Why do people SELL so fast?

O

OlinMusic

New member
Up til a few recent years ago I was scant on gear, and whatever I owned I used like crazy.

These days I see lots of HIGH END amps etc for sale with LOW HOURS. How does it happen that people buy $1000 - $4000 amp rigs and never use it a few hours or more and then sell it.

I figure, back in the day, I bought a PRS and to this day that thing sees gig after gig. I bought it to play it.

I know sellers aren't just making it up. I got my Shiva used, and lord knows it was clean as could be. The guy who owned it barely played it.
 
Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

A lot of people buy them to try in a non-store environment, and if they don't like them they turn them over and try something else. The high end stuff you refer to is pretty easy to move most of the time, and holds value pretty well.
 
Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

Rid said:
Too much out there...too many the grass is greener over there types!!
hehe
Click to expand...

+1

Also many people do an impulse buy and put it on their credit card, a month or two later they realize they can't afford it.

Add to that many people want to post eye candy of look what I got on online forums. :chairfall
 
Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

I think it was caused by the internet, because that phenomena is pretty recent.
Like Fretfire pointed out, there's more gear being purchased sight unseen.....and unheard.

And with the advent of gear costing as much as autos now, people aren't dragging it around to gigs anymore, and if they do, they love it and keep it.
If not, they never develop any love for it, and keep hunting.

Personally, I don't take my best stuff out of the house. I take the guitars that are my main players that have dings. My head has a roadcase or Tuki padded cover. Cabs have Tuki padded covers. Even though I love high end stuff....that stuff is more about the hobby of it. The tools are the ones that can take a ding or two without me freaking out. I can't risk that with my Black Beauty and vin SB McCarty. Those are like showcars, not daily drivers.
 
Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

I think that alot of it is stuff that daddy bought trying to appease the kid- who has just got to have it. only to hear the the new group of the week is using this amp, or that guitar, or is used this week by Greenday, or whatever, so the stuff gets sold, and or traded for the amp of the week. Or the stuff sets around and the kid decides he'd rather have a dirt bike or something.
Do I sound cynical? Maybe it's because I had to work 2 summers cutting grass and paper routes to buy my first good guitar. Because my folks believed that if you wanted something that wasn't considered a necessity, you should have to work for it.
I also think alot of not so good guitar players are constantly searching for that "magic bullet" thats gonna make them sound like a guitar god- and are constantly buying/selling gear in a never ending quest to buy talent. instead of doing the time woodshedding.
 
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Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

I think the people that buy/sell a lot of gear are more hobbyists than musicians. I don't mean this to be derogatory (there's nothing wrong with being a hobbyist). It's just that I think they operate on a different level than a typical musician that aquires a tool and sets it up to be usable for the project at hand (the only exception being Eric Johnson and his battery testing :laugh2: )

Hobbyists like trying different things and will probably spend countless hours debating the difference between tubes/speakers/strings/tremolos/you-name-it.

Then there's the middle ground.

Add all that up + the internet and that's why there's always something for sale whether it's 10 hours old or 10 years old.
 
Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

Not to stereotype, but a lot of times people...

a) buy the amp and then realize they can't exactly play it through their Crate 4x12 cab in their dorm room at night. Plus they haven't eaten in 3 months sooo...

b) buy the amps, realize it's a cool amp to have but they're not gigging or with a band right now, and the amp is impractical for their needs. Why they realized this AFTER the fact I'll never know.

c) have money to sling around and they're being hyper critical of almost ithe tiniest nuances in the sound.

d) Realize it sounded better in their head than it does in real life. Or maybe not even better, just different... because they didn't do their homework or try it out ahead of time.

e) See Fretfire's answer... but making the drive to a dealer (even if it's a long one) is usually better than buying the amp and selling it off if you don't like it. If that's really the only way then I guess that's the only way but instead of selling it after a few hours it's good to try to stick with it for a month or two and try to make the amp work for you.
 
Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

I'm a kinda mix of both worlds. I have a few pieces that I just will not part with because they are "home" for me.

The other stuff is almost like a rental of sorts. I have pieces that I've bought, I really dig, but ooooh that thing on ebay or the music store looks cool--gotta try it out, lol. So I sell off the things that I know I'll look back fondly for having, but won't shoot myself for getting rid of, and get the next thing. I've actually come across a few more things that I now know I'll never get rid of that way, that I never would have had if I didn't. Before the internet I never did things like that but I know a few people that were always buying and selling amps and guitars and effects and what have you because they needed constant change to keep it interesting.

However, it is extremely rare that I will buy something new like a guitar or an amp. The value drop has usually been too big when I did that.
 
Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

For high-end stuff I think alot of it has to do with expectations not being met.

If I pay a grand and a half for a new amp the thing better be stellar.

Matter of fact, for what I've paid for the cheap amps I have now I can guarantee you that for the $1500 price tag there are a VERY slim number of amps that would probably satisfy my needs, and even then the circumstances would need to be correct (i.e. I better be gigging so the thing earns me money).
 
Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

Like a lot of other things, people expect instant gratification---turn on the amp and, voila: epiphany. One thing I have learned (although I forget sometimes) is that you have to learn how to use a piece of gear to best advantage---that takes time. Just like playing a Tele or an L5; you learn how to make them work for you.
 
Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

what shocks me is that even at home or while recording - when you have Bogners and Buddas, Riveras - these are built like tanks. I figure you take 'em to tons of house jams or do a ton of recording to get that magic tone.

All I can say is I rarely find 60's or 70s Fender or Marshall equipment (guitars incl.) in mint condition with low hours. People bought and played those things.

My Marshall is a handwired and it left the house a lot before the Shiva. I plan to log many hours on it because it sounds good.

A lot of boutique amps sound WAYYYYYY TOO GOOD to not be played.

Anyone heard those Fargen clips? The VOS? WOW!
Germino? WOW!
 
Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

OlinMusic said:
Up til a few recent years ago I was scant on gear, and whatever I owned I used like crazy.

These days I see lots of HIGH END amps etc for sale with LOW HOURS. How does it happen that people buy $1000 - $4000 amp rigs and never use it a few hours or more and then sell it.

I figure, back in the day, I bought a PRS and to this day that thing sees gig after gig. I bought it to play it.

I know sellers aren't just making it up. I got my Shiva used, and lord knows it was clean as could be. The guy who owned it barely played it.
Click to expand...

I think its mainly because players or non players have a tone in their head that they thought they heard in the store or in a clip and when they recieved the products thay were not happy with it. Another thought is that a lot of this gear if purchased by a pro player may have been needed/necessary for a particular project. Once the project was completed it was no longer needed. I am the same way you are. I buy gear to play. I have a lot of gear, but I have collected it over a long period of time. I use ALL my gear. I rarely sell a piece of gear and I feel this is because I am careful when I begin shopping for something. I do a lot of playing thru an amp or guitar before I buy it. When I do it this way I know I can make it fit in to what I need it to do.
 
Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

OlinMusic said:
what shocks me is that even at home or while recording - when you have Bogners and Buddas, Riveras - these are built like tanks. I figure you take 'em to tons of house jams or do a ton of recording to get that magic tone.

All I can say is I rarely find 60's or 70s Fender or Marshall equipment (guitars incl.) in mint condition with low hours. People bought and played those things.

My Marshall is a handwired and it left the house a lot before the Shiva. I plan to log many hours on it because it sounds good.
Click to expand...

Interesting point - obviously speakers break in and in most cases sound better to people as they age, but also apparently an Output Transformer ages with use and can take decades to age fully. Having said that, if an amp doesn't sound good when you buy it, a bit of OT and speaker ageing will not make it sound amazing. Those Marshalls sounded awesome when they were first made, which is why all the 60's recordings made with them sound as amazing as the amps do today.
 
Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

FretFire said:
A lot of people buy them to try in a non-store environment, and if they don't like them they turn them over and try something else. The high end stuff you refer to is pretty easy to move most of the time, and holds value pretty well.
Click to expand...


This has been the case with me. I bought a couple of amps that were raved about but unavailable to try out first and they didn't do it for me. The Fargen Bastage was way too vintagey and didn't take the od/dist. pedals I had at that time well. You guys probably don't even know I bought an 18 watt Aiken Invader after hearing it was the holiest plexi-tone clone and it didn't sound any better than my Traynor. I gave it a try with different spekaers and it didn't make a difference. It arrived on Friday and I had it sold it on Sunday! That may be a record...........
 
Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

I thought I understood GAS.

There was a thread on another forum about 'gear you've sold in the last year.'

Now I've owned a few pieces of equipment in the past 20 or so years, there was a period of time I was trading around guitars so fast, even the guys in the band didn't know what I had. However, that thread had my head spinning. There were seriously guys there who seriously had sold more guitars in the last year than I have owned in 20.

Whether you chalk it up to "easier to buy off the intArweb" or biting on the "next big thing" hype on the intArweb or just having the money to buy whatever strikes your fancy at that particular moment...
 
Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

JammerMatt said:
What about the Competition? Great right out of the box? What are your thoughts after only a couple of weeks?
Click to expand...

It is great right out of the box. I wanted an amp whose distortion sounded great without any need for a pedal and that's what I got!

I will say that if you don't have the luxury of being able to play it at a decent volume then it may not be the right amp (attenuation aside).
 
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Re: Why do people SELL so fast?

JammerMatt said:
Well, I'd definitely be using an attenuator at home.
Click to expand...

I mean, it's a master volume design but there's this hump at around 8-8:30 on the volume where it is like the power amp meets the preamp and you get the full, thick tone. And at 9:00 it's loud enough to play with a drummer!
 
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