Ebay Apollo Auction The fact that he's blatantly catering to Japanese buyers makes me wonder if they're desirable/collectible? Never heard of 'em .... Anyone?
He made three different amps, apolloI, II and a trainwreck clone. They sold new for $1100 or $1200. Snider had one.
The Apollo 1, was a workingmans version of the Steel String Sliger and then Apollo 2 was a Marshall voiced version of the ODS. They sold for approx 1500 dollars and I believe the company folded approx 6 years ago. As far as I can tell they built VERY few amps. Their angle was to be the affordable D***le.
YIKES!!! I can't believe that ad! That was one of the funniest I've read on ebay .. Anyway, the other guys already posted but I remember when Steve had his and didn't Jack ZUcker have one or 1 of the other old Harmony Central guys or Guitarist forum guys from way back when . . Steve raved about his, but he raved about every amp THEN , and not as much now but still a bit (I'm just ribbing you Steve, as I surely know what it's like to get excited about amps and gear!) , but then whomever thereafter didn't rave as much.. Meanwhile, the other guys posted the prices, the amp co quit making them quickly relative to other companies as they definitely never caught on or sold many. This guy has the price totally inflated, and is trying to con people to spending that much. .If it works, great!!! ERIC
Looks like it was pulled due to some violation in the wording of the auction. But hey if it works ... I just eh build my first amp and boy I think I am going out of business ... anyone want to buy my STF Electronics Champ amp ...
Eric!! The Apollo was good. Real nice clean tones and good verb. Not as good as a Two Rock but still I dug mine. I paid $950 but told everyone $1100 per my agreement with the builder. My friend Henry paid $800. Not a bad deal for a handwired amp with good construction, nice fendery tones and verb. The builder was not out to copy a Dumble and was also a dealer for parts and pedals as I recall. He was very disappointed when I sold mine. A couple years ago I sold Henry Kaiser's red one to a guy on this forum and it has since been sold as well. My raving will continue as I have a couple things coming that I expect to be cool.
Wow, I missed that "auction." Years ago, I had a chance to buy an Apollo and passed it up, and sort of regret it now. They seemed to have cool features. Anyway, I think it was last year that I bugged everybody I could think of--including Mr. Snider--to give me the 411 on what happened to Steve Brewer. And, up until a year ago, I checked frequently to see if one of the Apollos would come up on eBay, and now one has. Weird. I do think the "thrust" control that the Apollos had sounds like a cool idea. I guess it's just some sort of negative feedback control, but still...
Not cheap: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=10171&item=7322812998&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
I see somebody had him alter his wording. Gotta love his asking price and if someone can get $16000 for a piece of toast with the likeness of the runaway bride on ebay,this guy should have no problem with his highly inflated auction. The amp is worth $1000, the market as always will dictate his final price. I suspect that he would be very fortunate to get anything over say $1200.
Damn! Again I say, after years of checking eBay for an Apollo, one shows up, just up the road from me, but for the price of the next two years' tuition for my PhD. Jeez. I was always banking on the fact that no one would know about this amp, and no one would care, and I could get it for $800 or less. He wants one zero more than I'm willing to pay. Also, for 8-9 Gs, I'd expect better pictures. It'll be interesting to see who bids. David
I'm afraid not at all, Cliff. Steve Brewer and I hang out quite a bit several years ago when we were both building amps. The Apollo I was definitely blackface inspired, although somewhat customized, but certainly the same topology and gain structure. It sounded very good, punchier and with more "integrity" than a pushed blackface -- which I think were improvements. A few of these were made and sold. The Apollo II was completely different, and inspired on a Trainwreck Express type of sound. I think it was a kick ass amp, hardly any clean headroom per se, but a agreat rock and roll machine. I am not sure whether more than one of these was ever sold. For a while there were some Apollo II clips I had recorded at the Apollo Amps website. Cheers, Gil
Hmmm, that sounds cool. Actually, I've still got my Apollo demo tape lying around and I'd concur with your BF reference, Gil, though I certainly haven't heard a Steel String Singer. I know the Apollo I, unlike the II, was supposed to have some pretty good headroom. Does this mean it was pretty loud by the time you got it distorting? David
