Sozo Amplification Part II

[dai h.]

I bought a guitar once from the States from a place(music store) that must be bigger than Sozo and I had to wait much longer than that (and I paid up front).

My point is though to think about the idea that some amp's sound will be utterly compromised just because you can't get one specific brand film cap(and ignore reality that the maker probably just used what they could get, preferrably cheap). If the answer is 'yes' than you just have to accept the ups and downs the exclusive source has, sort of like Dumbles or Trainwrecks.

[Amp Kat]

I bought a guitar once from the States from a place(music store) that must be bigger than Sozo and I had to wait much longer than that (and I paid up front).

My point is though to think about the idea that some amp's sound will be utterly compromised just because you can't get one specific brand film cap(and ignore reality that the maker probably just used what they could get, preferrably cheap). If the answer is 'yes' than you just have to accept the ups and downs the exclusive source has, sort of like Dumbles or Trainwrecks.

In all reality yes I can tell a subtle difference of the Sozo's tone wise and like them but it doesn't mean I would have used them in my personal amps. My customer wanted Sozo's so I was just giving them what they wanted. I have lots of 150,orange drops,Polys and others ect..... but I have to give the customer what they want and that's what I was doing. I'm not going to fund another order and then be stuck with the sozo's that I may not use again for two years. I'm trying to make a profit and that would have cut into it not like it's a measurable amount but it is what it is. Had I known up front everyone in the US was on back order I could have told the customer instead of finding out a month later when they didn't show up.

[Diablo]

Weber stocks Sozo caps too, and they list what's in stock and out of stock.

[tedmich]

(ascends soapbox)
modern businesses all try to keep NO STOCK and thus minimize capital doing nothing but waiting for someone to buy it. Its an extension of the just in time supply chain (JIT) and it lets you keep money fluid so you can move it around fast.

Of course when the shit hits the fan (like the Japanese tsunami) you are screwed and everything grinds to a halt, but only for old fashioned businesses which deal with physical commodities. The innovative businesses (like Twitter/ LinkedIn/Facebook/Goldman Sacks) can instantly reconstitute their server farms wherever...and those physical businesses (and their associated jobs) have much less capital available to rebuild with...

[vavlehead]

(ascends soapbox)
modern businesses all try to keep NO STOCK and thus minimize capital doing nothing but waiting for someone to buy it. Its an extension of the just in time supply chain (JIT) and it lets you keep money fluid so you can move it around fast.

Of course when the shit hits the fan (like the Japanese tsunami) you are screwed and everything grinds to a halt, but only for old fashioned businesses which deal with physical commodities. The innovative businesses (like Twitter/ LinkedIn/Facebook/Goldman Sacks) can instantly reconstitute their server farms wherever...and those physical businesses (and their associated jobs) have much less capital available to rebuild with...

Where I come from... Laptops dont clean out clogged toilets. And actual real tube amps are required to create guitar gods!! just saying..

[jrfrond]

Again, there ARE other excellent products that are nearly identical. CE Distribution carries Jupiter Caps, which I have tried and work very well. Then there are the tried-and-true 150M tubulars, Solen, Allesandro, et al.

If a client is going to be a cork-sniffer with certain parts which are in low-supply/high-demand, then they will just have to wait, but you must also be prepared with backup alternatives if the shit really hits the fan. I know most of this stuff in my head, but I also have secondary and tertiary alternative part numbers and vendors in our parts database for when the going gets tough.

Good news travels fast. Bad news, even faster.

[jpfamps]

(ascends soapbox)
modern businesses all try to keep NO STOCK and thus minimize capital doing nothing but waiting for someone to buy it. Its an extension of the just in time supply chain (JIT) and it lets you keep money fluid so you can move it around fast.

Of course when the shit hits the fan (like the Japanese tsunami) you are screwed and everything grinds to a halt, but only for old fashioned businesses which deal with physical commodities. The innovative businesses (like Twitter/ LinkedIn/Facebook/Goldman Sacks) can instantly reconstitute their server farms wherever...and those physical businesses (and their associated jobs) have much less capital available to rebuild with...

As you say the just-in-time ordering system works very well (for the manufacturer that is) until something bad happens.

The Japanese tsunami has made several businesses rethink their supply strategies, not just in terms of inventory ordering but also inventory security.

For example, a friend of mine's company manufacturers machines that make fibre optic. The glass billets used for this were all manufactured in Japan, near Fukushima, in factories reliant on power generated at Fukushima. This has made many fibre optic manufacturers consider whether it is a good idea to have all their raw materials supplied from one source worldwide.

[Prairie Dawg]

People seem to think that JIT is some sort of new arrangement that was invented in Japan or something. In reality it is merely a new spin on an old idea and that is "doing business from an empty wagon" or selling what you don't own. In Alan Douglas' excellent study "Radio Manufacturers of the 1920s" there is the story of the Grigsby-Grunow company, which by 1929 was the largest set builder in the country-by 1931 they were bankrupt but nevermind-so were a lot of other folks. G-G had figured out how to use railcars as free warehouse space. The vendors were required to deliver parts daily, and
when the railcars were filled up out they went to distributors who were obligated to take what arrived.

Between the rapid turn time, the captive market, the free warehousing, and the rate at which bills came due, they had figured out how to produce and sell radio sets with virtually no financial exposure on their part past the payroll.

[tedmich]

good point, and every modern bussiness works this way FINANCIALLY too with bills only getting paid with short term (in some cases ON or shorter) commercial paper, which dried up a few years back with some bad effects..

[J M Fahey]

Not taking sides here, but I see a Catch 22 situation: Mouser *can* tell you "we are out of Mallory 150" and nothing bad happens; besides they have zillions of parts by thousands of manufacturers so their business goes on unaffected, I also bet Mallory *does* fulfill promises made to Mouser; but Solen can *not* tell you "Red Dragon Capicator Factory #4 (Shenzen) promises every week "next week we'll ship your order" .... and has been doing so for the last 2 months to no avail".
Just a *very* small manufacturer's point of view.

[Enzo]

That is true, but Mouser DOES inform you of out of stock conditions. SO regardless of whether Sozo can povide a ship date, they COULD provide an out of stock message.