Would you Sell Western Electric pair of 300B amps with new WE 300Bs for $100K

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by allied333, Aug 12, 2018.

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  1. Larry I

    Larry I Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, D.C.
    Has your friend looked into the market value of the amp? Western gear, so far, has only gone up in price over time; if he doesn't sell now, he could probably get a good price in the future.

    I have heard a number of WE 300b amps and they sound quite good. In particular, the amp that is known as a D-spec (amp with no capacitors in the signal path) sounds really good. But, a pair of those amps would sell for much more than $100k.
     
  2. allied333

    allied333 Audiophile Thread Starter

    Location:
    nowhere
    He is the largest vintage tube seller in the world, so he also knows audio items and value. The amps retail for about $15K each a few years ago, but never show up any longer on sites that sell amps. But at $100K for the pair, that must be way above market value. He also stated he has 121 NOS Western Electric 300Bs he will not sell right now. Someone offered him $22K for a pair and he turned the guy down- go figure!
     
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  3. james

    james Summon The Queen

    Location:
    Annapolis
    can we see these amps?

    Kind of on topic: where's the magic in the WE amps? Surely the circuit can be replicated. Sum of all parts? The transformers? How much would it cost to have someone replicate the circuit and build you a custom amp?
     
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  4. allied333

    allied333 Audiophile Thread Starter

    Location:
    nowhere
    I doubt it could be replicated due to the audio transformer build is not likely known and no one would be willing to have an audio destroyed during disassembly & analysis. However, I am sure the more expensive new manufactured 300B amps sound at least as good and likely better.

    The Western Electric 300B amp is a commercial built amp used for telephone amplification service. Also, found its way in early theater applications.
     
  5. GroovyVinylDood

    GroovyVinylDood Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastern Canada
    If these amps were something that I enjoyed and I knew I could not replace them with something I would enjoy as much I wouldn't sell them for any price. That's my spin on this at this point in my life but if for some reason I lost everything and had to start from zero than that would change my view of this option. Everyone's situation is different at different times in their lives. My hope is that your friend will do what makes him the happiest as life is too short to not do everything one can do to bring happiness in to their lives. Trust me on this one.
     
  6. Assuming he's making profit on this transaction, I'd sell. But I'd also be vary wary of the form of payment. Curious what the market value of his amps are, and why the buyer would pay so much? Wealthy people didn't get wealthy by spending their money fool-heartedly.
     
  7. JimW

    JimW In the Process of Becoming

    Location:
    Charlottesville VA
    Don't know if he still does this, but I know Steve Howe used to buy a seat for his guitar b/c he didn't trust the baggage handlers.
     
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  8. bullmkt3

    bullmkt3 Forum Resident

    SELL, SELL, SELL. Good luck getting an amp past TSA. He should hire Wheelsup or NetJet for a Hong Kong Charter.
     
  9. bullmkt3

    bullmkt3 Forum Resident

    In 1993, I purchased two 1931 National Resonator guitars from Matt Umanov Guitar Shop in NY. I was able to put them in the seat next to me for free.
    Today L. 112-95, 49 U.S.C. §41724 allows musicians to carry-on their instruments as long as their is room on the plane.
     
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  10. Jimi Floyd

    Jimi Floyd Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pisa, Italy
    I'd buy those for $200k, if I could.
     
    Mbe likes this.
  11. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    A case in point, a lot of gear like this is heavily bought by wealthy Chinese, Japanese, and Hong Kong buyers. And they're buying up mint and near mint jazz, violin and cello records en mass, and certain desireable rarities they pay very high money for.
     
    Spin Doctor likes this.
  12. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    Why wouldn't you?

    You might as well ask the question, would you spend $100,000 on a piece of audio equipment? There are many on this forum that do and for them the answer might be "no" since finding it a second time might be close to impossible.

    For the 90% of us that keep their entire system cost below 20 -30K, it would be silly to have that much invested in one piece. From a practical stand point, if you had say $5,000 in each component and a $100,000 amp, you could start from scratch and built an entire system for 100K that would be better. Make no mistake about it, the WE has collector value above and beyond its performance value. So if performance it the goal, you have consider the entire system not just one component or tube.
     
  13. bean_counter

    bean_counter Well-Known Member

    Silly to not sell, unless he wants to gamble that the collectable market is going to go even higher. Should be able to better the sound for a fraction of the $.

    If it was one of the big WE horn speaker systems, I would hesitate, some of those are not readily replicated or bettered.
     
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  14. Larry I

    Larry I Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, D.C.
    What makes WE gear valuable is not the particular circuit (schematics are everywhere). It is largely the collector value and performance that is only obtained by having the right parts (particularly the transformers). I like the sound of WE amps, even though I am not that fond of 300B amps.

    I also like WE horn systems. There are some quite good replicas of some of their drivers and horns, but, the good ones are not cheap (e.g., G.I.P. Laboratories, a Japanese company). Some companies that made drivers and horns that were based on WE design also produced some great speaker parts (e.g., YL, another Japanese company). I utilize a WE compression driver that has NOT been successfully cloned (713b), and I don't think I would sell my pair for anything but truly crazy money.
     
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  15. 62caddy

    62caddy Forum Resident

    Location:
    PA
    They can also decline in value...
     
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  16. Spin Doctor

    Spin Doctor Forum Resident

    If it's that big a deal, boxing some amps to fit a seat ain't rocket science... It's not like he's planning to show up with a weird box with naked tubes hanging out and plop it down in an aircraft seat. He'd end up on CNN.

    I'm pretty sure a WE amp weighs less than a human also. The guy has money. Apparently "REAL" money. What does he care what a airplane seat costs? He's not the average jamoke that's gonna agonize over every penny.
     
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2018
  17. Benzion

    Benzion "Cogito, ergo sum" Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    As long as he doesn't make love to them while the tubes are hot. Watch out for liability, have him sign an indemnity agreement for possible severe burns to the nether regions...
     
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  18. scottc1963

    scottc1963 Forum Resident

    Would there be a way to verify this story?
     
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  19. pscreed

    pscreed Upstanding Member

    Location:
    Land of the Free
    Wouldn’t it be so much fun to be able to do something like this?

    I know there’s a few folks here that have pockets this deep (or deeper)... it’s neat to daydream about it if nothing else.

    Sounds like something out of a movie from where I sit.

    Love it.
     
    Dave likes this.
  20. Larry I

    Larry I Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, D.C.
    I am assuming that the collector is flying from Hong Kong to examine the amps and verify the condition/authenticity of the amps before buying. As for flying back with it on a separate ticket for the seat, that is a common practice with very valuable items (such as musical instruments). In fact, some women was in the news recently for being thrown off of an American Airlines flight after purchasing a seat for her cello and after flying most of a round trip this way.

    The collector market is sort of crazy. But, there are people who pay big bucks for these amps and tubes and actually play them. A local dealer is trying to assemble a quad of WE 300A's for a pair of pushpull amps that will actually play those crazy rare tubes (i.e., the tubes will NOT go into a collection). Alternatively, the amps will be supplied with engraved-base 300B's. That same dealer has a pair of tubes for which he turned down an offer of $30k (these tubes are also played instead of being stashed away).
     
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  21. TarnishedEars

    TarnishedEars Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Seattle area
    I would definitely sell them were it me. To expect the collectors value of these to go up forever is insane. Unless his plan is to keep them until he dies, he should take profits now, while the getting is good. All that it will take for the value of those amps to drop significantly is to have another recession.
     
  22. rockclassics

    rockclassics Senior Member

    Location:
    Mainline Florida
    That one looks like a coffee maker....IMO.
     
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  23. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Our host has a nice collection of engraved-base 300Bs.
     
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  24. COBill

    COBill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado, USA
    Not at all in the same league, but when I had just graduated from college, I knew the stores back at home (Wisconsin) discounted but the stores in the area I moved to (San Jose, CA) did not.

    So my carry-on baggage for my return flight from Milwaukee to San Jose was an unboxed Adcom GFA-555. Yes, it fit under the seat in front of me, and the shipping box was checked as baggage.
     
  25. Larry I

    Larry I Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington, D.C.
    There are perils to every form of transportation. My dealer had a super expensive Audio Note Gaku-On amp shipped from England. It sat in U.S. customs for weeks. When he finally got it, the metal case had been struck multiple times with a hammer and someone tried to pry open the amplifier chassis rather than unscrew the panels. U.S. customs can be a pretty ****ty place for gear to pass through.
     
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