The title might be a little misleading (or a lot,) but in Sam Ash yesterday I thought about this topic – what are the guitars and/or amps that I almost always see in the used section, and why? This blog post is speculative – it’s just my opinions. Onward!
- Fender Champion 100 amp – This is a 100 watt solid state combo amp with two 12 inch speakers. It’s $400 brand new. It’s got a five star rating on Sweetwater’s website. But you can find a used one pretty much any time you want. Why? It sounds pretty good for clean sounds. For gain, even with a good pedal, it’s a bit brittle. And gain is very important these days.
- Epiphone Les Paul guitar – There are 89 billion of these out there. Or it seems that way. The Epiphone Les Paul is an interesting guitar – they look fantastic. They sound decent. They can sound fantastic with a pickup swap, but most people don’t do that. I think they’re huge in the used market because they dig into your ribs when you sit down and play them, and the G string goes out of tune all the time. In other words, they’re Les Pauls.
- Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp – I know exactly why this one ends up being brought in – they’re useless in a home environment. You can’t put the amp on more than 1. In recent years, Fender has said they’ve fixed this issue. No, they haven’t. It’s heavy, it’s useless at home, and it belongs on a loud stage, where it sounds fantastic. And the gain sounds, after four revisions, are still hopelessly terrible.
- Line 6 Spider amps – Or any other Line 6 amp. These amps are the reverse of the Hot Rod Deluxe – these amps are very good for home use, but on a stage they tend to get swallowed up. I think most of these are either people who decided that they didn’t want to play guitar after all, or people who outgrew them.
- Fender Mexican Strat guitar – You can STILL find these things in music stores, though the price has slowly been rising as Fender continues to jack up their prices faster than inflation. I think the biggest reason you see these are that there were so many of them, and people might decide they really wanted a humbucker guitar, or a locking trem guitar, or they stopped playing, or… I personally think the MIM Strats are great guitars for around $300 to $350.
- Fender Blues Junior amp – Unlike the Hot Rod Deluxe, the Blues Junior is fine for home use. Unlike the Line 6 Spider, it is also fine for the stage. It’s probably the best selling Fender amp ever, so there are a lot of them out there. The Blues Junior sounds small and boxy because the amp is a small box. Connect a Blues Junior to a bigger external cab and you’ve got something amazing. I think people who bring these in either wanted a different sound (this is not a good amp for dirt) or they are getting a better amp, or they’re getting rid of it because they stopped playing. I would love to find one with a trashed speaker and case for around $200. I’d make an amp head out of it.
- Applause Acoustic guitar – Made by Ovation for cheap, these things are everywhere. I suspect people bring them in because they suck – they slide around on your leg when you play them and they sound mediocre. Not a fan.
- Gibson Les Paul guitar – These are NOT budget, but you will always see used Les Pauls. Yes, there were a lot made, but at the end of the day, a lot of people get a Les Paul and discover it digs into your ribs when you sit and play it, it’s heavy, and it goes out of tune. And since they have a decent used value, they often get traded it. But what a sound!
- Fender Mustang 1/2/3 amp – See Line 6 Spider. Same deal. I had a Mustang 2 that I traded in because I was ready for a better amp. But I really, really liked the Mustang 2 for home practice use. A lot.
- Marshall DSL40 amp – I like these quite a bit, but I think people often decide they don’t like them and they trade them in. They are also super, super common – Marshall sold a real lot of these. I’ve heard they’re not all the same – depending on the year they were made, they might sound a little different.
Well, there you go. I bet you see some other stuff out there, too. You could put it in the comment section below, but I don’t have one. Internet comment sections are where annoying people go and shout. If you want to email me to talk about your theories as to why some things always end up used, I’d love to have that discussion. richard@budgetguitarist.com
