i recently was in GC looking around and found an old Epiphone Galaxie 25 guitar amp that was missing a reverb tank. this amp is powered by 2 EL-84 tubes. since it was missing the reverb, they sold it to me for 100.00 or so. i took it home and there was some cracking in the amp, so i took it to my local amp doctor...for 160.00 bucks, he fixed it, put in two new power tubes and swapped out the Celestion speaker that came with it for an Eminence Patriot Swamp Thang. ( the speaker swap was only 20.00 plus trade in) got it home for my son, it sounds fabulous. the new speaker is night & day difference. the only thing it still lacks is reverb. he has a Holy Grail, so i am not too worried, but anyway, can get one off ebay for @ 20.00 if he really wants it. total cost for this amp...@ 260.00. my question is, did i score or not? i know it sounds great...just wondering. ps-edit...oh, and the crackle and hiss is COMPLETELY gone...it is so quiet now, i thought it was not turned on at first...
You did okay. These were about $350 when new about ten years ago and they're alright amps. Don't expect bulletproof reliability from these, but for casual use they're nice and sound pretty good. I would not recommend using this as a steady gigging amp. It won't hold up to the abuse. So... did you score? If you really like the way it sounds and you won't be beating on it too hard, then yes, you scored.
hmmmm....looks like i broke about even...used amp, sounds great now, and got a killer speaker...but still a used amp...i call it a draw {}
I don't think it matters what they really cost new, if you like the sound of it. For a nice sounding tube amp with new power tubes that you resurrected for $260 total, I think that's great. I prefer to bring tube amps back from the edge and use them, I like it better than buying ones that are perfect, but I'm old school. Makes me love them more when I've reanimated them. Enjoy it!
I'm with you! I have a great stable of vintage tube amps that I could never have afforded if I had bought them in working condition. Long live DIY!
yeah, i'm definitely happy...i did not mention that they also replaced all 3 pre-amp tubes within the 160.00 fee, so all in all, i think i did ok...not great, but ok. {}
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