From ynottnaro@yahoo.com Wed Jun 04 13:42:54 2003
Subject:Re: Getting the Barbetta "growl"

Frankly, I've only seen one Barbetta (a 10" horn
combo) and it was at a Guitar Center (Villa Park, IL),
and it did NOTHING for me. They had a Trinity and a
Yamaha SY99 plugged in, and neither of those keyboards
sounded too great through the combo. I would never
presume to suggest that THAT experience is indicative
of the Barbetta experience, but I thought it had all
the tone of a Roland KC300, with none of the "build."
(And as a former owner of a KC500, I am NOT that
enthralled with the tone of the Roland combos.)

Good to know though that he thinks that amp would be
better than the item you purchased (I suspect that
would have been the case regardless of WHAT you
purchased)...I'll call him when I'm looking for my
next amp. It should save me a LOT of time!

:)

T
--- Alan Lenhoff wrote:
> Life must be difficult being a boutique amp
> manufacturer…
>
> I recently wrote to Tony Barbetta, asking where I
> could audition one
> of his amps in the Detroit area. He told me that
> Guitar Center was
> the only dealer in town. I went there, and found
> that not only did
> they not have a single Barbetta amp in stock, the
> sales staff didn't
> seem to have ever heard of the brand. Being
> unwilling to buy an amp
> based solely on reputation, I bought a JBL Eon G2
> instead.
>
> So I wrote to Tony again, telling him what happened
> in a sympathetic
> way, suggesting that this might be information he
> could use to
> persuade Guitar Center to at least stock a few amps
> in one of the
> nation's largest metro areas.
>
> His response was basically that Guitar Center was
> not interested in
> him, adding:
>
> "I hope things work out for you with the Eon. The
> tweeters blow on
> them, they are boomy, and the cabinets crack, but it
> might be OK if
> you don't play too loud. The 41c would have been
> just the unit for
> you. Even if you bought it without being able to
> compare."
>
> Might he be a little bitter? And this coming from a
> guy whose
> reputation on this list is largely "great sound,"
> but with some
> significant history (hopefully behind him) of
> producing future
> warranty work for himself.
>
> I guess life would have been easier if his last name
> had
> been "Fender..."
>

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