was. If you do the math you'll find my prices have remained nearly the same since; as the American dollar has dropped, my prices in USD have increased. Canadians still pay almost the same nowadays for a single channel 50W amp as they would've in 2002, perhaps even less nowadays (the American dollar is effectively 1.05x the Canadian dollar now). That also means those first amps I sold for $600 USD would've cost nearly $950 new if the American dollar were the same in 2002 as it is now, let alone the fact they sold for $800 by the end of 2002 (which puts them at around $1200 USD for the simplest, lowest cost, fastest built amp I ever made...if the USD were 1.5x the Canadian dollar at the time).

 

Note: I had to change the prices on my site from Canadian to American dollars in 2002, because despite the fact my amps were inexpensive to Americans and their dollar was slowly on the decline, some would sit and wait for months hoping for the exchange rate to improve for them so they could get the amps for less money. Imagine that.

 

I also never priced a 50W single channel amp, or a dual channel amp, at $1000 USD. So I'm not sure where you got that figure.

 

It is definitely true I've always had something I've been tinkering with, some design in the works, even when I "don't have anything in the works". The amount of time I've poured into this venture is nearly incalculable, some of which definitely felt like work and some...well I'm obsessive and this is the one thing I let myself be obsessive about, so I sort of need it (it's either that or medication, I figure). I haven't really been able to factor that time into my prices and if I did I'd price myself right out of the market. My prices reflect an amp which would typically have a lot less R&D than they do have, and that's the only way I can keep the prices of these amps where they are. More of the price is factored from how long it actually takes to build them, the support I provide, the parts costs, and the rest of the costs of doing business which are more tangible than R&D; R&D can be seen as "something done in my spare time" if I choose to see it that way...even if "spare time" sometimes means every waking moment of the day for weeks on end. So R&D time doesn't factor into it that much. If my parts costs were significantly lower and the amps cost a lot less to build--which is the situation for most common amps--then my prices could be more average. But what sets my amps apart is that I pour my obsessiveness into them, the parts do have significant costs and I do spend a lot of time building them.

 

Also, if these particular amps sold through dealers, it's reasonable to expect their prices to be 40%-50% higher than they currently are. That's the reason I haven't yet done that; I'd rather the prices remain where they are.

 

So that's more of an "FYI" than anything. Thanks for the positive comments about my amps, in any case! Don't kill one another after I leave the thread...

[JBecker]

The first amps I made (the original 3CP1 amps) in late 2001, which cost $600 USD at that time, were the ones which cost the least to build, by far, of all the amps I've made. At that time I also wasn't considering making it a business so much as it was an excuse for me to get chassis and enclosures made; I'd actually planned to only make the one model, sell 10 of them, then quit. I had a full time job that paid very well and had no intention of leaving it. Coincidentally the amps became in demand and things happened at my work which made me want to leave. As soon as I decided to give Peters Amplification a shot and leave my work, I sequestered myself for nearly 6 months while I worked on starting the business properly and prototyping the JP series. Those were to be the first amps I poured my heart out into; they had a higher parts cost, they took a lot longer to build, and I considered the costs of doing business when I priced them. It cost $1200 for the JP-10 and $1400 for the JP-50. Both were single channel amps. (When the 3CP1 was discontinued at the end of 2002, the price for it was $800 USD; that's what the last few sold for, just before I released the JP series.)

 

I remember this very well and have been rooting for you since. I included the higher price number because I knew in the back of my mind that hte 600 dollar 3cp1 was not really comparable to what you're selling now or even the Budda feature wise, and more importantly, couldn't really be compared to your current price.

 

 

I also never priced a 50W single channel amp, or a dual channel amp, at $1000 USD. So I'm not sure where you got that figure. )

 

 

Sorry. I knew the JP-10 was priced nearer to 1000 than the 600 from the 3cp1, but I didn't realize it was 1200. I just knew it was close.

 

I wasn't implying in anyway that you're overpriced, btw. I just thought you were a great example of a real small company that has had to raise costs fo easily explained reasons over the year and it simply makes sense that sometimes these things costs more/money.

 

I just wish the dollar were better this way as I was able to afford more on gear your prices wouldn't go just above what I can pay at the same time.

 

Keep it up.

[thefyn]

Also, if these particular amps sold through dealers, it's reasonable to expect their prices to be 40%-50% higher than they currently are. That's the reason I haven't yet done that; I'd rather the prices remain where they are.

 

 

All you need is a few adverts with Jenna Jameson squatting over one of your amps and market that. Then you can go the dealers route and tag on.

 

Of course you will have to be at the shoot for artistic reasons.

 

Or maybe a Metalcocalypse with a few Peters Amps in the background?

[Dave L]

Well, I know why I don

[JamesPeters]

By the way, i love your amps and all the clips i have heard. I think i addressed the time consumed up above somewhere in the thread, so i think we agree 100%.

 

Thanks! I think we do agree...at least for what I paid attention to on this thread so far.

[JBecker]

It is what it is, I guess. Since prices have increased on so many other amps, at least I don't have to feel guilty about my price increases in USD; it's clear other companies (especially those outside the USA) have had to compensate for the changes in the dollar. It doesn't seem to be getting better either, at least for the USD increasing I mean.

 

 

The entire class of amps I was comparing to buy has changed in the last 4 or 5 years, and not because I've heard new stuff I'd prefer, but almost entirely because amp makers have been forced to up their prices.

 

Such is life. It'll be nice to have a real job some day post-college.

[tlbonehead]

Better tone for what? Maybe for high gain, but for mid gain stuff, I'll take the Budda any day of the week, even if they were both the same price. Tone is subjective, sir Fyn.

I can live with more limited features if the core tone is to my liking. I'd definitely rather be on stage with an SD18/30 than with any Diezel I've played through.

[Introspectre]

I've never been crazy about the Budda sound, and all their {censored} is horribly overpriced, IMO.

[drpicklo]

The SD 30 is an awesome amp, great tone even at low volumes. It has enough gain to take you about anywhere, maybe with the exception to cookie-monster metal, but you know what I mean. It still stays organic sounding, and transparent so that the tone and character of the guitar shines through even at high gain levels. Mine is a series I, which is all hand wired.

There is a small mod you can do to brighten up the tone a little bit if you wished to. It's one capacitor on V2. I swapped mine and it is perfect for what I do - a little more versatile in the presence, especially with upper mids.

You can also swap out the 5U4 rect tube for a 5y3 and take the two outside EL84's out to make it 1/2 power. I did this to crank it 1/2 way at smaller venues to get a great power tube saturation.

Price wise, used you can get a head in the $900 range, which kills anything for that. Or, IMHO, it is just a killer transparent amp, with enough versatility to go from old clapton to maiden.