During the past few years, there has been a resurgence in the interest of vintage music gear of all types, especially electric guitars vacuum tube amplifiers
Even effect pedals have become collectible, a most interesting phenomenon because in 1980s, when digital state-of-the-art rack systems were in vogue, effect pedals were basically considered “old junk.”
When the vendors of music equipment saw prices for used vintage gear to be more than what they were charging for brand-new equipement, it only became natural to build re-issue guitars and amplifiers.
Buying a vintage tube amplifier or guitar is not something to do without a little bit of research. For example, vintage is not always better than re-issue.
There is something magical about firing up an older vintage Mesa Boogie Mark I amp, or the feel of playing that late 50’s Fender Stratocaster with the smooth lacquered neck and its “checking” body.
The history of a amplifier or guitar model is a major factor in driving up the price of vintage gear. Secondly, as manufacturing processes change, it becomes harder and harder to duplicate the sounds of yesterday with newer gear.
How much guitarist out there want to pretend they are Santana on the magic day when he first grabs a Mesa Mark amplifiers, wails on it and then exclaims: “Don’t that thing boogies…”
And let’s be honest about manufacturing. Over the decades, tube amplifiers vendors have been espeically notorious about cutting manufacturing costs to increase profitability at the expense of sound quality (I’m looking at you, CBS when you owned Fender). When did they last hand wire an amplifier?
The same arguments are made for other components too.Tubes, transformers and even capacitors aren’t typically as well made today as they used to be.To players and collectors alike, this is a significant reason why there is often no substitute for vintage gear. The quality of wood in cabinets has signfiicantly deteriorated over the decades as well.
However, there are many issues surrounding the decision to obtain vintage gear that must be addressed.First, please note: because some of the values are so astronomically high, it can be enticing for a con-artist to make a good forgery and then turn an even greater profit.And it must be said that there have been some great forgeries! For example, there are excellent forgeries of 50’s-era Fender Stratocasters, with attention being made to almost every detail.
Another issue surrounding vintage gear is verifying originality. Even if the gear is not a forgery of some kind, for many pieces of gear (amplifiers in particular) maintaining 100% originality is very difficult.In the case of amplifiers, obviously tubes and filter capacitors have a limited life and will need replacement.In addition, other parts may have failed during the amp’s lifetime and needed replacement.
This brings up the question: are you a player or a collector? If you are a collector, then having an amp with 100% all-original components (even if they make the amp sound bad) is worth the added cost you’ll undoubtedly pay.
As a result, date coding from parts can give close estimations of when the final item was made, but it is not an exact science. Also, the question: is a blown original transformer from a ‘65 Twin Reverb that is replaced with a properly date coded replacement still make the amp original?
So basically while collectors and players share similiar interests, it’s the collector who has to pay exquisite attention to every detail, like date stamps, whereas the musician can focus on the playability of the gear.
That’s not to say a player can ignore originality: For example, many would say that a Vox without a Woden transformer wouldn’t sound the same. Or a Hiwatt without its Partridge.
The bottom line is that these original and very significant parts do affect the sound. When shopping for vintage gear, the best advice is to do your homework and learn as much as you can before laying out the dollars.
This holds true whether you want to be a collector or a player.To players, even if the vintage gear uses better components and parts as compared to more modern gear, it is likely that more maintenance will be required and the chances for part failure is typically higher.
Another great path for the player when purchasing an amplifier especially is to consider buying one in need of a restoration, but then focus on an electronics restoration first, with the cosmetic restoration taken care of later if needed.
