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I read about their closure on Gollihur Music’s website. They claim to have acquired all the remaining inventory and are selling it at slightly discounted pricing: Acoustic Image Clarus Amplifiers - Post-Closure Clearance
Originally Posted by medblues
There is also a discussion about it on TalkBass: Attention Required! | Cloudflare
Keith
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06-19-2023 07:43 AM
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They’re giving about 3 to 10% off list, depending on model. Their store warranty includes “limited remedies” and they won’t provide what they call “highly technical” support or repairs. If they determine that repair or replacement is not possible, you get a time-rated portion of the purchase price back. But it’s only 40% for the last 8 months of its one year term, and you pay all shipping on all warranty actions including refund (which requires return in all cases), repair or replacement.
This ain’t your father’s fire sale
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This is a touching subject. When individual luthiers stop producing, their reputation will carry forward, and their products probably need very little maintenance for a generation at least. Electronics is a different story. In virtually every country, there's a bunch of boutique tube amp makers exploiting established Fender etc. circuits. Their products are repairable as long as tubes and other components are available. Solid state products are less so. Whether disposable or repairable depends on design, components and company policy. A friend and customer of mine is unable to get his Gallien-Krueger MB200 head repaired because of policy complications.
I wasn't aware of a single boutique maker of solid-state amps until it turned out how pivotal Rick Jones was for Acoustic Image. Will there be Henriksen after Peter? Who knows. Raezer's Edge after Geoff Felsher? Even Quilter after Pat Q? Yet, all these are small potatoes compared to the burgeoning FX pedals market. Those cost the same as lowest-price Class D amps, and I'm sure most buyers realize that repairing costs more than replacing. Hence: disposable.
This touches me as well. Since 2017, I've built 642 Toob and Metro cabs to be exact. Constant growth, with USA as the main market but Asia catching up. With my 77th birthday on the horizon, I've signalled that the biz is up for grabs. No serious interest so far. Happy to remain a footnote, but I know there's potential for more.Last edited by Gitterbug; 06-19-2023 at 10:47 PM.
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Raezer's Edge survived the death of Rich Raezer, and may well survive after Jeff is gone. It's difficult to predict. The market is fickle, and it's a niche market to begin with. There just isn't that much demand for amps which won't distort when turned to 11, but of course there are dozens, if not hundreds, of pedals dedicated to signal distortion. I've found an amp that works for me for not a huge investment, and I'm happy about that.
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It seems to me that speaker cabinets, point to point tube amps and instruments are cost effective to repair. Most SS amps are not and will become either a parts collection or E-waste. Originally Posted by Gitterbug
But cats are still keeping old Polytones going and perhaps the Acoustic Image amps will stand the test of time (along with Henriksen and Quilter and AER).
Making a good living off of jazz guitarists is a longshot. Bob Benedetto did it. More power to you with the Toob line Marku! I hope someone keeps it going.
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Nah…more silliness. Most repairs to a solid state amp (after decades of use) will be cheap and ancillary. If you’re looking for immortal gear, you may as well stop. Time and technology catch up with everything….even point to point tube amps (that are too fragile for rigorous use). Originally Posted by Stringswinger
and fyi - I still own several 80’s Polytones that have required exactly zero service despite rigorous use.
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It's all a matter of probability. The first question is how likely a given item is to fail at a given time. Most industries use some variant of the "mean time to failure" measure (MTTF) as a guide to the usable lifespan of products and their components. Amplifier manufacturers can get the MTTF (which is generally considered the average time it takes for the item in question to suffer unrepairable failure) for every part in their products. Those who have the resources and make the effort can also tell you the MTTF for every failure mode suffered by their amps (e.g. power supply, filter caps, transformers, switches etc). Originally Posted by Chris236
The distribution of these measures tells you more about the risk of failure. If 95% of all amplifier Xs suffer catastrophic power supply failure between 20 and 23 years from manufacture and only 0.1% do so before 17 years, it's a pretty safe bet that you'll get a least 17 years out of yours and probably almost as safe that you'll get to 20. If 61% develop annoying hum within the first 5 years, yours probably will too. But getting this kind of data is not easy for us as consumers, so we rely on anecdotal reports posted on sites like JGO. What I'd really love to see is the creation of a national (or even international) database for entering the specifics of our instrument failures and ongoing monitoring of those that are still in service. We know that mot Subarus are still in regular use 10 yars after initial sale. Wouldn't it be great to know this about our amplifiers?
A long time friend, fellow musician, and instrument manufacturer bought a Walter Woods new in the '70s. It's been a paperweight for the last several year because no one can repair it. The circuit is apparently far from typical, many of the parts are pure unobtainium, and there's no tech support at all. He's a significant manufacturer with extensive industry contacts - he's been a well known member of the NAMM community for decades. Yet he can't get his WW fixed.
In about 2015, I sold the fan-cooled HunRee Boogie that I bought new in 1978. It was still good as new, as far as I could tell. I retubed it at about 20 years just because I was stupid enough at the time to think I should. I never had a single failure of any kind with it. They're easy to repair, and I suspect it'll still be groovin' high long after my fuse has blown. And from what I've heard over the years, this is typical of the early Boogies. So if I were buying a vintage amp right now and the choice was between a WW and a Boogie, there's no question which one I'd take - it'd be the one with the lower probability of failure and the higher likelihood of being repairable when it fails.
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Your assessment is missing a huge piece of data. And that is testing. With specialty manufacturers such as AI, the amount of testing - both in house and real world (i.e. in the hands of customers) - is extremely limited. When you use an off the shelf module-based amplifier like ICE Power, you are using modules that have tens of thousands of users, world wide. The amount of bugs are reduced because of the real world feedback and testing. With boutique amplifiers, particularly ones that use home-baked engineering solutions, that is not the case. I loved AI but *EVERY* AI amp I ever had ended up going back for factory repairs. Of course, my example is a limited and isolated use case. Their support was fabulous though but without their support, I couldn't justify buying one.
But when you buy a henriksen, he is using a fully debugged power amp module that is used in dozens of amplifiers and manufacturers.
To answer another question though, with the original ai design, the treble control was above the range of the instrument. So regardless of what sound you were going for, you had a partially unusable tone stack.
Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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This is very true. To my (limited) knowledge everything upstream of the power section though is unique to Henriksen. Possibly with the exception of the Reverb IC used? Originally Posted by jzucker
If there are any amp techs in this forum or recipients of amps-gone-south, it would be interesting to see a compilation of what bits are most common to fritz in a SS amp. I’m guessing it’s the parts running the hottest or most likely to see initial startup current surge. To my mind that is the power supply or preamp. Should a builder take an off shelf design that might reduce risk at the cost of being constrained by that modules capability and dimensions. If they design their own they optimise capability and dimensional fit/location at the expense of field service use data and design quality assurance.
One thing is for sure- making electronic devices targeted for a niche market of a niche market and against big firms (Ibanez,Korg,Boss,Fender), you need some serious kahunas to persevere and some pretty solid following to keep a limited capability business model afloat. I take my hat off to all of them and thank them. Selling to order a few dozen a year of a given model while Fender Boss or whoever churn several hundreds even thousands to the same competing crowd- I am amazed these smaller businesses can ever stay in the Black.
The best our community can do is support them before the supply of niche products to a niche market drys out and the only alternatives become generic compromised products.
Kindest wishes to them all!!!
EMike
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I had a 90's Polytone fail on me in the early 00's on a gig. The repair cost me $250. The amp was worth $300 used at that time. I sold that amp not long after the repair as i just did not trust it. I probably would have come out better money wise if i had sold it broken. The cabinet and speaker alone was worth more than the $50 I netted after repair. Originally Posted by Chris236
And my 1964 Fender Princeton is still going strong. It is only 7 years younger than I am and I presume it will still be making music for some lucky soul after I am gone.
I am pretty sure that I am not silly on this topic, I am prudent. And congrats to you on your trouble free Polytones. I loved Polytone amps and owned six of them over the years. Three of the six required repairs.
Polytone and Acoustic Image are in my rear view mirror. Henriksen and Quilter are my path forward.
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As the OP in this thread, I should mention that I have never had a problem with my Clarus 2R. It has worked perfectly from the day I bought it and it has never had to be serviced. I have also owned several Polytones that never failed on me. (other than one I bought online that arrived with a dead reverb tank). I still have two Polytones that are going strong without ever having been serviced, but I always take a backup with me when I use them on gigs. In all the years I have been playing gigs, the only amp repairs I needed were 1) a couple failed reverb tanks and 2) an old Gibson stereo amp that required replacement transformers when I bought it. I guess I have just been lucky, because I know lots of people who have had amps fail.
Keith
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Sounds like you’ve just had incredibly bad luck. The *only* time I’ve had an amp fail on a gig has been with a fender tube amp. Polytones have proved nearly indestructible with virtually zero spent on maintenance although I used a jc120 for years and a Peavy sc212 that did once need a transformer replaced although it had been discontinued for at least 10 years. It was about a $50 repair if memory serves. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
I’m afraid that considering anything other than new SS amps ‘paper weights’ is quite silly to put it gently.
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i too have had many polytones fail.
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I’ve dropped one down a flight of stairs to have it make a soft landing (disappearing) into a snow bank before a 4 hr gig. Shook the snow out of the grill and it worked fine that day and continues to work great today. As mentioned ,by and large, the ‘failures’ are ancillary and more than worth the price of repair. LOL Originally Posted by jzucker
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For the last twenty years I’ve relied on Acoustic Image for all my rehearsals and gigs, including the occasional rock/pop gigs I book. It’s always been highly reliable and always has gotten the job done for me. Over that time I’ve sent AI some things for repair. Several were very minor: one had a bit of hiss I could hear at home sitting close to the speaker, but totally inaudible in any venue; another had a bit more hum than my other copy of the same head; a sticking switch on another. All were fixed quickly at no charge to me, including the sticking switch which was on a previously owned Coda. The two others received prepaid shipping labels because they were brand new. Only one repair involved something serious, a dead DI on my Corus+ following a gig with a rather sketchy mixing desk. Still no charge for that, just one-way shipping fees.
I’ve corresponded and occasionally chatted with Rick over various concerns, ideas, questions and always found it a pleasure, and always received good advice.. When I worried that the original screw-in tilt leg could easily be lost he sent me a spare, when I was similarly worried about the exposed cable on the Corus+ he sent me a spare of that too. I was shocked and saddened to hear of his death, far beyond the thought that my amps are now orphans.
When I have loyalty to a brand it’s always because their products are the best fit for my needs. I’ve paid attention to competitive products over all these years and haven’t found anything so far that makes me want to switch, so I’ll be likely be using my amps until they no longer work and can’t be fixed. If that day comes to pass I’ll still have gotten my money’s worth many times over.
RIP Rick.
Danny W.
P.S.: There has been some discussion of whether AI’s power amps are proprietary or not. Here’s your answer:
https://www.bassgearmag.com/acoustic...-and-flex-cab/Last edited by Danny W.; 06-21-2023 at 09:08 AM.
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Danny, thanks for sharing the eye-opening article about AI. The amount of creativity involved is mind-boggling. Why should such a fine story end so abruptly and sadly?
Having some insight into product development and tooling costs, not to mention intellectual property protection, my guess is that AI's innovativeness and technological excellence simply hasn't translated into similar financial success. In other words, and this is pure guesswork, Rick Jones may have used a significant amount of personal wealth to keep the operation afloat. Facing a wobbly market outlook and component shortages, his heirs may have opted for a stop-loss approach. Not an easy decision, I'm sure. I sincerely hope to see AI resurrecting as a division of a larger music concern.
Focus on bass amplification painted AI into a small market corner. The big (yet more or less saturated) market is on the guitar side of things. What the jazz guitar community will be missing is Clarus SL - and even more an unborn sibling "XSL": simpler, still more compact. Just a good preamp, reverb and enough clean headroom. There's a hole in the market between Quilter SuperBlocks and the 200W +/- ICE-powered offering by many makers. Admittedly, a very small one.
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I have contacted AI asking about the schematics of the Clarus2R and ClarusTM for possible future need of repair services for my amps. From Rick's son Chris i received the following info:
We are currently working on releasing schematics to our website. Please be patient as there are lots of other things I have been attending to. Thank you for your understanding.
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I have a Clarus SL-R, it meets my jazz guitar and bass guitar needs much more than satisfactorily. I need a lightweight cab that can be very loud, any recommendations ? I had the AI Doubleshot but it wasn't loud enough so I sold it. I need something less than 30 lbs and more than 98 dB and 500 W capability at 4 ohms.
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Look at the RevSound line. David Luke has been building fabulous light, efficient, great sounding cabinets for 30 years up in New Hampshire. Start with the RS110, a single 10 bass cab rated for 200W AES / 400W “peak”. It weighs 21 pounds, costs $450, and is fantastic for both guitar and bass. The line goes up from there, and every one I’ve ever heard or heard about has punched well above its weight. Originally Posted by medblues
David will customize to your specs and use whatever driver meets your needs. He’s always happy to talk with customers and fellow musicians (he’s a gigging bass player) about music, instruments and the world at large. He’ll recommend what he thinks is best for you and build your order from scratch in 2 weeks or less (mine took one week) if you like what he can do.
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Medblues, I fear that your power handling requirement excludes truly lightweight options. Few Neo guitar speakers are rated above 150W, and even fewer meet your 99 dB sensitivity requirement. What I can offer is a Toob 12B cab loaded with a 300W Celestion BN12-300S speaker. It's a bass speaker but reaches 4 kHz and is used by e.g. Quilter for guitar. Toob 12B weighs 10.3 lbs and sounds good for jazz (an independent judgement, not mine.) If you don't need the deep bass end (50-70 Hz), I can make the cab shorter and thereby even lighter & compacter. It comes with extra legs for playing upright - favored by more and more users due to the resulting omnidirectionality.
Apologies to all who disapprove this openly commercial message. I make ultra-light cabs as a retirement hobby, not for a living. #645 today.Last edited by Gitterbug; 06-21-2023 at 02:38 PM.
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Evans 16” cab, lightweight and loud. Originally Posted by medblues
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Challenging constraints! A Eminence Legend EM12N 12 inch Eminence Lead / Rhythm Guitar Replacement Speaker Neodymium Originally Posted by medblues
– Eminence Speaker, LLC is:
200W RMS
8 Ohm
99.9dB sensitivity
3 kg (N=Neodymium)
A pair of those in parallel gets into your range. Now you just need a superlight cabinet
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To be honest, you put so much work and love into each one that no one will ever call you a businessman, Markku Originally Posted by Gitterbug
If you had to pay a staff to do what you do to make a Toob, you’d go broke in no time. There’s more fine handwork in the simple one piece wooden stand than there is is Julia Child’s coq au vin!
A big Toob is a great speaker. I use my 10” for keyboard & bass. In my recommendation to medblues, I was unaware that a Toob could meet his power handling and SPL requirements. My bad! But for use at levels a Toob can’t handle, I highly recommend RevSound. You and David Luke have so much in common that you could be brothers!
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15 inches ? It looks good 24 lbs 300 Watts Originally Posted by pcjazz
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As Mr.PC has pointed out, this should really do the job: Originally Posted by medblues
Evans SES300 1x15" guitar and/or pedal steel cab
The whole thing weighs only 24 pounds.
The box is small: 18.5" × 11.5" × 18.75"
Yes, 15" speaker.
My simple knowledge of such things suggests that 300 watts into 8 ohms means that it should be able to handle an amp that puts out 500 watts at 4 ohms.
I took this out on a rock gig just to check it out, and it's plenty loud - some simple physics (re: box size, speaker cone size) help with that in addition to technical speaker specs.
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