In the vein of what you’re talking about with the DT25 and DT50, I think upgrading the look of the Catalyst would change perceptions. When I close my eyes and play the Catalyst seems more expensive.
Personally I think it is meh looking, and it’s not rugged enough. I think taking that finicky plastic bit off the top that breaks off after 2 gigs would be a start. Would $50-$75 more give us a box that feels more sturdy?
$50-75 end user cost? Probably not. It's one of those things where if you're going to improve one thing, and that thing pushes you clear out of a particular price point, you should probably improve additional things and embrace a completely different price point (and perhaps pivot your marketing and/or target customer). And it's not always $100 more across the board. Sure, you have common price points of $99, $129, $149, $179, $199, $249, $299, $399, $499 and
maybe $599, but after that, price perception incentivizes jumps to $749 > $799 > $999 > $1199 > $1499 > $1799 > $1999 > $2499 > $2999 and so on. So if adding a burlier cabinet, chunky switches, and steel corners won't let you hit your target profit margin at, say $599, you target $749 and figure out what else you might be able to add/improve to warrant the higher price tag. But $749 or even $799 might be perceived by the public as "Oh man, it's a more expensive Catalyst. What's the difference?" so do you say screw it, make it even better and go ham on $999 or $1199? Or a hardcore Helix Amp with all the bells and whistles at $1999 or higher? Dunno; again, there's not much in the way of $1000+ digital amps outside of ToneMaster, so <shugs>.
On the other hand, if you're pretty close to hitting your target margin at $599, you might need to remove one or two things or skimp here and there to get there. It's always a moving target with lots of healthy debate and then one day new tariffs come along and take a huge steaming
on everyone's plans.
DIRTY SECRET: If a product has some weird price point like $549 or $1099, it's likely because the manufacturer fully intended—and expected—the product to be $499 or $999 (likely from conception), but was hit with one or more surprises not long before launch: Parts discontinuation, vendor bankruptcy, recalibrated run rates, unpredictable BOM hikes, necessary expensive tooling changes, compliance failure, shipping cost increases, etc.
I had a DT25, and my only criticism was the disconnect behind how one particular feature was marketed versus how it worked. At some point, there were lots more amp sounds made available. It was all over various websites, and it prompted me to buy.
None of the copy said you needed the HD 500 or anything to use them, because you didn't, but...in order to use the additional amps (assigning them to each of the 4 channels), you had to buy a MIDI cable (it was easy to get the wrong one, and Line 6 didn't spec one) and use a freeware package not written or supported by Line 6. I remember calling Line 6 and having an oppressively chill dude tell me it's, like, the Line 6 way and stuff. That really got under my skin at the time. I returned the amp (couldn't return the cable) and got over it, but I think that experience has been part of my bias.
The amp *did* sound great, and a friend kept his DT50 until not that long ago. Or maybe he still has it. It's been a while since we talked.
Yep. DT amps were thiiiiis close. It's one of those chicken and egg things where if it were more popular, it probably would've received more sustaining love. See also: AMPLIFi, whose numerous first-to-market features spawned the behemoth that is Positive Grid's Spark.
