The Boutique Amp Gamble - Music Inc. Magazine

“It’s a pretty
narrow niche of
the customer base
that this appeals to:
experienced players
who are willing
to take a chance
and can spend the
$2,000-plus boutique
amplifiers cost.”
Dan Tracey,
World Music
“You have to get the
amps in the hands
of the sales force on
the floor. You need
them to explain to
the customer why
they should be
interested in a $2,000
amplifier.”
Brian Gerhard,
Top Hat Amplification
“[Carrying boutique
amps] sets us apart
from the big
retailers. On the
independent level,
we have more
latitude.”
Greg Bayles,
Make’n Music
56 | MUSIC INC. | JULY 2005
which started out in the boutique
electric guitar market and
branched out into amplifiers,
turning out nearly 50 per
month. He said the lessons
learned from his first go-round
are helping make this business
successful.
Most start-up amplifier
companies fail, and of those
that do persevere, the rewards
are often minimal. Boutique
amps are rarely sold on a consignment
basis; the sale of one
amp often directly funds the
manufacture of the next one.
“‘It’s a living’ is the best I
can say,” said Brian Gerhard,
who recently moved his Top
Hat Amplification company
from the high-overhead environs
of Anaheim to the more
cost-effective Raleigh, N.C.,
area. “Any significant money
came from the real estate I had
the business on.”
The exception many point
to is Mesa Boogie, whose
amplifiers became highly successful
in the 1980s when
many California rock artists
began using them. The company’s
dual-rectifier preamp
design was also cited as being
an element that helped the
company stand out and gain
acceptance among musicians
and retailers.
Boutique amps tend to be
aimed at older vintage-sound
aficionados rather than young
“shredders.” Still, amp makers
have developed a set of strategies
to break out of the pack.
“You have to get the amps in
the hands of the sales force on
the floor,” Gerhard said. “Often,
the experienced store owners
or managers will buy them to
play themselves in clubs and on
gigs. But the younger sales people
tend to stick to the name
brands. You need them to
explain to the customer why
they should be interested in a
$2,000 amplifier.”
Gerhard sends banners and
other promotional materials to
retailers to generate in-store
buzz, adding that he rarely uses
co-op advertising.
Naylor said that making
the rounds at trade and guitar
shows, such as NAMM and
the Dallas Guitar Show, is
important. “NAMM’s expensive,
but that’s where you get
everyone in one place,” he
said. “So it can be worth it.”
Guy Headrick, co-owner of
Guytron Amplifiers, has been
building between 15 and 25
units a month, costing $2,900
each, in his Troy, Mich., factory
since 1997. He’s found
some fairly reliable indicators
to determine if a retail dealer
is a good prospect. Those
boasting a significant level of
pro audio sales is one.
“I like to see a dealer whose
customers know the difference
between a Shure and Neumann
microphone,” he said. “Also, I
look at the guitar lines they
already carry. Is it Fender or is it
Squier? They’re good clues as to
whether the customer base is
open to our kinds of amplifiers.”
RETAILERS TORN
The start-up amplifier genius
remains a sort of artist in
solder-laden manufacturing,
though retail often takes a less
romantic view of them. Tracey,
who once assembled guitar amp
rigs for George Lynch and Ace
Frehley, said he looks forward
to trolling the shows for “cool
new tones.” Still, when it comes
to committing to a boutique
amp, he said, “I sit down with a
Peavey 30 and ask the guy,
‘Why is your boutique amp so
much better?’ It’s about being
able to move the product.”
The margins on boutique
amps can make it worth the
effort. Dean Moody, store manager
at Rudy’s Music Stop on
Manhattan’s famed MI retail
strip along West 48th Street,
pegs the profits on exotic handwired
amps at between 25 and
40 percent. Moody monitors the
grapevine for names of boutique
marquees, using buzz as the
barometer to determine if he’ll
commit to buying and setting it
up in the rear room, the store’s
exclusive space for guitar amps.
“If we love it, we’ll buy it,”
he said. “If we don’t love it,
but if we think some musicians
will like it, we’ll offer
the manufacturer some floor
space, which is a sort-of consignment,
I guess.”
Greg Bayles, founder of
Make’n Music, has made boutique
products a major part of
his inventory for nearly 30
years and considers their
inventors to be artists. He
mentored Rheinhold Bogner
when the Eastern European
immigrant was a newly arrived
teenager in Los Angeles, selling
the first Bogner amp to
Eddie Van Halen and buying
all of Bogner’s production for
more than a year, providing
the company with a foundation
that helped give it a strong
hold in the boutique market.
However, Bayles said, there
are parallels with the larger
music business. “I’ve had dealings
with boutique guys who
also sell direct to the customer
on the side, using your store as
a showroom,” he said. “Some
of them don’t realize that
that’s wrong—they’re not as
sophisticated about the business
of selling as they are of
electronics. But some of them
do know. Not everyone is
totally scrupulous.”
WEB & ENDORSEMENT DYNAMICS
The Internet has also become
a double-edged sword, with
positive “reviews” often posted
by the amp’s own manufacturers.
(A tactic much of American
business has been accused of in