LOL NOT in R.I.
San Diego. Absolute other end of the Continental U.S.
A logistical challenge
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What to do when you find a Dinosaur?
- Thread starter Jaxgits
- Start date
San Diego. Absolute other end of the Continental U.S.
A logistical challenge
Well, you could take it to the nearest Guitar Center and offer it to them. They'll plug it in to see if it works for sure, which would resolve that dilemma for you at the same time. If it works, you may get a semi-decent offer for a quick sale on the spot, given that you do need to get rid of it quick...and if it's non-functional at least it hasn't cost you anything but time and a bit of gas to find out where you stand.
Good luck.
Retrieved from e-waste recycling place I do business with. A LOT of equipment there covered with dust, Behringer 32ch Eurodesk, Roland MT-32, Behringer DJ mixer 700 series, Old Audio source EQ, BGW 150W 4Ohm amp, Roland GR 33, other oddities.
I suspect it was a DJ, maybe using the beast to power Mains. Possibly thrown out by ex-wife or widow
I live in California and I am dieing here in San Diego (most expensive city in the U.S. they say).
I desperately need to sell this thing it is the only item there with much value.
I have cleaned it up. I am a musician and technician/stagehand (so I didn't use a garden hose)
All tubes are lighting up
Any idea of the value, it is not tested. I suspect it works all the other items do that have power supplies
thanks for replies . . . TIME is of the essense, probably take it by Guitar Center this weekend. They might test it under the premise of buying it or consignment
This is all good for a few laughs but I am about to Post my beautiful 81 Explorer 2 which I have owned since 86, and part with it (breaks my heart). All to help dig me out of this wretched economy and get caught up on bills and support and a new phone and a couple of beers once in a while.
Ya'll be cool, thanks for looking, especially anybody trying to help
I suspect it was a DJ, maybe using the beast to power Mains. Possibly thrown out by ex-wife or widow
I live in California and I am dieing here in San Diego (most expensive city in the U.S. they say).
I desperately need to sell this thing it is the only item there with much value.
I have cleaned it up. I am a musician and technician/stagehand (so I didn't use a garden hose)
All tubes are lighting up
Any idea of the value, it is not tested. I suspect it works all the other items do that have power supplies
thanks for replies . . . TIME is of the essense, probably take it by Guitar Center this weekend. They might test it under the premise of buying it or consignment
This is all good for a few laughs but I am about to Post my beautiful 81 Explorer 2 which I have owned since 86, and part with it (breaks my heart). All to help dig me out of this wretched economy and get caught up on bills and support and a new phone and a couple of beers once in a while.
Ya'll be cool, thanks for looking, especially anybody trying to help
BTW - There's a post on eBay if you search for Fender 400 PS that is awesome.
Somebody selling a couple of beat up knobs with the Fender F on them for $74.95.
They are bent from somebody trying to pry them off instead of loosening set screws.
based on that . . . WOW this brain has over $400 worth of knobs alone
Somebody selling a couple of beat up knobs with the Fender F on them for $74.95.
They are bent from somebody trying to pry them off instead of loosening set screws.
based on that . . . WOW this brain has over $400 worth of knobs alone
It's a big block muscle car that most bass players haven't heard of...
...let alone saw one with their own eyes.Good luck.
Call Bob Dixon at Amphole up in Burbank; he himself would not want it most likely, but he of all people would know someone who would. He fixes practically all of the tube amps in LA and elsewhere, and his work flow never stops. I doubt that GC would want a non-functional amp; where would you go, La Mesa?
It's certainly a very clean amp based on the cabinet and control surface.
I've got one and wouldn't expect too much for mine though it's fully functional and it would take a while to find someone who really wants one.
DO NOT POWER IT UP WITH NO SPEAKERS CONNECTED as others have pointed out.
I've got one and wouldn't expect too much for mine though it's fully functional and it would take a while to find someone who really wants one.
DO NOT POWER IT UP WITH NO SPEAKERS CONNECTED as others have pointed out.
Really does look like a nice clean specimen cosmetically. Hopefully you can find a nice home for it. It could be in perfect working order or it could have major problems. No way to say without testing the amp. Sometimes it can be a challenge to flip an amp like this for a profit, even if you can do all of the repair yourself.
FYI, It's really not a good idea to power up a tube amp without speakers connected...and this amp requires three 4 ohm cabs.
Techs usually charge a flat rate bench fee to take a look. This is a non-refundable charge probably equal to about 1 hr of labor.. If the amp requires repair, any residual value from the bench fee goes towards future cost of parts and labor.
Let's say it has bad output tubes. A new set of current production 6550s will run at least $360. The bench fee might cover installing the tubes and setting the bias, or you may have to pay a bit more.
If the amp has a malfunction, you pay hourly for labor. No idea what the current rate is but I would guess at least $100/hr. Obviously labor can add up quickly.
If it has a bad transformer, I doubt there are any old stock replacements. Looks like Mercury Mags can wind a custom power transformer for about $685. I found a website in Europe that indicates you can special order a Mercury Mags OT for about $762. Removing and replacing a transformer can take a couple of hour or more.
As you see the cost of repair could easily go over $1000 for an old beast like this.
I wouldn't take it to GC. I doubt anyone there would a clue about this amp. They would likely be unqualified to test it and they make damage it in the attempt.
It's a bummer you're not keeping it. The best base tone I've ever heard was standing next to Gary Clark's bass players rig at an outdoor Festival. A ps400 into a 410 cabinet. I wasn't hearing the mains I was hearing the rig, Glorious
There's a lot of things on the internet, eBay and everywhere else that aren't based as much in reality as they are in opportunism, cloaked in hopeful patience that the right buyer will come along.
If you're looking for a quick sale then you're focusing on the wrong content out there.
@Jaxgits
Hey Jax, I feel people are mincing words, but I want to give you my own hard-won experience from my own experience as somebody who never saw an e-waste facility yard I wasn't fascinated by and had crazy dreams from.
Any of the values you see online for sale are almost certainly from sellers that know the amp works, the history of the tubes in it, and when selling online on a musician marketplace, know that if they sell somebody an amp for $2500 that the expectation is it's not going to eat tubes and it's going to work for some time without problems. Thats where any $ over, say, a baseline amount of $300-$400 is going. That premium is for a healthy, restored, semi-guaranteed purchase.
You desire $ for this without waiting months. Well, the person that is willing to pay $X,XXX for this model amp is few and far between, and takes months to surface. That's one truth. That guy selling $75 knobs? They sit for a year waiting for that one person that needs them.
If you find the one amp guy who can fix it or give it a clean bill of health because you paid him $200-$1200 to go through it, then that's your money to spend and you'll get a return most likely when you flip it. But that is a gamble for you, as well. Some tube amps problems come back if it was somebody without (enough) experience that "fixed" it.
Your best bet is to google the one amp repair guy in SD that is willing to gamble and take it off your hands because he has reason to think it can be made reliable and whole again, and he can make money with his hard-earned knowledge. In that case you get a few hundred for a "gamble" on his part. Maybe Caveman Music in LA is willing to take a few hundred dollar gamble.
Short story: you can probably only extract 4 figures from this find unless you are willing to put in time, work, and money.
Edit: I just did a lot of reading on Rick Koerner’s website about the 400PS, and then some discussion here. I guess the power section is 6 6550 tubes, and you can’t get those anymore? Rich was specific on his pages that the import tubes he was dealing with did not work well in the design. Looks like this amp is just as finicky as an SVT and then some.
Edit edit: I am now a bonafide internet 400PS expert. Power section needs somebody who understands why it could melt power tubes, knowledgeable on tube substitutions.
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I realize there is a lot of traffic on this thread, but it's sad to see when thoughtful replies are summarily ignored.
Several posters have warned the you to not power this without a load -- dummy or otherwise. Several posters, myself included, have noted the high cost and relative scarcity of the tubes in this monster. Despite that good (and free) advice, you've come back to report that the tubes are glowing. Cool story.
Asking price means nothing; consummating a sale requires an interested buyer. You are free to list an your favorite Beanie Baby for the GDP of Lichtenstein, but that doesn't establish its value nor make you a multi-billionarire by the act of listing. The very fact that you see an item listed for sale means that nobody has bought it at the asking price yet. Perhaps it'll sell tomorrow; perhaps it will never move.
It sounds like you passed over an MT-32. They move like hotcakes on eBay for >$200, more if in good shape. Bird in hand versus two in the bush.
You clearly have $$ in your eyes. Supporting members of this site can post ads. Supporting members can ask valuation questions. Many of their same ads sit for weeks or months without any action -- sellers awating interested buyers. If you want $$ fast, go to a pawn shop in SD or drive up to LA and try to move this for a few more bucks at one of the many speciality shops. Remember, operating condition is still a question mark; you might end up with an offer of $50 for the iron and knobs.
FWIW, amps are not cars. And the nostalgia value of old, impractical, and hard to repair tube amps bears mo relation to the enthusiasm and market for old cars. If you were a musician you’d already know that and not think you grabbed the brass ring with that amp.
Whoever previously owned that amp knew quite well what it was - and why they determined it wasn’t worth keeping. Especially with the trend in amps today being small, light, affordable, and extremely powerful solid-state amps. Because modern solid-state amps now sound every bit as good or better than tubes. Even the old school diehards like myself have realized that despite being reluctant to finally admit it. You can only be pigheaded about something for so long before you realize you’re just being a fool - and also looking like one.
So time for some more tough love.
The advice you’ve been given still holds. What you have is more of an aardvark than a unicorn. You can:
1. Spend money to get it checked out and (maybe) fixed. Then hold onto it for however long it takes for you to get what you’re hoping.
2. Sell it “as is” and take whatever you can get for it.
3. Try parting it out.
Options 1 and 2 aren’t likely going to be quick sales. Option 3 may net you some quick cash provided you know something about tubes and the other salvageable parts and how much to ask and where to sell them. And that doesn’t mean a quick bit of “research” on eBay or Reverb. Because you’ll often get asked fairly technical questions by the potential buyers. And if you can’t answer them the savvy buyers will walk away because you’re going to be pegged as a dumpster find flipper trying to unload a piece of scrap metal some musician already determined was unsalvageable and therefore unsalable. Because very few people will just toss a working or salvageable amp in the trash without trying to first get at least some money for it.
And as has already been pointed out, you deciding to power up that amp up without an attached speaker - despite being warned not to - was a bad move. Because there’s a good chance you damaged the amp by doing that. Virtually no tube amp
can be run safely without a resistive load on the output. It’s like rolling down a steep mountain road with no brakes. Without some resistance pushing back, the circuit will rapidly keep increasing its output voltage until something (like expensive hard to find tubes) blows, necessitating an expensive repair.
So I’d suggest your best bet is stop messing with it and either to sell it to someone “as is” for whatever you can get, give it away, or put it back in the trash.
I wish you the best regardless of what you ultimately decide to do.
Note: My grandmother always said: “If you always hope for the best - but expect the worst - you’ll never be surprised or disappointed by anything in life.”
I’ve learned that was pretty solid advice.
The concern about powering up that amp without a speaker is probably a little bit overcautious. I can't cite an authoritative source for this information, but I'm pretty sure that it has internal protection, and won't apply power to the output tubes unless something is plugged into the speaker jack. And a lot of tube amps (I'm not sure about this one) short the output (which is not good, but better than leaving it open) if nothing is plugged in.
With that said - I think the advice given earlier is best: find a skilled tube amp specialist who knows what this thing is and find out what they'll pay for it. If it's as good on the inside as it is on the outside, there's someone, somewhere who would treasure it. (I already have an SVT that is too heavy to bother moving, so I'm not that someone.)
With that said - I think the advice given earlier is best: find a skilled tube amp specialist who knows what this thing is and find out what they'll pay for it. If it's as good on the inside as it is on the outside, there's someone, somewhere who would treasure it. (I already have an SVT that is too heavy to bother moving, so I'm not that someone.)
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,051
- 5
- 221,020
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Just be sure that if you continuing to screw around with the amp, you know the number to 911…
The speakers jacks are supposed to switch the tubes in and out of the circuit in pairs. AFAIK, this is done by switching the ground connections to the cathodes. Power supply voltages will run higher if none of the tubes are pulling current....also who is to say the switches are working properly.
IMHO, there is really little point in applying power and setting the amp to operate if you can't test to see if the amp is making noise or passing a signal. Just because tube heaters light does not mean the circuits are working. Also the tube heaters come on with the amp set to standby, so there is no need to risk setting the amp to operate.
AFAIK, Usually a best practice is to bring up an old tube amp on a variac and probe the circuit to check proper operating voltages. Identifying problems at a lower voltage reduces the risk of a major damage.
