My wife and I went out of town this last weekend to get away and do some last minute Xmas shopping. We like to look in thrift stores and pawn shops. One of the pawn shops always has an abundance of music gear. I noticed a Carvin BX 500 bass amp for sale, and the price tag said $80 - as is, no output. Plus it said 35% of listed price which made it $52 . I asked to see it power up and it did just fine so I offered them $40 and they agreed. I ended up paying $42.50 with tax. I figured for that price it was worth a gamble and maybe it was a dirty jack or something. I plugged my headphones into it tonight and it worked just fine, so that eliminated a preamp issue. I then plugged it into my cabinet and it worked just fine! I can't believe I got this amp for $42.50. The pawn shop obviously had faulty test equipment and/or people that didn't know what they were doing. Oh well, amazing score for me!!!
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Good find! I bought a Leslie once at a fraction of the value, from a consignment store that thought it was not functioning. They didn't have a speed switch, and I knew a basic two button Fender amp switch works, so I tested it and took it home. It pays to read forums and be a gear geek 
Nice score.
Probably they plugged into a cabinet they just took in that, itself was bad.
And yes to the second thing you mentioned.
Test equipment in a pawn shop?
Maybe a cheap multimeter?
But if they had any decent test equipment it'd likely have a pricetag on it.
I miss walking into pawn shops and seeing drug store tube testers for sale.