Howdy Folks

[dartanion]

Some of you may know me from 18watt.com, been hangin' there for a while.

Anyway, is it appropriate to talk about possibly offering some kits?

The Moderators on the 18 asked me to move my first offering over here as I am putting together a Liverpool kit. This kit would be a complete chassis, boards, transformers, choke, everything. I have also been talking to Reason Amplification about some custom cabs to offer as an option.

Just let me know what is appropriate here as I don't know the ropes.

[hairyandy]

Well, I don't know what everyone else would consider "appropriate" but I think I'd be interested myself. How far have you gotten with this? Do you have a price in mind yet? Which transformers are you using? Let us know a little more when you know.

Andy

[UR12]

Hey Dartanion

Welcome aboard! Another Kit source might be nice. Nik at Cerriatone has been doing some for the Express and Liverpool.

[dartanion]

Hey Guys,

I am pretty far along and will have a pricing structure put together for the kits in the very near future. I am actually working with Nik to source some of the parts, but will be offering additional options such as custom hardwood cabs or custom tolexed cabs from Reason Amplification. I am also looking to add in tweakers parts kits to allow the builder to fine tune the tone.

As well, it looks like there are a number of other interesting Wrecks that I could put do kits for. I would just need to get a good gauge of the demand/interest in these types of kits.

What I am looking to do initially is to do a run of kits at a discounted price to get some feedback, so if I can round up at least 10 folks willing to go down this road, it's a done deal. I am estimating a price for the first run of kits to be about $475 + shipping. This would be chassis, transformers, choke, and all other parts sans tubes and cab.

[Rob Livesey]

I would be interested in a hardwood cab, I still haven't managed to find one / build one in the UK.

Rob.

[Omar]

dartanion,
First off welcome to the board. When we originally started the board, someone personally contacted Ken Fischer and he gave us his blessing with the understanding that the board was personal use not commercial use. Although I tried to remind people of this it's obviously impossible to enforce. Now that there are a couple of people who are offering different products, the "cat is out of bag" so to speak.

My .02 cents - I can see this from two perspectives. I want to respect the original wishes of Ken's. But I can also see now that the board has grown to include not only experienced builders, but newbies who could really benefit from a good kit that would get them interested in building amps.

But that's just my opinion and I could be completely wrong,
Omar

[hairyandy]

Hey Dartanion,

Have you decided which transformers you are going to use? I'm sure Nik's would be fine but maybe shipping would be less with ones sourced stateside like Moose's? Regardless, count me in!

I see what you're saying Omar, although I personally don't think a "group buy" kit necessarily goes against what Ken's wishes were. It's not really a commercial venture and, being a complete noob myself, I'm really attracted to the idea of an all-in-one kit as well. My $.02...

And I can't believe we can still say "Go Bucks!"



Andy

[joe6v6]

I myself dont use kits, I have always built my own chassis, cabinets, boards & all, but I have benifited greatly from the guys who do and from the guys who put the kits together for sale especialy the good ones & being a regular on the 18 watt site I know darnation is one of the good stand up guys that respects all opinions pro & con. . Nics name is tossed around here on a regular basis & I have never heard anyone say its inaproperate. I say welcome & good luck !

JOE

[dartanion]

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the kind words.

I did an 18watt lite kit with Sweetwood a while back, and we did this as there was no Lite kit available at the time. It is a great little amp to learn about building on, and we certainly didn't become wealthy in the process. I am not in this to make huge bucks, just to try to facilitate getting more kit options available to the budding builder and maybe get a little beer money out of it. I already do custom work and charge appropriately for that, but there is still a lot of room for kits in the market.

With the Liverpool kit that I am planning on doing, it will be using parts from Nik primarily, but with some options available, detailed build guide, cabinet options, etc. I can probably offer other transformer options in the future, but I have to start somewhere.

I am also looking to do this on a group buy basis unless demand is steady. Right now I am shooting for a 10 kit / Cab group type buy. So if 10 folks emailed me and said "I want one", then it's a done deal. You'd only need to pay shipping from my place to your place and select tolex color options as Anthony is down for doing each one to the customer's choice.

If this turns into a fulltime kit business, then great. If not, I'll facilitate group buys whenever I can.

I am also willing to help the Wreck group in putting together kits for other circuits. Maybe a Rocket as this seems to be a hot topic recently.

Again, I learned a lot from reading Ken's stuff and anything that would help keep his legend alive is a good thing.

[Bickster]

Hi Dart,
I was one of the folks over at 18Watt.com that was interested (melodymaker). I am still interested and would like any details that you would be willing to share.
I too usually scratch build but lately I tire of the metal work. If Dartanion can put the whole thing together I'm in. I have looked at Nik's stuff for a while but the shipping keeps me away.
I really don't know if Ken would approve or not. His family should profit from his work. Unfortunately, this isn't going to happen. Ken would want us to build amps. This helps us do that. If Dart becomes the next Randall Smith through this we can publically stone him! I don't see that happening.


Bob

[Omar]

And I can't believe we can still say "Go Bucks!"

I'm just happy were in the Final Four. Hopefully, we have one more game to play after tonight.

Go Bucks!
Omar

[Bickster]

Oh sure, kick the guy from Pittsburgh! All that I have to say is

GO PENS!!!!

[dartanion]

Well, if it matters at all. I would be willing to donate some of the proceeds to a charity that Ken supported or something to that effect. I am not doing this to become the next Randall Smith, only to keep people interested in building and keep adding options for kits. Believe me when I say there is not much of a margin on these at the price I stated earlier. I am now just waiting on a quote from Reason Amplification on the cabs and how to work that to avoid double shipping.

I will post the final details when I get it all put together.

[dartanion]

GO WILD!!!