best/worst garage sale deal.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

Suzuki Omnichord - $20 at the Value Village in Victoria BC.
Everett Orgatron - $25. The Orgatron was one of the first electric home organs, cica 1930s. It was a air/reed organ with pick-ups on the reeds and a tube amp. The pick-up system was later licensed or sold to Whirlitzer for their electric pianos. It had a huge air compressor and sucked so much power that the lights in the studio would dim when I turned it on. One day I turned it on and it caught fire. That was the end of that.

I'm still kicking myself for not buying the Optigan I saw at the Goodwill years ago. I had no idea what it was and it was a little fucked up (aren't they all). I've never seen another one.

[floid]

maybe slightly off topic, but in the spirit of the original post: several years ago my uncle saw an add in the paper: "mercedes benz, $200" It ran week after week, final John couldn't take it any more and called about it:
"It's an actual mercedes? not some little toy model, or..."
"No," the woman on the other end said, "It's the real deal, it's yours for $200, just like the ad says"... apparently her recently deceased husband had provided in his will that all the proceeds from sale of said car should be given to his mistress.

[jc_terrones]

A Wurlitzer 200A with music stand and pedal in decent shape, 6 years ago: $40.00.

[calaverasgrandes]

I almost forgot this one. Eden 1x15, original series, with JBL woofer. No Tweet. $80 at local flea market. I bought it on the spot and balanced it on my bicycle to walk it to my practice space. About 2 miles away.

[Gebo]

Silverface Fender Pro-Reverb w/ g12s and the original speakers on the side. $160.00

Boss dd-6 delay - $5.00

Cad e100, akg c414b, and a pair of vintage Auratones for $525.00 total.

Older akg headphones (can't remember the model, but they were like 150 bones when I looked them up at the time). $5.00

Ampex 600 reel to reel - $50.00

[ChurchOfTheta]

It was a long time ago, Maestro Ringmodulator for around 20 bucks. The guy who sold it to me said it sounded like it was broken. It worked perfectly fine when I got home and tried it out.

[calaverasgrandes]

It was a long time ago, Maestro Ringmodulator for around 20 bucks. The guy who sold it to me said it sounded like it was broken. It worked perfectly fine when I got home and tried it out.

I have almost the same story about a Maestro Fuzz. Strangely it was in a Maestro Phaser enclosure, but if you opened it up it said Fuzz on the PCB. Sounded really good but wasnt my thing at the time. No idea what happened to it. Pay real money for one now!

[???????]

Back when Univox Superfuzzes were going for ~$600, I got one for 60 bucks on craigslist-- 1960s gray version. "Won't turn on." Squirt of De Oxit in the switch and a fresh battery, and it's been rocking my balls off ever since.

[ChurchOfTheta]

I have almost the same story about a Maestro Fuzz. Strangely it was in a Maestro Phaser enclosure, but if you opened it up it said Fuzz on the PCB. Sounded really good but wasnt my thing at the time. No idea what happened to it. Pay real money for one now!

Sweet little box.

[ChurchOfTheta]

Back when Univox Superfuzzes were going for ~$600, I got one for 60 bucks on craigslist-- 1960s gray version. "Won't turn on." Squirt of De Oxit in the switch and a fresh battery, and it's been rocking my balls off ever since.

I love stories like this.

[Gorilla]

my two best finds were on eBay doing a local local search (probably at least 5 years back).

1953 allen organ rotating cabinet that a guy had rescued from the trash, replacing the 3 12's with prototype speakers from Reverend. 140 lbs, nobody but me bid, I got it for $20 and drove over and picked it up. Motor works great, sounds great, hasn't moved from the spot where I put it when I got it home.

Similiarly, I saw a listing for bass amp. I clicked through and it was a early 70's quad reverb. I was the only one who bid, $200 and I drove over and picked it up. They guy had got from a friend for his daughter to play bass in the high school jazz band and when she went to college, he sold it. It's probably only worth $600, but I'd never have been able to afford it, much less a twin if he knew what he had.

[calaverasgrandes]

Oh well if we bring in Ebay deals;
I got an Adcom 535 for $50 on ebay. "one bad channel".
I downloaded a pdf of the schematic, very simple design I tell myself. Also, it has a fuse on the power rails for each side. I gambled that the fuse was the problem with the left channel. It was! Ironically I still havent gotten around to buying some real passive speakers for it, so it feeds my JBL Control 10's which are just really nice install speakers, nothing you should mix on. Oh yeah, got the Control 10's for free on craigslist. The woofer was blown in one. I popped it open and unshorted the leads to the woofer. Works great.

[Scott Greenberg]

The apt complex i live near was cleaning out their storage space and i got the chance to dig through it before everything hit the curb.

I ended with a Casio CZ101 Synth. Which was pretty sweet, but I ended up selling for $200. Good deal for everyone.

[drewbass]

way in the past i posted the 14 channel api board that was given to me.
the chair of the department couldn't sell the board and was going to dumpster it. she gave me a call and i rented a truck. the board and some r2rs were sitting there for 15-20 years, unused, collecting dust.

14 api 312s circa 1971, or 72, i can't remember.
14 melcor gme 20 eqs
22 or 23 api 325 line amps.

i had no clue what they were.

i had brent rack 8 of the 312s, i racked 8 gmes and sold the rest.

[calaverasgrandes]

WOW, speechless.
I always wonder what became of the API stuff in the radio station my mom used to work at. I remember when was a kid I though they were the coolest thing, very star wars looking. Being in New Orleans, they likely got damaged in Katrina if they werent tossed in favor of some automated garbage when that radio station undoubtedly was consumed by clear channel or some other national chain.