anyone know what's up with 18 watt?

[Icetech]

Heeb.. i dont think it was the whoring so much.. as his whole attitude and the way that for awhile he was nailing every post with it...

Which is cool, hes just trying to make money. But he just seems one of those guys that rubs people the wrong way without trying:) I am the same.. plenty of people hate me too....

[HeeBGB]

Heeb.. i dont think it was the whoring so much.. as his whole attitude and the way that for awhile he was nailing every post with it...

Which is cool, hes just trying to make money. But he just seems one of those guys that rubs people the wrong way without trying:) I am the same.. plenty of people hate me too....

Gotcha! That I understand! Admittedly there were a lot of things he posted, even before he started selling anything, that left me scratching my head!

He's actually not a bad guy in person BTW. Not at all what I expected from his forum persona. Just a regular guy!

[Icetech]

Most of us are keyboard commandos:) and yeah.. i know he has given alot to the 18watt community in the way of mods and stuff.. but man im so pissed off bout this stuff...

There are pages like this one and the gear page.. but honestly none of them have the same feel as 18watt... gearpage has way way too many people and posts per day... but we shall see what happens:)

[HeeBGB]

I hear ya! 18 watt is my home too! It's where I started my amp building...way back when it was still at Yahoo! I also like the smaller forum better! 18 watt actually started to get too big for me. I still go there but don't feel as comfortable there anymore. I spend more time here and another forum I found that isn't an amp building forum but just a guitars in general forum. Although most of the stuff that goes on there has nothing to do with guitars...it's a fun place. Kinda rowdy with less moderation. Like a wild west type forum where almost anything goes....as long as nobody gets hurt! I still love 18 watt though and all the guys there...including Rustboy!

Hopefully 18watt will be back up soon!

[Icetech]

Hmm less moderated rowdy guitar forum... why does that bring a buncha pete townsend wannabes windmilling a SG to mind:)

[Jeph]

18watt.com is finally back online! Woo hoo!

[bnwitt]

I simply don't know why so many people take exception to Rustboy (JA)! If he wants to "whore" himself why does that bother you so much? I ask because it never bothered me and I truly want to understand why others feel like this.

Greg

Hey Greg,
how are things going with you? I hope you're doing well. I'd like to answer your question. The thing that drove me nuts about the constant commercial whoring by rustboy (and others), was that he/they obstructed what I felt was the main goal of joining and participating in such a forum at all. To me, the forum existed to help new tube amp enthusiasts find their way to the tone nirvana we all want.

You may remember some of my posts to newbies who would make their first post something like "What's the best 18 watt amp for me". I would ususally start with questions like "Who's your favorite band, what kind of music do you like, which is your favorite all time guitar riff?". I would sometimes learn from their answers that none of the 18 watts would do what they wanted to do with their musical art.

If you've ever sold an amp to someone via long distance without letting them play it first, you may have had the occasion to experience customer dissapointment. It's happened to me once. I sold a Marshall fan a 5E3 without knowing he was a marshall fan (or anything about him because it was a buy it now Ebay purchase) and when his email feedback was "I don't really like it, I guess I'm a Marshall guy." It really bummed me out. I offered him a refund, and even offered to build him the marshall clone of his choice, but he decided to keep the amp and knowing he wasn't really happy was a drag for me because my number one goal is satisfied customers. If you're still out there Mike and you haven't learned to love that Duke 55, my offer of a trade still stands.

You see, what really makes me smile is when I put the right tube amp in the hands of a player and he or she absolutely loves their new tone. That is why I spent time on the 18 watt forum once I got past the initial gleaning of the knowledge of things 18 watt.

What rustboy did in my mind was head off every possible newbie post seeking tonal knowledge and do his best to sell them a kit for his own financial gain. I wonder how many PCB rustsounds owners out there that were rushed into their easy assembly kit purchase based on his hype and quick talking now wish they had 36 watts of power to gig with, or more of an AC30 chimey sound, or maybe even a Fendery sound as opposed to the their final PCB 18 watt tone.

You see, that's what rust boy interfered with, the dialogue, the discovery, the discussion. It was all about him and his sales instead of the art of personal tone. I hope that gives you some insight into why some of us felt negatively zealous about his actions.

His going beyond a cheap plaid jacket salesman to attacking other peoples products recently was even worse in my opinion.
cheers,
Barry

[HeeBGB]

Hi Barry,

I am doing OK. How about you?

Thanks for the response! You make a valid point! I definately understand where you are coming from better.

We still miss you at 18 watt bro! Maybe you'll hang here a little more?

Greg