Second-hand Mesa Subway D800+ advice needed

#21
agedhorse said:
I’m not aware of any counterfeit Subway amps. Like any used amp, be sure everything operates correctly.

If you are concerned about buying a used amp, the alternative is to buy a new one with a warranty, of course the cost will be higher.
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Not a one to blithely clarify any statement you make, but in this case I think it is justified: "new one with a warranty, of course the initial cost will be higher." Just sayin'...

BBB
 
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#22
Redbrangus said:
I'm not sure how relevant this is. A BT speaker is consumer item costing at most a couple of hundred clams -- quite literally a commodity item. Bose probably sells tens, if not hundreds of thousands of them. A Mesa Subway amp is a specialty, niche item costing seven to ten times as much and Mesa probably sells in the very low thousands of units in a year, and possibly not even a thousand of the D800+'s specifically. My point is this isn't a particularly lucrative target for counterfeiting. Mesa products are not even available on Amazon -- it's possible the offshore counterfeiters aren't even aware they exist.

I also tend to believe that products that aren't manufactured in Asia to begin with have a much lower likelihood of being counterfeited or cloned.
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It's definitely relevant. The chassis of the Bose mini is a cast aluminum piece. The counterfeit ones (plural) were almost identical. If someone sees a viable market, things can happen.

Granted I see your point, but just saying.
 
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#23
MultiScaleMale said:
I've never seen a counterfeit amp of any sort. Have there been any? If you're worried about an amp being authentic, you should maybe buy new with a return policy from a well known dealer.
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I had a QSC power amp that the factory description of it didn't fit what I had in hand. I contacted them and they had me take photos of it and send them in. They were unsure. Odd 🤔
 
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#24
pcake said:
do you mean you've never seen a counterfeit amp?

i'm not the OP, but i worry about any and all used purchases. if i listened to that little voice, i'd have never bought anything used. yet i've never had an amp, bass, or camera fail while i owned them, used or new.

the only 2 used items i ever had that had issues were a GK 112 (GK sold me the replacement part for a low price and was very helpful) and a peavy that had been owned by SIR, and by special arrangement between peavy and SIR, it was fixed under warranty when it failed. but amps? never had one fail on me.
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Happy for your 100% record pcake. I have no problems buying used gear and have saved probably well over $10,000 from avoiding new retail sales prices over 50 years. That said, I’m not batting a 1.000 even knowing what I was getting into.
 
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#27
DanAdams said:
If I were selling a good used working amp for a reasonably low price, and a buyer asked to disassemble it in my house in order to inspect the insides, I would say "NO THANKS, NEXT BUYER"
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Yep - plug the Amp into the mains, attach an appropriate speaker(s), plug your bass in, and set the switches/knobs to "instant gratification" settings in the manual. If it doesn't sound great, pass!... :hyper:
 
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#28
DanAdams said:
If I were selling a good used working amp for a reasonably low price, and a buyer asked to disassemble it in my house in order to inspect the insides, I would say "NO THANKS, NEXT BUYER"
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I won’t buy used amps without either inspecting or knowing the history and reputation of the seller. I see messed up amps as part of my day job. I also know exactly what to look for.
 
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#29
agedhorse said:
I also know exactly what to look for.
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If I were selling an amp to you, I would let you look inside.
But to a complete stranger? That amp could end up with a newly missing screw lying on the circuit board.

I once had a guy sit on my couch for 20 minutes noodling on a valuable bass, then after finding no problems, offered half of my already very fair price.
My patience as a seller has been lowered.
 
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#30
agedhorse said:
I won’t buy used amps without either inspecting or knowing the history and reputation of the seller. I see messed up amps as part of my day job. I also know exactly what to look for.
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Agree with Andy on this, it is for me the value of TB as a used marketplace. If someone has a multi-year buy/sell track record here, then it is for me a reasonable risk.
 
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#31
bherman said:
Agree with Andy on this, it is for me the value of TB as a used marketplace. If someone has a multi-year buy/sell track record here, then it is for me a reasonable risk.
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I agree and at times I've thought that I'd be comfortable doing business directly with someone who has that kind of track record. No PayPal or any other parasitic involvement. A pure, person to person transaction. I've had nothing but honorable people do business with me on talkbass. And their buy/sell record reflected their business etiquette.
Maybe it's time for a group created of trusted buyers and sellers? Have some very stringent requirements for entry into that group. Just a thought..
 
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#33
The price is in Euros and that seems much too cheap so please make sure you make payment with some kind of protection - scammers just love Paypal with friends option, for example.
 
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