Final FORTIN MESHUGGAH Preorder

[scottosan]

I had a Fortin Cali mod here for a bit. It was built on a 100 watt JCM800 re-issue.
The amp sounded OK, nothing special, but it was a complete F'n hack job inside. Not what I was expecting at all, after all the Fortin forum hype.
I started having reliability issues with components literally coming loose and falling off from their solder locations, and I bailed.

Maybe the fact it's a METRO-SHUGGA ain't a bug, it's a feature.....

That Ceriatone 2204 Cali I had was Fn work of art. Surprises me yours wasn't. I should've taken a pic just for memories sake. My local tech was amazed and he has his own build he sells from time to time, for a pretty good price. More of a clean tone circuit. But after the PT went out, he had to call Mike to ask about replacing the pt, and how to navigate the mod.

Turret boards are easy to. To expect a modded Marshall PCB one should not expect artwork

 

[psychodave]

FWIW, I own #82 from the Meshuggah run and Mike assured me in writing that he personally spent a good amount of time with each on his QC bench prior to shipping.

Yikes. That means the build quality must have been really poor to need to spend a good amount of time with each amp.

I doubt it was his bench, probably a bench in MI, which means he would have to cross into the USA multiple times for all 100 amps. I take a good amount of time as 2-3 hours (maybe less/more). That’s 100-300 hours of benchtime....at someone else location. At 50 hours a week, that 2 weeks minimum... or a lot more.

 

[VC4EverAgain]

FWIW, I own #82 from the Meshuggah run and Mike assured me in writing that he personally spent a good amount of time with each on his QC bench prior to shipping.

Yikes. That means the build quality must have been really poor to need to spend a good amount of time with each amp.

I doubt it was his bench, probably a bench in MI, which means he would have to cross into the USA multiple times for all 100 amps. I take a good amount of time as 2-3 hours (maybe less/more). That’s 100-300 hours of benchtime....at someone else location. At 50 hours a week, that 2 weeks minimum... or a lot more.

Are you for real?

 

[Racerxrated]

I had a Fortin Cali mod here for a bit. It was built on a 100 watt JCM800 re-issue.
The amp sounded OK, nothing special, but it was a complete F'n hack job inside. Not what I was expecting at all, after all the Fortin forum hype.
I started having reliability issues with components literally coming loose and falling off from their solder locations, and I bailed.

Maybe the fact it's a METRO-SHUGGA ain't a bug, it's a feature.....

That Ceriatone 2204 Cali I had was Fn work of art. Surprises me yours wasn't. I should've taken a pic just for memories sake. My local tech was amazed and he has his own build he sells from time to time, for a pretty good price. More of a clean tone circuit. But after the PT went out, he had to call Mike to ask about replacing the pt, and how to navigate the mod.

Turret boards are easy to. To expect a modded Marshall PCB one should not expect artwork

Ahh, good point.

 

[midnightlaundry]

This argument would only happen on RT.. If you don't like the price or where it's built, don't buy it.

 

[napalmdeath]

This argument would only happen on RT.. If you don't like the price or where it's built, don't buy it.

Go visit TGP. You think we're bad?

 

[DeathbyButterslax]

I love mine, super brutal

 

[Philo Beddoe]

 

[Racerxrated]

This argument would only happen on RT.. If you don't like the price or where it's built, don't buy it.

The point isn't the price, it's the fact that WHERE and WHO built them was kept in the dark.

 

[vultures]

FWIW, I own #82 from the Meshuggah run and Mike assured me in writing that he personally spent a good amount of time with each on his QC bench prior to shipping.

Yikes. That means the build quality must have been really poor to need to spend a good amount of time with each amp.

I doubt it was his bench, probably a bench in MI, which means he would have to cross into the USA multiple times for all 100 amps. I take a good amount of time as 2-3 hours (maybe less/more). That’s 100-300 hours of benchtime....at someone else location. At 50 hours a week, that 2 weeks minimum... or a lot more.

Are you for real?

It's reasonable math, if he sat down with each amp for at least an hour checking wiring/QC'ing it, that's at least 100 hours. He could have done them in batches so travel time wouldn't be too bad. 100-200 hours in QC/Bench time is a reasonable estimation without travel time. That's if he actually did sit down with all of them.


I think the big questions in this thread are:

Would you pay $3,333.33 for an amp personally built by Mike Fortin?

Would you pay $3,333.33 for Mike Fortin's circuit built by someone else?


I'd pay $3,333.33 for an amp personally built/wired by Mike Fortin without a doubt. And don't get me wrong, Metro makes great amps, but they're not the Mike Fortin name people are paying for. If Fortin was up front about someone else building the amps, and folks still ordered then it's no big deal. However even on the product page, there's a quote from Fredrik Thordendal saying, "The best of the best! Mr. Mike Fortin! Thank you for building us these exquisite machines of torture!". It would make any reasonable person assume he's building them.

 

[Fitrocker33]

I believe I may have found who makes the fortin pedals in Kentucky. A company called AllPedal, that seemingly also makes pedals for Wampler and KHDK.

 

[maddnotez]

Holy hell.

I have not followed this at all but wow.

To the question on the first page. Do people really expect Mike Fortin to be making these?

Absolutely. 100%

 

[VC4EverAgain]

So people have no problem paying more for a Friedman Amp that isn’t actually made by him but Fortin does the same thing and charges less and he’s now the bad guy.

Friedman amps are great btw.

No wonder Fortin left this forum years ago. Too many haters here.

Even funnier are the guys who build amps as a “hobby” and stick their nose up as if their amps sound any good.

 

[Crunchtime]

I believe I may have found who makes the fortin pedals in Kentucky. A company called AllPedal, that seemingly also makes pedals for Wampler and KHDK.

Just looked them up. Seems they are owned by Warehouse Guitar Speakers. Interesting.

 

[napalmdeath]

So people have no problem paying more for a Friedman Amp that isn’t actually made by him but Fortin does the same thing and charges less and he’s now the bad guy.

Friedman amps are great btw.

No wonder Fortin left this forum years ago. Too many haters here.

Nobody's hating on Fortin. He builds great stuff. It's the fact that there's a certain expectation of transparency that didn't exist on the who, whats and wheres on who was actually doing the work. The price isn't unreasonable at all.

It's a known fact where the Bogners, Friedmans, and others are built, and never was a secret. This was blatantly kept under wraps, and some may even feel duped, to an extent. I think it's somewhat shady, personally. The hype, the blitzes, and marketing led many to believe that he was, in fact, building these in his own venue.

The same can be said for the Randall deal. We all knew they have an import line, but when first announced, we were all led to believe, (and this was highly touted as the gospel), that HIS designs, leading to the flagship Thrasher Series, was to be "built in North America", and handwired, only to see $1500 (now $1629 in some places for the 120), and $2500 for the 667, built in China. Now, that could solely be on Randall. I honestly don't see Randall in business much longer, and the long-anticipated Satan 50 watt (released only, what, a year ago?), is already discontinued, with ProAudioStar buying all they had and blowing them out for $799. I see Ola with a new Signature amp with Fortin on the front in the near future, and he's probably cut ties with Randall.

 

[VC4EverAgain]

Can someone please show me where it was stated that Mike Fortin would be building all these amps by hand himself?

Is Fortin building the new Maxxwatt?

 

[midnightlaundry]

This argument would only happen on RT.. If you don't like the price or where it's built, don't buy it.

The point isn't the price, it's the fact that WHERE and WHO built them was kept in the dark.

Pretty dumb.. You wanted a product and he delivered. Why does he owe you a play by play? All your other junk whether it be a stomp box or rack piece is most likely built by a dedicated manufacturing house but for some reason MF owes you a personal journal of where and why..

Hey I have to shit now.. Is it alright if I shit on someone else's toilet, or do I need to wait until I get home??

 

[VC4EverAgain]

I love mine, super brutal

How does it compare to the butterslax?

 

[Racerxrated]

This argument would only happen on RT.. If you don't like the price or where it's built, don't buy it.

The point isn't the price, it's the fact that WHERE and WHO built them was kept in the dark.

Pretty dumb.. You wanted a product and he delivered. Why does he owe you a play by play? All your other junk whether it be a stomp box or rack piece is most likely built by a dedicated manufacturing house but for some reason MF owes you a personal journal of where and why..

Hey I have to shit now.. Is it alright if I shit on someone else's toilet, or do I need to wait until I get home??

You seem to be taking this personally. I really don't care one way or the other, I was pointing out what the original issue is to the people that ARE upset. As I pointed out in another post, Friedman does the same thing and his amps are more expensive and extremely popular. Yet he doesn't get shit on like some here are shitting on Fortin. The Meshugga first run was what, 5K? Those were built by Mike. These are almost 2K less and are NOT built by Mike, seems logical..but some expected Mike to still be building them....

 

[scottosan]

I'm gonna be pissed if I find out my burger wasn't made by Ronald McDonald.

Seriously, you guys are more upset that he didn't build them than the fact that most of his stuff is copies of other people's stuff