Who are Dover Amplification ?

Mike58

Saw a review of of a Dover amp product and was mildly interested , went on their site to the “ about” section and was mildly amused ... https://doveramplification.co.uk/about/
I kinda hope they are taking the piss, mentioning cliffs of Dover, fog ( Olde London?) , rolling hills. Then describing the company as relentless, obsessive and timeless.... kinda cringe ?
Oh and as a finale... wait for it.... ( their capital letters not mine).
We are ONE ,We are the WORLD, We are DOVER 

Guys if you make good handwired amps with top spec components .. great.. but your intro to the company ... in Sheffield not Dover is utter nonsense... or cleverly designed to intrigue Johnny Foreigner and relieve them of their dollar, but I don’t think many folk would fall for that.
Tell us who you are, what experience you have in designing and building amps then stop!

mrkb

Their owner Ben is proud of his Dover surname….why shouldn’t he show it to the world.

bertie

mrkb said:

There owner Ben is proud of his Dover surname….why shouldn’t he show it to the world.

don't google that, not at work anyway

Dodge

A quick look at Companies House reveals all (looks like a one man band).

But yes ,all very cringeworthy and not a good advert at all.  It's so obviously horseshit it reflects badly on the brand, not positively.

tekbow

Weren't Dover the guys who built that Fortin mini amp that had the standby issue?

Sassafras

Didn't Vera Lynn have some involvement?

Jimbro66

mrkb said:

Their owner Ben is proud of his Dover surname….why shouldn’t he show it to the world.

Didn't he have a partner, Phil McCavity?

Sporky

Forged steel chassis according to the website! 

bertie

I think they'r endorsed by Phillips Custom guitars

Jetfire

In other news, man shouts at cloud, things cost more than they used and no one probably cares about this as much as you do..... 

De_Batz

I'm local to them, planning to scope out the stuff at some point if I can. Will let you know if any of it lives up to the hype...

Bear in mind that people who make amps may not be the same people writing websites, and if they are, it might explain why the one isn't so good as the other...

Mike58

Jetfire said:

In other news, man shouts at cloud, things cost more than they used and no one probably cares about this as much as you do..... 

Still reckon this is valid critique tho. I would love their stuff to be top end and affordable compared to the USA boutique brands, and I want every UK small company to do well post brexit and pandemic...but, if they are serious about their product, less Merlin and more sensible info please.

personalnadir

They popped up briefly on the Andertons NAMM coverage a year or two ago. Seems like he was a senior designer at Hiwatt before starting his own brand

Mike58

Also see to be interesting connections between various amp makers that have very little to do with China
https://www.sevenstring.org/threads/dover-fortin-victory-whats-the-connection.342099/

Jetfire

Mike58 said:

Jetfire said:

In other news, man shouts at cloud, things cost more than they used and no one probably cares about this as much as you do..... 

Still reckon this is valid critique tho. I would love their stuff to be top end and affordable compared to the USA boutique brands, and I want every UK small company to do well post brexit and pandemic...but, if they are serious about their product, less Merlin and more sensible info please.

Tbf, I dont even look at the About Us pages for most companies, if they make a good product then its irrelevant who they are or where they have been. Yes, it *may* help with marketing but do we need a full CV to enjoy a product? Prob not...  From what ive seen and heard, they make ripping stuff, alot of the high gain stuff is used by metallers etc.  

personalnadir

Mike58 said:

Also see to be interesting connections between various amp makers that have very little to do with China
https://www.sevenstring.org/threads/dover-fortin-victory-whats-the-connection.342099/

You can watch the build process here for victory 
https://youtu.be/cp3a0rUnpPQ

De_Batz

Mike58 said:

Jetfire said:

In other news, man shouts at cloud, things cost more than they used and no one probably cares about this as much as you do..... 

Still reckon this is valid critique tho. I would love their stuff to be top end and affordable compared to the USA boutique brands, and I want every UK small company to do well post brexit and pandemic...but, if they are serious about their product, less Merlin and more sensible info please. 

I'll try to book a date with them (Dover, not Victory) over the summer. It should be pretty obvious whether there's a manufacturing operation going on or not. 

As far as Victory is concerned, I think they have a manufacturing subcontractor (the same as the Cornford lot, Straight Edge?) and inevitably some parts will be sourced from China, but I don't think assembled amps are turning up in the UK. I'd be happy to be corrected if anyone has better knowledge. 

On a related note, I guess the key question is not 'where was it made?' but 'is it any good?'. I have a couple of bits of consumer grade guitar gear (Fender Mustang, Orange cab, pedals) and you can tell that some of the more high-end stuff just had that bit more love put into it. It doesn't necessarily sound better, mind, so it all depends whether you care.

Modulus_Amps

The Dover stuff looks cool, I think it is targeted at hard rock/metal players as that seems to be the sound you hear on the guitar stands the most, I doubt they have extensive manufacturing in house, but the hand wiring detail on the guitarshow stand this year was impressive, so they might be doing that final part in house.

Straight Edge make a lot of the UK made amplifier products for various brands, including some of the bigger brands. I don't know if Marshall are making products for other amp companies anymore? they Made Vox's in the 90's etc

GoFish

Jimbro66 said:

mrkb said:

Their owner Ben is proud of his Dover surname….why shouldn’t he show it to the world.

Didn't he have a partner, Phil McCavity?

I think they might be serviced by the venerable local tech, Ivor Biggun.

ThorpyFX

Im gonna jump in and defend Dover here. 

See the owner is an absolutely lovely gent, he used to work for hiwatt and since made the leap to launch his own company. His amps are designed and made in the UK and he launched just before the start of the pandemic, which is terrible timing. But he's trying to do his own thing and his amps are great, i have one of the 50W heads and cabs, and its well made and sounds great..

As for marketing spiel, well it might not be to everyones taste, but lets not hang someone for what is essentially just a paragraph of words designed to engender that they are made in the UK. if you read between the lines, it is probably aimed at the USA market rather than the UK.... 


Kee is a good guy trying to go it alone with his own business. We all know that that is very hard and especially in the current world climate, maybe a little understanding wouldn't be remiss. Anyway, if people feel that strongly about it... voice your concerns to the company, it is a much better thing to do than anonymously tearing someone down when they aren't here to defend themselves.

Mike58

Good point well made, I did Mike58 said:

Jetfire said:

In other news, man shouts at cloud, things cost more than they used and no one probably cares about this as much as you do..... 

Still reckon this is valid critique tho. I would love their stuff to be top end and affordable compared to the USA boutique brands, and I want every UK small company to do well post brexit and pandemic...but, if they are serious about their product, less Merlin and more sensible info please.

Thorpy, I did follow this up with good wishes to all small companies post brexit and pandemic.
From what I see having looked further into Dover amps, they are well liked in heavier music circles and I wish them well.
lets end this thread on a positive note.