Lee Responded kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ldKCg8V2rcCddHk.html

I can always trust KDH to give me drama on amps I can't dream to afford

It's pretty wild seeing Lee, an owner of the company, sit by quietly as Mick talks about his potential bias.

I did not know guitar-based investigative journalism was a thing, but I'm here for it.

The problem isn’t that Andertons owns part of Victory, it is content channels desperate for talking points that will make a mountain out of it. All his products have different profit margins from Chapman to fender. Honestly who’s gives a crap they have never bashed anything they sell ever

Man... damn. You know its gonna be a rough day when KDH is sitting in your office with a question he probably already has the answer to. LMAO

Hey KDH. The following brands are legally affiliated with either Lee or Andertons. Ive also included the gross profit margins on products when sold via Andertons. Tone City Pedals - 70-80% Landlord FX Pedals - 70-80% Chapman Guitars - 35-45% Burns Guitars - 30-40% Tourtech - 50-90% Stagg - 50-80% Faith Guitars - 30-45% Eastcoast Guitars - 45-55% Victory Amps - 35-50% There are probably more, but this is what can be remembered. Source- Ex Andertons employee.

I don't see that much drama here. If I was an investor at a company but had no formal role, I think I'd refer to the people who work at the company as 'the guys at [blah]'. If I owned Apple stock, I wouldn't consider myself part of the company. Being a director, on the other hand, means active involvement and a sense of 'us'. Lee might have been a little too quiet in videos I guess, but given he was honest when asked, I don't feel like he's trying to deceive. Maybe I'm biased, I've never met the fella but I've enjoyed his videos for ages. Kudos to you though KDH, I think this kind of revelation can only have positive effects for transparency.

It’s called business, our PM has shares in Moderna through an offshore company he hasn’t declared it and he awarded a £150 billion deal over ten years to Moderna.

Great video. What’s weird is that Lee could have gone the exact opposite direction with his disclosures and garnered a lot of interest and respect. “I have access to some of the best ears and fingers in the UK, I’m an expert in guitar products, my team and I have played virtually every guitar amp ever made, yada yada” and made this a selling point, rather than a secret.

The high comedy of this is that KZfaq served up an Amderton's advertisement in the middle of watching yiur video.

I’ve always thought of Victory being synonymous with Anderton’s, this video just confirms it. Either way, they’re killer amps and I do like Lee (his public persona at least).

Pretty much thought everyone knew that Andertons had an interest. Also thought it was pretty much accepted that their channel was about selling stuff. So why the surprise.

I think it's probably pretty safe to say that Andertons is involved in any brand that has a Rabea/Danish Pete/Chappers et al signature model.

Outstanding quality of work. Documented investigation, no personal bias, no drama, no unnecessary shade thrown at Andertons. That's a 10/10 from me.

These videos are excellent btw, you have a real knack for this kind of stuff, great work.

Show me the numbers proving that Lee makes more selling a Victory amp than other brands. They push Boss Katana amps more than any other, and have time and again said that they are their best selling amp line.

When I saw the signature amplifiers I assumed Lee Anderton was involved with Victory.

KDH is not here to make friends, props mate, excellent work.

Great video. I really like the Andertons channel and their content and I'm surprised that this was not disclosed straight up, as I do recall some of the videos with disclaimers related to other brands. Based on this, I would expect them to at least put out a short video owning up for transparency's sake.

It's a BUSINESS and he's a BUSINESSESMAN

Funnily enough I always thought that Victory was an in-house brand from Andertons, I think I got that idea because of body language and tone when they talked about it, it was like "well, this feels more like an add than usual"

I gotta say KDH, When I first started watching your videos a while back I was like "man this guy hates everything". (I am laughing while I write this). But as time has marched on, I realized that you are the hero we need. I love your content keep up the great work.

Lee has said at some point in those videos that he was involved with Victory amps. Nothing surprising here.

I've always thought Lee or Rob had their hand in Victory amps in some way after watching a lot of their videos. I was curious about them when I last needed a new amp but went with something else.

The Landlord one really surprised me. As far as I know, they never acknowledged being a part of that, while also liking them very vocally. That sounds very dubious to me unfortunately.

As someone who, years ago, quit my job as a daily newspaper writer over a matter concerning integrity, honesty, and what I was and was not allowed to write about something, I appreciate your investigative integrity and tenacity in attempting to get to the bottom of things and then not being afraid to say it regardless of what people will and will not conclude. I've really nothing against Andertons as a business, however, unlike a lot of people, I've never been much of a fan of their videos; they've always come across as a bit cliquey to me, so it was interesting to find, as a result of your investigative efforts here, that there is apparently something more substantial in terms of ownership and interests to that cliquey feeling than just my personal perception. And with regards to ASA standards breaches, as well as having been a news writer in the past, I also worked in advertising for a number of years. So I can tell them from a position of some personal experience that they really do need to get on that and correct things not merely as a matter of integrity, but also to avoid some potential fines and other punitive measures, because the ASA does actually have some teeth when it comes to things like that.

I've watched a lot of Anderton's videos for guitar/gear reviews, so naturally it peaked my curiosity when I came across this video. And while it doesnt appear that there's an earth shattering conspiracy regarding Anderton's that we all should be concerned about, and it doesn't bother me in the least if someone's partnership with a company is 100% transparent, what I will say is that your thoroughness in which you laid everything out (no doubt as a result of a lot of research) was appreciated, and the articulation in which you spoke was commendable. Other than that, to each their own as to what intrigues you and the topics you decide to talk about, but as for anyone at Anderton's, including the gentleman you specifically referred to, I feel they do an overwhelming amount of good for all of us thru their videos that would easily offset any issues such as the ones you mention in this video. They appear to be genuinely good guys from everything I've seen.

Well done. The Martin Kidd interview at the 4:22 mark actually tells a whole bunch when the real story is known. Martin cleverly pivots when he seems to realize that he might accidentally reveal the well-kept ownership secret.

One thing I really like about you KDH, is even when you have dirt on somebody, you don't belittle them for it. You are always straightforward with the facts, and forward about the ethics on why you are doing it, without outright attacking anybody's character. It really allows me to trust your work more as it doesn't seem like a way to mindlessly stroke your ego about being right, but because you actually care about getting to the bottom of these issues.

I'd watch a Lee Anderton masterclass on marketing.

Your like the Pet Detective for Guitars, Amps and Skull Doggery - Good Job - love the details you dug up !

Doesn’t change my opinion of Lee. Love the guys over at Anderton’s, and that includes Lee.

I have definitely seen Lee in an Andertons video from a few years back mention that he had an involvement in Victory, I remember it as he just mentioned it in passing and my ears pricked up thinking ''well you've never mentioned that before''. Not really a problem but something to bear in mind when they are pushing Victory products.

Just as an FYI. GAP isn’t Andertons. It’s a distribution company owned and run by the owners of Guitarguitar, Andertons and PMT (GAP is an acronym of their companies) so that they could have more buying power on certain products. They realised they could make more margin on cheaper products instead of going through companies like Stagg. Companies like Eastcoast and TourTech exist only for this purpose. You’ll notice only these three companies sell these brands. Great investigating though.

i'm pretty sure we already knew Andertons owned Victory? Like i was already sure of it for some reason? They must have mentioned it when the amps were first coming out, also at the start they basically only made amps for Rob Chapman, so i guess i had this narrative in my mind that Martin Kidd started making amps for Rob and then Lee bought the company to develop the brand, or something like that, anyway they are undeniably great amps at pretty great prices, so in the end, who cares?

Excellent video once again my dude! congrats. Someone's gotta do it.

So many time your video keep me on the edge of my seat watching!! Your an accomplished story teller! Usually I start watching them just wanting to space out for bit and end up with dry eyes because I forget to blink.

KDH, you have a very bright future. Smart, young, and driven. We are watching you grow up right in front of us and you're doing great. Never lose sight of your goals. Remain humble and never compromise your own integrity.

Really well done and kept my interest the whole segment! Keep up the great work!

Congratulations on your Sherlock-Holmes-Mode investigative capabilities. I watched the whole thing although i'll probably never buy from Andertons because of taxes but i like their videos. I think it's smart to own as many brands as possible at least in part because that's what grocery discounters do and it seems to be very profitable. You could say he learned from the best.

Watching KDH become the go-to name in down-to-earth guitar reporting has been a real treat! Keep it up mate!

I hope someday Lee can own all the companies. Maybe after Lee owns all the companies Dave Grohl can do all the music and the two can control the entire global music scene.

I've been in business for decades and it's very common for an investor in a business to want to be a "silent investor". There is nothing dishonest or underhanded in that practice (generally). Being a silent investor means that brands are not forced to be associated with each other, so if a consumer hates a brand or a brand owner/investor, it doesn't need to affect a different brand just because the two brands might share one or more investors. Also, good business strategy allows for exit scenarios, like selling the entire brand later, closing down a brand, or taking it public on the stock exchange etc. Investors being "silent" allows better (ie; more successful) business practices in all of these cases, and an investor being publicly known puts limitations on all of these cases. Regarding Andertons and this brand there seems to be nothing that I would call immoral or even underhanded. Lee made it clear the Victory brand was from a "good friend" and Andertons has publicly promoted the brand in an obvious fashion. Any reasonable consumer woukd know that Andertons promotes this brand and has some form of "association" leading them to make profits from selling or even pushing this brand. Andertons, like any retailer, exists for ONE PURPOSE; to sell product. In my opinion Lee Anderton has the right to be a visible investor or SILENT investor in any brand he chooses, and as a reasonable, informed consumer, I would expect Andertons have some sort of "deal" with any brand they promote.

Can't wait to hear Lee Anderton play a pentatonic scale over this vid...

I think it's kind of weird that Lee didn't just say he owns a major/minor stake in Victory for disclosure. He's usually pretty good about disclosing that. I actually had assumed Victory was related to Andertons in some way for years until the Tone Talk episode... which isn't great in light of this video. I mean, Rabea, Rob, and Pete all ended up with signature amps and I think those were all of the big guitar hosts.

I actually had already thought Victory was an Anderton’s house brand but I can’t recall why. The whole UK gear manufacturing and retail industry is a very small circle

Nice investigative and reporting. You are creating a form of journalism of the music business which will spread sunshine over the dark places of the industry. Great work. I look forward to more.

First time I've watched this channel. Kudos for the time and hard work put into making this video. At the end of the day though I'm left shrugging my shoulders as saying "so what?" As I mentioned, first video I've watched on the channel but I'll watch more to get a feel for what it's all about.

Very fair comments and information from KDH here. Chapper's probably watched this and thought 'Whew, thats a relief, I got off lightly... glad he didn't go after me this time around'. 😬

This has absolutely become my favorite guitar channel. It's so refreshing to hear calm and articulate news about the industry. It's like a high-gain channel for grownups. No prattle at 100 mph, editing out the pauses and saying "bruh" every 20 seconds. Sweet Jebus, please keep doing what you're doing \m/

I always had some kind of suspicion about it! That was a great investigative job man!!🤘

Very good work but I can't get overly excited about this one. I think Lee's point that he's not a director/managing partner isn't unreasonable. Owning a stake probably should've been declared yes. I'm just not sure I see it as a big gotcha.

Bravo !! you spotted it ... since few years now, I do not take anymore any of their "tests" or "gear comparisons" videos from their channel as a reference that would tell me what to buy or not to buy .. They are all friends and have all crossed interests ... including Danish Pete who has now his own pedals and has obviously a close link with the Boss brand ... and that's ok, I do not care, that's business, but you are right, to be honest and transparent (that's the law, right ?) with their customers, they should tell us. Still I love their videos because Pete does play fantastically (Rob, not really, he makes noises and Lee, well an average player with great riffs but always the same ones ... Pete is definitely the one why I look to their videos, I hope he is well rewarded) ... They are pretty close to PRS as well, and promoting often (far too much in my opinion) their guitars ... is there any Lee/Andertons' involvement in PRS ? maybe yes or maybe no, still the result is that I do not take any PRS demo as an "objective" one ... but this is becoming true on most KZfaqr influencers' channels that are endorsed by brands ... The list would be too long ... the main issue I can see is that it is impacting the consumers, us, who are buying their gears ... we can't any longer trust them and it is not because they are mentioning it at the beginning of their videos (like a famous german youtuber/musician/producer, 42 something if you see who I am referring to) : "This is a sponsored video but as you know me, I can say what I want on the gear I am presenting you, I am free to give my honest opinion even if the brands are sending me their gears for free for reviews" ... well, No Mr... there is no more objectivity when you do receive a gear for free that you demonstrate on your channel. As soon as you do a review, it means that you are no longer objective. There is still a few KZfaqrs / channels (I can name one at least : Elmo Karjalainen) that are still objective because not already endorsed by brands ... but that won't last long, brands will "kill" their objectivity with endorsing all the channels with a decent number of subscribers, and who would be to blame to receive free gears or money to demonstrate Brand's material ??. That's business. In the end, the only objective opinion anyone can have, is the one we make with testing the gears ourselves before buying them (or not) ... Thanks for your work, it is a tremendous valuable work you do 🙏

Hmm....who would bring out a Rob Chapman tribute amp??? Should have been able to answer that one quite some years ago 😀

Since Victory amps started to frequently appear in Anderton's videos I just naturally assumed that it was a house brand. Nevertheless I wouldn't have guessed the actual complexety behind it all and KDH once again delivers in clearing things up!

I did hear a few years ago while working for PMT that Victory was partially owned by Anderton’s/Chapman and that was why we couldn’t stock them. But honestly I get it because now they’re a great brand where as before they were very close to collapse on a number of occasions. I also just assumed it was mentioned by them that this was the case but I guess I just filled the gaps based on what I knew from work

Fantastic work, man! Thanks for shedding some light on this. Lack of transparency where transparency is due is always an issue and needs called out.

This video was again a complete treat! I love these videos and appreciate the work put into it. I have nothing against Lee, seems like a good guy and I think he's a good businessman that at least tries to do mostly the right thing. At least compared to MANY others.

Dahm....KDH just blew his chance at being on Andertons KZfaq channel!😢

Lee Anderson is a business man and his job is to sell products, but i believe his integrity is in tact and he is honest and truthful as anyone on U Tube

I've not always agreed with everything you've done on this channel. But, this is genuinely important information that the public should know. I always thought that Andertons fondness for Victory and how often their amps are featured on the channel was simply out of a genuine fondness for the product and wanting to support a fellow British company. It seems that actually, there was an undisclosed commercial interest behind it. People seem to forget that Andertons are an equipment selling business FIRST, not a KZfaq channel. Great job bringing this to light!

It's called a "lie of omission". It's clearly purposeful to prevent perceived bias. Thanks P.I KDH! 😁

Great documentary, always believed Rob and Lee were involved in Victory. Always think you should be up front and let your audience or potential customers know you are involved in an item you are reviewing.

You and Benn Jordan are the closest we have to KZfaq investigative music journalists, and even thought I know you'll rebuke that title, it's a very meaningful one. Truth on this website is very hard to come by now.

Never thought it to be a secret with all the videos of them helping with development and promotions, I assumed they had financial involvement.

Wow, amazing research and video as always man. These conflicts of interest are highly problematic. Superb effort in bringing this to light 🤘

I work for a sheet metal company round the corner from straight edge and we laser cut the badges for the victory amps

These investigation videos are the reason why I love the channel. You are never satisfied with half the job. You always go fully into every facet! Thanks again for an excellent - and needed - search for the truth!

Brilliant video, good work. Lee was just once FB earlier announcing an amp giveaway with a big thanks to the guys at Victory.

Some time ago I‘ve tried to look up the exact same thing, but stopped at the official trade mark database - I couldn’t draw the link from there. Congratulations, well done!

Great video. Your hard work is appreciated.

So freaking epic, I just love what you're doing, KDH, the best guitar channel on earth (imo).

Wow, I’m impressed! Thank you for not giving up on this and doing all the legwork. This has been on more minds than just yours. I do hope Lee follows up with this and admits, at least the smallest of wrongdoing and purposely hiding this. I really hope he does. Thanks again and thanks for not making it any shorter. When it comes to something like this, we want at all.

Looking forward to a KDH Victory signature amp 🇮🇪

US viewer here that Really enjoys your videos. Thorough and evenhanded. Not in a million years would I have predicted I'd find the intrigue of the UK music gear scene so compelling! Well done, KDH

1) for the sake of integrity and transparency he should've disclosed ownership b) also it's the law. If he is set to make more money out of certain products demonstrated on Andertons TV, we need to know.

Timestamps 0:00 Intro 1:12 Victory 2:02 Lee Anderton 4:10 Martin Kidd Interview 6:00 Straight Edge 6:50 Trademarks 7:58 Coincidences 11:36 Lees Response 13:12 The Issue ? 15:26 The Guys At Victory 17:00 A bad thing? 21:50 Lees Response 2 25:56 Conclusion

I love it when KDH drops one of these videos. He's exposed a lot of stuff about the guitar world and anyone with a hint of curiosity could watch these and walk away more informed.

Lee definitely screwed up by not giving full disclosure of his partial owner ship of Victory Brand. This was obvious intentional, and a breach of character and ethics. He is a KZfaqr who show cases brands demos gives opinions and recommendations to followers an obvious conflict of interest without full disclosure. Thanks for all you work in this investigation.

All of this would matter if they were selling sub-par merchandise. If the product is good at a good price, there is no problem.

There are 22 Cap codes in the UK. They appear to be extremely broad and wide-ranging. Maybe there are more details than what is presented in wiki but I cannot see how Lee is directly violating any of them. You can accuse him of unethical sales practice (non-disclosure) but in this case, it doesn’t seem to fall under any cap code as a violation. I can’t speak for the UK, but in the USA if you buy a Samsung appliance (non-USA made) at a big box store (Best Buy, for example), you will find more placement on the floor and sales advertisements for the brand simply because they offer a bigger sales incentive to the retailer. You will not see that disclosed in the store advertisement. Best Buy is also public with $46B in revenue. The point is, any retailer has an incentive to sell any product over another even if it benefits Lee In this case it also benefits Andertons music company (and its employees) directly as he is a managing partner. Also, you need to understand a minority partner in terms of ownership has far less responsibility and influence over the company and his promotion of the Victory brand is also benefiting all of them not just him solely. (That’s called capitalism which BTW is grounded in unethical behavior.) Victory and Andertons are also private companies, not on the London Stock Exchange where company ownership would require transparency and on-going official filings. Nice video.

The Landlord doesn't have to visit the effects pedals in order to collect the dividends. Given the prominence of Victory in the videos it did feel very interwoven. Wouldn't be surprised if Lee was more involved with the other brands like Tone City

Good job man! Impressive research

Looking forward to buying from your shop when it’s up and running.

I tend to take videos from Andertons (and most guitar retailers) with a grain of salt because they are all trying to sell gear, so they're never going to be critical of what they're showing, even when they should be. It's almost-but not quite-like a conflict of interest... but this is a whole new version of that because they're hiding their interest in selling a certain brand and that is definitely a conflict

I guess I always just assumed Victory was an Andertons thing based on how often their amps appeared in Andertons videos and how the aesthetics looked in line with Andertons aesthetics.

For some reason I already knew Victory was Anderton. Not sure what made it obvious anymore, but it was clear to me for some time.

Still bloody good amps

Lee is a slippery one. It makes watching any new gear review mighty tough to look at without doubting eyes. Andertons should really pass the reviews of Lee owned or partially owned items to someone else. Transparency is a valued trait these days

I see a lot of people (or at least a few) commenting that they always assumed he was part of Victory. I can safely say that thought never crossed my mind. Not once. I've always found the Andertons YT-channel to be good fun as well as trustworthy. I've always understood that at the end of the day, running a youtube channel had to make sense for them financially, so of course there had to be some element of sales in it. I have always felt that that part was fairly obvious. I remember seeing the Burns video and being pleased that he disclosed his involvement. Same with the Chapman stuff. Builds trust, makes you able to account for any bias. Honestly, I'm pretty disappointed to see that for whatever reason the Victory involvement was kept a secret. And I'd argue intentionally so, given the clip where both Mick Taylor and Rob Chapman disclose their relationship with the company. There's no way he didn't make an active choice to not say anything at that point. It's a shame. I really like their channel. I don't think I'll stop watching their stuff - overall I still feel they are pretty fun and honest people, but I can't say I won't be wondering what they aren't telling me the next time I tune in to one of their videos.

GREAT VIDEO Shady dealings, of course knowing what a huge audience he has keeping this secret was strait forward a business decision! It's obvious but it doesn't surprise me in the least. I do watch their channel and it's very entertaining but this absolutely does / will have an effect when using the videos to decide between different brands of anything guitar from now on!

Interesting video and I appreciate the work you have put in to make it. Many peoples' traditional idea of manufacturing - company owned by one or a few named individuals, whose name may appear on products, designing and making things in their own dedicated factory that bears the company name on the gate - is usually pretty far from the truth nowadays. It applies to virtually all products, so musical equipment is unlikely to be different. Brands will be owned by shell companies, holding companies, private equity, banks, etc, etc. The owners of the brand will typically design and specify a product and have it built by a specialist manufacturer (who is probably building for many other brands, including their rivals). Some don't even do that. They simply select from the manufacturer's catalogue of standard offerings and have their name/colour scheme put on it. Once you start trying to dig into who owns what, the rabbit hole just becomes deeper and more labyrinthine. It's not uncommon for brands that are ostensibly rivals to turn out to have common ownership. It makes sense from a business point of view - whether consumers choose Brand X or Brand Y, the same organisation gets their money.

Truly excellent investigative journalism, there - and, equally, delivered with the utmost of professionalism 👏. I agree with you 100% in your own 'take' on the situation with LA and his undisclosed 'invested interests'. A couple of years ago, I purchased a Victory 40w Deluxe combo from Anderton's - I was sold on it largely from videos I'd seen via Anderton's YT channel and, upon reflection, those produced by their (Anderton's) close 'partners', eg RC, RM and TPS. There's no doubting it's a nice amp - though judging by the amount of time it's left 'off', it's probably fallen below my original expectations of it (that's 'the product', rather than 'the brand'). But it's not bad at all, and nicely put together. As you pointed out in this video, Anderton's is a retailer, so one always views their video material fully aware that's it's essentially a marketing exercise. And, it has to be said, there IS a more perceived vein of honesty running through their product tests compared to many other online/YT influencers' channels - which I therefore like and feel reassured by. I've even been impressed at LA's "full disclosure here" remarks whenever he's personally showcasing a product he (or Anderton's - the lines have perhaps been blurred looking back!) has involvement in, such as Chapman Guitars etc. But now that your investigations have lifted the lid on an apparent level of secrecy surrounding the Victory and Landlord - and who knows what other? - brands that they've peddled without declaring an interest in, I feel slightly let down, if not 'duped' even. Would I have bought a Victory amp if LA's (and therefore Anderton's') tie-in had been disclosed? Can't say for sure... but I DO know that it was the incessant glorification of the brand from the aforementioned parties' reviews that planted the desire in me to 'want one' and then 'buy one'. That, perhaps, is why Victory has done so well, so quickly as a brand? Whether or not the ASA should be brought in, I'm not sure - I can't see that anything can be gained. Kudos to Lee Anderton - his responses to your questions were NOT filled with lies and deceit (he'd make a crap politician!). Though I think that they were cleverly written and, I agree with you, that there were a few half-truths in there (oh... perhaps he WOULD make a good politician then?)!!! I hope Lee/Anderton's is more transparent in the future because (a) as a regular Anderton's customer (and one who intends to remain so), the whole experience with them is really positive and (b) in this social-media, woke day and age, people who get 'labelled' as being disingenuous (regardless of whether it's rightfully or wrongfully) are all too easily cancelled in the blink of an eye... and it would be a tragedy for us musicians to witness a crumbling of the Anderton's empire. A visit to their Guitar Gallery is a truly fabulous trip... though I hear we'll soon have a Gibson Garage in London to ogle over as well!

This is great work. Really really well done and the whole guitar community benefits from this stuff.

Unsure if this is common in England, but in North America it is very common to have silent partners in business. I get your point that since Andertons does market and sell the amps, there probably should have been more transparency on Lee's involvement though. But IMO it is not as big a deal as you make it appear to be.

I think the question would be, What companies does Lee Anderton have interest and investment in? Nothing wrong with it, but would be nice to see the list

I'm still too new to guitar to even think about an amp bigger than my practice amp or an amp sim, let alone learn about them, but let me tell you i was 100% invested in this bit of sleuthing. Good work.

Great video. I respect Lee for answering your questions, and though this information is interesting and may be alarming to some, I'm still gonna watch Anderton's channel for the fun of it. Hopefully they learn from this and change moving forward.

Yes beeing open and honest about these things is the only and best thing you can and should do. I have to admit that I'm a little bit shocked about how many brands and companies Mr. Anderton owns, I mean most big resellers have their own brands and trademarks but I wasn't expecting this... It's not a bad thing in general, on one hand they could offer good quality for less money and on the other hand they know exactly what their customers want and creat exactly what they want, this isn't a bad thing at all but, as you mentioned, it should not kept a secret because this simply sheds a bad light on them. I think people would still buy a Victory amp if they know it's an Anderton brand if they like it so there's no realy reson to not telling the truth about it ...