# Ceriatone ordering.. final thoughts?



## Kapo_Polenton (Jun 20, 2007)

Hey folks, those of you who have ordered stuff from Ceriatone, what were some of the things to watch for again?(customs etc..) I have wasted soo much time and extra $$ getting my plexi clone to work that i am saying f_ck it and i just want that plexi tone again. My PTP stuff is messy and for sure there are issues with Weber's stuff when deviating from his design and trying to use the standard 1987x design. Or maybe i just suck..anyway, once I played a plexi voiced amp, I realised nothing beats it for me. I am interested in getting one ready made and want to know at the end of the day what the cost will be and how long the wait generally is. 

Thanks! :rockon2:


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

I guess this is my turn to pipe up. I am presently building my fourth Ceriatone amp from a kit this week. Of course it was only 2 separate orders from Malaysia and not all the amps were for me (1 was for a friend). I can't make any guarantees on behalf of our government, but I can tell you my experiences.

*Speed of Being Sent:* The longest I waited for Ceriatone to send a shipment was a week. I think this last shipment of 3 amp kits was sent within 2 days. If you are getting them to assemble it for you, they wait may be longer, but I have no idea. The advantage of that is that you know it will work right and there is no chance of missing or wrong components. (not that that is a huge worry) Nik is extremely dedicated to customer service, so, he will always make you happy in the end, even if one of his workers forgot something initially. 

*Customs:* One order was charged $21, the other (bigger) was charged $20. I believe that there is no duty on electronics, so it is only taxes. DHL charged brokerage fees on the second one; which was about $3 included within the total $20. That was a good deal since that order was 3 fairly big boxes. It turns out that a wrong transformer was sent in that order for one of the amps. Nik sent off the right one right away and said to keep the extra transformer. (Anyone need an output transformer for a DC30?) However, customs charged me $13 for that extra order of parts. I am getting around to appealing that though.

*DHL:* So, the most efficient method of sending for them is by the courier, DHL. You can know the cost of shipping by the table on the ceriatone website. The cost is the easy part. It does end up being upwards of $100 most of the time (depending on weight), so if you might want something else, order it all together. (pick up a champ as well or something). So these are my thoughts on DHL: Your package should be at the Canadian border within about 2-3 days of being sent. But then it has often taken me at least another 5 days to get it to my home. Things always slow down when they get to Canada, no matter who is carrying. Something may or not be required of you by customs. Only my first time did I have to fax a power of attorney form to DHL for customs. Most other times you just pay your fees when it is delivered.
The other funny thing about DHL has been getting information to the driver. I had to change the address being sent to. I did so about a week before delivery, and it is on their computers anytime you call the number. However, the actual package does not seem to see that info until the Driver tries to deliver and then goes back to base and the base inquires why the address is no good. It's frustrating because I've had to wait a few extra days because the driver has been confused.


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## Kapo_Polenton (Jun 20, 2007)

Great info! 

So when you order with DHL, will they contact you? In other words, do I wait for them to get in contact with me or do I have to be proactive and contact them with credit card info etc..? 

His kits and parts look top notch. I honestly would try building again with a cleaner layout and better parts but to be honest, looking at his work vs. mine and the bost of having it assembled (like 60 $ or so!) , I think a working one right out of the box is where it is at. The only thing i am going to ask him about is whether or not he can build it with Sozos. If not, i guess it easy enough for me to change em on the board. I also like teh fact that he uses carbon comp resistors.. get the old school mojo rollin.


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

Kapo_Polenton said:


> Great info!
> 
> So when you order with DHL, will they contact you? In other words, do I wait for them to get in contact with me or do I have to be proactive and contact them with credit card info etc..?


Umm, they should contact you, as long as yo gave Nik a phone number for them to reach you at. My first time, they had been trying to contact me but couldn't for some reason and took a few days. Just make sure that Ceriatone has all the correct information for you to send to, then keep watching on the DHL Tracking website. If it looks like there is a problem and they are awaiting something from you, you can always call them. It might save a day or two in delivery time if they are having trouble contacting you.


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

Paul said:


> DHL does not like to redirect packages, and they will only two attempts at delivery.
> 
> When I have something shipped to me by DHL, I always have it delivered to my work address, becasue somebody will be there.


Very true and great advice. The two attempt thing really scares me because it is a 2 hour drive to the nearest DHL branch for me. Ya, make sure someone is at your address on the days where it looks like it will be delivered.


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Are you guys ordering complete kits from Ceriatone? What about cabinets? I dont see any cabinets on his site, but maybe I'm missing it. I'd like to build one of his amp kits, but I dont want to do any cabinet building, or tolexing - I'd like to buy and build the amp kit, but I'd like to buy a finished cabinet head that I can put the amp into. Are there better places to the buy cabinets from ?


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

He does sell cabinets too. If you click on the parts heading, it's under that. They typically run between $150 and $170 for a head cab or about $250 for a combo cab. However they are also 25kg and 50kg respectively. That makes the shipping quite a bit more expensive. If you click on the "Complete Amp" heading, you can see pictures, and sometimes pictures of the cabinet as well. It sounds like you want Package 2 with Head cabinet. 
It depends which amp you are wanting to know the exact prices.
I'm not sure how his prices compare to buying a head cab in North America. I just assume because of the size and weight, it is better to buy from closer to home.
Don't you know any finish woodworkers that would like to try their hand at building and tolexing?


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## bcmatt (Aug 25, 2007)

Hey!
If you guys are both from Ottawa, you should really try to organize your shipments together. That will definitely save you money. Just work out what percentage of the weight each of your orders come to, and each pay that percentage of the shipping. Then figure out what percentage of the total value each of your orders come to and pay that percentage of any customs and brokerage fees. You could probably even arrange with Nik to each pay him your percentage of the order separately with paypal.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

For head and speaker cabinets, here is someone from Ottawa. 

http://www.leylandsounddesign.com/


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## Emohawk (Feb 3, 2006)

Just an FYI...

The last shipment I got from Ceriatone showed up at my door 3 days after Nik shipped it. I got the same service with DHL on some bike parts from Ohio a while ago.

No extra brokerage fees on either shipment (it's included in the shipping cost - part of the reason it's a little higher than others perhaps). Just duty & GST.


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