Trade Help: THD Univalve for Blackface Vibro Champ?

[hey_day]

I have someone offering me a straight up trade for a good condition blackface vibro champ for my THD Univalve. Im not real sure how to value the blackface or the tone. anyone help with some input? im looking for a low watt bedroom amp the holds great tone and either has good breakup or decent headroom.

[sharpshooter]

I've been using a Univalve for almost a year now, and I'll never let go of it. They are not the end all/be all of amps (what is), but they will do so much more than any Vibro-Champ, IMHO, keep the THD.

[Jon Silberman]

Which you prefer is strictly personal preference. I owned a Uni once and sold it because I didn't care for it, in large part because I'm exactly the kind of guy who would prefer a BFVC to one. I would say this. Good condition wouldn't be enough to entice me, that VC would need to be in excellent, recently-serviced condition for me to do an even trade.

[hey_day]

its a 67 blackface vs a 5 year old univalve. univalve is definitely not for me. says it has a fender labeled speaker, 3 prong plug and probably needs to be retubed. i have a bunch of extra tubes i played with my univalve, can i just take those and replace the tubes myself?

[hey_day]

any thoughts on the value? all seems original and fairly clean other than the 3 prong plug.

[onemind]

I still value champs under 500. But I have seen blackface vibro-champs creeping up over that amount, at least 'asking' They're great, great little amps, but as the earlier poster mentioned not nearly as versatile as the Univalve. If you have some 6v6's in your tube stash you can pop them right into the Champ.

[hey_day]

thanks for the info. don't mind losing the versatility of the THD just don't want to lose value.

[Jon Silberman]

The VC can't do what the Uni does and the Uni can't do what the VC does. It's as simple as that. As for the Uni's "versatility," when I owned it, I found that the function for me of the versatility was primarily to give me a range of options, most of which I didn't like somewhere between a little and at all, from which to select the couple of tones I did. Big if: IF the Uni is not providing you with any tones you're truly dying for AND the VC can, it's really a no-brainer, isn't it, regardless of any "versatility" differences between the two?

[hey_day]

i guess its more i can't pin down a decent value for the VC. $500ish seems about right from my research and $550ish seems about right for the Univalve.

[paddywhack]

....i sold my 65 VC in very good condition.or 450 a year ago so 5 hundred is about right.....heres what i know though....an early 70's VC sounds just as good for at least 200 dollars less...don't look as cool though...

[Jahn]

Hmm a Univalve head new is about a thousand bucks, and the BF VC isn't close to a thousand. But as we all know, blackface Fenders just keep going up and up and up - I think Matt Umanov's just sold one for $750? I'll have to check. Anyhow if it's resale value you're worried about, I wouldn't worry. But if you're looking for a deal closer to the value of your Univalve, why not toss out a few feelers for a Princeton of that era (non-reverb, the reverb versions will be out of your price range).

http://www.umanovguitars.com/store/d...5&cat=670&path=

There you go, with a replaced speaker and 3-prong job and replacement footswitch too. Of course NYC's market is pretty rabid for small tube amps with a good name brand, so factor that in. My '65 VC is up for consignment at 30th Street Guitars for something similar, so ask yourself if you would sell your Univalve for $750 - if the answer is yes, you have your answer.

[GuitarsFromMars]

keep the champ.

[hey_day]

i own the univalve at the moment

[hey_day]

i pulled the trigger, i now have a 1967 blackface fender vibro champ. need to swap out the tubes and speaker, but it sounds fantastic. its never been touched, should i have it recapped or will that hurt the value?