Classicjazz brought an intersting point, any gear using fancy semiconductors needs the right assembly line/equipment
the packaging technology on new IC's puts it out of reach for the garage operations to assemble. I don't think that applies to amplifiers so much as they tend to be less IC and more Discrete components oriented. BTW a lot of manufacturers use really cheap labor and if I had to choose between north american cheap labor vs. Taiwanese I think I would pick Taiwanese...
