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Sleeper and Musicman was twenty-some years ago or more. Same with Riv-designed Fender stuff. Now they're selling at "people think they're gold" prices by comparison.

Same with non-Tweed/Brownface Fender stuff. You could literally not give away SF Bassman heads into the late 90s - $100 all day long, the tubes inside were worth more than the amps.

The next generation of "sleeper" amps will be the modelling-type amps that sound decent but have the resale value of rotten lettuce.

Not long ago I snagged a Yamaha G100 II 212 for next to nothing and it sounds amazing. Loud, super clean, master volume (on the gain channel), onboard parametric eq, and a delicious spring reverb.

Sooooooo good!

i'm with mr Furtkamp here

there are no more sleeper amps

They're not sleepers but I've been amazed at what Mesas are going for these days. I guess they're not very popular anymore.

Vintage culture is stupid and has made the market value of almost everything old ridiculous. Especially, in the case of amps, when the circuits are often simple and easily available.

Around here it's no longer a secret that those vintage musicman amps can sound killer. No way in hell you score any $600 musicman amp in this part of the world.

Considering the price of a 'big brand' vintage tube amp, I'd say Traynors are still awesome sleeper amps. I payed way too much for mine, but those yba heads can generally be had for less than half what a Marshall head from the same era goes for. Also: Peavey Classic 100 and 50 heads. Not in the same league as 70s Marshalls or even Traynors, and not ptp or anything...But I've seen them go for under $200, and they sound rad impo. Made in the US, two channels, dirt cheap, good with pedals, lotsa power, blues lawyers look down on it...What's not to love?

I'd like to try Traynor's Darkhorse some day. Looks like a pretty fuckin cool head.

DarkAxel wrote: there are no more sleeper amps

+eleventybillion

although I will say, I love my Bugera, if you want 100 dirty watts cheap, it's gold.

If you like to tinker, peavey windsors can be pretty cool.

genz benz black pearl.
they linger in the 600ish range, but it plays like a very expensive amp and is switchable from 7 to 15 to 30 watts in all sorts of bias options. really just two, but whatever. fucking sick reverb, comes stock with eminence red fangs, nice ass birch cab and they even made a 3x10" configuration, which is awesome.
I bought the head seven years ago and sold it. always regretted it. in the past two weeks i have found two 2x12 combos for 600. a 3x10 sold on the bay for 595, which killed me inside, but i didnt have the money.
voicing options, usable eq. its like everything a new ac30 should be, but will never accomplish because new vox amps are made of poop and endangered animals. and not the delicious ones.

friendship wrote:They're not sleepers but I've been amazed at what Mesas are going for these days. I guess they're not very popular anymore.

The resale value is nonexsistent. It's crazy, They only seem to be going down to.
I'm not a huge mesa fan, but the value on the used stuff is great right now.

Im going to look at a Kustom 250-4 later tonight. Anyone played one?

I haven't played a 250, but I own one of its little brother models. Ultra bright, but great for unconventional bass sounds and the tremolo is god-tier.

rfurtkamp wrote:Sleeper and Musicman was twenty-some years ago or more. Same with Riv-designed Fender stuff. Now they're selling at "people think they're gold" prices by comparison.

Same with non-Tweed/Brownface Fender stuff. You could literally not give away SF Bassman heads into the late 90s - $100 all day long, the tubes inside were worth more than the amps.

The next generation of "sleeper" amps will be the modelling-type amps that sound decent but have the resale value of rotten lettuce.

So sad. I had heard this before from an older friend; I'm 29, he's in his early 40s. He told me when he lived in New York, he found a baseman head in the trash, and you could find Fender tube amps for super cheap.

I think the only possible "sleeper" aspect to amps is buying stuff that is broken/not working properly and repair it yourself if you can.

I got what appears to be a Magnavox era Ampeg V4 for $200. Cosmetically its ugly and I had to buy new power tubes and I'm recapping it, as well as replacing some other stuff. But over all it will be $400 after all the parts, vs $800 or whatever people are selling V4s for these days.

Maybe not full on sleepers, but the Fender red knob tube stuff is still well enough frowned upon that it can be had on the cheap. Look at the completed listings on ebay - Twins, Dual Showmans, and Super 60s in the +/- $300-$400 range.

They aren't pretty, cool, lightweight, or worth much of anything. But they are an affordable mid/high wattage clean platform with a reasonable amount of versatility for short money.

Fuzz+Showman/Twin+cheapassbasscabfromCList=doom/drone/whateverthefuckyouwantrig for $400-$600

bob the r0bot wrote:I haven't played a 250, but I own one of its little brother models. Ultra bright, but great for unconventional bass sounds and the tremolo is god-tier.

God damn you were not kidding about tthis tremolo. Holy hell. Ive just been strumming chords and leting them sustain for an hour

& it aint too too bright for my cab. Bought'd