What Are The Pros And Cons Of Buying A Used Guitar Amp Online?
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at
4:42 pm
The original price is $100 and I will save about $30 – $40 from buying it online used. I don’t know if they are lying about how much they’ve used it. I looking at both craigslist and ebay to buy it. So what re the Pros/Cons of buying a used amp? Whats your experience with buying a used amp?
Tagged with: Buying • Cons • Guitar • Online • Pros • Used • What
Filed under: Q&A
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I’ve purchased quite a few used guitar amps both on and offline. I sometimes find them at garage sales very cheap. It’s a similar situation if you can’t test the amp before you buy it. You’re basically taking a risk in order to save some money. So, you want to minimize the risk.
It also depends upon whether you are buying a tube guitar amp or solid state amp. If there are any problems with the tubes in a tube amp then you will have to replace them which can be pretty expensive. Even the little 12ax7 tubes can cost $18 and up each.
If it’s a solid state amp then you have to consider its age. If it’s a vintage amp then the capacitors could be old and need replacing which can run about $100 to have someone do it for you. Old capacitors can cause hum in the amp. A newer solid state amp shouldn’t have that problem.
Usually used amps have small issues like dirty pots (potentiometers) that need cleaning. Dirty pots can cause the sound to cut out when turning the volume or tone knobs. They are fairly easy to clean and sometimes you can get great deals on amps that people think are broken when really they only need the pots cleaned. I’ve picked up amps worth hundreds of dollars for $10-20 that just needed the pots cleaned. Got them home, cleaned them up and they worked like new. I even bought a vintage Ampeg tube amp for $20 once that just needed cleaned and then it worked great.
So, I would email the seller and ask if the amp has any problems like sound cutting out, scratchy sound when turning any of the knobs, power cutting off after it’s been on for a bit, cuts or holes in the speaker cones, loose or broken switches, torn tolex etc. If those all check out ok then you should be alright unless the seller is just blatantly lying. Obviously there is some risk buying a used amp online but you can also save a decent chunk of money if you’re prudent. You can also use any defects that the amp has to negotiate a better price. Obviously you don’t want to mess with fatal defects but if you don’t need a pretty amp and are on a budget then you could save quite a bit by buying an ugly but functional amp.
Good luck.
If something is wrong with it you have to pay for all the shipping to send it back to be fixed and usually by the time you pay shipping you only save about 10 or 12 bucks and have to wait sometimes a week to 10 days or more for it to be delivered and if you buy local as in say a music store all you have to do is take it back to them if something is wrong and some music stores even offer extended warranties.
There’s nothing wrong with buying a used amp. I have a used amp I’m selling right now that’s nearly 4 years old that still plays good as new.
If you’re buying off craigslist just meet the person and test it out.