Re: [Harp-L] prices / Meteor / Sonny Jr.

["10hole" <10hole@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I feel the need to reply to this post publicly. I've read past post's from
Gary which read very similar to this and put me
and my amplifiers into to the spotlight in a comparitive manner. I typically
read, delete, forget. This time I'm being directly
put on the spot and the way this reads (to me) is that Gary uses quality
parts and I use junk. If I'm reading this wrong, my
appologies but I'll get my point across anyway.

Charlie told me that the Meteor was the best amp he ever played. He then
proceded to buy his second Meteor, the Mini-Meat.
Charlie would ask me if there was anything he could do for me. I knew that
Brian Purdy from Harp Gear had a deal with Charlie
so I didn't want to rock that boat or exploit Charlie for my gain in that
manner. I simply told Charlie that the only thing I wanted
from him was his friendship. He's an incredible human being and I'm honored
to call him my friend. That's enough for me.

The building part. I do build the Meteor completely myself. There are
however outside costs. My cabinets are built by a master cabinet /
furniture builder. He builds the cabs to MY specs using all dovetail joints.
Why dovetails ?  Finger joints will fail in time and a dovetail by
design is a locking joint made to withstand abuse and use while maintaining
it's integrity. What was good enough for Fender in the 50's when
certain things didn't exist isn't good enough for me. My chassis and control
panels (2 seperate pieces)are custom made again to my design
specs by a machine shop that's VERY expensive. They're expensive because
they build all of my parts on a laser machine. My chassis is
made out of aluminum for it's superior conductivity properties and corrosion
resistance and the control panel is made from stainless steel
for it's toughness, shine and corrosion resistance. The parts then go to the
screen printer to be printed to my specs. Just what's above already
cost's a fortune. Tht trannies I use are also wound by Heyboer. In fact, I
turned Sonny on to them. My trannies arent built to the original
bassman spec or someone else's spec, they're wound to mine. The power
trannies are built to the voltages I provided to Heyboer. The output
trannies are built to the input and output resistances I specified and the
secondary leads are extended for my application. Again a very expensive
custom expense. The actual circuit is designed by me, a harp player for the
sound I wanted. It might not be for everyone but it's what I had in mind.
The sound is also extremely versitile with the controls and the parameters
in the design.
I cut the circuit boards one at a time from sheets of garolite, drill all of
the eyelets and mount holes one at a time, install all of
the eyelets and stake them one at a time and completely lace the entire
board one at a time myself using the best current production parts
available. I use sprague electrolytic caps, Mallory 150 series caps and
carbon comp resistors. I'm not big on the old parts mojo thing. I want
something currently made by a company with a reputation to protect and these
parts are the best available to my knowledge. Making
these boards takes a lot of time and if I broke it down to an hourly wage
I'd probably be better off at Mcdonalds.

As for extra tubes and such, I don't include them. Out of the box the amp
does what it should at high and low volumes alike. There's no need to swap
tubes, you can do it all with the controls on the amp. Tuki covers are
available directly from Tuki and they have a page exclusively for the covers
that
were designed to fit the Meteors. I have in the past and will continue to
either order a cover for a customer and have it shipped to me or have them
order
the cover and ship it here and ship the amp in the cover in the boxes that I
had built to spec for the Meteor amps. This is most helpful for
international customers
to save on additional international shipping costs.

I would also like to add that there's a lot of competition out there for
harp amps. A lot of good options for players who are tired of the same old
Bassman box
that we've been put into for so long. I've heard great things about Brian
Purdy and Harp Gear. I've spoken to him on various occasions and find him to
be a
GREAT guy who as I understand makes a great product. Gary has had a lot of
public praise as well and he and I go way back as friends which I hope
remains
the case. The Harp King get's it's share of praise as well. I don't know
John Kinder myself so I can't comment on him as a person. There's more
popping up
all the time.

In conclusion I do hope that this dosen't seem like an attack. I've just
included SOME of the particulars involved in my business. I think that I
should be flattered
to be the comparison but at the same time feel like this is a sideways
attack in public. I have always touted Gary's amps on this site AS WELL AS
ON THE PHONE
WITH POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS and will continue to do so. I used to build the
Sonny Junior chassies (which I never made public, Gary did) and feel like
he's
put together a good amp. I have had the opportunity to play through them but
feel that I've never had the chance to spend enough time to make a
comparison so my response
to people who ask will remain the same as it's always been. "When I made
them I thought they sounded good through my test speakers with my test
tubes. I don't have
the experience with the amp to make a comparison."

Sincerely,
Scott Berberian
Meteor Amplifiers





> Seeing that the Meteor's price is now $1950 and you still have to  order a
> cover from Tuki yourself, my prices for what I feel are equally good  amps
> will
> increase, the Cruncher and the 410, which Charlie Musselwhite is  quoted
> as
> saying the Cruncher is the Best amp he has EVER played. The  410 is played
> by
> many endorsers which can be seen on my site. While on the  Hummel blowoff
> tour,
> from all reports from Charlie and many in the  audience, the one Cruncher
> when miked properly held its own in tone and volume  with Hummel's Two big
> Meteors. I have always touted Scott's building on  this site, this is just
> a pricing
> issue.
>    What I do supply in my extra package which no other  builder supplies
> is
> $100 worth of a spare rectifier and fuse, so if your  rectifier did die on
> stage, you can be up and running in minutes. Two extra  preamps to dial in
> any
> room, small or big, a patch cable to bridge the  channels, and a 10 page
> color
> illustrated manual so you along with  my every present customer support,
> will
> understand tube gains, how to set  your amplifier up for any mic or room
> situation, everything I have discovered  over 6 years of manipulating tone
> with
> tubes.  My  exteriors are 4 coats of deep, rich tint with 4 coats of hard
> shell
> clear  that is as smooth as glass, this is not painted on minwax. So be
> prepared
> for my  prices to be where they Should be for the quality you receive. All
> my
> amps are  still functioning after 15 years in the field. We will see how
> the
> other  company's amps hold up, some running very high biases which can eat
> up
> tubes  quickly so you have to frequently change power tubes. My theory has
> always been  to bias cool for exact harmonic distortion without going
> overboard.
> So at this  point I will not feel guilty as my build costs are MUCH higher
> due
> to the  highest possible quality parts such as NOS paper oil capacitors
> for a
> warmer  tone and will never go bad, custom built Heyboer transformers rich
> in
> bottom end  due to oversized bottom end windings, finger jointed pine
> cabinets with sturdy  thick handle, padded tuki covers in stock for the
> extra price
> of what I actually  pay in quantity, and once again speaker blending which
> I
> started 6 years ago and  everyone has followed since. I have a great
> company
> building my chassis, no  issues whatsoever, I went to their facility and
> approved
> of what I saw. They  always have a working unit in front of them no matter
> how long they have built  for. I know many builders do all the work
> themselves,
> so are able to save build  cost money however still charge very high
> prices.
> Hey, if you can get it, more  power to you. You can contact me for current
> pricing.
> I must thank everyone who has donated to the medication cost, it is
> helping
> tremendously. One true diehard customer who has bought at least 10 amps
> over
> 11  years from me will soon be up on the webpage concerning this issue.
> Thank
> you
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