A side effect of Major studios closing down.

[T_R_S]

I have noticed with majors studios closing and guys moving rigs into smaller studios, the price of vintage gear is going up and up with no end in sight. 2 Pultecs going for over 7k on Ebay is out of hand. Plus it's going to get worse. Vintage gear is crazy. I always thought when I saw 1073's going for $2000 was too high in 1990 - how wrong I was.

[thethrillfactor]

Originally Posted by T_R_S

2 Pultecs going for over 7k on Ebay is out of hand.

$7K is out of hand?

The average is around $9K for (2)EP1A's.

$7k for a pair is actually a steal right now.

[Mind-Over-Midi]

Originally Posted by thethrillfactor

$7K is out of hand?

The average is around $9K for (2)EP1A's.

$7k for a pair is actually a steal right now.

[u b k]

maybe my economic theory is screwed, but i'm unclear how the closing of major studios would drive prices up...???

i would think there'd be more vintage gear on the supply side, dropping prices. how does the closing of major studios create more demand?


gregoire
del ubik

[joeq]

the price of everything is going up and up because your money is worth less and less

if only it was limited to vintage audio gear!

[Synth80s]

Originally Posted by u b i k

maybe my economic theory is screwed, but i'm unclear how the closing of major studios would drive prices up...???

i would think there'd be more vintage gear on the supply side, dropping prices. how does the closing of major studios create more demand?

gregoire
del ubik

One theory:

1) There are less big studios than there are home/project studios, and the trend is growing
2) Each project studio wants a few pieces of top notch vintage gear to have the killer recording/mixing chain
3) As each big studio closes, the sale of their collection of vintage gear creates a feeding frenzy among the home/project studio owners looking to capitalize and get "big studio" equipment

In short, less concentration of high-end gear among a small group of studios makes for more competition among a larger group of potential buyers.

Hopefully I've made some sort of sense. I'm tired and I need my Friday margarita now...

-Synth80s

[Scinx]

I agree with UBIK. Figure it this way - if everyone put their antique cars up for sale tomorrow, what would happen to prices? Its the same with anything. The only way I think you can argue that the prices are going up in this scenario [scenario: more big studios closing] is perhaps (1) inflation (2) popularity of the item or (3) uninformed buyers offset plus or minus by (1.a) supply. Does supply go up because more studios are closing or down because the gear is older and thus less is around? In either case - studios closing wouldnt help diminish supply.

Typical demand vs. supply...but certainly supply seems to be rising (in your example) and thus, you need to be really jacking up demand for some other reasons to get those prices rising.

[Sobe]

vintage stuff is going to go even higher ... guitars are out of control , a strat that was 5k afew years ago can bring 30k now ...

[Jeff19]

i think Synth80s is correct, but i think it's also due to increased demand like Scinx suggests. if the studios closed and the demand was the same as before, then the prices would stay the same or decrease.

think of this. i have been eyeing up the 1073 real bad recently. and who the F am I? pretty much nobody when it comes down to it. but since i'm getting pretty good results in my home studio, I feel like some good pieces of gear would actually help. in the days before cheap high quality home recording, a nice preamp or anything else for that matter wouldn't help since the weakest link is somewhere else. so what i'm saying is that demand went WAY up for piddly ME to be thinking about getting some vintage gear.

i guess an argument against mine is that they are pretty decent recreations of the classic neve's and api's for examples. i may actually go the "recreated" root to have something new rather than risk buying a refurb unit or having a unit that will need refurb in the near future. but then again there is nothing like the real deal. ahhh.

[Ziggy!!]

Its got nothing to do with big studios or little studios or studios closing in general.

It is just supply and demand.

Lots of people want something, not enough to go around. Price goes up!

It is always going to happen. There were only a few 1968 Marshall amps built. Demand grows, not enough to go around... price goes up as people try to get one.

How many original Neve 1073's were made? Not enough to go around... More and more people want one. Price goes up.

You guys are thinking too much... its economics 101. As demand increases for something that is no longer manufactured it is going to drive the price up...

Say there are 1000 pultecs in existance and the number of people wanting to buy one increases by 10% a year... there will be more and more people wanting to buy one but still only 1000 to go around... People start paying more to satisfy there urge...

[Rodney Gene]

Originally Posted by Sobe

vintage stuff is going to go even higher ... guitars are out of control , a strat that was 5k afew years ago can bring 30k now ...

People love to have what others can't have...it somehow means something.

Guitar Collectors...
MOST collect for collection sake...not tone sake or for playing.
I know a few collectors, some of the worlds biggest.

IMO most people who buy 'vintage' recording gear buy it for sound and/or it's potential sound. In other words they buy it to use it....

As long as there are great companies making great gear, It makes no matter to me if I ever own a Pultec or an LA2A...honestly.
There is WAY WAY WAY too much more involved in getting great tone...and the classic examples of music that was recorded with vintage gear had so much other gear invloved that it just isn't possible to gain that vibe with one or two pieces...IMO

I think people who love that gear should do what they can to own it...Whatever makes for the right vibe for each of us...I have no history with any of it so it means little tro me...

I don't collect...I am not in need of attracting clients and it wouldn't change anything for me if I own that great old stuff.

I like the idea of the Chandler, Manley, Great River setups...Modern technology with a heart and soul for tone.

I don't think any of us are missing out..I like to think this is an exciting time for audio recording and recording gear...So much activity, so much research and new products. I look forward to what my setup will be like in 5 years. I suspect it will be versatile and vibey with mucho mojo....

Respect,

[max cooper]

Originally Posted by Ziggy!!

It is always going to happen. There were only a few 1968 Marshall amps built. Demand grows, not enough to go around... price goes up as people try to get one.

How many original Neve 1073's were made? Not enough to go around... More and more people want one. Price goes up.

There ya go. Will a 1073 make or break the record? Maybe not, but since they're only $X,000, why find out?

[TheTruffleKing]

...and it's really no contest when you consider that you could otherwise waste it on something silly...like food.