Vintage gear hunting: every once in a while you get lucky

posted by Tom Walzem

When I lived in Southern California, musicians would get a weekly regional classified ad paper called the Recycler to comb the musical instrument section for good deals on vintage equipment. Legends of really cool stuff found by guys who would get to the edition fresh off the press abound. Reportedly Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers found his favorite Rickenbacker that way. Today the web has taken some of the work out of finding vintage gear, but shows like Antiques Roadshow and American Pickers has made everything "grandpa picked on" worth top retail. Still bargains pop up, but the immediacy of the internet has made scoring it for yourself (or losing out), a matter of minutes, even seconds, instead of hours.

I have a habit of occasionally looking at Craigslist to see if there are any interesting things showing up. Not that I have a load of cash ready for the big find, so it's mostly out of curiosity. One day I logged in around 10 in the morning. and up popped this ad for and Echoplex Echo Chamber. At $100 or best offer, it couldn't hurt to call even if it was a complete wreck. I called. The young guy on the other end had no idea what it was, and I assured him that I was interested and on my way over after hitting the bank. I found his house in a decent neighborhood, and called him on the cell phone per his request. He was just walking out of the house when I saw him answer my call. With one quick move he tossed his cigarette and indicated that he would appear again at the garage door. As the motorized door opened I caught a glimpse of the green vinyl box in his hands that could only mean a tube driven EP-2! It was missing the handle, but not any damage other than that. He popped the top open and the brushed metal top gleamed with shiny newness. I don't think I said holy cow, but I was thinking it. "And look, it works", he offered as he plugged it in and turned it on. I may have actually thrown the money at him at this point. I had a little regret for not giving him an "OBO", but I figured good enough is good enough.

What I should have done when I got it home was take it to some electronic guru's and had them check it out before I plugged it in. But that would be rational. This was not rational. A couple of tweeks to the balance pot later I was awash in echoey goodness. What I didn't expect was how the preamp would react with the guitar and really fatten up the tone. What I was thinking about selling turned into a keeper. Later I talked to a drummer/producer friend of mine who saw the deal just after I did. The kid had offered it to him for $200 if I fell through. It turned out that I called the kid right after he posted, I just lucked out. A second or two later... who knows.

Restoration note: I found a handle bracket on an old suitcase, and found a wonderful trunk and case parts company that had NOS grey plastic handles! The original coil cord had a black rubber jacket around the core that turned to tar. I made a replacement out of the oldest parts I had. So it looks like an old repair.