Re: NAD!!!
I don't know much about them- what's their thing? And what is the controversy?
I've been researching them for several years before finally pulling the trigger. Info is scarce. One thing is, I've never heard of anyone who is a verified owner give thes amps bad reviews.
They were originally intended just for the Chinese market but gained a small but loyal following in Europe and North America and eventually some guys started selling them outside china.
Their thing was that high end amps made in Europe and North America were hard to get in China and very expensive. So, they started making these amps in China. Some are basically clones of classics, like their hand wired JCM800 and Plexi models and their 1x12 combo based on the Bluesbreaker . Some are modified versions of classics. The OD-30 is a Fender based model, but I'm not sure which one. They range from 1 and 5 watt mini heads to a 100 watt Hiwatt based design.
The controversy is 2 part. The major seller outside China runs a shopify site and early on he was a little too enthusiastic about promoting his product in Facebook groups. He has a strong troll following as a result.
The other part is that people generally can't seem to accept that a Chinese company is capable of producing a quality product. They point to relatively low price as proof, but the logic is flawed. Firstly because there are several companies outsourcing to China that actually produce high end gear - TrueTone and TC Electronics for example. Second, they don't seem to understand that most European and North American gear companies that have Chinese built lines are outsourcing manufacture of their budget lines, built to a price point ; and while it may be cheaper to manufacture there the factory obviously adds on its markup to the cost. Since Wangs is based in China and does its own manufacturing,and since the cost of living and associated wages are lower they can build their amps at lower cost. Also, the company is associated with Biyang Eectronics, most known outside China for their effects pedals (you've probably seen them on a few boards over in the Pedal forum). Biyang is pretty big and has lots of buying power.
Combine that buying power for components, the lower cost if living and lower wages, and the fact they don't have to pay someone else to manufacture the product and they really can build high quality and sell it cheap. They aren't building to a price point. They're building the amps they want to produce then figuring out what to charge to make it profitable. Apparently they don't mass produce them and satire them in a warehouse. They're building like Marshall does in the UK - made to order and already bought and paid for, whether that's an order for a store that sells them or an order taken from the drop shipper I bought mine through. He's based in Colorado and keeps a few of each model he's selling on hand to sell locally or even for orders within the US. For his international orders, he finds its cheaper to do factory direct shipping. Turnaround time is about 10 business days from building the amp to having at your door unless they get swamped by orders. This was my second Wangs amp (I have their 5 watt mini head too) and this one arrived in 10 business days. The Mini was about 15.
The trolls would have you believe these are a low quality OEM brand with counterfeit components that simply look like the Japanese, American and European components in use when the reality is that they buy these parts in such high volume for use in everything Biyang makes (not just music gear) that they get a really low price on them and they sell their B-stock, unbranded, to other companies who slap their logos on it.
I've looked both my amps over closely and the attention to detail is really quite good. Even the tolex on the OD-30 is flawless. I've seen some horrible tolex jobs on the Asian made budget lines outsourced by the big brands.
