Nobody wants to buy my Bandmaster...

I have the same Bandmaster, head and cab. I gig it occasionally mostly if I have the time and space to set it up. It's a glorious amp but I can't see anybody in my area wanting it but me. People want what they see others playing. You just don't see Bandmasters on stage anymore.

 

I am always amazed at guys that post filthy amps,not even wiping the dust and ashes off the top when they take a photo!Really,5 minutes with a wet towel is too much work?

 

With so many good reverb pedals out these days, an amp without it is no big deal. Not to me at least.

 

Yeah but that's contrary to the relic philosophy. You might mess with the amp's mojo.

Five minutes with a wet towel is indeed too much work for some people! Explain relic' ed guitars, otherwise. Musicians wanna look like they paid their rock 'n' roll dues without payin' their rock 'n' roll dues.

That's another contradiction, though. Let's discuss relic guitars contrasted to beat up amps.

Not to bring up the ol' controversial relic discussion. In before the lock!

 

Ronnie Earl Plays one!! Sounds great too!

 

"to you" is the key phrase. I have a '64 Concert and have found the same thing expressed in this thread - nobody wants to pay a decent price for a large blackface amp without reverb. My Concert sounds stunning with a Boss FRV-1 in front of it, but people want to believe that tube reverb is inherently better, whether inboard or outboard, so they do, whether they've even heard the FRV-1 or not.

 

$650 would be a good price here in the DC area. There are currently several Fender 2x12 and 2x15 cabs on CL for not much more than $150 - $200 and heads fetch about $400.

 

Come to Cali and we can trade something for it lol


It's not about me; but about serving everybody else around me, and Loving them as God loves me.

 

The market is low right now..

 

Since muchxs is currently working on a 68 Bandmaster for me I get to second his remarks with 20/20 hindsight. But I sent him a down 'n' dirty non-reverb head knowing that he was going to strip it down and build it back up, so I don't have the time or money in it that you do.

As he says, he is going to add reverb and turn it into a combo.

The wisdom of the commons seems to be that you never recover the cost of your mods or, by extension, the cost of your re-furb. It is kind of like replacing the furnace, the A/C and the roof on your house and then putting it on the market where all the same home styles go for less. On the other hand, as steveneddy advises, you always put on a coat of paint and re-seal the driveway.

The Internet has had some odd effects on prices. By increasing the liquidity of information it serves to drive prices down, but it also fuels irrational fads. The current fashion for small amps is just such a fad. Princeton Reverbs are the 21st Century equivalent of 17th Century Dutch tulips.

Get off of CL, it is almost never worth the hassle.

 

Well people keep saying how cheap original silver-face twins are going, but I never see the prices others have quoted. The cheapest I have seen, unless the thing has been seriously chopped up was about $700, but more often $800 to $1400 (I just saw one listed at $1400 in past few days.) It is probably the market I am in (Chicago), but I would love to see those lower prices. I cannot say what the Bandmaster would go for around here. I am not sure I have seen any listed recently.

 

I own and have played a number of BandMaster and Bassman piggyback amps. Right now the trend is for small, portable amps that will break up at a reasonable volume and can be miked for a larg venue. I love the sound of piggyback amps and I think it might be because of the enclosed cabinet. These amps are just out of favor right now for the reasons I stated and others have stated here. I don't think you are asking too much but the regrill will hurt the collector value as will castors. BTW you have a blackline silverface so its an early drip edge.
I would keep it and either play it or store it.

 

I think you should keep it. You've invested in it so you must like it and it will go up in value. I think some of these guys will try to low ball the price but a friend of mine sold his all original '67 for $1300 and the guy who bought it didn't even try to talk him down.

 

Even gear reasonably priced can be tough to sell these days.

I don't know how much you should be able to get for your rig based on analysis, but my gut feeling, based on what I've seen here in Madison, and in my former residence of Phoenix, is that you're a bit on the high end.

 

If you want top dollar out of that amp - judging by the pics you posted - here are my suggestions. I can only assume that the amp pics up there are the after photos.

The grill cloth on the head is completely crooked and looks bad - replace it with new - and ensure it is perfectly straight.

The front face plate is beat to hell - replace it - find a perfect one on the internet.

The trim around the grill cloth looks poor quality - replace it and find the corners - they are missing. Fix it.

Replace the nuts and washers on the front with new and shiny.

Replace all of the chrome corners of have them re-chromed.

If you are going to leave the original tolex on the amp then scrub it according to the instructions in my previous post. The look will be stunning.

Have the Fender logo repainted - or find a perfect replacement.

If you want to get the top dollar for vintage tube gear - then it needs to LOOK like it's a top dollar piece of gear.

If I purchase an amp for resale - then I make it LOOK good - perform any electronic repairs personally - and pay attention to the details.

If I can't sell it immediately for what I want I play it for a while then put it away. Then bring it out again in about a year.

Treat moving amps like selling used cars. Sometimes you just need to make it look good - and don't repair it so much. So you can make your money back and go to another amp.

If you're going to restore it - and have the restoration work done FOR YOU - then you will never come out on top. Only farm out what you can't do well - do the rest yourself. And make money. If you are going to pay for the restoration then keep the amp. No one will pay you for someone else's labor for a resto job that you wanted done.

I hope you get what you need for your amp.

I think you should do all of the above and KEEP the amp - cuz it's gonna look killer when you get done with it.

 

When I was in my thirty's my friends SF Twin gave me a hernia. Those things are heavy! I like my Blues Jr. just fine LOL

 

I got $750.00 for a 73 BMR head in 2011. It was original/untouched and
a solid 9.5 The verb amps sure are alluring to more buyers I'd say.

Just keep adverting it and the right guy will buy it/want it/appreciate it being 100% pretty much.

 

When I started playing 12 years ago a friend gave me his Bandmaster which he got in the 60's. Since then I've gone through five other amps, currently playing an AC15C1. Through all of those amps the Bandmaster has stayed, mainly because no one wants to buy it. All the other amps sold in a couple weeks on CL.

I think it just depends on how long you want to wait. The higher the price the longer the wait to find the person who wants that amp.

I don't understand the comments about small amps being a fad. Small amps have existed longer than big amps.