Two valve amplifiers. Value?

[terry vin]

Hi,

I have a Carlsbro CS40-60 PA amplifier, that was put away in working condition over 40 years ago. It has the original transformers and not rusty.

The next is a Selmer Futurama Corvette. This was given to me in the late 80's by a neighbour. It belonged to his son and had not been used since he left home in the 60's. It was going in the dustbin, so gladly gave to me. The board inside looks new, valves usually darken the PCB.

So what price to ask ? it would have to be pick up only.

Thank you.
Terry.

[terry vin]

Selmer ones.

[Diabolical Artificer]

Completed listings off ebay show two @ £150 approx, one BIN one sold as auction, so I was out on my original price of £300 but then I didn't know what amp model it was. Some of the valve PA amps go for more if they have Partridge transformers in, yours doesn't.

The Selmer amp showed several ranging from £100 - £420, again, completed listing's. To get the same results, go to ebay, enter amp into search box, hit search,you get a page of results, then hit advanced, then click completed listings, scroll to bottom and hit search.

These give an indication of an item's price, in reality it could go for more or less.

To get the best price on ebay give as much info as possible, listing valve makes and numbers and clean them up a bit using WD40 and fine wire wool on any real chrome fittings. A quick clean with Fairy Liquid and water on any tolex helps too.

Hope that helps, Andy.

[terry vin]

Hi Andy,

Sadly I don't use eBay, but thank you very much for posting some rather helpful tips will give them a clean up when I get chance. If anyone else wants to add extra information and advice please do

Terry.

[Diabolical Artificer]

Ebay's not for everyone, but unfortunately it's the more or less the only game in town if you want the best price. There are several forums including this one though, where you could sell them if you don't want all the hassle of ebay.

Andy.

[Herald1360]

Now you've got an idea about what to ask, you'll probably shift them if you advertise them in a musically oriented forum or magazine.

[John10b]

I sold all my Amps, Cabs and Mics to a Music store in Cardiff, many years ago, can’t remember for how much but I was satisfied with price, worth looking around.
Cheers
John

[terry vin]

Thank you for the advice chaps

I have had a look on "advanced search, completed listings" but sadly unable to find my Carlsbro CS40-60 PA amplifier listed. The ones sold look nothing like this one I have. A google search fetches mine up, but repaired with new valves and transformers from China? They have sold for £300.

I can only find one Selmer Futurama Corvette the same version as mine, that sold on the 22nd October for £420. Will do a little more research into past sales later on today, if I get chance.

Terry.

[tracypaper]

Bear this in mind when advertising for sale that restored, serviced and cleaned up will always command top prices.
You don't have to click advanced either to find completed, once you have typed in what you are looking for and the list of results appears just look to the left on the same page and you will find completed there.
Gaz.

[Welsh Anorak]

If you intend to sell them as they are with just a clean, don't go too far. There's a difference between grubby and patina which some people pay a premium for.
Just a little sensible washing with mild cleaners will help them sell, but I'd leave the insides alone and sell them as original. Sometimes less means more!
I have a dilemma with an original Vox AC30 head and twin cab a customer wants to sell. Do I restore or not?

[John10b]

Hi Glyn, that would depend on whether or not it is working, and what the customer expects. As you will know a faulty amp could be expensive to repair, if you were unlucky.
Before I sold my gear I made sure the amp etc was working, I also replaced one the Shure mic cartridges.
Cheers
John

[ColinTheAmpMan1]

Originally Posted by terry vin

I can only find one Selmer Futurama Corvette the same version as mine, that sold on the 22nd October for £420. Will do a little more research into past sales later on today, if I get chance.

Terry.

To give you an idea, I have a Selmer catalogue dating back to late fifties/early sixties which lists the Futurama Corvette at 18 guineas. I quotes it as having 6 watts undistorted output, amplitude and speed controls for the tremolo, foot-switch, a volume control and a tone control with the on/off switch. Dimensions are H=12" W=17.5", Depth 7". For comparison, a Vox AC30 Twin cost £115-10-0 at around the same date. I wouldn't expect the Corvette to exhibit the same value increase, but who knows? The one sold for £420 is showing a ~23X increase. Translating that to a Vox AC30 and you get a figure of ~£2650. Is that reasonable?

Colin.

[Half a Mullard]

And the rest I would say Colin. A rare and superb sounding amp.

[ColinTheAmpMan1]

Ah, but I know because I have one.... I also have a Fender Stratocaster...
Colin.

[terry vin]

Thank you for the advice. Anyone on here interested in buying these? so I can put up for sale in the for sale section.

Terry.

[Radio Wrangler]

If you do put them in the for sale section, I'd suggest avoiding the ambiguity of the current thread title. I immediately thought of the Two Ronnies' "Fork Handles" sketch

Plenty of old record players had amplifiers using a two-valve circuit.

David

[Herald1360]

Which in itself is ambiguous as a description- it could mean anything from an output valve plus rectifier valve to a pair of triode pentodes in push-pull mono or SE stereo with a solid state rectifier....... never mind modern hybrids!

[Half a Mullard]

Hi Terry
Does the Carlsbro amp have a cabinet? That would probably affect its value. As others have said, eBay would undoubtedly yield the best prices but I accept that you don't want to pursue this route. Do you have a friend with an eBay account who could sell them for you?

Sales on this forum tend to be enthusiasts selling to fellow enthusiasts so prices asked reflect this and therefore tend to be much lower than might be realised on eBay for example. You could certainly offer them for sale on here but would probably have to aim for a much lower price than the eBay estimates which I think are realistic. As others have said a local music/guitar shop might be worth a try.

Also I wouldn't worry too much about the thread title! I think it's quite clear what you are offering.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

[terry vin]

You might have had a valid point David, if I had not posted pictures showing two valve amplifiers made by different manufactures, with pictures showing both amplifiers have more than two valves fitted.

Hello Howard,

Thank you for the advice regarding these amps, the problem with putting it on eBay, is that the new owner would more than likely want it posting and pay via paypal, which I don't use.

Yes it does have the cabinet, my mistake for only posting the full picture of it in my post "Valves For Sale".

Terry.

[Radio Wrangler]

I only saw the photos after I'd read the thread title and clicked on it, wondering which it was going to be.

Unrestored equipment with the undisturbed dirt of the years, yet no rust is pretty much the ideal on this forum. All too often we hear of people who 'just plugged it in to try it out' without knowing the advisability of some preliminary checks and damaged some of the harder to get bits. On a guitar forum, you'll certainly find people who want them, searching for that classic sound, but you'll find fewer people understand the precautions best taken for waking something up.

Ebay probably would get the greatest amount of money, but the greatest isolation from hearing that they got set-up properly and used.


Good luck, whatever you do.

David