Super lucky purchase: Empress Tremolo!

[Burstbucker]

I lucked out a couple of days ago and bought a used Empress Tremolo from a guy in town for $100.00! New, they sell for $260.00 + tax ($300 OTD) here in Canada.

It was in mint condition, except that the four control knobs were missing. Here's the kicker, I sent an email to Empress Effects asking if I could purchase a set of replacement knobs and they're sending them to me at no charge!

I explained to them that I purchased this pedal used and even though they never made a dime off of me, they're more then happy to fix me up, right away and at no charge. Colour me impressed.

And boy, does this thing sound great too. Another bonus is that they are another kick-ass Canadian effect pedals company, these guys rock!

 

[dshobe]

Congrats on the double score! Empress sounds like a great company.

 

[Burstbucker]

Yeah, they sure make a fine pedal and with that kind of customer service, wow. I mean, I'm just a guy that bought one of their pedals second hand and they still offer to help out. Pretty cool!

And what's funny, I didn't think that I was really all that much into tremolo, my BOSS TR-2 never got much use but this Empress Tremolo is in a whole other universe! You can get soooooo many cool sounding tremolo sounds out of this unit, I'm totally digging Tremolo now.

 

[The_Wretched]

whoa! 100$??

GO PLAY THE LOTTO! and share some of that luck with us.

 

[todaystomorrow]

Good deal! It's a really nice tremolo. I love hearing these positive customer service stories!

 

[madhattertcm]

what a score! Between that and the zvex sonar, those are on the top of my list for "next pedal"

 

[78deluxe]

When I see a pedal go for a price like this. My 1st assumption is the pedal is stolen.

Only a fool would sell one for $100. They go for almost double that used all day long.


Very cool Empress replaced the knobs for you. Love my Empress Tremolo.

 

[Tweeker]

I own one of the earliest Empress tremolo units and I can vouch for excellent customer service.

 

[madhattertcm]

When I see a pedal go for a price like this. My 1st assumption is the pedal is stolen. Only a fool would sell one for $100.

Two days before a trip to NY I had a lot of my trip funds wiped out for an emergency. Which created the second emergency of needing spending funds for my trip. I sold things for crazy prices to avoid haggling and just getting the cash I needed for the next day. In my city, people don't know what boutique pedals are or worth. And crossing your fingers that someone will buy them on here and you can get the money out of paypal fast enough is a risk.

Sometimes people need the cash immediately. In the end I regret selling a lot of stuff, but it is what it is.

 

[78deluxe]

Two days before a trip to NY I had a lot of my trip funds wiped out for an emergency. Which created the second emergency of needing spending funds for my trip. I sold things for crazy prices to avoid haggling and just getting the cash I needed for the next day. In my city, people don't know what boutique pedals are or worth. And crossing your fingers that someone will buy them on here and you can get the money out of paypal fast enough is a risk.

Sometimes people need the cash immediately. In the end I regret selling a lot of stuff, but it is what it is.

An Empress Trem will sell for more than $100 in the Emporium in minutes. A big ticket guitar/amp is different. But that kind of deal (say $130) becomes an impulse purchase around here.

I suppose the actual transfer out of paypal is a legit concern if you need it immediately. Though I'd think most people could pay for any legal thing with a credit card (and obviously pay of said purchase in plenty of time with a transaction)

 

[Burstbucker]

I highly doubt that this pedal was stolen.

I know the guy that sold me the pedal and he's been wheeling and dealing in effects, amps and guitars for years, he even bought pedals from me years ago. He probably bought this pedal from another musician and got it at a reasonable price. I doubt that he's the original purchaser.

With that being said, he probably bought the thing for $150 and only took a $50 hit (my guess). He had put this pedal up for sale back in August and nobody bought it and he forgot all about it. I happened to do a search for a Tremolo on kijiji and saw his old ad.

I figured that he probably had already sold it, when he responded that he still had it, he admitted that its control knobs were missing, at $150, I passed. The next day, he emailed me and said that he'd let it go for $100, I couldn't pass it up.

Turns out that he's unloaded all of his gear, this and a speaker cab were the last things to go. Getting out of playing all together.

 

[Burstbucker]

Just wanted to mention that I got my replacement knobs from Empress in my mailbox on Friday, that's like three days after they got my email inquiring about buying a set of control knobs.

Super fast shipping and at no cost to boot, wow!

Thanks Empress!