Home Town Discount? Updated


There are quite a few charms that come along with moving to a small town: People are friendlier, everything is closer, it's darker and quieter at night, etc.  There are also less charming aspects: The occasional feeling that you can hear the banjo playing as you walk by a family in the local grocery store, the smell of fresh manure in the morning, etc.

When it comes to gear, the drawbacks are obvious.  A smaller population typically means fewer guitar players, which means fewer opportunities for used gear.  That isn't necessarily a problem for me, as our town is within an hour or less of some much larger communities, and I work in a fairly populated centre that puts me in an ideal location to wheel and deal.

Is it possible that being in a small community can be an advantage though?
The probable answer is "maybe, but only in very specific circumstances."  One of those circumstances may have appeared.

I recently came across the below pictured amp - A Peavey VTX MX (or MX VTX?) 1x12 combo. It has a solid state preamp with a 6L6 power section, which isn't very common.  A quick search on Youtube produced some very limited results, mostly of a 2x12 combo from the same series.  It sounded ok on Youtube, but that rarely means anything in the real world.

The kicker is that this is listed for $200, and was listed almost a month ago.  This likely means one of two things.
  1. The seller has already sold it and not removed the ad.  
  2. The seller hasn't had any interest.  The first one seems unlikely if you ask me, though I can't be certain.  Call it a hunch. 
No, the second option is where I think this is at, mostly because after a month you tend to see folks list their unsold crap in the much larger cities within the 100KM range.  That isn't the case here, which could also mean he is in no rush nor is inclined to sell.

There's only one way to find out.  Time to make an offer.

No, it won't be anywhere close to the $200 asking.  I'm going to offer $100.  Maybe that's a lowball, but that amp is also an oddball, so maybe it's a match made in heaven.

UPDATE:
The seller took down the post hours after my offer.  Looks lie it was #1, and my hunches are pretty crap.

Popular posts from this blog

Squier Jaguar Review - What do you mean, modified?

Image
Quick Update:  Restringing the Stratocaster with the System III requires the patience of a saint.  I'm not going to go through the many stages of anger, frustration, denial, acceptance, and final victory, but suffice to say there might have been a bit of crying.  Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar I bought this guitar on a whim.  Over some holiday gathering, I went to a music store with my brother.  This caught my eye, and the price was right (Less than $300 out the door).  Sure it had issues right off the bat, but it was soooo cool. Let's get something out of the way - I have no idea why this is part of the "Vintage Modified" series and not the "Classic Vibe" series. You see, the Vintage Modified series is supposed to be a collection of classic designs with a few modern popular updates. This definitely isn't that. WTF is modified here? As Lee Anderton rightly pointed out (see video below), this is pretty much a spot on recreation of the orig
Read more

Pacifica 112 vs. Squier Standard Stratocaster

Image
My recent Squier Standard Stratocaster has me thinking about entry level guitars, and specifically the first new electric guitar I purchased, a Yamaha Pacifica 112.  They're great guitars if you ask me, but for obvious reasons don't get the exposure a "real Stratocaster" does (as real  as a Squier can be I suppose). A comparison of the two may be apt. A Squier Stratocaster lists for $289.99 on L&M , while a new Yamaha Pacifica 112J will set you back $239.99 plus tax.  I seem to recall that the Yamaha and a hard case ran me just over $400, so we're about exactly where we were 20 years ago in terms of price.  Weird. Don't expect a comprehensive review of either guitar - that really isn't the point.  I want to talk about a few differences that indicate where your money is going and hope you can figure the rest out yourself. Yamaha Pacifica 112 / Squier Standard Stratocaster The Yamaha was my second electric, purchased sometime around 1995.  Th
Read more

Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar: Trade Bait?

Image
I bought my Squire Vintage Modified Jaguar on a weekend while visiting my parents. I had decided that I needed to get out of the house for a little while. Aside from going to the mall, there's not much more to do than visit the music store, which is all the excuse I need to wander around Long and McQuade for an hour.  This was back in the day when I still knew most of the people who worked there, including the owner. Well, I say the owner; he wasn't the owner anymore, but he WAS the owner, and then the manager prior to his retirement retirement. At any rate, I went there with my wife and poked around. I saw these Jaguars and Jazzmasters that I had recently watched reviews for on YouTube. Lee Anderton and Rob Chapman had raved about them, except for the bridge, which was the same as the original design and didn't lend itself to bending. But they had a solution: if you ordered a Musicmaster bridge (I'm not sure if that's the model from Allparts anymore), it would fit
Read more

1985 Contemporary Stratocaster Review

Image
I'm really not looking forward to this... Despite being an overall fantastic guitar, I'm a little apprehensive about restringing the damn thing. This particular Stratocaster came into my possession strung with 9s, and strung poorly at that.  The locking nut eliminates this from being much more than a minor gripe from a tuning stability standpoint, but I'm accustomed to 11s on most of my guitars, and playing this just isn't comfortable. There are a lot of things to like about the Fender System III tremolo, but the process of restringing doesn't seem to be one of them.  I haven't taken the plunge yet, but it seems that the online community is universally in agreement - It is a total pain in the ass, and there's no good way to do it.  I'd have to imagine this was a contributing factor to Fender not continuing to use this system (though I bet the introduction of the roller nut on the USA Stratocaster Plus models was the real culprit/hero). Mor
Read more