Pawn Shop Prizes!!!

[fontaine]

Anybody have a story of their greatest find?
ex. '1968' Vox ac30 for $110.00, it's true.
happened for me.I still have it and it has only left
the house once.Waaay too powerful for the
places i play.
any way, love to hear cool stories on stuff folks
have just serendipidously stumbled upon!Or even by
an unexpected surprise! Nyuk, Nyuk.....
Fontaine

[e-merlin]

Well, I don't know if it qualifies as a stunning deal, but I bought a Fender Blues DeVille a month or so ago for $250. It wasn't working and needed to be re-covered. It was an easy fix and the only expense involved so far was a new set of tubes. Now I just need to recover it.

When I first started playing in 92 or 93, I bought a blackface Bassman head for $100. A couple of weeks later I bought Music Man RD 100 head for $100 at the same shop.

[Rob Rent]

when I was in a band in high school...1973 I needed an amp....I had very little money and had to get the loudest thing I could for the least amount of cash....I ended up getting this tweed twin from 1959 in pristine condition from the original owner for $85 and everyone made fun of me and that old "suitcase looking amp"..until I plugged in........we didn't know much about tone back then but we knew it was LOUD and sounded pretty good......It's still loud and still sounds pretty good......but NObody laughs anymore....
My main tele I bought from a guy in a bar in '81. It's a '68 and it was in very good condition...I paid $125 for it.

[jimmiboots]

A couple weeks ago I found a brownface Princeton at a garage sale for $50. I qoute, "Fender was never really known for their amps."

Needs a little work, but sounds great anyway....

[Nick Fanis]

all the Greek bouzouki players had discovered the "beauty" of ss amps and were selling their bf and sf twins and supers for practically nothing.

I bought a bf super for $100 ,a sf twin for $150 and a sf vibrolux for $70 in 1989!

[Jerry J]

A recent trip to FLA revealed to me that every pawn shop I visited was totally aware and I mean totally aware of "Tube Amps" and any tube amp would be a modern amp and priced higher than new at a music shop. Why? I blame eBay to a degree but I also think enough people have visited pawn shops to alert the owners. I visited quite a few shops, some several times, and was totally disappointed. I visited some real podunk places, and the question was the same - "are you looking for an old Fender amp?"

I guess that leaves estate sales, yard sales, and local want ads as the only choices these days.

[fontaine]

some great stories! love the one about selling off all
those nasty tube amps for solid state.Also fender not being known for their amps. thats great!! As far as pawn shops these days being wise, i still think the occasional find can be made. I guess what i'm saying is don't
give up. I still feel a twinge if i drive by and don't stop
cause i'm in a hurry or some other excuse
.

[stantheman]

the "Amp Days" ARE over (thanks to the internet). BUT
Spring's here (though it snowed this morning on The Mountain) and that means YARD SALES !!!!!
Stomp Boxes are "the game". A lot of "country fairs and
flea markets" can provide the saavy shopper with some serious thrills AND money making possibilities. REMEMBER a lotta people bought stuff and they KNOW
what the Geetars and Amps are worth BUT NOT the Mutron or Rat or Octavia or TS-808....
An example of some of the stuff I picked up last year;
2 Fabtones I think I paid ten or twenty bucks for BOTH.
1 "new" Crybaby, ten bucks.
1 "Potato Bug" Ibanez Tube Screamer, five bucks (NICE).
1 Zoom 1010 (no wallwart), three bucks (works).
2 Yamaha PA-3 Wall Warts in boxes a buck each.

Stop at Yard Sales and Flea Markets (early & often) 8)

[Bill]

My actual pawnshop find was a Super Champ with the footswitch that they had at my local pawnshop for $100. I noticed there was a pedal in the back of the amp and asked them about it. They said that since it was pawned with the amp, it was included with the amp.

The pedal was an old MXR Phase 100, which was worth another $100.

[JerryPro]

I'd just like to hang around for your scraps. Sounds like you and some others hit the mother load.

I don't have anything that good but I did manage to trade a Peavey Profex II for a 69 Deluxe Reverb that was dirty but in great shape. It had been stored for a very long time. I had to spend about $200 to get it in shape but it is mint now. BF circuit.

I paid $10 for an Ibanez Metal Screamer on eBay. Don't let the name fool you this is a very good pedal.

[Rob Rent]

the "scratched up old stratocaster" that I (ME...the genius that I am) traded to a music store "even up" for a brand new bolt-on neck "Memphis" Les Paul copy in the mid 70s....boy did I get over on them..........
I almost never tell this particular story..as it seems to diminish my cool factor.
So I guess it all works out.

[Brad]

While it IS harder and harder to find a sleeper, they are out there. You just have to make a committment to hit the shops several times a week. Not only will you find the treasures recently out from pawn, you will develop a rapport ( hopefully good! ) with the staff and they will be much more willing to deal with you and hold those little specials for you. I've probably spent $500 to $700 in the pawn shops this year and got some incredible deals. Not all I buy I use right away. Some of what I get I have no need for...it's just such a good price, I can't let it go! The best amp deal I got was a brand new Roland Blues Cube BC60 for $150.00. I still use it today. Incredible sounding solid state amp.

[timgreene]

Got a ultra-linear super reverb, for 250.00 dollars total, out the door. The amp is an 1981 model. Of course this was back in 1985. I figure after playing it for 19 years with no problems, original speakers, the amp was free. If I sell it now, I will probably have been paid to play it. It is beat up, but still smokes, and is very loud.

This is my bedroom amp.

[Wally]

A friend stopped by one day and said that there a 'metal-bodied ukelele' at a pawn shop. I checked it out and bought a Gibson GA-18 from '62 AND a National Style 3 (Lilies of the Valley and a flamed maple neck) ukelele for $465. Bob Brozman gave me very good profit over the phone the next day for the lil National uke....he got a good deal, too. I still have the amp.

[fontaine]

I almost hate to say this but it's true. One mans
junk is anothers joy!Being able to see through the
dust and dirt and see a gem!The deluxe reverb,
Yowsa!For a peavey?! Yes please! And that
tiny little "super champ" Bill, i know you'd take
one fiddy for it.No harm in a little proffit right?
Bill, come back! o.k. o.k.$175.00. Dang lost
another one to reality!I'm jones'n for an S.C.!!!

[buglecorps]

I'm jones'n for an S.C.!!!

Never seen one...ever...and I do the second hand thing every week in a major metro area. Heck The only II series amp I've ever seen is a Twin Verb II.
It's pretty much impossible to get "deals" on big ticket/well known items in this (D.C.) area..you can some times do the "sleeper" thing and find PV tube amps, MIM Fenders, Marshall UK and DOD US pedals for a resonable price. EVERYTHING here is a ton of money, all the time...Untill you need to sell..then it's 10 cents on the dollar..all the time; on everything. You could walk in with a mint '59 Paul and they would have "5 in the back" and "no one want's those any more..how 'bout $200 bucks"

The only stuff I have scored in the last couple of years is a NOS '80s Marshall Guv'nor in the original box for $50.00 and a pair of NOS US made DODs for $25.00 each..I have gotten some OK deals on amps and guitars but, nothing that would really be a steal.

[Twangbanger]

I have 2 finds:
back few years ago I found an old gibson acoustic. It was a 66 country western, pawn shop wanted 300 for it I took it. A few months later I found out that it was stolen. Traded it for a strat.


During Xmas, my brother bought me a Custom Shop Dual Professional for 400$.

I love this amp!

[Elk]

I helped a friend move out of a house he was renting. In the basement, way back in the corner was a little tweed amp. He said, "You might as well take it, I don't know where it came from." It is a Valco Chicago 51; it's got mojo!

[schmee]

So last summer I'm driving to the supermarket and I see thse ugly home made particle board speaker cabinets and an old junk SS stereo for sale in this front yard....I wouldn't have stopped except for the aluminum domes on the speakers.......I got a stereo, two vintage JBL D130's, and four JBL PA crossovers for $50..............

[jhundt]

at a garage sale a couple of years ago. A beautiful Vox Tempest 12 String for $85 at a pawnshop in Louisville. A '66 Mustang for $25, discovered on top of a fireman's locker during a painting job.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by schmee

So last summer I'm driving to the supermarket and I see thse ugly home made particle board speaker cabinets and an old junk SS stereo for sale in this front yard....I wouldn't have stopped except for the aluminum domes on the speakers.......I got a stereo, two vintage JBL D130's, and four JBL PA crossovers for $50..............

SWEEEEET!!! I thought I scored on a pair of 60's JBL Lancer 33's for $100.00. HA! You hit the jackpot my friend!

[Marky D.]

After years of plodding through flea markets, I found a BF vibro champ ($40) and a 59 tweed champ ($200) on the same day around 1990! The tweed amp seller 'kind of' knew what he had, but $200 was still less than half the going rate.

Other noteable finds:
- Supro Lap Steel: $14
- Vox 12 string electric/acoustic $20
- Harmony Master archtop $20
- Silvertone 2x12 amp w/ head that stores in cab: $40
- MacIntosh 60 power amp $50 (saw it, but didn't buy it)

My brother bought a pristine SF drip edge Princeton Reverb (1968) a couple years ago for $50 at a garage sale. I have since taken it off his hands for a more reasonable price.

[Tremo]

I scored a pair of JBL L-100s for $250 a number of years ago. I still use them, they sound great. What, are they like 30 years old now?

[buglecorps]

how that works..

After years of plodding through flea markets, I found a BF vibro champ ($40) and a 59 tweed champ ($200) on the same day around 1990!

I have NEVER seen any amps in the local thrifts...this week FOUR..

A busted Dano Honeytone 1x6 This will make a sweet box for a single ended home brew project, sturdy steel chassis too..heck the (metal )switch, power connector and speaker will probably work too..and the leather handle..15.00

Fender Frontman 15( MIM metal grill version) $50.00
..hey its the "50th edition"..gold seal in perfect condition.. VERY clean..this would go for @ 75.00 in a shop herebouts..I know of at least one that's
$89.00 ! This in a pretty nice amp for SS..(just don't even THINK about using the OD) the clean is pretty "Champy" and the neck pick up of my Strat sounds like a L-5..must be that closed box.

Two I passed on..a SS Psudo Bassman from Kent..no cab
..but it was blue...late '60s I'd say.. $100.00..uh uh..

And the Piece de Resistance...A Eko "Viking Bass".. 2x15 cab 3 knob (V,T,B) head sporting 4 GE 6l6's..with COVERS..no price on this one but I had dreams of thumping out the neighboorhood for a hundred bucks or so.."I'll get the MGR.".."that's one of them there tube amps son..that's $500!"

And thus the problem with the DC thrifts..they know just enough to be dangerous..still it was VERY clean....

[Brad]

[quote="buglecorps"]how that works..

After years of plodding through flea markets, I found a BF vibro champ ($40) and a 59 tweed champ ($200) on the same day around 1990!

I have NEVER seen any amps in the local thrifts...this week FOUR..

You just have to be persistant. There are probably 20 - 25 pawn shops in a 30 mile radius from my home. I have 2 that I frequent several times a week and 4 more that I hit at least once a month. The others I go to only if I'm near the area and have some time. I go in knowing that 95% of the time I'm going to find nothing. It's the 5% I don't want to miss out on! Of course, there are several where they NEVER have anything good and the mediocre stuff is priced twice as high as anywhere else. You just never know when you'll find the treasure. Several months ago, I stopped by one I had never seen before. They had the usual overpriced Peavey Rages and Encore guitars that would be better served shooting arrows than strumming songs, but I scored a MIJ Boss CE-2 chorus in very good condition for $20.00. I sold it the next day for $80.00. Should of kept it, but I needed the coin.