New Gear vs Used Gear

I generally buy new because I want what I want when I want it. I don’t want to wait in a used one. I’m not concerned about losing a few hundred if I decide to sell. I can handle it . Lol when i do buy used amps I only buy amps if I know the seller and trust the history of it. i currently have 8 amps… 4 purchased new… 3 of the used ones were purchased from the same seller. The 4th is a cheap solid state amp, so didn’t really care much about its history.
 
Most of the best sounding gear I’ve tried is vintage or discontinued stuff, so no choice but to buy used lol. The vintage guitars in great shape often times are the less good sounding ones anyway IME

I only buy new for speciality items here and there, and they’re the kind of gear that maintains value and sometimes goes up if anything. Most of the generic, current made, flavor of the month “boutique” stuff just isn’t worth my time anymore. They almost always end up being sterile, bland, forgettable stuff soundwise when ab’ed vs my keepers
 
I ordered my Splawn new from Scott, a couple of GMW's over the years and and an ESP Eclipse II.
everything thing else I own I bought used. my wife says I go through guitars like underwear (buy to try)
so buying new would be a financial disaster :)
 
Vast majority I bought used. All my gear ends up with some wear from gigging so there's no reason to not let someone else take the quite significant hit IMO. And honestly I am a big fan of the guys that buy new and then barely play their stuff because I get great deals from them when they get bored and sell ;)
 
Like a lot of guys have stated so far, I will buy either depending on what’s available for what I’m looking at. Amps I prefer new because you never know what their actual mileage is, unless you know the seller etc.

I recently picked up a Washburn N4 from 2014, so still built in their actual custom shop, and it just had some “used mojo” and the previous seller had done a bridge pickup replacement that I would have done anyway. So in those “stars aligned” instances used can be a jackpot.
IMG_0681.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Century Road Guitar said:
Like a lot of guys have stated so far, I will buy either depending on what’s available for what I’m looking at. Amps I prefer new because you never know what their actual mileage is, unless you know the seller etc.

I recently picked up a Washburn N4 from 2014, so still built in their actual custom shop, and it just had some “used mojo” and the previous seller had done a bridge pickup replacement that I would have done anyway. So in those “stars aligned” instances used can be a jackpot.
Click to expand...
You bring up a good point.... knowing the seller. I've bought some great guitars / amps from sellers I trust.
 
I just bought Mesa Boogie Mark 535 for $1100 and it came with a gator case that retails for almost $300. There’s a Les Paul classic nearby for 1000 I could buy that and it’d still be cheaper than buying the Boogie brand new.

Most of the time the gear I want is only available as vintage.
 
I buy everything used. Depreciation is my friend. Really, I've just never had the $ to buy the level of equipment I want new, so I buy used. It's what got me into US made guitars and British amps while I was still in my teens.
 
I like to buy used except for when the seller/dealer lies to you and you spend 3 weeks figuring out what’s wrong with the head and that the cab has a blown speaker. If your gonna buy used from someone you don’t know you have to always assume the seller is lying unfortunately.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top