They say you “take a bath” when you execute a bad deal or bad trade. The saying came from the stock market, where someone would invest a lot of money on speculation and the investment would turn out to be bad. The best history on the phrase I can find is that it actually came from gambling, where getting cleaned up of everything meant losing all of one’s money.
If you trade stuff in at either Sam Ash or Guitar Center, you’re going to take a bath. I would know. I’m a frequent bather. If you’d like a real world example, here’s one. About 6 months ago I traded in a Wampler Plextortion pedal to put towards a Keeley 4 knob compressor at Guitar Center. The Plextortion sells new for $199. They gave me around $85 for it. In my experience, depending on the item, you will usually get somewhere in the ballpark of 1/3 the original price back. In some cases you might get as much as 1/2, but as was the case with the pedal, it was somewhere in between.
In theory, you can blow stuff out the door on craigslist if you sell it for 50% of what you paid. So in theory you can get a better deal selling your stuff that way. You might get as high as 75% depending on the market for what you’re selling and the condition. But my experiences with craigslist have been dealing with creepy people and people who make an appointment with you and never show up and never let you know they’re not going to show up. I don’t even allow comments on this site – you think I’m gonna let some clown I don’t know into my house? Well, no.
And here is the actual cold hard truth – that pedal I traded in is still there. It’s selling for around $145. That’s a $60 profit for Guitar Center… except it’s been there for months and no one has bought it.
My other market would have been the web. On eBay I probably could have sold it quickly for $100 to $120, plus shipping. And I would have dealt with the buyer, and packaged it up and gone to mail it and all that crap. In retrospect, I think because this is a pedal that’s likely what I should have done. Shipping wouldn’t be too bad. But I shudder to think about shipping an amp or a guitar. I know it’s done every day. But the thing shows up broken, and now you have a big issue to deal with.
But I wanted the Keeley because it was a great deal (it was used.) Today the old Hot Rod Deluxe III is going into Guitar Center, where I will “take a bath” on it. I’ve lived with this amp for over a year. I always wanted one, and I finally got one. And truth be told, I learned that I don’t like it. Next to my little Peavey tube head, with its wonderful EL84 power tubes, the Fender sounds dull. The high end is just… lacking. There’s no sparkle. The low end is muddy. The best thing I can say is that it does sound big. It really fills the room. But you can’t put it above 1.
I have learned that there is no substitute for owning a piece of gear, if you really want to know if it is for you. I almost got the Marshall DSL40 instead of the HRDIII. I should have. But I didn’t know – I’d never owned either amp before. The Peavey has me sold on the EL84 power tubes. I like the high end. I also like the Marshall-type distortion. I don’t need 40 watts because I don’t do gigs any more, and if I did, I’d take the 20 watt Peavey head, which is just the right amount of volume. What I do these days is record. I’m working on recording two albums at the same time right now. I’d like another amp so I’m not putting everything through the Peavey. Since I love the EL84 power tubes, I’m going to get either a Vox or a Marshall, right?
Wrong. I’m going to get a Fender Bassbreaker 007. Because I love Fender. I just don’t love the HRDIII. And here’s the other thing – I hate the Blues Junior. And it’s got EL84 tubes! But it comes in a small box with a lame 12 inch speaker and it sounds very small. It’s said that the Blues Junior turns into a different amp when you connect it to external speakers. No, it doesn’t. It sounds way better, but it’s still got that farty Fender flab-drive instead of overdrive. But the Bassbreaker sounds fantastic.
I could maybe sell the HRDIII for more than Guitar Center will give me. IF anyone will buy it. The used equipment market is kinda sucky around here, because I live in a fairly poor county. So I’ll take a bath to avoid dealing with people and having to wait days, weeks, maybe even months before I can get more money for the amp. You’d think being the Budget Guitarist would mean that I’m super skimpy and will go to great lengths to make or save a buck, but that’s not the case. I’m a web developer. There are plenty of ways to make money if I want to do some extra work. I don’t mow my own lawn, either. I’d rather work on a web page for a client than stand in the 90 degree Florida sun for an hour.
When you trade gear in and take a bath, you do lose money, but… I like to think about the value of owning it. What would it cost to rent a HRDIII for a year? Heck, renting it for two weeks would cost more than buying it at many places. There’s value to having gear in your home. When you buy and trade back in, it’s like you rented it for a silly small amount of money per day. I always wanted to own a HRDIII, and I got a chance to own one. Mission accomplished.
Would I ever buy another HRDIII, used? Sure… I’d buy a broken one for $100. I’d throw out the amp head and use it as a nice one 12 cabinet.
I’ve offended everyone who owns a Blues Junior and a Hot Rod Deluxe now. I hope not. Just because I say something sounds small or crappy doesn’t mean you feel the same way. I’m hoping other people have different opinions. I’m not insulting you or your choice of amp. Well, I kinda am, a little bit, but you’ll get over it. Take a Blues Junior to a club and crank it up, and it might sound great. Taste is very subjective. If you love your HRDIII, good for you. It definitely sounds big. Add an EQ pedal and replace the speaker and you probably have a very good amp for gigs.
