Ceriatone Dumble

[daz]

I picked up one of Nik's prototype dumble aluminium chassis quite a few months back - black powdercoated on outside. great quality as always - but I built a d'lite inside it.

[Brad737]

Wow...

Very classy post.

Why don't you just get the kit from Funkalicous Groove? His "clone" most likely wipes the floor a thousand times over compared to Ceriatone. Has Nik even played a Dumble?

[Normster]

Old thread. Scott and Nik resolved their conflicts months ago.

[dogears]

Why?

I was right... I have already been contacted by a not very satisfied Ceriatone customer since his amp does not sound good. Maybe he'll chime in. I am helping him fix, pro bono. That is just the way we roll here. Free help, unselfish sharing. Unlike others. Brandon's work is top notch, and he has intimate knowledge of real Dumbles. Unlike Nik. For a similar price, you'd be foolish to purchase the Ceriatone. (We are talking kits)

Although, Nik has been very nice in our communications and his business practices towards the end user are not bad. Good workmanship on my friends amp btw. His was a prebuilt. Not kit.

Wow...

Very classy post.

Why don't you just get the kit from Funkalicous Groove? His "clone" most likely wipes the floor a thousand times over compared to Ceriatone. Has Nik even played a Dumble?

[makrisp]

Why?

I was right... I have already been contacted by a not very satisfied Ceriatone customer since his amp does not sound good. Maybe he'll chime in. I am helping him fix, pro bono. That is just the way we roll here. Free help, unselfish sharing. Unlike others. Brandon's work is top notch, and he has intimate knowledge of real Dumbles. Unlike Nik. For a similar price, you'd be foolish to purchase the Ceriatone. (We are talking kits)

Although, Nik has been very nice in our communications and his business practices towards the end user are not bad. Good workmanship on my friends amp btw. His was a prebuilt. Not kit.

Wow...

Very classy post.

Why don't you just get the kit from Funkalicous Groove? His "clone" most likely wipes the floor a thousand times over compared to Ceriatone. Has Nik even played a Dumble?

Scott,

Happy Holidays!

Nik makes a very good amp for the money. It may not be exact, but a guy like me who owns a real Dumble can make that amp sound killer. Sure it will need an Output Transformer change and a bit of tweaking but you just can't beat the price and workmanship.
Granted, Brandon makes a great amp, but $2700 at a discount is a bit steep! If Brandon's amps were half that price they would be a great deal.

[roknroll]

$2700.00 IMHO is not a real big amount of money for the complete researched, wired,functioning, guaranteed amp. It's reasonable.

[makrisp]

$2700.00 IMHO is not a real big amount of money for the complete researched, wired,functioning, guaranteed amp. It's reasonable.

I beg to differ, $2700 is a heck of allot of money, especially for a small shop with low overhead costs. This is not a Two Rock or Fuchs, w/ a well established reputation / products and shops. The folks at Two Rock and Fuchs have real operations in play w/ quality control ect....

Don't get me wrong, Brandon makes a good amp but the price is too high for this stage in the game. If he can get the money, that is good, but good healthy competition keeps everthing in check.

[dogears]

My post referred to getting Brandon's amp in kit form. I was not comparing the companies prebuilts.... Brandon offers the parts as a kit. Pretty close in price. that is why I so emphatically recommended Brandon.

Btw, I played one 2 nights ago. Great amp!! Very impressive.

Happy holidays guys!

[dave g]

If I'm not mistaken, both the Two-Rock and Fuchs ODS-style amps cost more than Funk's - and even if I were in the market for buying an amp and money was no object, I think I would still go with Funk...

[Tavda3172]

Makrisp,
Obviously you've never worked in wholesale. The first thing quickly realized is: the greater your buying power the less expensive the parts or products become. Did you take into account the discount that high volume builders get in parts, services, etc.? Someone buying chassis in large volumes rather than say in lots of 25 will have a lower cost per unit. Buying parts in LARGE quantities works the same way. Also, in the case of Fuchs, PCB's keep subsequent assembly and labor times down as well which = lower cost per unit. I'm pretty sure that if Andy Fuchs had to hand assemble his amps by himself (no PCB) and didn't get a price break for the quantities he ordered, he would not be able to sell his product for $3300. It makes sense that Brandon should charge MORE because he is not a high volume manufacturer and is assembling his products by hand. This ends up costing the small guy more money. To me $5000 to $10,000 is a lot of money in the case of the Two Rock!! For a product as good as Brandon's, at $2700 it is a very good deal especially considering that he will voice it how you want.
-Kevin

[dogears]

I hung at Alf Herrmida's Zen crib on Saturday evening. Aside from oogling the crates full of Zendrive pedals waiting to make their way into the real world, I got to spend a whole bunch of quality time putting Alf's new HRM Bludodrive through some serious paces.

Great F'in amp. Case closed. Definately worth the price. When factoring in the 6 or 7 years of hard R&D Brandon has put in, it is a fire sale bargain.

[makrisp]

Makrisp,
Obviously you've never worked in wholesale. The first thing quickly realized is: the greater your buying power the less expensive the parts or products become. Did you take into account the discount that high volume builders get in parts, services, etc.? Someone buying chassis in large volumes rather than say in lots of 25 will have a lower cost per unit. Buying parts in LARGE quantities works the same way. Also, in the case of Fuchs, PCB's keep subsequent assembly and labor times down as well which = lower cost per unit. I'm pretty sure that if Andy Fuchs had to hand assemble his amps by himself (no PCB) and didn't get a price break for the quantities he ordered, he would not be able to sell his product for $3300. It makes sense that Brandon should charge MORE because he is not a high volume manufacturer and is assembling his products by hand. This ends up costing the small guy more money. To me $5000 to $10,000 is a lot of money in the case of the Two Rock!! For a product as good as Brandon's, at $2700 it is a very good deal especially considering that he will voice it how you want.
-Kevin

Kevin,
I understand wholesale very well, what you may have missed is globalization, and that is what we live in today. Nik brings a heck of a product into the market place with a fair price which equals a heck of a value.
He works in an area w/ low production costs, high manufacturing skills, as you can see form the workmanship of his amps.

The amps need very little work to be a top notch contender. I do not doubt that Brandon's amp is good, but a bit high in price for a home built type of amp.
I am not here to rag on anybody, just trying to give Nik a chance as all should, as we have given Brandon and the rest of the folks who are making money on Mr. Dumbles designs.

[tubedogsmith]

$2700.00 IMHO is not a real big amount of money for the complete researched, wired,functioning, guaranteed amp. It's reasonable.

I beg to differ, $2700 is a heck of allot of money, especially for a small shop with low overhead costs. This is not a Two Rock or Fuchs, w/ a well established reputation / products and shops. The folks at Two Rock and Fuchs have real operations in play w/ quality control ect....

Don't get me wrong, Brandon makes a good amp but the price is too high for this stage in the game. If he can get the money, that is good, but good healthy competition keeps everthing in check.

Who the hell are you to say what anyone should charge for anything? I guess I must have missed your appointment as king of the world.

[glasman]

Price is set more to what the market will bear. Anyway Brandons amps (and mine) are 50% of what a new TR costs. I would say we are both very competitive in price and build quality.

[makrisp]

$2700.00 IMHO is not a real big amount of money for the complete researched, wired,functioning, guaranteed amp. It's reasonable.

I beg to differ, $2700 is a heck of allot of money, especially for a small shop with low overhead costs. This is not a Two Rock or Fuchs, w/ a well established reputation / products and shops. The folks at Two Rock and Fuchs have real operations in play w/ quality control ect....

Don't get me wrong, Brandon makes a good amp but the price is too high for this stage in the game. If he can get the money, that is good, but good healthy competition keeps everthing in check.

Who the hell are you to say what anyone should charge for anything? I guess I must have missed your appointment as king of the world.

I do not want to get into a pissing contest, If you read my earlier thread, I clearly stated that if he can get $2700 or more that is great! My point is that Nik's added competition is good for all of us, by keeping prices in check.