los angeles vintage amp shops?

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arbitropia
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los angeles vintage amp shops?

Post by arbitropia » Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:59 am

hello
i'm looking for an early silverface fender amp ('68-69 vibrolux ideally) in the los angeles area and was wondering if anyone could recommend any shops to check out. i will be visiting truetone in santa monica, and i stopped by the sunset blvd guitar center vintage room, but i'm new to town (again) and don't really know where to look these days (black market music closed down, unfortunately). any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks!

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A.David.MacKinnon
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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:13 am

There is a great shop called Vintage Gear just a few doors away from the Guitar Center on Sunset. It's on the corner and Sunset and Gardener, just west of GC. It is 100% guitar porn in that place with prices to match.

http://www.myspace.com/vintagegear

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arbitropia
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Post by arbitropia » Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:11 pm

thanks, junkshop! i'll stop in, look around, and leave empty-handed, glassy-eyed and drooling.

rydaken
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Post by rydaken » Mon Apr 07, 2008 1:42 pm

There are like 5 (or so) cool shops right around there (directly west of Guitar Center). Be sure to check out Voltage Guitars as well. It's a strip of 2 blocks with a bunch of music shops. Also, there's a great shop in Santa Monica called McCabe's at 3101 Pico Blvd. Their back room is (last time I was there) chocked full of cool vintage goodness (w/ prices to match).

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Post by jmiller » Mon Apr 07, 2008 5:36 pm

I haven't seen much in McCabe's as far as amps, but Truetone Music in Santa Monica has plenty of stuff and is a cool shop to check out. I generally prefer them to McCabe's, to be honest, esp. for electric instruments

Future Music used to be on Sunset but have moved. I don't remember where, but look them up on citysearch and call them. I called a couple months ago and he was about to reopen somewhere in the echo park-ish area IIRC. He said his rent on sunset had doubled (which explains why everything on sunset is so outrageously expensive). Cool guy and a cool shop, worth looking up.

You could check out The Amp Shop in Sherman Oaks but it is pretty small. But they do have a handful of vintage amps. There's a new place in Studio City called the Axe Shop, but I think they only sell new stuff.

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DMZ2000
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Post by DMZ2000 » Mon Apr 14, 2008 2:49 pm

Hey,

Just thought I'd add to what you guy's have already suggested.
True Tone is really great.
A month ago on tour I picked up a 1971 Orange 120 watt head and an HP 400 4x12 cab.
The staff there is knowledgable and friendly.
They totally worked with me on the price.

Best wishes on your quest for the silverface.

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Post by xSALx » Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:27 pm

You could also check out a place in Van Nuys. I don't remember what it's called. Funny, it's near my house. I've been in there once and they looked like they had quite a variety of vintage fender stuff. It's on Van Nuys Blvd one block north of Magnolia Blvd. It's around 5300 Van Nuys Blvd. (this is the address of a car wash about 50 yards from the guitar store).
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