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Re: Barber amps?

PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2012 2:59 am
by David Barber
rrwelden wrote:Get out of town! I have always wanted to try a Echelon, but a new sub 1K$ amp!!!! Wow, I'm very interested in this!! Can you leak some more details about what its gonna be?



Well, the detail leak is....We will most likely never make production amps again. Buyers are very ga ga over Chinese tube amps at the moment, and have been for a few years. It's really too hard to compete with the labor cost in China, my guys starve as it is, but I could never ask them to work at a competitive rate to the Chinese worker, it's actually not legal in the US...thankfully!

I love my amp prototypes I have at the shop, but that's as far as I think it can go unless an equal playing field emerges for world-wide workers.

Re: Barber amps?

PostPosted: Sat Mar 16, 2013 3:59 pm
by rrwelden
Hey Dave,

Would you ever build amps more as a custom order deal? Do you do that now, or just pedals? I was thinking about something along the lines of a Barber Echelon but at around 15-20 watts instead of 50W. I play mostly in church, and volume always has to be kept low. There is a Echelon for sale right now, but I think it might be a little much without a master volume for where I typically play. A little grab and go combo would also be a plus!!! Your line of dirt pedals are my absolute favorite, and I would love to hear your take on an amp! A guy can dream right!!!! Hahahaha!!!! If I ever get out to Pennsylvania I'm gonna come bother you guys!!!!

Re: Barber amps?

PostPosted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 3:17 pm
by David Barber
rrwelden wrote:Hey Dave,

Would you ever build amps more as a custom order deal? Do you do that now, or just pedals? I was thinking about something along the lines of a Barber Echelon but at around 15-20 watts instead of 50W. I play mostly in church, and volume always has to be kept low. There is a Echelon for sale right now, but I think it might be a little much without a master volume for where I typically play. A little grab and go combo would also be a plus!!! Your line of dirt pedals are my absolute favorite, and I would love to hear your take on an amp! A guy can dream right!!!! Hahahaha!!!! If I ever get out to Pennsylvania I'm gonna come bother you guys!!!!


Our shop amp is an 18 watt amp-head based on the Echelon. At the moment I am out of the amp biz . I repaired, modded and built amps for over 20 years, but at this point there is just no profit in it. Pedals have been much better to me, they are easy to ship, and I can compete with the ultra cheap Chinese factory labor. With amps I would need to have a $500 18 watt tube combo to truly be in the game on a daily basis. The fall of the US economy, and rise of copious Chinese tube amps, effectively killed the US amp market....in my opinion.

Re: Barber amps?

PostPosted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 11:44 pm
by ashleyco
that might buy the transformer.

:D