Heads-up: SpaceStation keyboard amp is apparently back

[Brettymike]

Man , I am sorry to read about this stint of bad luck Aspen , and that loss at the water front must have been Heart&Soul destroying - and I thought ^Bob^ was joking!!!.

I sincerely hope Lady Luck shines through for you in the end , I have really enjoyed reading/hearing this great adventure development with your wonderful product Aspen!.

 

Brett

[16251]

I was told I'm first on SW list to ship. I placed order 9/30. Maybe SW will sell me Anotherscott's SS as a B item. Not happy.

[B. J. Love]

Thanks Aspen, for addressing the latest delay. Hanging in...

[jimkost2002]

Thanks for your detailed explanation, Aspen!

It will all work out and I, for one am happy to patiently wait!

As was said earier, you are an innovator and all innovators are worth supporting as best as can be!

We are with you!

[AndyW]

Thanks for the info Aspen. I plan to order a second one when the production gets caught up!

 

I played using the SK2 and the SS last night in a loud room, 300 seater with a balcony. Ran the subout to the FOH and monitors and the stereo effect was still very strong. The keyboardist in the next band was blown away by the stereo and the Leslie!

[Raymb1]

Thanks Aspen. Stuff happens. In the meantime my QSC is doing a good job. Ray

[cphollis]

Still love my SSv3, Aspen. It's doing exactly what I want it to do. The rest of you need to hang on to your GAS dollars for just a bit

[DanL]

Thanks for the update Aspen. I'll try to be patient! My gig schedule is winding down for the year, only a couple more this month and I'm taking most of January off, so by the time it's delivered I'll be ready to roll!

[TimA]

Aspen....you are a great innovator and seasoned business man. Besides being a great fan of (and owner of) years and years of your products( I still even have my fatfinger guitar pick!), I have a newfound appreciation of your savvy and (com)passionate way of bringing your great new spacestation to market. I am so hopeful to see what you bring to the table once the dust settles early/mid next year.you certainly have my prayers for a resolution to these current snags and for your continued success! I can't think of anyone more deserving......

[16251]

I was told I'm first on SW list to ship. I placed order 9/30. Maybe SW will sell me Anotherscott's SS as a B item. Not happy.

So I just spoke with SW and found out firsthand that they're not shipping until end of Jan I asked about returned SS and they said it's damaged. Not sure if they were talking about Anotherscott's one.

 

I also asked about case and they quoted me $39+8=$47

[Daddyg3042]

I was told I'm first on SW list to ship. I placed order 9/30. Maybe SW will sell me Anotherscott's SS as a B item. Not happy.

So I just spoke with SW and found out firsthand that they're not shipping until end of Jan I asked about returned SS and they said it's damaged. Not sure if they were talking about Anotherscott's one.

 

I also asked about case and they quoted me $39+8=$47

 

FWIW, I also inquired to SW, and they stated in an email, "I just found out that the original ETA of the week of Christmas had been pushed back to the 3rd / 4th week of January. That date may be wrong as it's just an estimate given to us by creator of this product. " So...they're relying on Aspen for their schedule, and probably padding it somewhat, as I'm sure they have many of us chomping at the bit.

 

In sales, about the worse thing one can do is not deliver upon the expectations one sets, regardless of the circumstances why, even if extenuating. While I appreciate Aspen's explanation, I'm with you, 16251, not happy.

 

What can I do? Not much, except either chill, or cancel my order. Since I have no $$ out of pocket till it ships, I'll just wait & hope for the best, although it does give me some pause when I consider the servicing of this product. With limited quantities and a sole proprietor at the helm...it could be a recipe for ongoing frustration.

 

BTW...what case are they quoting at $47?

 

[16251]

^^^^^ It's made through Aspen and has SS logo on it. You can find a pic in this thread.

[B. J. Love]

See, that's one reason I'm maybe a little overly sensitive - I combined it with the Behringer sub and put in on the 3-year financing plan. 3 years, no interest, but you had to agree to equal payments starting now. Just made my first payment this week on a piece of gear that is not in my possession and with, frankly, no reliable information as to when it will be. (All good intentions accepted.) Granted the payments are very low, but still...

[HAMEGZ]

See, that's one reason I'm maybe a little overly sensitive - I combined it with the Behringer sub and put in on the 3-year financing plan. 3 years, no interest, but you had to agree to equal payments starting now. Just made my first payment this week on a piece of gear that is not in my possession and with, frankly, no reliable information as to when it will be. (All good intentions accepted.) Granted the payments are very low, but still...

 

you did the special 36 month financing from sweetwater?

 

They should not have charged you for the SS until it ships..

 

call your sales engineer

[B. J. Love]

Already had that conversation at the time I made the deal. The sub was out of stock too but the financing deal was scheduled to end Oct. 31st. That's why I made the order on 28th. I said at the time, "I won't be charged until it ships, right?" "No, sorry," sez SW rep, "with this special financing, you have to agree to equal payments starting with the first billing whether it's shipped or not." First bill came in November with a 12/5 due date. The sub became available in the meantime and I had it shipped. They broke the deal into two invoices, but the whole amount still sits on the Synchrony card they issued.

 

I'm sure in the worst case scenario, should the SS never arrive, they would credit the amount to the card. I made the deal eyes wide open. But I was given very different shipping date(s).

[garnermike]

Once again, as the originator of this thread (started on June 7th), it is very gratifying to read the positive reviews on the SSv.3, and to learn that so many will be buying/trying one of these amps.

 

I am sticking with my second-gen GrooveTubes SS MarkII for now, although I may invest in Aspen's factory upgrade kit. I've found an audio tech here who has agree to do that upgrade.

 

One last update. For 3 years, I've been using a Motion Sound KT-80 amp as the subwoofer linked out option for the Mark II (the KT-80 has 100 watts and a 12" woofer). But, on a lark, I decided to use a beefier bass amp (Promethian 3115 bass combo; 300w, 15" woofer) as the sub-woof support option for several gigs in a row. I should have taken that tack long ago, as the overall sound of the MarkII + 3115 combo package is clearly superior. If you opt to use the subwoof link off your v.3, I now think that any decently powered bass combo amp will serve you well, and that one having a 15" woofer may be even better.

[Daddyg3042]

See, that's one reason I'm maybe a little overly sensitive - I combined it with the Behringer sub and put in on the 3-year financing plan. 3 years, no interest, but you had to agree to equal payments starting now. Just made my first payment this week on a piece of gear that is not in my possession and with, frankly, no reliable information as to when it will be. (All good intentions accepted.) Granted the payments are very low, but still...

 

I think I'd definitely be overly sensitive (is that nice for pissed? ) if I was paying for something I hadn't received. I took the 24 mo terms and won't be charged till it ships.

[Josh Paxton]

This thread has given me a new appreciation for what an enormous nightmare it must be to be a one-person operation trying to bring a product to market. It's like all the hassles of being a bandleader, times 100. Any tiny bit of curiosity I ever had about pursuing that sort of endeavor has now been soundly throttled.

[J. Dan]

This thread has given me a new appreciation for what an enormous nightmare it must be to be a one-person operation trying to bring a product to market. It's like all the hassles of being a bandleader, times 100. Any tiny bit of curiosity I ever had about pursuing that sort of endeavor has now been soundly throttled.

 

I can only imagine. I'm in the middle of a new product release for a large corporation and having to balance priorities between sales, marketing, engineering, and production. I can only imagine being a guy wearing all those hats and not having the resources to delegate o lot of the busy work. We're....best as I can tell....about a week or two away from release. Initially release was scheduled for sept. It's been in development and talked about for 3 years. They announced it to the public in the first week of Oct. Customers are wanting quotes (which we can't do yet), and wanting to know when they can order (which we don't know yet), and production is telling us they want a "slow release" - meaning they don't want to get inundated with orders resulting in long lead times until they can properly ramp up production with no quality issues. You have multiple departments with almost competing goals. My job is to work with the factory on content for the field - training, marketing, tech support, manuals, etc, actually train the field sales force on it (PowerPoint AND hands on with demos). I'm personally taking the lead on developing the training modules....demos aren't even made yeti, and my first session is the first week of January. I have a very small piece of the pie and am swamped in an organization of 10's of thousands.....I can't imagine being a guy trying to do everything, he has my utmost respect.

[Brettymike]

...That's right. Seeing all that $stock$ tip off the wharf into the drink would have just about finished me off.

But nothing beats having a go at controlling your own destiny , and following your own dream (and being your own boss), calling the shots, rolling the dice , and giving it your best shot.....

 

Brett

[RandyFF]

Didn't Aspen say earlier in this thread he's had top drawer speaker designer support in actually engineering the product? And of course he has his dearly departed friend he collaborated with for years that was a major part of the tech talent?

 

After all these years of experience, I'm surprised he's going it alone in making the designed product a reality in the market place, esp. with his health problems. I can only imagine there's plenty of enthusiastic and talented folks that would want to be part of this very worthy and sound inspiring enterprise- just look at the enthusiasm on this thread.

[TomKittel]

Is it really necessary and worthwhile to ship all kinds of components back and force around the world before a Spacestation can finally be assembled in China and then again is shipped around the world from there? Considering the logistics cost and all the troubles Aspen described I am asking myself if it wouldn't make more sense to craft the whole Spacestation in the US? "Made in Detroit" so to say...

[Brettymike]

This is what it is often like for an Entrepreneur -, trying to sort all kinds of "bush fires" and crazy problems , often dealing with shiny bummed Bureaucrats and other shady dog Pricks holding their claws out trying to "clip the ticket"$ everywhere they can

 

Brett

[Joe Muscara]

Didn't Aspen say earlier in this thread he's had top drawer speaker designer support in actually engineering the product?

Is it really necessary and worthwhile to ship all kinds of components back and force around the world before a Spacestation can finally be assembled in China and then again is shipped around the world from there? Considering the logistics cost and all the troubles Aspen described I am asking myself if it wouldn't make more sense to craft the whole Spacestation in the US? "Made in Detroit" so to say...

 

I think both of these questions were addressed in Aspen's most recent post. Eminence is doing a large part of the work. They build the speakers in the U.S., and rest of their work is in China.

 

FYI, we contract our v.3 design with two vendors; one makes the amp chassis, and the other (Eminence speaker) makes the speakers, the cab, does final assembly, does 100% QC and does the pack out. Then these are put on a boat to me. This arrangement is slightly more complicated because not all the components are made in China, as was the case with the first 2 SS Versions. I felt the US Eminence CX2008 was so much better than anything I had before from China that I convinced them to restart that speaker for me here in the USA. So this custom made 8" coax speaker (and matching 1" compression driver) are produced in Eminence Kentucky then shipped to the Eminence factory in Don Guang (near to Hong Kong). IMHO, this very cool driver his is the heart of the improved sound of the v.3.

 

[Bif_]

Considering the logistics cost and all the troubles Aspen described I am asking myself if itwouldn't make more sense to craft the whole Spacestation in the US? "Made in Detroit" so to say...

 

Logistically yes. Financially no. I'm sure this would not be a $599 product solely made in the U.S.

 

Greg

[AndyW]

I doubt this speaker should be $599 as it is now. I hope Aspen has some wiggle room on profit so he will continue to produce these and develop more items.

 

Great inventors can be their own worst enemy when it comes to money.

 

 

[Brettymike]

One of the greatest ever - Nikola Tesla , wanted to give everyone free (or near free) energy , a brilliant person who was destroyed for dare trying, by you know who.

 

Brett

[Worth]

It's a good problem to have in that the demand has outstripped supply . Trust me it's worse the other way around !

[AndyW]

It's a good problem to have in that the demand has outstripped supply . Trust me it's worse the other way around !

 

No doubt!

 

I've been using the SS for mostly Hammond sounds--which is a great use of it. But yesterday I had a society gig with a sax, bass and drums and used the SS with the AP on the SK2. The 'bright stereo grand' was great. It's true that AP sounds are odd at first but I think if you stick with it you'll soon love it. Also it seems to sound better as you get some distance from the SS. Some musicians in the crowd were interested on how that stereo was so incredible and one said 'that Hammond has a wonderful piano sound.'

[DanL]

I just got a call from my Sweetwater rep about a returned unit that arrived today. (AnotherScott's, I'm guessing) They offered it to me and I jumped on it. It'll be here in 2 days. I got a nice discount on it as well... full warranty, etc. so no worries there.