New Boutique Rumor

That's an interesting rumor!
We have three new products being announced on the 13th - I'm interested to see what they have to offer us in just a few days.

kS

I think the boutique series have been done. They were already limited from the start.

Fourfiftyfour wrote:

I think the boutique series have been done. They were already limited from the start.

From my own selfish perspective, I kind of hope that's the case. I own nearly all of them so if they've stopped, there's a chance that the Boutiques we have could become collectible in their own right.

That said, there are certainly lots of other classics that have not made it to the Boutique format yet.

I also think that Roland might now be cautious about launching recreations of classic gear on 'iconic' dates and may choose to distance themselves from this in future: if everyone assumes Roland are going to release something on 808,909,303 etc dates, it sets expectations that are difficult to achieve, leaves us disappointed when nothing comes and also serves as a goal for competitors to aim for, with attempts to steal the spotlight from Roland on such dates (citing Behringer here).

People complaining now about the boutiques will be the same ones crying later saying "I wish I had brought one when I had the chance too why are these little boxes so expensive they're not even real analog!!!"

But I'm feeling like Roland tapped out on the Boutiques only because they've sold so well yet they don't care to produce more of them. It's a funny business model they have.

What people like they make less of and then don't produce at all but the stuff no one really wants they'll market to death and shove down your throat.

Maybe the talk of the Boutiques being "done" was a little premature?

I'm not sure if Roland are producing "more" Boutiques, but I've just seen on the US website for Guitar Center that JP-08, VP-03, SH-01A, D-05, TR-09 and TR-08 are all listed as "in stock and ready to ship".

Perhaps a new production round for these units, or maybe some warehouse stock has been released? In any case you can still pick them up new if you are longing for one...

Makes it seem like they are not "dead" yet. And let's keep in mind that the Integra 7 is 6 years old and still available new, despite the many folks on these boards who assumed it would be an abandoned product in 2014.