coming to california

[pombagira]

okay,well of course this was always going to be a long shot..so my american fiancee and I are coming to california to get married..arriving in about a week...but I am hoping that I will have some time after submitting application for UK settlement visa to do some amp hunting while I am there. I am particularly after sunn model ts (what else) 1200s and 2000s but I am wondering if there are vintage amp stores/dealers like there are here in the UK. Any assistance would be really appreciated.
Cheers, Pete

[rmr84]

Where in California? You may try and post on Craigslist wanted section too, never hurts.

[Mike B.]

Good luck with your wedding and with all the years after it!!

CraigsList would be a great place to start, indeed. Of course there's also eBay if you don't mind the auction scene.

Cheers,

Mike

[stanner]

i have a >SENTURA 1<->SOLARUS<->STUDIO P.A.< all 3 are for sale here in san fransikee, if yer coming this way. all are in tip top shape, tolex and sound intact.
staninsanfran

[pombagira]

Thank you so much for your responses... I have indeed been scouring craigslist to see what there is, so many sunn speakers are available,  I would happily ship some back to the UK to bolster my collection if I didn't have to pay a huge amount on import tax. The last time I shipped back an Ampeg V9 speaker it cost a fortune in shipping and tax. Since I play in a band with my fiancee and we are a two piece I figured that I would look into pulling together something of a backline that we could potentially keep in the US. Whether my future in-laws would be down with that is a different matter.
Certainly here in the UK, there are a few vintage stores that one can visit, the best being Two Tribes up in Yorkshire. That's why I asked if there was anything like this in California. Of course, California is  a pretty big state, something that my island mentality has as yet fully comprehended. My experiences of the US have always been on the east coast rather than the west.
I am going to be based in Sacramento, and I will probably be there for a full 3 months. So I will certainly have some time to hunt for those elusive 100 watt and above sunn amps.
Anyway, if anybody can point me in the right direction that would be awesome. I have indeed bought my two sunn model ts on ebay..but, as I am sure you will agree it's a pretty heartless experience, and doesn't beat that walking into a store feeling, or
actually going to try the equipment out and meeting the people who have a love for all things vintage.
Okay, well keep me posted guys...
Cheers, Pete

[noel]

Pete,
I'll start off by saying I'm from Minnesota so I can't directly comment on the West Coast but my two cents is that the vintage stores are disapearing.  When I was in England (a few months ago) I did check out the vintage scene and it was much bigger and more reasonable than anything I've seen in the states.  The few remaining stores I see often have to charge such high prices to stay in business that you could do better for yourself with individual sales.  Granted its cool to walk into a shop and just browse but in this case it seems like you know what you're after...so maybe just go try to find it.  On the plus side you can sometimes pick up sunn stuff (even 2000s) for pretty cheap on craigslist, garage sales etc.  Good luck.

[pombagira]

thanks I will keep that in mind. But with respect to craigslist how to do you buy anything off someone unless they are local to you? yes it is possible to see some nice gear up for sale but then I am left with that lingering concern over money being sent and never receiving the item. Perhaps I am being paranoid...

[noel]

Point taken.  I've road-tripped it for stuff before.  If you do paypal you have at least some recourse but you're right.  You are definitely playing with fire if you transfer money and await shipment. 

[george]

Do you use this site to search CL?

http://www.jaxed.com/cgi-bin/mash.cgi?itm=sunn&cat=mus&fil=&pg=100&loc=&ys=&ye=

LA seems to have much more gear for sale than Northern California. The SF Bay Area is only about 90min from Sacramento.

Good luck.....

[pombagira]

yes I have been looking on there. Of course, I can't really do much until we get there next weekend. It seems like the most useful resource because lets face it, craigslist is a pain in the ass if you want to look through every state for a sunn model t etc. 

[CLD]

No, you don't!  Check this out, it shows craigslist listings from all over the United States as well as Ebay.

http://www.jaxed.com/cgi-bin/mash.cgi?itm=sunn&cat=mus

Good luck!

[pombagira]

anyway thank you so much for all your help. In the last three weeks I have managed to buy a 2000s and a '73 model t. Of course for the moment that has to be it otherwise I'll run out of money before we leave...
Cheers, pete