Used prices of heavy amp heads

[chris_b]

These threads are full of people who think their choices and preferences are the best and other players choices are not as good as theirs. 
 

Big and heavy amps can be great, as SS and D class amps can be. If you are a better player it doesn’t matter what amp you prefer. Audiences and band members will appreciate you with whatever amp you turn up with. 
 

The market takes no prisoners. The fact that heavy gear is so cheap means there are more players who prefer other types of amps. The guys are not “poor deluded souls”, they are just making personal decisions that are very relevant to them.

[ern500evo]

For me personally, the fact heavier amps are so cheap right now, and the fact I’m not really gigging but am still rehearsing regularly, makes it a great opportunity to dabble with some amps. If I don’t find anything that makes me think ‘this is the one’ then I’ll still have my GK MB Fusion and my Darkglass M900 ready for when gigs kick off again. 

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

These threads are full of people who think their choices and preferences are the best and other players choices are not as good as theirs. 
 

Big and heavy amps can be great, as SS and D class amps can be. If you are a better player it doesn’t matter what amp you prefer. Audiences and band members will appreciate you with whatever amp you turn up with. 
 

The market takes no prisoners. The fact that heavy gear is so cheap means there are more players who prefer other types of amps. The guys are not “poor deluded souls”, they are just making personal decisions that are very relevant to them.

Very good points Chris, I prefer the bigger heavier amps but have had to acknowledge that my body can’t deal with them anymore. So in that case, I got what I considered the best amp in an easily carried format. I keep looking at heavier - and I only mean  about 13kgs - amps, but my 2.5kg amp is the right choice for my circumstances. And it’s not like I’m going to get younger or more able bodied so I just have to make sure I stay strong of mind and resist weightier temptation.

[casapete]

Interesting thread, some great points. I’m in the process of starting to trim down my stuff and have the dilemma of whether to try and sell at the moment, when there are few gigs around to use any amps let alone larger stuff! I’ve got a Fender TB1200 amp head and Fender 610 Pro cab to move on, both in mint condition too. Serious kit but reckon they won’t fetch anything like what they should be worth, but I guess that’s just the state of play at the moment. ☹️

[ern500evo]

13 minutes ago, casapete said:

Interesting thread, some great points. I’m in the process of starting to trim down my stuff and have the dilemma of whether to try and sell at the moment, when there are few gigs around to use any amps let alone larger stuff! I’ve got a Fender TB1200 amp head and Fender 610 Pro cab to move on, both in mint condition too. Serious kit but reckon they won’t fetch anything like what they should be worth, but I guess that’s just the state of play at the moment. ☹️

That’s a good point, I didn’t really think of it from a selling point of view. I guess it depends on if people are rehearsing regularly, if not then they’d be buying a fairly sizeable rig to just sit in their house for the foreseeable future. If the money isn’t needed then maybe holding on would be a better option 

[casapete]

1 minute ago, ern500evo said:

That’s a good point, I didn’t really think of it from a selling point of view. I guess it depends on if people are rehearsing regularly, if not then they’d be buying a fairly sizeable rig to just sit in their house for the foreseeable future. If the money isn’t needed then maybe holding on would be a better option 

My problem is the money is needed! Current situation means trimming down my amount of gear is inevitable really, just a bu*ger that it also means probably having to take a hit on the prices too. 

[ern500evo]

2 minutes ago, casapete said:

My problem is the money is needed! Current situation means trimming down my amount of gear is inevitable really, just a bu*ger that it also means probably having to take a hit on the prices too. 

Hopefully not too much of a hit, but heavyweight stuff does seem to be taking a while to shift at the moment 

[casapete]

Just now, ern500evo said:

Hopefully not too much of a hit, but heavyweight stuff does seem to be taking a while to shift at the moment 

Shift by many to lightweight stuff  + Covid effect on gigging = bargain prices for some I guess.

[ern500evo]

2 minutes ago, casapete said:

Shift by many to lightweight stuff  + Covid effect on gigging = bargain prices for some I guess.

Very true. Although there has been a few of these type threads recently, with people going back to SS and valve heads. There was a Trace Elliot AH1200 in the classifieds, and a whole conversation about it took place on a Barefaced owners group, that amp spiked a lot of interest. There are buyers out there. 

[casapete]

7 minutes ago, ern500evo said:

Very true. Although there has been a few of these type threads recently, with people going back to SS and valve heads. There was a Trace Elliot AH1200 in the classifieds, and a whole conversation about it took place on a Barefaced owners group, that amp spiked a lot of interest. There are buyers out there. 

Sounds heartening, thanks! Will have to get some pics taken and get it advertised on here.

[Beedster]

5 hours ago, chris_b said:

These threads are full of people who think their choices and preferences are the best and other players choices are not as good as theirs. 

It's called an internet forum, and guess what, it reflects how people discuss these things in real life. You never had an opinion based on your experience or are you above it all? 

[Beedster]

5 hours ago, chris_b said:

The market takes no prisoners. The fact that heavy gear is so cheap means there are more players who prefer other types of amps. The guys are not “poor deluded souls”, they are just making personal decisions that are very relevant to them.

Not really true, the margins on the smaller gear are better, they're cheaper to transport around the globe, and are often replaced more quickly, so they're what are being pushed at the marketplace by the manufacturers. People have a habit of buying what's being marketed to them. The market place never decides with new gear, the manufacturers decide. In fact, it's not the manufacturers who decide, its the accountants or consultants working for those manufacturers who decide. It's why, for example EBMM withdrew the US SUBs, Nike withdrew the Pegasus etc. They needed to control a market in which the the buyer appeared to be thriving, i.e., the products were that good they were hurting profits elsewhere, which is the last thing the companies in question want. You think music gear is any different to other consumer products, dream on.

[Beer of the Bass]

On 23/10/2020 at 17:11, Beedster said:

It's called an internet forum, and guess what, it reflects how people discuss these things in real life. You never had an opinion based on your experience or are you above it all? 

I dunno, I've known a fair few gearhead bassists IRL, and I've never seen someone get genuinely heated over the topic of bass amp preferences in an in-person chat the way you see on forums.

[Beedster]

17 minutes ago, Beer of the Bass said:

I dunno, I've known a fair few gearhead bassists IRL, and I've never seen someone get genuinely heated over the topic of bass amp preferences in an in-person chat the way you see on forums.

You’re probably right

[Chienmortbb]

On 23/10/2020 at 17:17, Beedster said:

Not really true, the margins on the smaller gear are better, they're cheaper to transport around the globe, and are often replaced more quickly, so they're what are being pushed at the marketplace by the manufacturers. People have a habit of buying what's being marketed to them. The market place never decides with new gear, the manufacturers decide. In fact, it's not the manufacturers who decide, its the accountants or consultants working for those manufacturers who decide. It's why, for example EBMM withdrew the US SUBs, Nike withdrew the Pegasus etc. They needed to control a market in which the the buyer appeared to be thriving, i.e., the products were that good they were hurting profits elsewhere, which is the last thing the companies in question want. You think music gear is any different to other consumer products, dream on.

You are quite right but for me the preference for a lightweight Class D head comes from necessity, I can no longer hump two large lumps of iron around at close to 69. So yes that puts valve amps out of the question. I love my old HH amps but they were designed to sit on top of a 4x12 and my cabinets are smaller than that. Even the best Class A/B amps (ABM) overhang my current cabs.

I think of it like this. If I were a mechanic, I would use Facom or Snap-On tools, but for me my Lidl spanner set works, has never let me down.   The same goes for my amps, The Bugera Veyron has never let me down and is manageable and does not look silly on top of my cabinet.  Another point, modern cabinets are smaller. It made sense for big wide amps when sat atop a cabinet 2ft6 wide (750mm approx). Newer cabinets tend to be designed single or vertically aligned speakers as speaker design and drivers have evolved.

[Beedster]

5 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

You are quite right but for me the preference for a lightweight Class D head comes from necessity, I can no longer hump two large lumps of iron around at close to 69. So yes that puts valve amps out of the question. I love my old HH amps but they were designed to sit on top of a 4x12 and my cabinets are smaller than that. Even the best Class A/B amps (ABM) overhang my current cabs.

I think of it like this. If I were a mechanic, I would use Facom or Snap-On tools, but for me my Lidl spanner set works, has never let me down.   The same goes for my amps, The Bugera Veyron has never let me down and is manageable and does not look silly on top of my cabinet.  Another point, modern cabinets are smaller. It made sense for big wide amps when sat atop a cabinet 2ft6 wide (750mm approx). Newer cabinets tend to be designed single or vertically aligned speakers as speaker design and drivers have evolved.

All good points mate

But if you had a roadie.......?  

[Chienmortbb]

4 minutes ago, Beedster said:

All good points mate

But if you had a roadie.......?  

I would buy 10 of the Sound City heads I had in the late 60s plus.............

[Beedster]

A big part of this is the convenience/use and replace culture as well. We're sold that idea that if something requires less effort it's a good thing, and that is something stops working, we should replace it. This is happening with music gear in so many areas from lightweight and non-repairable amplification, to studio hardware that goes loco when Apple or Microsoft change something (I sold an interface for £60 this morning that cost almost £2000 twenty years ago, which still works perfectly, which has decent preamps, functionality etc but which will not work with a computer or software made much after 2010), and don't get me started on the lunacy of data cable upgrades. I'm a cyclist as well, my Dad had the same Campagnolo groupset on his bike for over 30 years, he could always buy the right bolts, washers, springs, even quite esoteric parts if something started to wear. Bikes are crazy now, if something breaks, you buy a new one, which for a wheel can be £1,000!!!!! there's guys who are 3 stone overweight paying £10,000 for a bike because its 2lbs lighter than last year's model, for brakes that are actually less good in many conditions (disk breaks on high speed road bikes), because this is how the manufacturers get people to buy new gear - 'no-one's riding calliper brakes/26" wheels/manual gears any more".

I forget who said it, but it was a reflection from one of the US Psychologists in the early 20th century who was involved in the systematic application of the psychology of the subconscious to sales and marketing (and politics); "We changed the way governments viewed their people, changing the expectation that they move from being good citizens to being good consumers". Yvon Choinard, the founder of Patagonia (a very switched-on company who repair their own and other manufacturer's mountain clothing free of charge) put it beautifully "In a world of limited resources, there's nothing clever about being a consumer". So this is why I love this thread, because to a degree whilst it celebrates gear that I love for doing what it does the way it does it, it's also about not simply accepting at face value the idea that everything has to be the way the marketing departments want it to be

A very personal opinion, others are of course entitled to say "Beedster, you're talking stinky poo" 

[Beedster]

And I have to be honest and say that it still makes me smile when I walk into a gig carrying my SVT--II on my own, but if needs be, it takes the singer and the guitarist to carry it back out again (i.e., when I'm trying to find the landlord to get the cash)  

[peteb]

9 minutes ago, Beedster said:

A very personal opinion, others are of course entitled to say "Beedster, you're talking stinky poo" 

No mate, you are exactly right. One of the more perceptive posts I have ever seen on BC. 

We have reached the point where technology exceeds need and requires to artificially create a demand that doesn't exist. For example, do we need driverless cars? But the technology is there and there is money to be made, so there will be a massive push for it to happen. Meanwhile we are accelerating a disposable culture to facilitate these unnecessary advances. 

I am obviously in favour of meaningful scientific / technological advances. But too often things are being pushed on us, not because they improve our life, but because it is a way of selling unnecessary products to us. 

[40hz]

12 minutes ago, peteb said:

No mate, you are exactly right. One of the more perceptive posts I have ever seen on BC. 

We have reached the point where technology exceeds need and requires to artificially create a demand that doesn't exist. For example, do we need driverless cars? But the technology is there and there is money to be made, so there will be a massive push for it to happen. Meanwhile we are accelerating a disposable culture to facilitate these unnecessary advances. 

I am obviously in favour of meaningful scientific / technological advances. But too often things are being pushed on us, not because they improve our life, but because it is a way of selling unnecessary products to us. 

Couldn't agree more. The obvious example of this is the yearly cycle of mobile phone releases that millions sign up to. Never mind the fact there hasn't been any meaningful advance in what a phone can actually do in about 5-10 years. It's just a slightly better camera and more useless gimmicks. This extends to so many differing products in our daily lives.

[Jack]

On 08/09/2020 at 10:00, Cat Burrito said:

I saw that Ampeg head too but it bucks the trend. I am (pending an incoming payout) looking for an AD200B Orange head and the general guideline seems to be that these things do very much hold a lot of their value. Whilst I agree that the lightweight stuff is very much the preferred option these days, plenty still want (& pay for) those old school big valve beasts.

Someone on a local Facebook group put an AD200B and matching cab up for like £300 the other day, I got there like 37 minutes after he posted and it was already sold about 15x over. 

[Cat Burrito]

1 hour ago, Jack said:

Someone on a local Facebook group put an AD200B and matching cab up for like £300 the other day.

Mine was £999 from a new price of £1799... at £300 (& with the matching cab) I would have to wonder if it was nicked. Granted there are a few who sell not knowing what they have but that is *very* low. Almost too good to be true. Might be wrong but I'd have been very suspicious.

[ern500evo]

2 hours ago, Jack said:

Someone on a local Facebook group put an AD200B and matching cab up for like £300 the other day, I got there like 37 minutes after he posted and it was already sold about 15x over. 

£300 for a AD200 and cab??? 😳

[Beedster]

1 hour ago, Cat Burrito said:

Mine was £999 from a new price of £1799... at £300 (& with the matching cab) I would have to wonder if it was nicked. Granted there are a few who sell not knowing what they have but that is *very* low. Almost too good to be true. Might be wrong but I'd have been very suspicious.

At £300 that's stolen, not working and in very bad condition