Best place to buy guitars/amps in San Diego?

[OldTimey]

Anyone have recommendations for a cool store I can check out new/used/vintage amps, as well as used guitars in San Diego County? Just looking for a place with knowledgeable staff and good service. I find GC's prices on vintage gear to be unreasonable...it's like they are trying to take advantage of rich hobbyists who don't know any better and will pay 2499 for a silverface super reverb. (What the heck???)

[James Steele]

Anyone have recommendations for a cool store I can check out new/used/vintage amps, as well as used guitars in San Diego County? Just looking for a place with knowledgeable staff and good service. I find GC's prices on vintage gear to be unreasonable...it's like they are trying to take advantage of rich hobbyists who don't know any better and will pay 2499 for a silverface super reverb. (What the heck???)

I should know this... I should know this...

As for GC, "knowledgeable" is something hard to find there. And yeah, they have a whole deal now with trying to buy old amps from desperate types and flip them for exorbidant prices. I know a guy who works at one of the local GCs and last time I was in there he handed me a small business card with something about "We buy vintage gear" printed on it. Apparently they're making a push to do more of this business.

Personally, I really wouldn't know what "store" sells vintage stuff reasonably. I long ago assumed I'd have to just watch craigslist like a hawk to find what I want. My last amp purchase was a second 1979 Marshall 100-watt head so that I have a pair... one can be backup. I found it necessary as I discovered once the hard way that if you have one of those fail, they're not so easy to just go out and find while you're waiting for your main amp to be repaired. Now I have two and breathe easier. Plus... I just LOVE the 6550 power tubes... but I digress.

You might try checkihng out a couple of local places:

Buffalo Brothers
http://www.buffalobrosguitars.com/index.html

There's also this place in Apple Valley if you're in the mood to drive:
http://vintageamps.com/va/index.html


Most place sI know that have people I trust... like techs that I have do repairs and mods on my gear don't seem to carry an inventory of old amps. For example, I have Tim Pinnell over at Top Gear on University do all my repairs, maintenance and modifications:

http://www.topgearguitar.com/tghome/

[HCMarkus]

Pettinhouse.com... jk.

[OldTimey]

thanks james, i called Buffalo Brothers, and it sounds like they have a pretty nice selection over there. I'll be taking a drive up there tomorrow. I also found a place in La Mesa, called Freedom Guitars or something like that. I'll check that out as well.

I've been watching craigslist for some time, but nothing's really come up in my price range. some people just have amps in terrible shape, and others overprice their gear. Ebay is looking better and better every day...especially if i just pick up an amp in decent shape and send it to Top Gear like you said.

HC, im not sure my target demographic would be too impressed if i got up on stage and shredded with samples. (not that im a shredder)

hehe

[James Steele]

thanks james, i called Buffalo Brothers, and it sounds like they have a pretty nice selection over there. I'll be taking a drive up there tomorrow. I also found a place in La Mesa, called Freedom Guitars or something like that. I'll check that out as well.

I haven't been to Buffalo Brothers myself, but I've heard they have some really nice stuff up there... some really beautiful, vintage guitars, etc. As for Freedom, they've been around for a long time in San Diego, but I never did much business with them. They seemed to want top dollar for pretty beat stuff. Last time I was in there, I looked at what they were trying to get for totally thrashed, old Goldtops and it was ridiculous. Be prepared to haggle hard with them.

I've been watching craigslist for some time, but nothing's really come up in my price range. some people just have amps in terrible shape, and others overprice their gear. Ebay is looking better and better every day...especially if i just pick up an amp in decent shape and send it to Top Gear like you said.

Yeah... craigslist is a crap shoot. Most people have ridiculous notions of what they would like to get for stuff. Also, some of it is suspect as I've seen people try and pass off "vintage" guitars that weren't the real deal. eBay can be good. If you want an older amp, best to get one sooner than later as they aren't going down in price... at least particular models. My favorite Marshall head is the mid to late 70s, Mk II Master Lead heads. Those were "sleepers" for a while and went sort of unnoticed and you could get those cheaply, but word's gotten out. I was fortunate to get my backup head for $800, but then I put another $500 into it. It had been converted to EL-34s and one of the transformers was not stock (Tim at Top Gear thought it came from a Fender). In order to switch back to the 6550s that came standard in the heads sold in North America, I had to get a replacement transformer. I also had an effects loop and pre-amp mod done. Hey... I plays 'em... I'm not a collector.

Bottom line though is-- and I know I don't have to tell YOU this otherwise you wouldn't be looking for a vintage amp-- is that most of the new re-creations don't sound the same. As far as Marshall goes, a lot of players I knew held out high hopes that the new "Vintage Modern" head would recapture the tone of the old heads, but they're using PCBs and they just don't respond the same way.

On my *some day* acquisition list is an early single channel, non-reverb JCM-800 from the early 80s. *Sigh*.... some day...

[James Steele]

When I got my first 79 Marshall head I drove out to some band's rehearsal room. It was some young kid who was selling it because "it didn't have channel switching" and he'd bought some new Mesa that had lots of bells and whistles. I brought my guitar, plugged in. I played ONE A CHORD. That's all it took. Punch, clarity... TONE! I handed the kid $700 cash immediately. The rapidity of my decision took him aback. As I headed out to my car with my prize in hand, he followed me outside saying "Hey... ummm... if you ever decide you don't want it... call me so I have first chance to buy it back." Um yeah... sure... hehehe

[davedempsey]

Anyone have recommendations for a cool store I can check out new/used/vintage amps, as well as used guitars in San Diego County? Just looking for a place with knowledgeable staff and good service. I find GC's prices on vintage gear to be unreasonable...it's like they are trying to take advantage of rich hobbyists who don't know any better and will pay 2499 for a silverface super reverb. (What the heck???)

Looks like there may be a second area (apart from female swimming )
where we Aussies might just be ahead of the US. $2499 sounds not so bad. Check this:
http://www.jacksonsrareguitars.com/fend ... fiers.html
and of course it's not just the amps:
http://www.jacksonsrareguitars.com/fend ... n=1&page=2
I kinda like going into that shop and I figure good luck to them - but the degree to which vintage gear has become the exclusive territory of wealthy lawyers, collectors and such is quite tuff to accept from a players perspective.

[OldTimey]

Dave, it's not so bad here in southern California. There is a lot more gear to go around, especially vintage fenders. Being so close to Fullerton/LA, this stuff gets passed around like the flu. There are thousands of bands in the area, forming, breaking up etc, that some of these things go for fair prices.

I went up to Buffalo Brothers and wow! what a revelation. Amazing staff. And they have these little "crank rooms" where you take your guitar in, and can try out a bunch of different amps, as loud as you like, with no sales guy looking over your shoulder.

I am not a guitar snob by any means. I have a hot rodded epiphone, with custom wound pickups. I've always thought it sounded pretty good, ten times better than the stock epis. I've played through a solid state amp since i've had it though.

The first amp I tried out was a 15-watt Fender Blues Jr., and when I hit that first chord, my jaw just dropped. I'd never heard my guitar sound that good. So responsive and dynamic! It's like having a whole new instrument, playing through a good tube amp. And it only got better from there, as I moved on to some vintage handwired pt-to-pt amps.

I eventually settled on a 1967 Bassman head, at a very fair price. The 67 bassman has blackface cosmetics, but is essentially a silverface circuit. It can be modded though. Either way, the price was right, and the sound blew me away.

[James Steele]

Wow... that's great! I need to go check that place out. I've only heard about it and haven't bothered to go in person. Do they have much in the way of British tube heads, etc? (How many Marshalls do they have?)

[OldTimey]

James, check out their website, http://www.buffalobrosguitars.com/

They have a list of most of their current stock. I asked them how often they update the list, and they said pretty regularly. Email them too for availability. I saw a number of marshalls while i was there. I was looking for a fender style amp, so didn't try any out, but they were there. eyeballing their website, it looks like they have a few. What's nice about their vintage stuff is that they don't ship it, so lucky locals get first crack at everything. Upstairs, the guitars get very, very nice. Not quite the level of say Manny's upstairs in NYC, or some of the Sunset Blvd boutiques but damn nice.

And at 1000 for a '68 twin reverb (GC wanted 1899 for a '73 twin) they tend to price things higher than craigslist, but still pretty reasonably.

Another fun fact about the bassman i just picked up, the power tubes are Philips ECG 6L6, which go for about 200 a pair! Not a bad deal!

[lodstudios]

Hey. I would actually give you a completely different option, there are some killer amps that no one knows about.
I have quite a few friends who are gigging musicians and session players in L.A., they are playing major shows with custom amps built right here in San Diego.
http://www.satelliteamps.com/
They take classic amp parts and build modern twists on them. Most of the amps have only a few knobs and do one thing, sound good. I think it is at least a good option to check out. If you really want a vintage amp I would still consider Guitar Center...I am a former employee and I can say for sure that, even though they are on fixed prices now, they will most likely still work you a deal on used/vintage gear. Realize that most of the time they are going to make close to a 50% profit on the gear so they usually will want to move product...they also have a ton of stores to pull gear from. Also realize they are a business and you need to make it worth the while for them to have used gear in house, don't low ball them.

Best

[James Steele]

Hey Keith! Good to see you post here! Funny thing, I didn't realize you were a "former" employee and tried to call you over at the store, and they said you were no longer there! As far as a store like Guitar Center getting into the used gear game, that's all well and good, but they're entering a different marketplace when they do that. Of course, with the current economy some of the crazy prices on stuff won't hold up. Fortunately for me I already have the only vintage gear I need which are my two Marshall heads.