What is the best item ever found in alley or street with FREE sign?

[rufus13]

I know some of you walk by a magic dumpster every day. Tell.

Here's a picture I took in Seattle.

Karl in Portland

[Berolzheimer]

Not bad, a free mm1200 16-track.

[crypticglobe]

If that's for real.... you absolutely SUCK!!!! lol!!

[T_R_S]

it looks like there are no heads on it!

[Brenton]

I don't know about a sign or an alley but I got an original Vox ac30 free from someone who was cleaning the rubbish out of their garage.

[opentune]

Man, this is cool!

[lionheart]

I came across a rack filled with Cedar Audio DCX declicker, the CRX decrackler, and the DHX Dehisser... Doe's anybody know if these things are still valuable? I found the price on these units to be werry high i 1999..

[ArcCirDude]

Haha! Nice try! Some idiot throwing it away wouldn't 1, protect it with plastic and 2, wouldn't write "powers up". It would be lying on it's side in a puddle with no note, or MAYBE a note saying, "lights up if you plug it in". (Damn it Jules! Back me up with a smiley, here!!)

[ArcCirDude]

Ok... I'm seeing other people's little facey thingies, so.... Is it due to the latest OSX update I installed today that is preventing me from clicking in a smiley? Or else part of the latest server problems? Most likely due to the reintroduction of the rollover preview function. Or quite possibly..... STONEHENGE!!!!!

[Tibbon]

Found a Starbucks Barista espresso machine within 40 feet of my house one day about two months ago. Not bad since my (significantly cheaper) espresso machine blew up not a week prior. I spent a day fully cleaning and descaling it (totally opened up every part and cleaned with a wire brush) , but it works great now!

I'm not sure if I ever got anything else for free. Cheap for sure, but free?
Oh, I got some really shitty TRS patchbays once for free. Yea, not worth the time.

[Dr Funk]

My brother picked up a Neve 3U rack described to him as 'old junk'! Now it lives in my studio. It's got a 1272 which we've upgraded to 1073 spec (without the eq) and 2 other modules we're modding into very nice mic pres.

Frank

[Hershal Pearlma]

A friend of mine once told me of this auction that some local Mennonites were having and he said that he went over to the barn they were having it in the week before and he saw this really big and heavy looking "Mixer Board" as he called it.

I asked him what kind of mixer it was and he repilied:
"I don't know but all the thingys had this little white circle at the bottom with the letter Z tipped over on it's side"

I went to the auction and when the Mixer Board came up, I noticed by glancing at it that it was vintage Neve Melbourne mixer. I bid the highest out of everyone at $450.

Turns out, these mennonite boys bought it from a yard sale from a house where the owner had recently died. He owned a recording studio in the 70's in a nearby town and his daughter was trying to clear out the remainder of his estate as well as sell his home that he died in alone in his sleep.

[ShamansDream]

A perfectly good banjo in the dumpster...

Tape machines were a daily haul from the Goodwill pile.
As kids, we just wanted the cool little fangled parts
Only took a half hour to totally wipe out one of those.

[theblue1]

Guess I can't beat Karl in Portland.


I did get a Crown power amp and a 70's Marantz power amp while walking down an alley in Seal Beach (CA) on a Sunday morning. They were in back of a house and there was a fellow in his 60's in the garage. I asked if he was really getting rid of them. He said, yeah, they've been sitting around for years. I can't even remember if the Crown works.

The Marantz was intermittent and the Crown worked but sounded like it needed to be recapped.


I earned them things carrying 'em. I still have grooves on my arms from the heat fins on the Crown.

[G-Dawg]

i found an old ovation acoustic with a crack in the neck waiting to be picked up by the garbage man when i was 12 years old. now it isnt the best find ever on the street but it did make me into what i am today. a 30 year old unemployed and frustrated musician!

[joeq]

Originally Posted by ShamansDream

A perfectly good banjo in the dumpster...

that banjo didn't have an accordion directly on top of it, did it?

[Benj]

My father had an old beyer 260 laying around . . . funny old mic didn't even work . . . Had Stephen Sank fix it . . . I liked it so much I found it an old twin brother . . .
Stereo 260DX on drum OH . . .
-benj

[gramps]

my attourney...though i had to eventually return there him when a better one was found.

g

[octatonic]

I found a working 2 track 1/4 inch tape recorder from 1969 in the garbage outside my house about 6 weeks ago.
I'll post a photo later.

[ArcCirDude]

I found an old box with bowling trophies. One had a clock that didn't work. Oh yeah, and some Playboy's. But I couldn't get the pages open....

[ArcCirDude]

Would some of you who "found" some of this great gear be willing to post some serial numbers????? Haha!!! (Jules? Where's my smilies???)

[dave-G]

Originally Posted by joeq

that banjo didn't have an accordion directly on top of it, did it?

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

-dave

[Phil Cibley]

Scott LT-110 tube FM tuner
Paradigm center channel speaker
Large Advents
Dell laptop
Also got some primo free stuff from clients "upgrading" their studios,
but that's probably another thread.

[Bob Ross]

Found a Bogen 50w tube amp that became my bandmate's main guitar/bass head for about a year...until it burst into flames during a rehearsal.

[crypticglobe]

Originally Posted by Hershal Pearlma

A friend of mine once told me of this auction that some local Mennonites were having and he said that he went over to the barn they were having it in the week before and he saw this really big and heavy looking "Mixer Board" as he called it.

I asked him what kind of mixer it was and he repilied:
"I don't know but all the thingys had this little white circle at the bottom with the letter Z tipped over on it's side"

I went to the auction and when the Mixer Board came up, I noticed by glancing at it that it was vintage Neve Melbourne mixer. I bid the highest out of everyone at $450.

Turns out, these mennonite boys bought it from a yard sale from a house where the owner had recently died. He owned a recording studio in the 70's in a nearby town and his daughter was trying to clear out the remainder of his estate as well as sell his home that he died in alone in his sleep.

You suck!!! MAN! Nothing like that ever happens to me.... lol.

[Tibbon]

Actually, wait those TRS patchbays were more interesting now that I think of them.

When I got them they had JH-24 among other things written on them. I had no clue what a JH-24 was at the time. I got them from a guy that I would later end up working with at a studio.

Anyway, years later, I was working at a studio, and the owner purchased a tape machine from some guy he knew. We got it in, and it was a JH-24. My "B" desk was in the back of the room, which had the patchbays on it. I was sitting at my desk and looked at the strip on it, which still had JH-24 faintly written on it. Apparently, these exact patchbays used to be attached to this exact tape machine, as the patchbays had actually came out of the same studio! Reunitied! Apparently, the studio owner had purchased a good bit of gear over the years from the same guy.

[Geoff_T]

Hi

I've not found anything, but...

A broker who lives near me found a Neve BCM10 frame (less modules) in a dumpster. He bought the modules and sold the console.

A dysfunctional console fixer I know was booted out of his apartment (I believe) and the apartment owner sold a bunch of stuff left behind in a garage sale. I'm told that knowing folk picked up serious bargains for cents on the dollar because it was pro gear he was fixing and the owner had no clue what it was.

[Phil Cibley]

As a related piece of information for those of you who might be interested,
There is a website in New York City called Garbagescout.com on which people
take pictures of usable stuff found on the street and post it in case anybody
is interested. No audio stuff yet, but you never know.

[Exsanguis]

Not in a dumpster, but a local church recently gave a non-recording friend of mine 2 reel to reels(1/4" and 1/2"). Since he obviously had no use for them, I now have them and am slowly fixing em up. He also managed to snag me a pair of NS10's in excellent condition(really handy as I just blew one of mine), 5 SM57's, and a couple shotgun mics.

[Jim Williams]

My cat, Spuds. Best friend I ever had.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades