Do many folks with $2+K rigs own something good vintage?

[soldano16]

And by good vintage I don't mean pristine amps but I mean the very highly desirable amp models that everyone wants, in player condition to keep the cost reasonable but still get the vintage tones. Both my vintage amps are examples of player pieces that got me into the vintage game at $2K each. Tone wise, IMHO, worth every penny.

I'm just curious how it works for some folks because the more I see used rigs asking high 2's and up, I just wonder if these are folks who

a) own vintage and modern and are just moving out a modern amp

b) people who owned some vintage but no longer and feel the tones/features they want are in modern amps and that's what they own and buy and sell

c) people who have never owned a vintage model of a great amp and just don't know enough to risk buying at today's prices or fear service issues

I guess some folks might rather just spend their big spend on something new, just as a preference.

[DEMENTED]

Hmmmm, I am not sure if I read your post right but I currently own:

1) 1972 Marshall 50 watt

2) 2006 VHT Deliverance D60

Is that what you mean?

[Graffiti Yellow]

I own a 1966 Deluxe Reverb and an original 1967 Marshall 18 watt 2x12 a long with my Soldano SLO

[GAT]

I own a mix of both.

'71 Marshalll
'66 Princeton Reverb
'68 Princeton Reverb
'66 Ampeg

Have owned several old Marshalls and Fenders

New stuff:

2 Naylors
Mad Professor
Dr. Z Mazerati GT

[vchizzle]

currently I just have newer stuff: Bad Cat hot cat 30, VHT 100CL, Splawn 412, VHT D412, Orange Rocker 30 and PPC 2x12.

I had a '71 Fender Super reverb that was blackfaced and a '72(?)Marshall Super Trem head.

The vintage stuff, while I miss it sometimes, I had to unload when I need different amps with newer features in some cases. I just couldn't afford to keep amps that weren't working for me in whatever live situation I was in at the time.

I'd buy vintage again if it was what I wanted/needed tonewise.

[mude]

I have generally had a mix of both. That being said, I recently sold a couple of the older amps because I was not using them (Marshall and Fender), but still have a couple of blackface Fenders.

I don't generally gig with the old stuff (used to and there is not really any good reason if they are serviced appropriately), but hate to sell it because I know that it can be hard to find great examples at a reasonable price.

For a while, it seemed like the decent old stuff was getting very expensive. But, knock on wood, I have never lost money on a vintage piece and some of the new stuff is getting pretty expensive. A good blackface Fender may not be any more expensive than some of the new copies. One can argue the new amp may be more reliable, but I have had good luck with the old stuff if it is serviced appropriately.

For an overall amp though, I do prefer what is available now compared to the vintage stuff generally. Things like the D13 10/20 and the Louis KR12 work for me and go beyond having an older Deluxe Reverb (although I have not parted with mine yet). But, there is a vibe and a holding of value for the better old pieces that makes them tough to give up easily.

If you want lots of features, then the new stuff is well beyond the old stuff of course. I also think there is some great stuff to be had in the sub $1,000 category (Working Dog, Pitbull 45, Maverick, etc.).

Evan.

[kldonegan]

The only $2000+ amp I own is vintage...

[67super]

I've got mostly vinatge,

65 Bassman
66 princeton
67 super reverb
68 deluxe reverb
76 YGM-3
New Supro Sahara
New Fender SS

Everytime I try a new, over 2K amp I can't do it. It just doesn't sound better to me than my old stuff and besides, the vintage stuff is/has appriciated in value while the new stuff isn't and may never. As far as features go I like the sipmplicity of the old stuff.

[guitarvc]

I have owned both vintage and modern amps and have found that I can get better tones and more useable features for live performances using modern amps. The last 3 rigs I have had were the Soldano SLO, Bogner Shiva and most recently the Egnater Mod 50. Especially with the egnater, I am able to get tones that are better than my best vintage gear...more clarity, sustain and punch and also have functionality that far surpasses anything that I have owned that was vintage. With the Egnater, I can get classy clean, mild breakup, classic rock crunch anbd searing lead tones all from one amp. Also, I can have rhythm tones and lead tones that are fully controllable. No more will I have solos that can't be heard, or rhythms that are muddy. I have a setup with a glassy clean and crunch rhythm, and solo's that are light breakup and searing liquid sustain that are about 20db louder. I sacrifice nothing.

It is like having a Blackface Twin for cleans, a totally dimed Deluxe for solos...and Bogner Blue channel like tones for crunch rhythm, red channel for leads. This is far the best single amp setup I have ever had.

Even with my SLO rig, I had to use a Twin for cleans and a Fulltone fat boost pedal for blues solos. I will put my Mod 50 up against any vintage amp...period! nly a Trainwreck would give me a "slightly better" solo tone, but at 35K I'm not sure it is worh it!

[blackba]

Originally Posted by 67super

Everytime I try a new, over 2K amp I can't do it. It just doesn't sound better to me than my old stuff and besides, the vintage stuff is/has appriciated in value while the new stuff isn't and may never. As far as features go I like the sipmplicity of the old stuff.

I have gotten plenty of nice amps for under $2000. Frankly $2000 is my upper limit for amps. Right now none of the amps I own did I play over $1000 for actually, but alot of them have gone up since I bought them so they are worth over $1000 now.

For me I get vintage amps if they are still reasonably priced, for example my Fender '67 Bassman. I can't afford a '60 Vox AC30, so I got an AC30CC1....

[DiazDude]

I'm not sure the current value but I've got a 1955 Fender Tremolux. Got to be near 2K.
My Diaz CD100 head is quite a bit more. I use both at gigs quite a bit.

[dhodgeh]

As others in this thread, I've got both:

Vintage:

64 Deluxe
75 Twin Reverb

Homebrew:

Mission 5E3

New:

Vintage Sound VS112 (BF Deluxe Reverb Clone)

I bought the VS112 while shopping for a BF Deluxe Reverb - the thing just sounded better and had the tone I was looking for.

I also think that already owning a couple of vintage amp lessened the 'must have' factor for a vintage BFDR.

fwiw

D

[µ¿ z3®ø™]

if vintage means +20 years old, all i have left is traynor bassmaster, a tweed champ and a gibson GA-40T.

i'm terribly hard on amps and gave up on trying to maintain vintage amps. the vintage amps mentioned above are there because, apart from valve replacement and a cap replacement on the gibson, those amps have never needed work. can't say that bout the jennings era vox, tweed deluxe, silver face twin or JTM45 that i had.

i've got the traditional vintage timbres covered by modern equivalents and some 'modern' sounding amps.

i don't get the vintage amp market really. fewer and fewer vintage amps are original these days. w/ more and more amps w/ replaced components it becomes rather puzzling, to me, that the value seems to increase the way it has. up here in canada it's not unusual to run across a vintage tweed deluxe for upwards of $2500.00 CDN and, more often than not, it is not original. the pricey clones like victoria are $1000.00 cheaper, are entirely new, work well on modern AC voltages, are virtually indistinguishable from the normal spectrum of vintage amps and shouldn't need any maintenance for decades.

however, i know friends and colleagues that have nice collections of vintage amps and they love them. i'm glad that there's folks like that around, not only to keep these instruments in circulation and not occupying landfill sites, but to provide sonic targets for amp builders to aim for. to say nothing of the fodder it provides many at TGP for endless threads about the veracity of the modern 'clones'. weak, i know, but i love the look of vintage amps. i think it's odd that there is no 'tom murphy' of amp relic mastery. virtually all of the amp relics that i've seen look absolutely horrible.

that being said, there are some tremendous bargains in vintage amps still. the AC15s i see are still going for under a grand and the modern 'clones' are often much more. the 6G6 bassman is still a tremendous bargain. then there's the silvertones, magnatones and other 'off' brands that are really great amps, but are super cheap. traynor bassmaster is a great example. really, really good sounding amp w/ good headroom for cleans and drifting beautifully into saturation at band volumes, built like a tank and seem to be virtually indestructible, actually isn't embarrassed when played side by side w/ any of the high $$$ boo-teek amps and still sells regularly for under $500.00. fantastic bargain.

but i do wonder if a hundred years from now how much a trainwreck will be worth if the only thing original about it is the case, chassis, tag board and flea clips, kenny's distinctive scrawl and the control knobs.

[cottoneyedjoe]

1974 Vibrolux Reverb
1972 Fender Strat

Completely gig worthy. I just don't gig with it anymore....

[ROKY]

Originally Posted by µ¿ z3®ø™

. traynor bassmaster is a great example. really, really good sounding amp w/ good headroom for cleans and drifting beautifully into saturation at band volumes, built like a tank and seem to be virtually indestructible, actually isn't embarrassed when played side by side w/ any of the high $$$ boo-teek amps and still sells regularly for under $500.00. fantastic bargain.

I thought we were keeping these a secret .