Tech 21 XB Driver

[Al Krow]

2 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

 

Well...

 

if we could order directly from a USA shop then the usual approach is applying 25% to the item cost and shipping to be safe to cover the VAT and import.

 

Let's say £50 shipping.

 

$395 is currently £312 at today's exchange rate.

 

£312 + £50 shipping = £362 

 

£362 + 25% = £452 delivered to a UK address.

 

As they are listed in the UK at £599 that basically means if it went via the distributor and a UK shop they are getting £147 between them. I suspect it's probably £100 to the distributor and £47 to the retailer.

 

This is of course ignoring the bulk savings available to businesses etc. They certainly won't be paying £50 per item for shipping by air. It will be something like half a ship container every year full of T21 products. Probably work out to a couple of quid per item. It's probably closer to £200 split between retailer and distributor, massively in favour of the distributor.

 

UK distributors really are taking the piss on so many products.

 

Except I think someone said they are $499 in the US?

£50 probs ok if we include the £12 customs handling fee. In which case working through your numbers gets us:

 

$499 is currently £395 at today's exchange rate (which was Andy's calc)

£395 + £50 shipping = £445 

£445 + 25% (VAT and import duties)= £556 delivered to a UK address.

=> £43 for UK distributor and retailer

 

But is the $499 figure wrong because that's the US retail price, rather than US export price for Tech 21?

[fretmeister]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

 

Except I think someone said they are $499 in the US?

£50 probs ok if we include the £12 customs handling fee. In which case working through your numbers gets us:

 

$499 is currently £395 at today's exchange rate (which was Andy's calc)

£395 + £50 shipping = £445 

£445 + 25% (VAT and import duties)= £556 delivered to a UK address.

=> £43 for UK distributor and retailer

 

But is the $499 figure wrong because that's the US retail price, rather than US export price for Tech 21?

 

 

Ah - I had seen somewhere that it was cheaper in the US than $499.

 

 

 

[Wolverinebass]

I don't care how it's worked out 600 quid for a pedal is robbery.

 

Now, bear in mind, the Darkglass ADAM, Photon and X versions are midi compatible so you can store presets. Most of the functions of the XB can't be accessed even with a pedal push as they're buttons. No presets. No ability to flip from dual rig to crossover on the fly. No dual outputs or inputs. See where I'm going with this?

 

Also, just for comparison, an HX Stomp is what, 500 quid? No, I'm not digging on this at all.

[NancyJohnson]

When I was in New Yawk a few years ago (2015), I saw Corey Glover and dUg Pinnick at The Cutting Room.  Odd one, we bought VIP seating online from here and only had email confirmations of the booking.  Late afternoon, we were making our way back to the hotel and called at the venue to get our tickets, spoke to the guy who owned the place, had a beer with him; he was knocked out that we had come from the UK. 

 

Anyhow, cutting to the chase, we were there for the load-in and we got invited into the venue itself (lovely).  Saw dUg's rig (the head, cabinets), there was a guy from Tech21 there and we had a chat.  It was surprising that at the time they had no real distribution here; he was saying they generally supplied the heavy stuff (read that as the DP head, Landmark gear etc.) on an ad-hoc basis and they usually tried to combine shipping to Europe within pallets of bicycles and spare parts thereof , in an effort to keep costs down. 

[Al Krow]

3 hours ago, Wolverinebass said:

I don't care how it's worked out 600 quid for a pedal is robbery.

 

Now, bear in mind, the Darkglass ADAM, Photon and X versions are midi compatible so you can store presets. Most of the functions of the XB can't be accessed even with a pedal push as they're buttons. No presets. No ability to flip from dual rig to crossover on the fly. No dual outputs or inputs. See where I'm going with this?

 

Also, just for comparison, an HX Stomp is what, 500 quid? No, I'm not digging on this at all.

 

100% understand where you're coming from. I just totalled up what my gigging pedal board comes to (5 pedals, board and PSU) including a multifx and it comes in just under £600.

 

I'm not going to 'fess up to how much the cost of my remaining pedal related kit (some of which are going to end up on a larger PB build) comes to though, haha!

[fretmeister]

16 hours ago, Wolverinebass said:

I don't care how it's worked out 600 quid for a pedal is robbery.

 

Now, bear in mind, the Darkglass ADAM, Photon and X versions are midi compatible so you can store presets. Most of the functions of the XB can't be accessed even with a pedal push as they're buttons. No presets. No ability to flip from dual rig to crossover on the fly. No dual outputs or inputs. See where I'm going with this?

 

Also, just for comparison, an HX Stomp is what, 500 quid? No, I'm not digging on this at all.

 

 

It's strange how format affects peoples' views.

 

If it was a rack unit then I suspect more people would find the price easier to accept even if it actually had fewer components like it wouldn't have footswitches etc. It would actually need more outboard kit to fully control it in a live environment.

 

I'm not convinced the DG ADAM / Infinity / Photon etc are valid comparators as they really are 1 single unit with different software and paint. I'm far more upset with that - for the same money those units could have the sounds from all 3 units. I'd probably buy one if they did that. Source Audio are completely open that their Aftershock / Kingmaker / LA Drive are identical inside and that each of them can load algorithms from the others. That's how to do it!

 

Tech21 refuse to make their stuff anywhere but the USA even though that makes zero difference to product quality anymore. They really are all about USA sales and as we know a lot of Americans would rather buy a "Made in USA" item (even though that really only means assembled in the USA) that is of lower quality than something foreign.

 

With low sales numbers for bass kit compared to guitar stuff it's entirely possible that the price is genuinely only at a profit reasonable level. I don't have those figures to look at though, but generally manufacturing industry profits are lower than we expect across the world.

 

That wouldn't be robbery - that's just me not being able to afford it.

 

[Wolverinebass]

4 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

 

 

It's strange how format affects peoples' views.

 

If it was a rack unit then I suspect more people would find the price easier to accept even if it actually had fewer components like it wouldn't have footswitches etc. It would actually need more outboard kit to fully control it in a live environment.

 

I'm not convinced the DG ADAM / Infinity / Photon etc are valid comparators as they really are 1 single unit with different software and paint. I'm far more upset with that - for the same money those units could have the sounds from all 3 units. I'd probably buy one if they did that. Source Audio are completely open that their Aftershock / Kingmaker / LA Drive are identical inside and that each of them can load algorithms from the others. That's how to do it!

 

The rack thing is perfectly true. However, if it were a rack unit it would have outputs for both channels, possibly loops for both sides, maybe even a dual input if you want to run say a Rick 4003 or Alembic in stereo. 

 

The comparison point to the ADAM/Photon/X series and whatnot is that the functions are accessible through presets and the XB has none. Say you have the Darkglass X version and want to go from something with quite a high crossover and medium gain (maybe a Geddy type sound) to say a low crossover point with loads of gain (a Muse type sound), you can do it in one pedal press. You can't do it with the XB as all the functions such as bite and crossover are small buttons you have to push with your fingers. Looking at pricing, the X version is still a good £50 cheaper than the Sansamp and it has multiple accessible settings due to having midi capability.

 

I honestly will say, if this was £450, I'd entertain the idea of getting one. £600 for the functionality it's got (or not got) is "jog on" territory.

[fretmeister]

Digital stuff is always cheaper now.

Nothing can be done about that. It's just easier and cheaper to do.

 

Doesn't even need physical test units anymore - can do it all in the software that is going to be loaded into the pedal.

[ern500evo]

I’ll be quite interested to see an in depth demo/review of the XB, preferably not done by Tim. Would like to see Amos Heller demo it 

[NancyJohnson]

1 hour ago, ern500evo said:

I’ll be quite interested to see an in depth demo/review of the XB, preferably not done by Tim. Would like to see Amos Heller demo it 

 

I'd concur about Tim Starace, at least.  I'm sure he's a nice enough chap, but his whole 'career' seems to be pretty much off standing on the shoulders of a giant.  I find his gurning while playing somewhat off-putting as well.

 

'Yeah mate, we know you can play those lines, but you didn't actually write those lines, now did ya now, eh?'

[ern500evo]

20 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

I'd concur about Tim Starace, at least.  I'm sure he's a nice enough chap, but his whole 'career' seems to be pretty much off standing on the shoulders of a giant.  I find his gurning while playing somewhat off-putting as well.

 

'Yeah mate, we know you can play those lines, but you didn't actually write those lines, now did ya now, eh?'

Once you notice the gurning and mouth noises, you can’t watch his videos without focusing on it 😂 As you say, im sure he’s a very nice guy, I’d just prefer to see someone else demo it, he works for Tech21 so he’s not exactly unbiased 

[NancyJohnson]

6 minutes ago, ern500evo said:

Once you notice the gurning and mouth noises, you can’t watch his videos without focusing on it 😂 As you say, im sure he’s a very nice guy, I’d just prefer to see someone else demo it, he works for Tech21 so he’s not exactly unbiased 

 

I honestly don't get the posting to You Tube thing.  Obviously it's worked for TS, but what do people expect from this?  Recognition?  Praise/approval?  A roasting?  There's thousands of them up there, noodling.  There's probably a few guys who aren't with us any more as well, whose family can take cold comfort in them being forever immortalised on You Tube playing along with YYZ.

 

Perhaps there's also a small minority that are actually thinking, 'Oh, maybe one day the phone will ring and it'll be Alex.  He'll sound desperate and go, 'Hey, this is Alex from Rush.  Ged has hurt his hand, we saw your cover of Red Barchetta and we so blown away that we wanted to see if you're free Thursday for the show in Nashville.  Have you got a kimono?''

 

Dunno.

[Lozz196]

I quite like his demos, some of the driven sounds are a bit much for me but I like to see the bass lines played, nice to see complicated lines played both so effortlessly and with such enthusiasm. Annoyingly after reading this thread I’m sure all I’ll notice forever onwards will be the gurning….

[ern500evo]

22 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I quite like his demos, some of the driven sounds are a bit much for me but I like to see the bass lines played, nice to see complicated lines played both so effortlessly and with such enthusiasm. Annoyingly after reading this thread I’m sure all I’ll notice forever onwards will be the gurning….

Apologies for that Lozz 😄

[Wolverinebass]

I don't mind Tim at all actually. However, there is a point that he's hardly unbiased as he works for Tech 21. Fair enough.

 

We're quite a way away from Scott Devine levels of irritating where the universe implodes on itself due to all matter being sucked into a clickbait YouTube wormhole full of cheery, plastic optimism.

 

Were it me doing the reviewing, there would probably be too much John Entwistle type playing with chords, typewriter tapping and people would probably be just as infuriated by my style as much as anyone else's as it's not their own. On the other hand, I would just make stuff up on the spot to play rather than something from Moving Pictures every time.

[ern500evo]

I guess when you post videos to YouTube, it’s such a vast audience that you’re bound to get someone who doesn’t like your content. I don’t mind Tims reviews and videos, he’s enthusiastic and he can play. In my case, it’s definitely true that now I’ve noticed the gurning I can’t not see it, but at least he’s having fun! Amos Heller is one of my favourite YouTubers, I like his demos and reviews