Am I hanging onto my big amps because they're a security blanket?

Yep same here.

I have cut down some but I sold a 4x10 half stack a few years ago that I never gigged with and felt some sort of attachment that if I ever did play a big outdoor concert I would want it.

 

I have two big amps--a '72 VT22 and a '69 VT40. I play outdoor festivals on occasion where the backline is usually Blooze Devilles, Blues Jrs, etc., RI Twins, with the usual lousy monitor mix. No thanks. I play with a pretty clean tone and need some bigger iron to get some fidelity. Well, the VT 40 is what I'll be using in future...you need to move some air on an outdoor stage.

 

If you don't need the extra money or space, then they're just as good at your house than anywhere else. I get #4, but it's not like the amp cares if it's being played or not. It's not a living thing.

Might as well keep it until you actually need to get rid of it.

 

For me, it would be status quo and fear. I have some great amps, and I'd be terrified that I would regret letting any of them go so much so that I would be completely miserable. That and laziness. I picked up a non-powered Kemper Profiler a little over a year ago to try out, and I'm somewhat embarrassed to say, I haven't played any of my amps in the time I've had it. It is totally a convenience thing, and also because I can get the sound and feel I want at a conversational level. Although, it feels much better the louder you make it, kind of like a real tube amp.

 

I keep them because they are truly something that I think is worth more than the money you could get for them. For at home playing they are great to have- I never play my super champ but I play a twin or super daily

 

Chris m: I know how you feel. I've lost count of how many times this big lump of sonic magnificence has got to within one button push for Ebay. But no, I can't do it, even though I can barely lift the damn thing these days. Burman 100W head.

 

Here is how I test myself:

Might I wake up screaming with regret over something I cannot find again? This is why my Martin will be sold by my executor

if I had the cash in my hand today, and was offered the amp for what I could get for it, would I buy? This test has seen me sell dozens of things over the past few years. I don't throw them away, I list them at a price I wouldn't buy them for. Almost everything I ever listed has gone, apart from my gibson - and that is because I am asking too much

 

I've got three 'stupid loud' amps:

• highly modified Marshall 2204'ish head
• ~67 Super Reverb
• highly modified AB165 Bassman head

I've got so much time invested in the Marshall head, and it's really mostly just a full custom build at this point, so I'll never get much money for it. It sounds so glorious when cranked up that it's really the only way to use it. I guess I've kind of accepted that it's like the equivalent of a dragster or funny car, so there's simply limited opportunities (e.g. almost zero right now) when I'll actually use it.

I wanted a SR for years and years, so when I had the chance to get one, about 7 or so years ago, I wasn't going to pass on it. I found a clean one, but w/o speakers or tubes. I've got decent tubes in it, but the speakers part remains a work in progress. Even w/o the right speakers, it's just a great amp. Even if I could get good money for it (which I doubt I could), I don't think I'd sell it. Maybe if another decade goes by and I still don't have the right speakers in it, only then I might think of selling it.

My Bassman head is beat to crap, but I've put a lot of TLC into it over the past 3 or 4 years that I've had it. Through a 2X12 cab with WGS ET65s, it's simply pure rock n roll. It's one of the best sounding amps I've ever had, despite having no 'verb or trem. And even with just a pair of (RI) Tung-Sol 5881s, it's capable of getting really loud. It just sounds too good for me to even think about letting it go.

Long story short for me - I don't think anyone other than me is going to find as much value in those three amps, so even though they mostly sit, it just wouldn't make sense to sell them. As far as them taking up space that could be used for something else, I always tend to get other gear, so they're actually preventing me from doing that!

 

I like to take my big tubes to rehearsal.
Smaller tubes or Solid state to gigs.
Keeps most in rotation.

 

Maybe.

I’ve pretty much kept all the amps I ever bought.

I bought them for a reason. When I have a gig (God, let there be gigs) I have a choice. It is wonderful and what I always wanted.

 

I know there may come a day when I start weeding out the real big amps and keep the smaller SS amps for an occasional gig. But that day hasn't happened yet. So for now, I would rather live happy owning these amps rather than die sad regretting the day I sold them.

 

IMHO I would sell the big amps. I once had a 1977 SuperTwin Reverb. It was heavy and too loud for 99% of my gigs. At home it was even more useless. It was also hissy and noisy and it would have cost hundreds of € to fix it.

In the next years many great amp techs from the baby boomer generation will retire and in future it will become difficult to find someone who will fix a tube amp at reasonable price.

My Vox Pathfinder 15R and my TMDR are all I need

 

Got a JMP 50W half stack next to me a Mesa MKIIb behind me. Better watch what say... keep it down... but I love those amps....

 

The only reason I don't hang on to every guitar and amp I ever bought is because I trade them toward the new things.

 

I still have the 68 Dual Showman Reverb and 65 Super Reverb because I don't want to give them away. I also still have a 71 Pro Reverb and a 66 Super Reverb in a 2x10 cabinet. All of these are too big for pretty much every gig I play either in size or volume.

 

Honestly, all of my 20W amps are also "too loud" for what I need any more, so it's just the fact that the bigger ones still make me happy and I can still play them any time I want, even if that ain't much.