Bargain Finds

[Quilly]

Anyone ever find a basement bargain or just picked up a cheap piece of gear with no expectation just to be blown away by it ...Or conversely forked out for premier gear to be really disappointed by it. I’m playing at home through an old valve 50w guitar head through a bass cab. The amp cost me €150 (around £120) it’s the best sounding amp I’ve ever had and I’ve had a lot of amps .

[Steve Browning]

I have told this story before but some years ago I was idly browsing on Ebay when I saw a Mesa Road Ready 2x18 up for auction. It was on with an initial bid of £50 and the auction was set to finish quite early one Sunday morning. 

I wasn't desperately after such a cab but thought I'd get up to see what it was going for nearer the time. With a minute to go it was at £60 and I thought I'd just stick in a bid of £75. I got it for £62.

Turns out it was one of only 3 (or so it seems) and this one was built for Cass Lewis.

Only down side was the fact that it had a sticker on it when I collected it. The sticker proclaimed its weight to be 107 kg. That said, when hooked up with my (then) Diesel 2x15 the sound was, quite literally. awesome.

[NancyJohnson]

I picked up a Hamer FBIV on eBay for £375...it was a buy-it-now thing.  Seller clearly didn't know what he was selling.

The best though was an Aria Primary bass; it was a Gumtree thing, job lot of three guitars and a practice amp for under £50.00. It needed a bit of work and I've upgraded the pick up and bridge, but it's a belter.

Edited May 24, 2019 by NancyJohnson
Speling

[Quilly]

I once bought a warmoth body / jap fender neck jazz bass for £350 , great hardware on it. Cracking bass 

Edited May 5, 2019 by Quilly

[kevin_lindsay]

I got a Leslie cab on Ebay a couple of years ago for.... £30 !!!!!

Bargain or what??? 

[TheGreek]

Picked up various bits of Trace Elliot gear for a song...some people just want to get rid of it.

[Quilly]

5 hours ago, TheGreek said:

Picked up various bits of Trace Elliot gear for a song...some people just want to get rid of it.

The cabs are going for a pittance these days 

[BreadBin]

Most of mine were bargains. There's under £2k invested in this photo.

[Roger2611]

I managed to pick up a totally original 1960's HiWatt 4x12 cab at a car boot for £10.00, yep ten pounds, I sold it to a local music shop for £500.00 a week later.

For the hifi lovers out there I brought, what turned out to be, a pre-production Rega Planet record deck for £15.00! I had no idea what it was as it was pre Ebay days, I still have it sitting next to the TV.

[stewblack]

I am the world's worst buyer. I can't haggle and seldom know what stuff is worth. 

So never bought anything crazy cheap. Bought a lot of cheap stuff but nothing you could call a bargain. Best buy of recent times was my Bugera Veyron new from Amazon for about £170. Worth its weight in diamonds 

[Stub Mandrel]

Start of the 90s we used to practice in a room in an old mansion that a band who lived there had converted into a practice room.

There was an unloved and funny-shaped bass in the corner, gummed up with tobbaco smoke and dust.

We agreed £80 as it was bass no-one wanted.

It's now my treasured Fender Performer :-)

Then last October, found the match for my Hohner B2,  a Jack Custom V. Then the guy said tehre's a case too -  a hard case and inside it a jack lead and Dunlop QR strap... all for £130, and it had a fresh battery in it!

[Quilly]

27 minutes ago, stewblack said:

I am the world's worst buyer. I can't haggle and seldom know what stuff is worth. 

So never bought anything crazy cheap. Bought a lot of cheap stuff but nothing you could call a bargain. Best buy of recent times was my Bugera Veyron new from Amazon for about £170. Worth its weight in diamonds 

I bought a burgera SVT Clone for peanuts. It was an amazing purchase. I only sold it because it was silly heavy 

[Bassassin]

I've had one or two...

SQ serial MIJ Squier Precision, Ebay, £130.

A-serial MIJ Squier Precision, Gumtree, £30.

E-serial MIJ Squier Strat -  £70, local car boot.

Ibanez RS924 Roadster, 1983, absolutely mint, with original hard case - £90, Gumtree.

1961 Watkins Rapier 3 guitar - £6.50, local car boot.

Antoria 2354B MIJ EB3 copy - £30, local car boot.

Aria pro SB-Elite Black & Gold - trade for a bitsa Jazz bass that probably cost about £40 in parts.

Westone Thunder 1 guitar - £5, local car boot.

Westbury Track 2 bass - £50, Ebay.

Westbury Standard guitar, £60, local charity shop.

 

This isn't everything, by a long way - ten or so years ago I was making a living of sorts by finding bargains like these, tidying them up and selling them on - and in fairness many of them were serious projects when I got hold of them & required a lot of work to put right.

 

[Burns-bass]

A Hiwatt DR103 for £200, a Wal Pro for £700 and a fair few other things.

The best bargain I was ever part of want an instrument at all, but my brother negotiated to buy 5 sealed ABBA doll costumes for 75p at a car boot sale. We advertised them on eBay and they sold for almost a grand. He had people from all over the world contacting him and attempting to buy them. In the end they went to an ABBA museum or super collector apparently.

[Geek99]

A squire vm p for 80£ delivered

 

[SH73]

Boss DS 1 pedal  immaculate for £7

[T-Bay]

Not a massive bargain, but picked up what I thought was just a Jazz copy for £60 unseen as I wanted a few bits for a project. Turned out it was a decent quality Squier with Seymour Duncan pickups and upgraded electronics. I use it all the time as it sounds great and I am not worried where I use it or if it’s going to get a ding or two.

[Paul S]

I seem to have been blessed with the uncanny and unfailing ability to buy expensive, sell cheap.  The Sadim Touch - reverse of Midas.  Need some gold transmuting into bass metal?  hand it over.

[gt4ever]

I tend to avoid too good to be true as in my head the only explanation could be that it’s been teafed from an unlucky musician.

[Bassassin]

6 hours ago, gt4ever said:

I tend to avoid too good to be true as in my head the only explanation could be that it’s been teafed from an unlucky musician.

I'm completely confident that's not the case with any bargain I've ever had. You'd be amazed how many people assume that dirty old guitar that's been in the loft or standing in the corner for 25 years must be worth sod-all.

The guy who sold me the £90 Ibanez Roadster had owned it from new. Turned out he was an ex-bandmate of my band's guitarist.

[stewblack]

6 hours ago, Paul S said:

I seem to have been blessed with the uncanny and unfailing ability to buy expensive, sell cheap.  The Sadim Touch - reverse of Midas.  Need some gold transmuting into bass metal?  hand it over.

You and I should only ever do business with one another! i have a similar ability. I just pay up and months later have to discount heavily before I can sell!

[Stub Mandrel]

47 minutes ago, stewblack said:

You and I should only ever do business with one another! i have a similar ability. I just pay up and months later have to discount heavily before I can sell!

This is just to pile on the guilt about the Westone Thunder so I end up paying £2K for it...

😆

[Deedee]

20 hours ago, Bassassin said:

I've had one or two...

SQ serial MIJ Squier Precision, Ebay, £130.

A-serial MIJ Squier Precision, Gumtree, £30.

E-serial MIJ Squier Strat -  £70, local car boot.

Ibanez RS924 Roadster, 1983, absolutely mint, with original hard case - £90, Gumtree.

1961 Watkins Rapier 3 guitar - £6.50, local car boot.

Antoria 2354B MIJ EB3 copy - £30, local car boot.

Aria pro SB-Elite Black & Gold - trade for a bitsa Jazz bass that probably cost about £40 in parts.

Westone Thunder 1 guitar - £5, local car boot.

Westbury Track 2 bass - £50, Ebay.

Westbury Standard guitar, £60, local charity shop.

 

This isn't everything, by a long way - ten or so years ago I was making a living of sorts by finding bargains like these, tidying them up and selling them on - and in fairness many of them were serious projects when I got hold of them & required a lot of work to put right.

 

😲 Wow, some beauties there.

[Deedee]

Similar to @TheGreek  I've had my fair share of Trace Elliot bargains the best of which were both on Gumtree.

An AH200 complete with matching 2x10 and 1x15 cabs for £90.

An AH250 GP12SMX for £50 spares or repair which kept blowing fuses. Someone had unknowingly switched the voltage over from 230 to 115!

[casapete]

9 hours ago, T-Bay said:

Not a massive bargain, but picked up what I thought was just a Jazz copy for £60 unseen as I wanted a few bits for a project. Turned out it was a decent quality Squier with Seymour Duncan pickups and upgraded electronics. I use it all the time as it sounds great and I am not worried where I use it or if it’s going to get a ding or two.

I did a similar thing a few years ago with a USA Strat I bought for quite a good price - turned out to have a £200 set of Kinman pickups fitted, so happy days.