HOVERCRAFT amps...real talk

[MaggotBrainNY]

I agree it's shitty about the gut shot secrecy. I emailed him once to ask if he'd mind me posting my Dwarvenaut guts and he asked me to refrain. Strange.

just post them. I don't understand why you need permission to take a picture of an amp you paid $600+ for. It's yours. What is he gonna do, steal it back?

Not being a dick, btw. This just rubs me the wrong way... him telling you not to do that. It's yours. I could see if you were an electrical engineer and posting schematics and telling everyone how to do his work on their own. Otherwise, fuck it.

[wildebelor]

I totally get why you would want to see a schematic or at least guts photos - It was kind of a big reason for me buying it though.
Basically - if it sounds good consistently in demos, it looks good AND it's well priced, it's kind of a no brainer.
I don't open up every amp but because this is what it is - I had to know!
I'm glad I bought it, plain and simple.

There is a lot of drama and lame ass opinions of people not getting behind Nial because he doesn't want to show people schematics or guts.
It's because (and I feel the same - being an amp and pedal builder) gut shots lead to people stealing ideas (if no one else is doing it - which with Hovercraft, seems to be the case).
Appeasing someone with the photos of your product and how it works may actually turn into a goldmine for someone else.

$650 for an amp that can definitely run with something twice or even three times it price?

[wildebelor]

You'd be surprised what a high-res photo and a bunch of DIY pedal / amp builders can come up with!

[Holy Schnikes]

Yeah, I didn't post guts cuz I asked the guy as a courtesy (like I would any builder) and he asked if I'd refrain. I respected his request for reasons mentioned above. If he loses sales over it oh well, his choice. Hovercrafts seem to be selling just fine though.

[goroth]

It's in the public domain. If he doesn't want people posting gut shots he shouldn't be selling amps. Once it's sold it's the buyer's to do whatever the hell he or she wants with it. As to the ethics of cloning - go for it. It's legal as long as people aren't selling it as a an actual hovercraft, and as long as the pcbs aren't cloned. Given he's not making his own pcbs that last point is moot. I don't get why it's ok to clone a tubescreamer, or a muff, but not boutique stuff. If someone's brand identity is so weak that it takes a No gut shots (or goop) policy to protect it then maybe it's time to look at another business.

[wildebelor]

[AxAxSxS]

there is plenty of info out there on all the classic circuits already. I've been able to get schematics for all my amps. The reason I don't build my own is I want it to be made 100% correctly and I'll pay for the builders expertise in construction. I don't pay for mystical voodoo. I think transparency is a better business policy.

[pelliott]

Look, I agree, you bought it, it's your right to do as you please. But damn, if the guy asks someone specifically not to post pictures of the interior and he or she respects the builder's request, don't get all huffy with them.

[AxAxSxS]

maybe I'm not reading it the same way you are, but I don't think anyone here is being disrespectful. Just commenting on the business strategy myself. I would probably respect the guy asking not to post pics also, especially if I planned on buying more stuff down the road. On the other hand, I might be a lot less inclined to buy it, not knowing whats going on with it ahead of time. that's all I'm saying.

A dunwich build is something I really want to pursue, mainly because I'm a fan of his build shots. the quality is obvious and the gas is strong as a result.

[Ancient Astronaught]

I totally get why you would want to see a schematic or at least guts photos - It was kind of a big reason for me buying it though.
Basically - if it sounds good consistently in demos, it looks good AND it's well priced, it's kind of a no brainer.
I don't open up every amp but because this is what it is - I had to know!
I'm glad I bought it, plain and simple.

There is a lot of drama and lame ass opinions of people not getting behind Nial because he doesn't want to show people schematics or guts.
It's because (and I feel the same - being an amp and pedal builder) gut shots lead to people stealing ideas (if no one else is doing it - which with Hovercraft, seems to be the case).
Appeasing someone with the photos of your product and how it works may actually turn into a goldmine for someone else.

$650 for an amp that can definitely run with something twice or even three times it price?

Good to know I have a lame ass opinion... There's two reasons not to post gut shots. The dumble reason: you have a completely unique and proprietary circuit and you want to protect your intellectual property, in this case he literally made you sign a non-disclosure agreement before selling you an amp. Then there's the Freekish Blues reason: your doing an extremely simple mod on an inexpensive product and rebranding it as your own with an updated visual aesthetic at three times the price. He did this though without disclosing the true nature of his product, which is truly the only difference between Freekish Blues and Hovercraft in my mind. I do have to give Nial credit though for his cabs, they are completely custom built and while they may be based on an Electric Amps design they are not direct clones, and he's offering them at less than half the price... Wait is he doing to another company exactly what he wouldn't want his competitors to do to him if he released gut shots?!? Never mind I take back any credit I gave him.

Oh and I'm fairly certain the REAL reason he won't post gut shots, or let his customers, is because he's taking some one else's product and rebranding it, if it says hovercraft on the outside but jet city or peavey on the inside and they see it. He's in for a cease and desist order, and one hell of a law suit. Without the gut shots they can't make that claim and he can say he's just reusing the headshells and chassis's which they won't sue over like they will the reuse of their pcb.

[D.o.S.]

I totally get why you would want to see a schematic or at least guts photos - It was kind of a big reason for me buying it though.
Basically - if it sounds good consistently in demos, it looks good AND it's well priced, it's kind of a no brainer.
I don't open up every amp but because this is what it is - I had to know!
I'm glad I bought it, plain and simple.

There is a lot of drama and lame ass opinions of people not getting behind Nial because he doesn't want to show people schematics or guts.
It's because (and I feel the same - being an amp and pedal builder) gut shots lead to people stealing ideas (if no one else is doing it - which with Hovercraft, seems to be the case).
Appeasing someone with the photos of your product and how it works may actually turn into a goldmine for someone else.

$650 for an amp that can definitely run with something twice or even three times it price?

Good to know I have a lame ass opinion... There's two reasons not to post gut shots. The dumble reason: you have a completely unique and proprietary circuit and you want to protect your intellectual property, in this case he literally made you sign a non-disclosure agreement before selling you an amp. Then there's the Freekish Blues reason: your doing an extremely simple mod on an inexpensive product and rebranding it as your own with an updated visual aesthetic at three times the price. He did this though without disclosing the true nature of his product, which is truly the only difference between Freekish Blues and Hovercraft in my mind. I do have to give Nial credit though for his cabs, they are completely custom built and while they may be based on an Electric Amps design they are not direct clones, and he's offering them at less than half the price... Wait is he doing to another company exactly what he wouldn't want his competitors to do to him if he released gut shots?!? Never mind I take back any credit I gave him.

Oh and I'm fairly certain the REAL reason he won't post gut shots, or let his customers, is because he's taking some one else's product and rebranding it, if it says hovercraft on the outside but jet city or peavey on the inside and they see it. He's in for a cease and desist order, and one hell of a law suit. Without the gut shots they can't make that claim and he can say he's just reusing the headshells and chassis's which they won't sue over like they will the reuse of their pcb.

Hovercraft has always, to my knowledge, promoted their business model as rebuilt amplifiers, which is a very different thing than the Freekish Blues bit you're suggesting. Everyone knows they're modded amps, right?

Now, if homefry doesn't want people to post gut shots because of how little modding is being done beyond the aesthetics that's kind of lame, but

A) people will always pay a premium for the aesthetics (which, I think we can all agree, are awesome -- I know you didn't trade for that Matamp because you were unhappy with your clone "inspired by" amp with an updated visual aesthetic for three times the price, right?)

and

B) that's far from the Freekish blues claim.

[wildebelor]

If Jet City were going to pursue a law suit, I don't think they would be promoting Hovercraft on their Facebook page.

[wildebelor]

And I totally agree, Dunwich builds are on a whole different level!
They are beautiful inside and out; built like a tank and will outlast probably all of us.
There is a lot of care, time and effort put into building an amp of that quality from scratch and it shows.

But as I said, I love the idea of refurbishing an amp with custom options etc.
All I know is: they sound awesome!

[goroth]

there is plenty of info out there on all the classic circuits already. I've been able to get schematics for all my amps. The reason I don't build my own is I want it to be made 100% correctly and I'll pay for the builders expertise in construction. I don't pay for mystical voodoo. I think transparency is a better business policy.

[Ancient Astronaught]

Then there's the Freekish Blues reason: your doing an extremely simple mod on an inexpensive product and rebranding it as your own with an updated visual aesthetic at three times the price. He did this though without disclosing the true nature of his product, which is truly the only difference between Freekish Blues and Hovercraft in my mind.

Hovercraft has always, to my knowledge, promoted their business model as rebuilt amplifiers, which is a very different thing than the Freekish Blues bit you're suggesting. Everyone knows they're modded amps, right?

Now, if homefry doesn't want people to post gut shots because of how little modding is being done beyond the aesthetics that's kind of lame, but

A) people will always pay a premium for the aesthetics (which, I think we can all agree, are awesome -- I know you didn't trade for that Matamp because you were unhappy with your clone "inspired by" amp with an updated visual aesthetic for three times the price, right?)

and

B) that's far from the Freekish blues claim.

Yes they have, that's what I mean by the section of my quote above I left in there, Freekish Blues hid it, Hovercraft does not. Never said they did.

Actually you are incorrect about the Matamp acquisition my friend. I needed a bass amp, the amp I traded for it was only 100w and when pushed to gigging levels was too dirty for my liking, when the opportunity came up to trade it to a good friend of mine for an amp with twice the power and an extremely similar preamp I jumped on the opportunity. It had absolutely nothing to do with brand recognition or visual aesthetic, because both of which I preferred on the amp I traded more so than the one I received.

As far as my "inspired by" amp, when it claimed it had the preamp of an Orange / Matamp and the power amp section of a Model T. It wasn't "voiced similar" they were literally exactly what they claimed to be. Bax stack / Depth pre and Ultralinear power amp and all....