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Discontinued Amps

#41
otto B said:
Here is a question: Would you get a mint condition discontinued Amp, like a MarBass F1, Genz Benz Shuttle and many other amps?
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The company that made my gear is out of business and certain repair parts are going to be hard to come by making repairs impossible. Fortunately I have a lifetime supply, and my gear is not abused. So it’s a race with my gear to see which one ends up in the grave last.
 
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#45
otto B said:
Here is a question: Would you get a mint condition discontinued Amp, like a MarBass F1, Genz Benz Shuttle and many other amps?
Click to expand...
All my amps are long discontinued.

Aguilar DB728, DB359 & DB750
Sadowsky SA300
SWR Basic Black & LA12

Any competent tech should be able to work on these if that’s your concern. While I recognize that amp schematics are foreign to me, there are many folks out there that have mastery over their domain (not a Seinfeld reference).
 
#47
packhowitzer said:
To be honest, whether an amp is still in production or not is not high on the list of determining factors for me when deciding to buy. Serviceability matters a great deal of course, just because an amp is out of production doesn't mean it can't be worked on by a qualified tech. And specific to the topic of this thread, yes, I would always prefer a mint condition amp over one that was in less than mint condition.
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If the design is based around obsolete, unobtainable parts, it's likely to become scrap when something does go wrong. I like older gear that uses garden variety parts that can be easily substituted when necessary. Older Peavey gear is a good example.
 
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#48
I would not give this much concern at all; with the exception of one of my amps all my amps have long been out of production and one of them the company stopped doing business circa 1985.

The amp I have that is "still in production" is a bit of conjecture, I think they are OUT of production and they are just running down existing stock until they close the brand out (GC Acoustic).

The only concern I see is if you wind up with say an old SWR or Eden that uses some proprietary parts and you just love the particular model you have.

Reality is most bass amps are extremely reliable and have been that way like forever.

If you have an out of production amp and it dies and is not economically viable to repair, there are tons of choices out there, new and used to replace it.

They are bass amps, not something obscure and made in extremely small numbers like say a Maserati Merak.

Analogeezer
 
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#51
100% yes. I got a mint Ashdown RootMaster 800w first generation for a very good price. They still make the Rootmaster 800w, But it's now on v3, and some features have been sacked, and the looks changed. I'd take my 1st gen any day
 
#52
I prefer USA made and used the last new amp I bought was the Carvin BX500 when they first came out. I detox the ribbon cables when needed and what a workhorse this jewel has been, hundreds of gigs and it shows! Being a bargain hunter I found another mint BX500(in a bronco case) on CL for $250. Just bought a BX700 from GC absolute mint, 2 locking power cords, heavy duty speaker cable & footswitch $299. Also in the last few months I have purchased two GB 6.0 12T Shuttle combos for $400 each. So used or discontinued is no concern for me, it's price and condition that matter.
 
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#54
rickwebb said:
I'd love to get my filthy little mitts on some old Sunn amps. Fender-affiliated or otherwise.
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sunn.jpg
 
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#57
There's a ton of good vintage amps out there, now that I think about it.
Many more recent "discontinued" ones too..

For example, I just got a first generation orange terror bass. It was discontinued for a while, then they brough it back. On the old one, you get 500w no matter if it's a 8 or 4 ohm cab. On the new one its 250/500. So you don't get the full power unless you run a 4ohm or double 8's. Idk why they do that, probably for safety reasons i'm too dumb to understand. ALLS I KNOW IS THAT THE THING IS LOUD.

Anyway, glad I got the older version!
 
#58
In the last two weeks I have been looking around for a tube amp. I was ready to pull the trigger on an NOS Trace V4 but had some issues putting the coins in one place and it left me time to look around. Many considerations.

I went and looked at an SVT-AV last serviced in 2018 with once a week for 3-4 hours on it. That's +/- 700 hours. Good price. Had to see if the one guy in the area who KNOWS what he is doing would bench it. Nope! Only vintage SVT's. So, without that piece that the owner dude was down with doing. I let a church ahead of me in line take it.

Also, had all the money now for the first one...

Went to a favorite insane music store that had a '72 - '74 SVT Magnavox Black Line. Tolex rough, but workable. Face had good lettering, but missing the original grill and badge. BUT, had been serviced by the tube savant. He said thumbs up and the GE 6550's are strong! The tag says $1899. Jimmy looked at the pics and was thinking $1200. The 90 lbs and the haggle or bloodbath to get it made me consider looking further.

I have committed to purchase a sweet prototype of a discontinued tube amp from the factory. 200 watts, new, price is right, having a 12AU7 changed to 12AT7 and likely won't need to worry about service from my guy because he will not work on it anyway.

Yes; I'll do it, if it all lines up! :thumbsup:
 

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