Finding vintage amps?

[bill0287]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but I am looking for vintage amps to tinker with, no matter the condition. Other than the obvious online market places (ebay, craigs, facebook, etc), what other kinds of places have you guys seen or found hidden treasures? Yard sales, Goodwill, estate sales, etc.

I am just curious where the more experienced here have come across amps out in the wild.

[glebert]

I think it depends a bit depending on your location and what price point you are looking at. I would say if you are expecting to find an original tweed amp for $50 that isn't going to happen anywhere.. In my experience most people overvalue old amps rather than undervalue. I've been fixing and flipping amps for about six years now. Portland is an OK area for finding broken gear because we have a lot of broke musicians and not many people who fix amps anyway. For me usually it is obsessively watching CL, FB marketplace, and the national online sites and hoping to catch something before anyone else does. I'm lucky that my schedule is pretty flexible so I can see the ad, respond, and get there before most others. Always have a few hundred in cash on hand for quick deals. I've had a little luck going to pawn shops or music stores and asking if they have any amps that aren't working right that they want to get out of their storage area. When I sell something I usually include that I am open to taking project gear on trade and I've gotten some good stuff that way. I've run ads looking for project gear, sometimes that works, often not (see: people overvalue broken amps).

edit: be careful you don't get better at finding amps than you are at fixing and selling them. I've got about 25 of my own amps in my repair queue right now in addition to 10 "personal" amps.

[bill0287]

I am in Southern California (between LA and San Diego) so there is a lot going on here, and yes, people definitely overvalue just about everything, not just vintage gear. I pretty much do the same thing (watch the sites) but I'm not looking for desirable, collectible gear, just average broken stuff I can mod, tinker with, and break. I am not intending to flip anything. Joe Bonamassa buys up all the good stuff around here anyway.

[mozz]

Yard sales, out of the way antique shops, weekend flea markets. Very rarely craigslist. Other places i score old amps i can not disclose.

[TomCarlos]

bill0287 - You would be best to avoid Norman's Rare Guitars, Pawn Shops, etc. Yes, prices there are nuts. It's sad that some guys hoard these amps, drive up prices, the guy then dies, and the family doesn't know what to do with the equipment. Finding an old amp is like treasure hunting; patience, patience, patience. BUT... when you do find something, have cash in hand and be ready to make the deal.

So, here is one idea. Are you on Facebook? Do you have a large network? I would try posting something on Facebook, maybe a photo of an old amp, let your friends know this is a hobby for you and that you're out there search. You never know, someone in your network might have an 'ole uncle who just died and has some music equipment the family needs to part with.

Happy hunting....

[The Dude]

I remember, shortly after eBay came into being, you could search "broken", "repair", "needs repair", "non working", "not working", etc. and find really good deals. I bought, repaired, and resold lots of MI gear. Those days are done. Anymore, I see busted up used stuff go for higher prices than working gear.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Scan curbs especially in areas having "community cleanup week" or similar. And the rest of the time too. Customers have brought me some of the prizes they found and rescued from the dump. Here's 3 for instance: Fender tweed Super without speakers & covered in purple paisley contact paper , Black panel Fender Bassman, and a kool Italian combo amp copy of a Champ with a working Jensen P12R.. Hard to beat "free" as an acquisition price. Hi fi gear too, a friend found a Dynaco PAS3 preamp and Stereo 70 amp left in the "take it / leave it" hut at his local dump in Massachusetts.

[Mick Bailey]

I went to a house clearance auction a few years ago where there was nothing but junk, except beneath a table almost out of sight was was really nice Traynor YBA-1 with its badge missing so it too looked like another piece of junk. I went to bid on it and most of the other bidders were furniture dealers. Only one other person bid against me and ran out of steam very early on. I smiled all the way home. Just needed a good clean, a badge and a pair of output tubes. Another find was my wife called me and said she was in a charity shop and they had an amp in there for £10. I said buy it, and we'll sort it out later. It was a Sessionette 75 which I still use.

The only other decent amp I got really cheap lately was a '61 Ampeg Reverberocket - still with most of its original tubes. It had some work already - a new Fliptops PT, a replica German-made multi section can cap and almost a full recap (some of the remaining Astrons were leaking DC and needed replacing). It needed some fettling and the owner didn't want it because it wasn't powerful enough and wouldn't spend on it at all.

My customers seem to always get better deals than me - sometimes sickeningly good. A lot of nice vintage stuff has come from bereavement sales, cash converter shops that mainly deal with modern electronics, phones and gaming consoles, also from car boot sales.

The internet has killed off a lot of the deals. Everyone seems to know what things can sell for and the price is usually set to match the highest price they can find on the internet, regardless of the condition of what they're selling. I thought I had a good lead on an AC30 being sold by an old chap, but the seller was totally deluded. The first thing he said was "Do you know how much the things are worth?.....Big money, pal, big money. He then went on to tell me it was "Pre-CBS and those are worth much more" I said that was meaningless with respect to VOX amps and in any case I wasn't as old as he thought. It turned out it was a 70s amp anyhow. He still maintained it was Pre-CBS....................