Fortin "Cali" PreSale is up... with my NAMM vid!

[psychodave]

Ok. I am not arguing with a fake profile that I have already wasted enough time on in Facebook and on his other profile here. No time for that.

Yes sir. To clarify, that was for the guy above. He's made a fake profile to keep talking garbage. I've addressed him on Facebook for about 200 comments, on his profile here, and now he has a fake. Very apparent who he is.

Sorry princess, tortilliggah isn’t me, but thanks for letting me know I’m living inside your head for free.

However this thread shows how much of an amateur you are...changing dates, server problems, prepayments, wiring funds etc, etc Fortin is a fool having you on his team.

 

[engage757]

Actually wasn't referring to you Dave. You sure do think about me a lot. I don't have much to do with any of the things you listed but feel free to keep trying. I don't truly have the time to argue with someone I don't care about on the internet. It is so easy to get fuckered into that nonsense and life drain.

We are going great. We appreciate all your constant support. Adding you to my ignore list now though, so I never see another post or comment of yours.

I am only here at this point to answer questions from interested forum guys that want to know about the products, not waste time arguing with you and 3 other haters. Have a nice day.

 

[DeathbyButterslax]

I’m confused, how does kill mode initiate a 4th gain stage when there are only 3 12ax7’s like the Meshuggah?

 

[LunatiBSW]

I’m confused, how does kill mode initiate a 4th gain stage when there are only 3 12ax7’s like the Meshuggah?

IIRC, you can get (2) gain stages out of a single 12ax7

 

[errrrrl]

I’m confused, how does kill mode initiate a 4th gain stage when there are only 3 12ax7’s like the Meshuggah?

I think you mean "VIOLENCE!" mode

 

[IntenseJim]

I’m ...

Nonsequitir: your avatar is fantastic!!!

 

[psychodave]

Actually wasn't referring to you Dave. You sure do think about me a lot. I don't have much to do with any of the things you listed but feel free to keep trying. I don't truly have the time to argue with someone I don't care about on the internet. It is so easy to get fuckered into that nonsense and life drain.

We are going great. We appreciate all your constant support. Adding you to my ignore list now though, so I never see another post or comment of yours.

I am only here at this point to answer questions from interested forum guys that want to know about the products, not waste time arguing with you and 3 other haters. Have a nice day.

Ok. Then please accept my apology.

 

[technomancer]

I’m confused, how does kill mode initiate a 4th gain stage when there are only 3 12ax7’s like the Meshuggah?

IIRC, you can get (2) gain stages out of a single 12ax7

You can but normally topology on Marshall-style amp is three gain stages and a cathode follower to drive the tone stack which takes up all four stages on the first two 12AX7s with the third tube being used for the phase inverter. It's possible it switches to a plate-fed tone stack for that mode...

 

[FourT6and2]

The Meshuggah has three gain stages, with a cathode follower for the tone stack like typical Marshalls. However the product description used to state it had 4 gain stages. It was later edited/removed. Now the description for this amp says the same thing—4 gain stages. I hope they are not counting diode clipping as a "gain stage." The description does say it's a "4th tube gain stage." Maybe there's something else going on, but I'm guessing that would mean it's got a plate-fed tone stack.

 

[LunatiBSW]

I’m ...

Nonsequitir: your avatar is fantastic!!!

Haha! Thanks dude

 

[DeathbyButterslax]

The Meshuggah has three gain stages, with a cathode follower for the tone stack like typical Marshalls. However the product description used to state it had 4 gain stages. It was later edited/removed. Now the description for this amp says the same thing—4 gain stages. I hope they are not counting diode clipping as a "gain stage." The description does say it's a "4th tube gain stage." Maybe there's something else going on, but I'm guessing that would mean it's got a plate-fed tone stack.

So if in theory it has a plate-fed tone stack, is it going to be more similar to the aldrich now than the jose? I wonder if the violence, mode changes the feel or sound at all..

 

[FourT6and2]

The Meshuggah has three gain stages, with a cathode follower for the tone stack like typical Marshalls. However the product description used to state it had 4 gain stages. It was later edited/removed. Now the description for this amp says the same thing—4 gain stages. I hope they are not counting diode clipping as a "gain stage." The description does say it's a "4th tube gain stage." Maybe there's something else going on, but I'm guessing that would mean it's got a plate-fed tone stack.

So if in theory it has a plate-fed tone stack, is it going to be more similar to the aldrich now than the jose? I wonder if the violence, mode changes the feel or sound at all..

No idea. A switchable/assignable gain stage with a plate-fed tone stack sounds interesting. The Hiwatt Super-Hi has a switchable 4th gain stage. But it has a cathode follower and uses 4 tubes, not 3.

 

[Deleted member 13074]

We take payments upfront and do runs because that is a very common way to do things these days in this industry. We have actually only had a couple complaints about it. If people want the amps they know they will get them and it makes more sense to build to order than to build 30 very expensive handbuilt tube amps and then go about trying to sell them. This works much better for a smaller company.

Thanks for all the interest guys! This run sold out really fast too and we appreciate the support!

How to you equate the couple of complaints you’ve had to the number of potential buyers who just walked away?
I have many reservations about how Fortin have presented this amp.
I was interested enough to seek you out first at NAMM (my list of stands to visit was small in number).
When there, you had no real plan of how to allow customers to approach and hear the amp. The demos were all heavily detuned which made them very hard to hear in the noisy room. Your reps didn’t approach or allow themselves to be approached, and the orange amp of the 3 was not an amp that will be available and was a customer loaner. I got nothing out of the visit except to take a few pics.

As far as the marketing goes, there is no official demo, so we really haven’t heard the amp properly.
In order to ask for an up-front payment and then a balance transfer payment that will be unprotected for any redress, you need a business model that engenders faith. I see none of that here. Even the builder has been absent in all presentation. We don’t know where it will be made and what the inside will be made of. That’s a lot to ask for a $3k+ amp.

Had you got your ducks in a row, you could easily have added numbers to the production run. Why limit it anyway? I would have very likely been a customer if there was a 'face' to the company and evidence that good work was being done in the presentation.
Why would I buy from a company that won’t let me hear or see the amp properly and then ask for a money order to pay for it? I’ve seen that 'model' of working go wrong too many times to be getting involved.

 

[psychodave]

We take payments upfront and do runs because that is a very common way to do things these days in this industry. We have actually only had a couple complaints about it. If people want the amps they know they will get them and it makes more sense to build to order than to build 30 very expensive handbuilt tube amps and then go about trying to sell them. This works much better for a smaller company.

Thanks for all the interest guys! This run sold out really fast too and we appreciate the support!

How to you equate the couple of complaints you’ve had to the number of potential buyers who just walked away?
I have many reservations about how Fortin have presented this amp.
I was interested enough to seek you out first at NAMM (my list of stands to visit was small in number).
When there, you had no real plan of how to allow customers to approach and hear the amp. The demos were all heavily detuned which made them very hard to hear in the noisy room. Your reps didn’t approach or allow themselves to be approached, and the orange amp of the 3 was not an amp that will be available and was a customer loaner. I got nothing out of the visit except to take a few pics.

As far as the marketing goes, there is no official demo, so we really haven’t heard the amp properly.
In order to ask for an up-front payment and then a balance transfer payment that will be unprotected for any redress, you need a business model that engenders faith. I see none of that here. Even the builder has been absent in all presentation. We don’t know where it will be made and what the inside will be made of. That’s a lot to ask for a $3k+ amp.

Had you got your ducks in a row, you could easily have added numbers to the production run. Why limit it anyway? I would have very likely been a customer if there was a 'face' to the company and evidence that good work was being done in the presentation.
Why would I buy from a company that won’t let me hear or see the amp properly and then ask for a money order to pay for it? I’ve seen that 'model' of working go wrong too many times to be getting involved.

This is what happens when an amp builder hires amateur internet marketers.

 

[IntenseJim]

[This is what happens when an amp builder hires amateur internet marketers.

You shouldn't post such an opinion sans the appropriate Walter Sobchak meme.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Had you got your ducks in a row, you could easily have added numbers to the production run. Why limit it anyway? I would have very likely been a customer if there was a 'face' to the company and evidence that good work was being done in the presentation.
Why would I buy from a company that won’t let me hear or see the amp properly and then ask for a money order to pay for it? I’ve seen that 'model' of working go wrong too many times to be getting involved.

see 2:34

 

[engage757]

Edit: nevermind.

 

[JerEvil]

I’d say my vid is about as close to a “full demo” that’ll be available for a minute. Arguably the best vid of the amp out currently. Understanding NAMM vid always suck I tried to capture as best I could what was coming out of the cab.

I am fairly certain the guitar was Eb or D so not Uber low tuned. I have certainly offered my services to get time with one of these guys for a full playthrough. I think at NAMM I’d youre not in a room like Hiwatt or Boutique Amps, Audio is always gonna be dicey.

Not sure what “past history” would dictate but if this is how the amp sales have gone previously it doesn’t seem to have been a detractor in the sense that they sell out ridiculously fast.

I live in Vegas and when I first moved here, someone once told me to never gamble on scared money. I replied that my money was terrified. I did however try to offload as much as I could to get on the pre-sale even with the wire transfer. I buy a fair amount of gear and don’t “promote” anything I would spend my own cash on. There are folks here that reached out to me privately before committing to buy one and if the amp didn’t kick ass, I’d never have in good conscience recommended their purchase. Same way I don’t recommend friends for jobs. If it goes bad, I look like a douche.

I certainly get people’s reservations about the transfer though. I guess I look at it like there’s at least no excuse to not get the amp due to being underfunded. IF this is the Fortin model for sales in the foreseeable future, then it is what it is.

 

[IntenseJim]

If the amp is delayed by months or worse, it appears the buyer has no recourse if the money is wired instead of PP'd. I offered to cover the PayPal fees but that was not acceptable . Should severe delays or worse happen, what would you or Fortin suggest to the buyers?

 

[JerEvil]

If the amp is delayed by months or worse, it appears the buyer has no recourse if the money is wired instead of PP'd. I offered to cover the PayPal fees but that was not acceptable . Should severe delays or worse happen, what would you or Fortin suggest to the buyers?

Hey man I get what you’re saying. I have no vested interest in this or stake in it. Merely saying, when I weighed out the risk, had my gear sold I’d have taken it. Like I said, from my understanding of past history, amps have been delivered and there’s never been an incident of Cameron’ism.

$3300 is not peanuts. It comes to the individual to decide if the risk is worth it. I only speak for myself in this scenario. I just dropped almost $5k on a new video rig the day before the pre-sale and I almost cancelled it for the Cali. My wife would have killed me! Lol! I still considered it.

It’s also doubling as a mobile rig that will kick ass and I expect my vids from 2020 Winter NAMM to be some of the best out there from an audio perspective.

Anyway, back to the Cali...