[Harp-L] re: amps on ebay

[John Kally <jkally3@xxxxxxx>]

As for buying on amp on ebay, I'd say, depends on a bunch of variables. 
 For example, if you search for "johhn" as a seller search you'll find 
harp-l Sonny Jr  selling some great stuff with regular frequency and 
I'd buy from him in a minute. In fact, he has some things to say about 
the bad deals he's gotten on misrepresented pieces he's bought there.   
I've sold about a dozen amps over the years on ebay besides a few here 
( my  ebay seller name, jkally, and I don't have anything up this week 
at ebay) and still maintain a 878+ positive feedbacks with zero 
negatives. But I've been around Fender amps for over 20 years, and know 
a thing or two about packing for travel.  I did buy an amp from someone 
at ebay about two years ago, it came with all the tubes still in the 
sockets , at least packed that way as most were rolling around or 
broken, baffle cracked and speaker cone torn because the seller didn't 
know how to pack.  However, seller did make good on this so deal worked 
out anyway.   Most sellers are willing to work with you, in my 
experience, but if you don't look at feedback on sellers you're 
inviting trouble.  Also, ebay is a great place to find the small 
oddball amps that might not normally turn up in your area, like Alamo, 
early Univox,  Kalamazoo, Valco, etc.  But you need to know something 
about amps, what it takes to get them serviced, what is correct and 
what's been messed with,   etc before bidding, and of course the 
reliability of the seller. Oh, and "untested" frequently translates to 
"broken" more times than not.  I personally am somewhat hesitant to 
sell my big amps on ebay due to the shipping hassle, but will probably 
break down and do it some day, as it's not easy to get a decent price 
on the local market. I'm not planning on cleaning house completely but  
 if anyone is interested, you could email me to see what I'm going to 
part with or just watch and eventually you'll see it come up for sale 
there.