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Pedals is a bit different, but I've come to the view that almost all boutique pedals offer nothing worth paying over the odds for. A few companies making genuinely interesting stuff, that offers something new (eg Chase Bliss' digital control) etc, but in the main that market is over rated.
Personally I don't think there's that many unrealistic asking prices for boutique amps at the moment. If anything I'd say it was the other way round - there are some serious bargains to be had.
Of course there are still the odd chancers - there always will be. If you're selling a highly prized amp in good nick (mentioning no names vintage Fender Princeton silverface) and it's been listed for a good while with no buyers, there's probably a reason for that and it's not a 'depressed market'.
But to you Kemper owners/users, how much do you play with the settings? Is there something that obliges you to constantly experiment with a Kemper? Do you stop fiddling once you've found 'that' sound? What proportion of time do you spend adjusting settings to playing?
Maybe there is a lack of sophisticated and specialized clientele at the moment.....
Who determines the latest craze, the magazines? or TGP or TFB or JB... whatever happens there will always be GAS and some guy on a stage coaxing great tones from valves amps or valve amp simulators, if the market is too flooded the weak ones will die off thining out the heard. (see what I did there)
A lot of brands get huge hype on line, with 'perceived wisdom' being that these new products are the answer to every prayer/problem. There are carefully crafted videos demoing the equipment, usually in isolation with very clever post production EQ/Compression etc added to make everything sound epic. So GAS is created, the need is established and so folks go out and order these "must have" pieces of equipment.
A little time goes by and the realisation starts to dawn that whilst there is little denying that the new piece of equipment is good, it isn't *quite* perfect. A few negative niggles are reported online and the feeling of "yeah, its OK but..." starts.
Then the next piece of "must have" equipment comes along, with another carefully crafted campaign to create need/want. So the older item is then jettisoned to pay for the next "must have" item.
And the cycle repeats.
Getting back to the OP, I think the latest gen. modellers/ profilers like AxeFX, Helix and Kemper have had an impact on traditional amps - the sound quality and convenience are seriously good now and give you access to "amps" that many would never get to experience in the real world, especially in the "boutique " sector. My 2 valve amps get very little use now as the AX8 works just as well at bedroom levels as it does at gigs/ rehearsals.
I would still like to have a valve amp around but I'm being picky and have yet to find "the one"
Given it's likely limited use, I'd find it hard to justify spending more than £1300, given that's the rough market value of my two existing amp heads and cab.
I'd ideally like a handwired combo as I'd want it to be a long term ownership prospect and therefore easily serviceable and repairable down the line. This requirement is likely to lead me down the "boutique" route and certainly the used market.
I agree that there are a number of quality amps for sale here but some have been for sale for the best part of a year. Prices on the whole seem reasonable from a buyer's perspective but they are still too high for a "punt" unless they are EXACTLY what you think you are looking for.
If the price is right and there is the right buyer looking for it, they'll sell. If not, you keep waiting for "the" buyer or tempt others with a price that means they'll take a chance.
The magazine reviews and the hype started a year or two later.
That was 10 years or so ago, and there weren't the Youtube videos around back then. I'm still using it now - although the Kemper gets an awful lot of use as well.
Maybe I'm old school but I still like to try stuff for myself and not just go on internet hype. I saw all the (deserved) hype on here for the Thorpy drive pedals, and watched several Youtube videos of them but it was trying out a Fallout Cloud at the Guitar Show that convinced me that I wanted one. Lots of hints to my wife and I duly got one for my birthday. Even with the Kemper I borrowed one for a weekend before buying.
Plus with regards to VHT, @Dodge is spot-on. They sound very good for the price point but the QC was spotty- my first one was faulty, sent it back to be repaired, it wasn't, and eventually got a replacement- not sure if it was VHT or Thomann who attempted that repair, though... but I was pretty miffed, IIRC they basically swapped a preamp tube, which I'd already tried and which hadn't worked... and trying the thing for 5 seconds would have told them it hadn't worked.
Anyway, I've seen a lot of QC complaints on TGP and similar places, too.
http://c8.alamy.com/comp/DR2N7A/a-cola-bubble-background-pattern-with-a-rock-guitar-superimposed-DR2N7A.jpg
They are late to the game with the cloners and may pay for it if the market has changed since they first put together a business plan for that project. Or maybe they figure that the market is different for them as they can rely on a large amount of buyers who 'just want a fender'.
Which reminds me to ask - when people are talking about 'boutique' here or elsewhere, do they mean genuinely small companies like RiftAmps, MJW etc who are true one-man builders and still assemble more or less everything by hand, or do they mean the mass-produced amps and pedals which despite having dozens of different names on them, all come out of the same giant factory in (I think) California? Because those are not actually 'boutique' other than in marketing terms - they're at least as mass-produced as a Fender.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I personally don't like the word Boutique to describe what I do, but I guess by one definition my business is exactly that.
EDIT: Not that it ultimately matters of course, the only thing that does is good tone.
Rift Amplification
Brackley, Northamptonshire
www.riftamps.co.uk
Ok I may have missed the mark somewhat in that definition of boutique. Fender is surely trying to compete with some of the boutique market though that makes a (small to medium sized) business out of cloning Fender's old amps. Might not be the same size company but is a similar product and similar price point to the boutique guys. So I understood the OP to be about whether the boutique market was flagging, I thought it was interesting that the biggest of music company had entered that market (in my opinion) at this time.
Can't answer your question though!
It's tough pricing used items. What is the general consensus for the price of a used amp in good condition? Not only boutique but even for something you can buy new tomorrow.