Hi Justin, I'm pretty much in the same position you are. I kept reading rave reviews about the B1-Korg, so ordered that as a place to start. As you might know, you can adjust the amount of second harmonic it produces, so you can tweak it for the different amps you end up running it with.
Cheers,
Scott
Cheers,
Scott
Many thanks for the feedback Scott. Much appreciated. I was not aware that you could dial in the H2 to taste. Makes a lot of sense. What had me concerned about the B1-Korg was the inconsistent microphonics from some of the Nutubes. If you have had good results from it then it’s certainly one to go for. Hopefully they will have stock once I have completed the ACA.
Cheers,
Justin
I just completed the B1 Korg and can't recommend it enough. It sounds as if the microphonics were more of a problem with the first batch, but I took very minimal precautions based on what I read in the thread (I used some damping sheets that I had lying around, and I bought some rubber stand-offs for the circuit board) and I've had zero problems with it. I'm pretty much a tube guy, so familiar with microphonics in certain circuits... but the B1 Korg sounds as if it would be right up your alley. (By the way, I don't think the problem was with the tubes themselves.)
Is it normal for it to take a while to get an amp camp amp chassis? I ordered the kit 2 weeks ago to put together for my dad. The parts and power supply arrived over a week ago, but I still haven’t had notice of shipping. I’m enthusiastic about completing the kit- but the longer i wait the more anxious I get. I emailed diyaudiostore on Sunday but no response. I assume they’re busy. Does anyone have a clue whats going on?
Any help would be wonderful,
Matt
Any help would be wonderful,
Matt
Yes. We don't have a photo yet, what is shown is a PDF out of Adobe Illustrator, but it's better than nothing for the moment I think.
Your ticket was escalated internally. I've very sorry that the helpdesk did not reply to you to say we had received your message and your ticket had been escalated. Sometimes the assumption is that you'll get a reply quickly so that isn't required. When the reply takes a while, you are left in limbo wondering if we even got your message. Please know that I don't take this situation lightly and all staff have been asked to always reply before escalating.
I have replied to your ticket personally to let you know you should get a reply in 24-48 hours, as soon as we hear back from the warehouse.
Great question.
About 3 years ago the biggest problem for our international customers was shipping prices. We invested a huge amount of time in solving that problem and reducing our international shipping prices by around 80% by moving to a new 3PL (third party logistics facility, the warehouse which stores and ships our products). This was great news for everyone not in the US, and we have been very happy with the very cheap, reasonably fast shipping options we can now offer via DHL eCommerce with DHL Direct, DHL Paket, and DHL Parcel. This has been a great success. What used to cost $60 to ship internationally with tracking now costs $20, what used to cost $30 now costs $5.
The second biggest problem was the delays and charges associated with getting orders across borders. Customs inspection of packages sometimes takes weeks, and in some countries you are charged EUR20 just for them to open the box and look inside.
There are 3 parts to the charges someone in the EU will pay when importing something from outside of the EU:
1. VAT (~20%)
2. Duty (~5%)
3. "Box opening fee" or "inspection fee" (this is the really annoying one)
VAT you need to pay whether it is from an EU supplier, or non-EU supplier, there is no difference. VAT is always paid on the total (goods + shipping).
Duty is usually quite small, the feedback I have seen it that is is < 5%.
The box opening fee varies from country to country, and I imagine that is what you are referring to. The best solution for that is DDP shipping. DDP stands for "Delivered Duty Paid". The taxes are already paid, so nobody needs to look in the box. No delays, no "box opening fee".
Our new 3PL promised us that we would be able to ship DDP (delivered duty paid) to solve this problem. This was one of the main reasons we chose this 3PL. Unfortunately they overestimated their abilities. When we tried to ship using DDP they found out they could not offer us the service. We were... pretty annoyed.
On July 1st 2021, there is some new rules for import taxes in the EU. It means that we will no longer be able to ship to the EU unless taxes are charged and paid. The good news is that if you pay the taxes at the time of purchase, there is no "box opening fee".
On January 1st 2021, the UK implemented this rule for shipments < 135GBP and we had to stop shipping to the UK packages under this value. For us to ship goods under GBP135 we'll need to register, collect and pay VAT and taxes to HMRC. This is beyond our resources at this moment, considering the relatively small number of orders we get from the UK.
We get a lot more orders from the EU, and we'd hate to have to stop shipping to the EU on July 1st. We have so many great diyAudio members in Europe, and we are trying to do everything we possibly can to keep up our service to them.
So right now we are doing two things, which will address your concern about "box opening fees" and also address the impending "VAT-a-clism" on July 1st 2021. We are:
1. Investing a huge amount of time in trying to develop direct relationships with carriers (rather than using our 3PL's standard carrier relationships) so that we will be able to ship using DDP
and
2. We are investigating all the tax / legal / red tape / complications associated with creating an EU "branch" of the store, so that we can charge VAT (and possibly duty?) at the time of ordering, handling the VAT collection and payment ourselves rather than having our carriers handle it with DDP (where they pay out the taxes to the EU, which is simpler)
So, as you can see, the situation is very complicated. It would be very easy to just run a US store and only ship to the US, and other countries that don't have tax issues. But we really love our EU members, we don't want to limit their options, we want to get you the best possible shipping prices, and we want to reduce the time things are held in customs, and we want to reduce the taxes you have to pay to a minimum especially the "box opening fee".
We're working hard on solving this problem for you, and every other EU member.
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It is indeed bewildering that Brexit means exactly what you say Jason. That for shipments less than UKP135, or the equivalent in local currency, will burden the shipper with registering with HMRC, collecting tax, and then sending it to the UK.
Which is tough for anyone wanting to buy some Linear Technology matched FETs. Maybe I'll have to use friends in France to onward ship them.
Which is all utter madness. Thanks for that, UK population that voted in this craziness.
Craig
Which is tough for anyone wanting to buy some Linear Technology matched FETs. Maybe I'll have to use friends in France to onward ship them.
Which is all utter madness. Thanks for that, UK population that voted in this craziness.
Craig
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Jason, just a humble comment on that. I admire very much how Mouser does that:
- you pay VAT on check out
- delevery is free for orders above 50 EUR
- you have the package in your hands 5-7 days from the payment!
I speak about the Europe here (Lithuania, specifically)!
What if diyAudio store make an agreement that the diyAudio goods would be available to order via Mouser??!! I know, the game is of different caliber, but... many of us, buying from diyAudio also buy from Mouser (so diyAudio actually helps Mouser sales). On the other side, Mouser could show themselves as supporter of DIY activities.
diyAudio store should then be storing the goods in Mouser warehouses, but perhaps the quantities would rise a lot too?
Does not sound easy and perhaps not very realistic, but... thinking bold helps sometimes.
And thanks to diyAudio for everything you've done so far!
-Alvis
- you pay VAT on check out
- delevery is free for orders above 50 EUR
- you have the package in your hands 5-7 days from the payment!
I speak about the Europe here (Lithuania, specifically)!
What if diyAudio store make an agreement that the diyAudio goods would be available to order via Mouser??!! I know, the game is of different caliber, but... many of us, buying from diyAudio also buy from Mouser (so diyAudio actually helps Mouser sales). On the other side, Mouser could show themselves as supporter of DIY activities.
diyAudio store should then be storing the goods in Mouser warehouses, but perhaps the quantities would rise a lot too?
Does not sound easy and perhaps not very realistic, but... thinking bold helps sometimes.
And thanks to diyAudio for everything you've done so far!
-Alvis
On the other hand, most of the things I bought from diyAudio store, I bought through the intermediary. You tell them what you want to buy, they check the weight of the shipment, US shipping costs, international shippment costs, all the taxes - and give you an offer. You pay the total amount to the intermediary, they buy from the store, the store ships in US, the intermediary does everything else. Doing these international shipments in bulk they save a lot, and they share a part of the savings with you. Win-win. This way was always cheaper for me than buying directly and paying taxes myself.
In regards to what the UK has done, the EU is, it appears, going to do exactly the same thing just six months later. The goal is honourable which is to insure taxes collected from eBay and Amazon. However every independent small business is the collateral damage of that decision. Compliance costs for all these matters are likely to be in the tens of thousands of dollars a year range.
I also forgot to mention in my notes above that duty which is only about 5%, is something that you would also already be paying if you purchased from a seller in the EU. If we import goods into the EU we have to pay duty on those goods anyway. So the price of the goods in the EU would be increased by the duty amount anyway. So there is really no getting around paying VAT or duty. What we would like to see is getting rid of that box opening fee.
In regards to the comments about the amazing shipping and pre-paid duty options from mega corporations like digikey and mouser, they are huge companies with thousands of employees, huge shipping volume, and can negotiate the best rates with the carriers. When you order something from them for $50 and get free shipping, I can assure you they are actually losing money on the sale. But they have the huge scale that they can absorb those losses and make it back on other aspects of their revenue model such as $49 orders and $500 orders. The store has been in operation for only a few years and is steadily growing. But we don’t yet have anywhere near the shipping volume to do that kind of thing. Maybe in a few years if people keep buying stuff
I also forgot to mention in my notes above that duty which is only about 5%, is something that you would also already be paying if you purchased from a seller in the EU. If we import goods into the EU we have to pay duty on those goods anyway. So the price of the goods in the EU would be increased by the duty amount anyway. So there is really no getting around paying VAT or duty. What we would like to see is getting rid of that box opening fee.
In regards to the comments about the amazing shipping and pre-paid duty options from mega corporations like digikey and mouser, they are huge companies with thousands of employees, huge shipping volume, and can negotiate the best rates with the carriers. When you order something from them for $50 and get free shipping, I can assure you they are actually losing money on the sale. But they have the huge scale that they can absorb those losses and make it back on other aspects of their revenue model such as $49 orders and $500 orders. The store has been in operation for only a few years and is steadily growing. But we don’t yet have anywhere near the shipping volume to do that kind of thing. Maybe in a few years if people keep buying stuff