Forgotten, overlooked, 2nd hand undervalued amps.......

The~Kid

The~Kid

Active member
With the used market cooling down it seems a lot of decent amps can be had at a fair price.



Obviously vintage 5150s and JCM800s aren't going back down anytime soon but there are some decent deals.


Old Egnaters aren't bad or JCA amps either. You can also get a Vox AC15 for a good price for what they do now on the used market again relative to new. Some I feel are overpriced like you see what some Peavey Classic 30s go for sometimes and some ask for overvalued prices but a lot of stuff is coming down. A Peavey XXX, Ultra Plus or JSX seem like great deals in the used market IMO right now for the right price.


I figure older Ampeg tube amps or Epiphone Tube amps are a good deal too and largely forgotten and overlooked. Older Carvin amps and such too. Obviously different amps for different strokes and folks but yeah in general prices in the used market don't look too bad for a lot of uses stuff now although there are still some asking for pandemic level used prices where used sold for as much as new practically....... many prices are coming back to normal in the used market it seems.



What do you see as undervalued or overlooked depending on style of amp for blues, jazz, metal, indie etc etc!?!??!?
 
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'90's Sovtek MIG's
Steavens Poundcake
Most Alessandro's (for classic rock and lower gain stuff)
Jamison (rare, but sound imo like a better Matchless. Not cheap, but I'd argue still a great value when compared to how much any other amp as good costs)
'60's Ampeg Gemini II for warm, woody, beautiful cleans. Super underrated
Some Laney's, especially the L series like the L50H
 
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braintheory said:
'90's Sovtek MIG's
Steavens Poundcake
Most Alessandro's (for classic rock and lower gain stuff)
Jamison (rare, but sound imo like a better Matchless. Not cheap, but I'd argue still a great value when compared to how much any other amp as good costs)
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Yeah on the not cheap side Budda amps seem like a good value depending on the price and what you get.
 
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If you can find a good price on a Fender Blues Deluxe and the older ones before the move to MDF cabs those are great. Pretty much a poormans Bassman, made in Mexico, great speaker, fx loop and Reverb.


This or a Fender Super Sonic 60 at a good price ain't bad either and a better option too and those are MIA. They come with a Vibrolux/Bassman circuit for the cleans and a pretty nice OD/Lead channel too that can get pretty heavy.
 
braintheory said:
'90's Sovtek MIG's
Steavens Poundcake
Most Alessandro's (for classic rock and lower gain stuff)
Jamison (rare, but sound imo like a better Matchless. Not cheap, but I'd argue still a great value when compared to how much any other amp as good costs)
'60's Ampeg Gemini II for warm, woody, beautiful cleans. Super underrated
Some Laney, especially the L series like the L50H
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Still really want a Jamison but have never seen one for sale
 
braintheory said:
'90's Sovtek MIG's
Steavens Poundcake
Most Alessandro's (for classic rock and lower gain stuff)
Jamison (rare, but sound imo like a better Matchless. Not cheap, but I'd argue still a great value when compared to how much any other amp as good costs)
'60's Ampeg Gemini II for warm, woody, beautiful cleans. Super underrated
Some Laney's, especially the L series like the L50H
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I hope MIGs come down in price. I've been eyeballing the Electro Harmonic reissues, but I want the OG 100 watt bad boy.
 
I think you can still get a good deal on a Peavey 6150 + MIA but that's as close as your getting to a vintage 5150 ll.


Pretty much the same thing but always felt the 6150 version was a bit smoother and articulate....... even though they are the same thing technically with different names.


If I had the money and room I'd get one of those for a good price.
 
vultures said:
I hope MIGs come down in price. I've been eyeballing the Electro Harmonic reissues, but I want the OG 100 watt bad boy.
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Aren't they like $900-1100? I haven't kept up with their prices, but as long as they stay under $2k I'd argue it's still a lot of amp for the money for how good they actually sound. Just boost them and like a good vintage Marshall 2203 will sound better than most recent made high gain amps to me besides the few legit ones like Wizard. I got the one I had in 2014 or 15 for $400 lol. I'd be pretty skeptical of that reissue
 
braintheory said:
Aren't they like $900-1100? I haven't kept up with their prices, but as long as they stay under $2k I'd argue it's still a lot of amp for the money for how good they actually sound. Just boost them and like a good vintage Marshall 2203 will sound better than most recent made high gain amps to me besides the few legit ones like Wizard. I got the one I had in 2014 or 15 for $400 lol. I'd be pretty skeptical of that reissue
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Yeah, they can be had for around that much. I too remember when they were $400-500 all day long. I want one kind of beat up or broken because I want to hot rod it, add an FX loop and some other non-kosher things.
 
braintheory said:
'90's Sovtek MIG's
Steavens Poundcake
Most Alessandro's (for classic rock and lower gain stuff)
Jamison (rare, but sound imo like a better Matchless. Not cheap, but I'd argue still a great value when compared to how much any other amp as good costs)
'60's Ampeg Gemini II for warm, woody, beautiful cleans. Super underrated
Some Laney's, especially the L series like the L50H
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I agree with all of these
 
I have owned 3 Sovtek's, at the same time, that I bought from my amp tech for peanuts in the late 1990's / very early 2000's. One was really rare and I wish I would have kept them all. Probably paid about $750 total for all 3 and today, could easily sell them for over triple that amount.
 
I mean an overlooked and underrated amp I have to say is a Princeton Reverb too kind of...... they keep their value, sound great for what they are, you upgrade one with a 12 and your set. People always kind of forget about it next to the Deluxe Reverb or Twin but it's my personal fave out of the lot.

It's harder but if you can land a good one at a good price they keep or gain value too pretty well compared to other Fender offerings and it's sort of overlooked in that regard aside from being a great amp fundamentally at its core. Even at fair market value or just below that they aren't a bad deal.

Sometimes you can land a good deal on even a Chris Stapleton version too aside from a regular reissue.
 
I'll add another clean tone amp, the Mesa Boogie Cali tweed series is excellent.

Matt300ZXT said:
I'm a Budda boy for life.

If I was going to suggest an amp brand that sounded pretty good but never got much love and hardly anyone keeps up with them, I'd go with Bedrock.
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John Christ used a bedrock for Danzig I, i know. That album has great ACDC style tone.
 
Will add a Genz Benz El Diablo for not a whole lot of money a whole lot of amp. Come in 60/100 watt head or combo versions. Very simple to use and some nice features too.

Stupid value, great price on the used market and a top quality amp and quality sound.
 
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