BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

Eskimo_Joe wrote:Thanks for the responses guys.

My opinion is that MP amps are a great product, but the business plan / approach to marketing is subpar.

If the goal is to make a handful of amps each year for some hobbyists with excessive cashflow, great - mission accomplished....but changes are needed if MP ever wants to be on par with successful boutique amp makers.

Correct and they do have new models - the CS40 is the handmade top of the line 'flagship' ....... they have the 101 and OS21 at those lower price points....

Donner wrote:

Eskimo_Joe wrote:Thanks for the responses guys.

My opinion is that MP amps are a great product, but the business plan / approach to marketing is subpar.

If the goal is to make a handful of amps each year for some hobbyists with excessive cashflow, great - mission accomplished....but changes are needed if MP ever wants to be on par with successful boutique amp makers.

Correct and they do have new models - the CS40 is the handmade top of the line 'flagship' ....... they have the 101 and OS21 at those lower price points....

That's product management, more than marketing. Helpful, but not sufficient to help them reach full potential.

Donner wrote:Correct and they do have new models - the CS40 is the handmade top of the line 'flagship' ....... they have the 101 and OS21 at those lower price points....

It's not a "flagship" if no one knows about it, can try one out, or sees anyone else playing one.

Eskimo_Joe wrote:

Donner wrote:Correct and they do have new models - the CS40 is the handmade top of the line 'flagship' ....... they have the 101 and OS21 at those lower price points....

It's not a "flagship" if no one knows about it, can try one out, or sees anyone else playing one.

Hey EJ, you missed a good trade op by about a year...I had a '56 Tweed Twin which sounded great that I would've easily done a trade for the CS40. I wish I had at least a semi-local place around here to try one out like SteveA up north.
Sorry, I know that doesn't help, but...

melodichaotic wrote:

Eskimo_Joe wrote:

Donner wrote:Correct and they do have new models - the CS40 is the handmade top of the line 'flagship' ....... they have the 101 and OS21 at those lower price points....

It's not a "flagship" if no one knows about it, can try one out, or sees anyone else playing one.

Hey EJ, you missed a good trade op by about a year...I had a '56 Tweed Twin which sounded great that I would've easily done a trade for the CS40. I wish I had at least a semi-local place around here to try one out like SteveA up north.
Sorry, I know that doesn't help, but...

Bummer! How did you like the 56?

i sure would love to try an CS-40 one day. i missed my chance at NAMM, as we were too busy focusing on the Old School 21...plus, the "noise police" at NAMM were already casting evil looks at me from demoing the OS 21, so i KNOW i would have gotten in trouble if i had fired up the Cs-40 or the MP-101

I can't resist commenting that I've played my favorite Strat thru at least three different TwoRock amps, including an obscenely overpriced Kimock signature model, and was relatively unimpressed. No offense intended to folks who like them. TwoRock has certainly done a great job marketing their product - something many boutique builders fail to achieve.

It's a shame that the MP amps aren't even a blip on guitarists' radar here in the US, but understandable given the circumstances. I would love an opportunity to play one. Alas, not in a position to buy one at this time.

Best of luck to Eskimo Joe in getting a decent price and sending his to a good new home.

Well all I can say is that my favorite amp is my /13 EDT. However, can't say that the TwoRocks isn't a sweet sounding amp, just prefers strats. That being said, I was probably into it because of the marketing and mayer tone. Was it my best purchase? Maybe not. If I was in it now i'd probably be over it and into the MP CS-40. Which is probably something i'll buy in the next few years.

Hey, I've seen your MP on TGP and toyed with buying it. I think the main thing that keeps me from it (other than the weight) is that it's not a channel switcher, right? Personally don't see the point of a "versatile" amp with a killer lead sound that doesn't have a clean channel. And yes, everything over 2K is tough to sell these days.

Hey EJ, you missed a good trade op by about a year...I had a '56 Tweed Twin which sounded great that I would've easily done a trade for the CS40. I wish I had at least a semi-local place around here to try one out like SteveA up north.
Sorry, I know that doesn't help, but...


Bummer! How did you like the 56?




The clean to semi-dirty tones are amazing on that amp. If anything should truly be called woody, it's the Twin's clean tone(large part to do with the pair of Alnico Jensen p12Rs), though it sounded great through other cabinets as well, but lost some of that woodiness. Coils and 'buckers sound equally nice(ask Keef and Clapton), though for me at the end of the day my Matchless SC-30 sounded better with way more tonal variety/options.

Eskimo_Joe wrote:Thanks for the responses guys.

My opinion is that MP amps are a great product, but the business plan / approach to marketing is subpar.

If the goal is to make a handful of amps each year for some hobbyists with excessive cashflow, great - mission accomplished....but changes are needed if MP ever wants to be on par with successful boutique amp makers.

Hi,

Well you know when Harri asked me if I'd design a 40W amp that'd take pedals well....I just figured I had one chance at building an amp that would do all those things and put the controls in the hands of the musician......... and later consquently I did a survey after 30 units and none of the owners played the same kind of music had the same setting nor the same settings nor the same kind of guitars nor the same kind of ideas and yet they all claimed they could dial in their sound........and none dialed in the sound that I built in for myself

Yes I have since designed different amps with different aims from what I learnt and backwards.

You know one funny thing there are no hobbyist with excessive cashflow that I know of that currently own CS-40's but while I do know several professional musicians that rely on easy set up both in studio and on arenas also with dual set ups running two nightrides but wether these wish to be influental gearwise is another story.

But yes today's economy is such that selling an amp is hard they tell me

Yes there are a couple of amp designs coming soon in a different range and Model CS-40 is the only one that all the time has been handbuilt in Finland.
Once I asked Jukka how many he could build.........if one on the other hand would consider how many would actually be built by Jukka the likely I'd give a rough guess at less than 200...... maybe 175?
There won't be an endless supply of CS-40's that is for sure but we are looking into endless supplies on other models

At one point one CS-40 almost ended up in a room next to a Dumble and japanse swords and other valuables that were just..........you know......I got a technician to go an pick it up and install fresh tubes and send it of on tour with an artist instead

Have fun
BJ