Anybody got a spare 18 grand?

[Psycho Bass Guy]

If so, you can buy Berry Oakley's 400PS.

[Highlander]

Nice story but it would be nicer if the seller just donated it to the museum...?

[nofi]

seller should put it in ebay with a 99 cents starting bid and no reserve. he may get what the amp is REALLY worth. celebrity connection or not.

[birdie]

Had no idea Betts ever played with a Hiwatt!

[godofthunder]

  This kind of celebrity connection rarely raises the price of a vintage amp (a not very desirable vintage amp at that) by all that much. No disrespect to Berry

[Highlander]

Had no idea Betts ever played with a Hiwatt!

Nicely spotted 10/10

[dadagoboi]

Probably one of the least desirable pieces of gear that went through the store.  Lipham Music in Gainesville was THE spot in the late 60s-mid 70's for equipment, largely due to Buster Lipham's relationship with the Allmans and all the other bands that played the UF frat circuit.  Buster had a falling out with his dad around '73 and opened his own store across the street.  I don't know when he rejoined the family business but Lipham's moved west with the Gainesville population shift and is still there.

. 

[Dave W]

seller should put it in ebay with a 99 cents starting bid and no reserve. he may get what the amp is REALLY worth. celebrity connection or not.

Well, he has a Make Offer button. I doubt he and I would agree on what's reasonable.

It's worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Anyone else notice that the supposed beneficiary with medical expenses is never identified, nor is the person who "appraised" the amp at a value of $25K?  Bullshit overly drawn-out backstories tend to de-value things IME. The seller's other auctions are all seriously overpriced used gear, though none so much as that one. Just from a technical perspective, the idea that a current Fender Service center retubed and partially recapped the beast is a SERIOUS concern. The Russian tubes which are rebranded as "Fender" can't hack it in that amp. Like the SVT, those amps are often killed by as many "techs" as they are by abuse.

[Bionic-Joe]

That is a WAY overpriced, way way....way...WAY overpriced price on the amp. I hear those amps KILL!!!! Simply eat svt's for breakfast. I'd love to have one. But I still dig my DR201!!!!!!!!!! Ha!!!!

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I hear those amps KILL!!!! Simply eat svt's for breakfast. I'd love to have one.

The hype is more than a little exaggerated. I have both. It's more a case of apples and oranges rather than one eating the other. The 400PS excells at the classic round Fender Bassman tone, only with more power, while the SVT is all about low mids that punch. Head to head, an SVT on a single 8x10 is the same volume as the 400PS with three 2x12's.  The big advantage the 400PS is that it can drive three 8x10's to the SVT's two, but Fender didn't make 8x10's when they made the 400PS.

[Bionic-Joe]

Wow! Very cool. Nice to hear it from someone that owns both! Love those tube amps!!!

[felig]

Amazing--I have one just like it, also with the Lipham Music badge.  I got it for way less, though--either $250 or $350 (don't remember which) at the 2010 Orlando Guitar Show.  Here it is, just photographed here at Chez Feces...I mean Chez Elig:



Another bit of Oakley amp harmonic convergence: in '70 we shared a 4 set bill with the Bros.--we played  sets 1 & 3 & they played sets 2 & 4.  The acoustics in the club sucked big time, so after set 2 the Allmans proposed that they reconfigure the amp setup in order that sets 3 & 4 sound could be improved.  So, I played through Berry's amp & our guitarist (we just had one) played through Duane's--Berry & the sound guy tweaked the knobs as I was noodling around on my bass getting ready for set 3.  Very nice guys, plus they had gallons of Thunderbird and Bali Hi cheap wines.  Since my memory was dimmed by the Bali Hi, I don't remember what amp Berry brought, I vaguely remember it to be a Sunn rig.

[felig]

I also agree with PBG's comparison of SVTs vs. 400PSs--I've got an old SVT, an old V-9 (the 300 watt guitar counterpart to the SVT) and a recent SVT-300 (tube amp only, no preamp stage) running with an Alembic SF-2 & an F-1X).  All sound different to my ears...I do like the 400 PS.  Unlike a Bassman, note that the "Normal" channel is like the the "Vibrato" channel of a 60s blackface Twin Reverb with reverb, speed, and intensity controls (uses the same footswitch of a Twin, as well).

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

It SOLD for 17.5k!