THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY

FENDER EXCELSIOR PAWN SHOP AMPS (TWO STORIES)

STORY 1: MARCH 2014

 A few years ago I got lucky enough to score a pass to the NAMM tradeshow. If you aren't familiar, it's the musical instrument show at which buyers from all over the country come to see the latest gear from Fender and Gibson and PRS and all the other companies that manufacture guitars and amps and drums and keyboards and marching band instruments and harps and sheet music and metronomes and whatever else you can think of at the local music store. Whew. These passes are not easy to get, but I designed a series of custom guitars for Taylor and they were kind enough to hook me up with a pass. Yes, I just bragged on myself there about the Taylor thing. Sorry.

One of the things that caught my attention was this amp over in the corner of the vast Fender tradeshow sales room. It didn't even have a Fender logo on it. It said Excelsior. And it looked like something you used to see in pawn shops, back when you could find cool, obscure stuff in pawn shops. Or, to put it another way, before the internet. This amp is, in fact, called The Pawn Shop Series and it's a Fender, but just made to look weird...or...awesome...depending on who you are. I loved it. It had one giant 15" speaker, just like Stevie Ray used to use, one knob for on/off and volume, and one knob for tremolo. I LOVE TREMOLO! They made this amp just for me it seems. It also had a bright switch and three inputs. Yep, THREE inputs. That's more inputs than knobs. I love this amp! One input for guitar, one for mic and one for accordion. How cool is that?

I didn't get to hear it at the tradeshow, but I knew I was going to love it. And I was right. I went home after the NAMM show was over and Fender had posted some videos on their website of this new Pawn Shop Series. They were well-produced videos, made to look like some slick blues dude was running a pawn shop and tricking customers into thinking this amp was an oldie that perfectly fit their needs for guitar, harmonica, accordion and whatever else. The videos were a little cheesy, but they sounded great and I had to have one of these pawn shop amps. But where could I get one? Aaaahh. They weren't going to be out for awhile. Shit. I asked anyone I knew who might know something when they would be out. Heck, I even asked a guy at Guitar Center, and they never know anything about this stuff. "Soon!" they would say. Soon.

A few months went by and my nephew was in town. I live in San Diego and he wanted to go up to L.A. for the weekend to check it all out. We drove the 4-hour, 97 mile drive up to Hollywood and I started showing him around. At some point we drove past the giant Hollywood Guitar Center, where there's actually a chance you might see a semi-famous musician in-store. Plus they do have a downstairs vintage room that is astounding. It's worth the trip if you are a guitar geek. We parked the car and headed in. Nephew was busy checking out the latest electronic beats software and musical laptop gear, so I wandered over to see some actual instruments. Guitars. Amps. And holy moly, there it was...an Excelsior Pawn Shop amp. I asked if I could play through it and the salesman smiled knowingly as he plugged a Telecaster in without even asking what kind of guitar I preferred. I was right...I was going to need this amp. I wasn't even remotely planning to spend any significant money that day, but there I was, handing over my debit card and calculating how much gas we'd need to get back to San Diego. The salesman told me that this was only the second Excelsior to hit the shelves in all of California and that they'd just gotten it in earlier that day. Of course that made me want it even more. I loaded it in the back seat and we headed on down the road.

I have owned a 1963 Fender Tremolux amp, and it's well documented here on this website that I am in love with Swamp Thang tremolo pedals. Those are my standard bearers for tremolo. I got this home and plugged my own guitar in and...boom, awesome sound. They aren't super powerful...you're not going to hold your own against a Marshall stack with this amp, but it had plenty of power for my modest needs. Great tremolo sound which I just kept on most of the time I owned this amp. I loved the big ol' 15" speaker and I loved the retro looks. Kind of a secret weapon. Some people would never be happy with an amp with very few controls, but this is right up my alley. Turn it on, set it and forget it. I love it.

"But why don't you still own it?" you might ask. And you'd be right to ask after such a glowing report. Well, I had to go to NYC for a trip that was short notice and to be honest, I just needed a little extra cash in my pocket for the trip. NYC is not a cheap place. So I sold it reluctantly. Some time has passed and now I see them show up on Craigslist every so often. And Jeez...they are cheap. I saw one for $175 the other day and it took every ounce of restraint not the contact the guy and go pick it up. If you are contemplating one of these amps, and you love that cool Fender vibe and some sweet tremolo, don't even think twice. Pick one up. Not loud enough...get two. That's still cheaper than most everything else out there these days. I see that Fender has a new Pawn Shop amp or two out this year. But they just don't have that same appeal to me as this Excelsior did from the moment I spied it. I'm gonna need another one at some point.

STORY 2: ONE YEAR LATER

A year or so ago I got one of these Fender Pawn Shop series amps called the Excelsior and I loved it. Ever since I sold the other one, I have wanted one again. And right after Christmas, I saw one on Craigslist and bought it. It was in perfect condition, never left the house, and it sounded just like I remembered. I bought it. However, that's not the story here. I'm posting about this because of the story when I sold it. A classic example of how you never know what you are getting into on Craigslist.

I am usually the first person to say that I have had really great experiences on Craigslist and I've had a small number of weird episodes that seemed like a scene from a movie. If you want to read a good one, click here about the Music Man 112RD I once bought. But on to the new story at hand...

I bought this amp out of weakness. It was a good price at $225, as I've seen these climbing back up to their original retail price of $300 and more lately. But you can still find them for a deal. I bought this one, played it a few times to enjoy that amazing tremolo sound that I love, and then it was just sitting there.

My sister called from Boulder, CO and said that she had just bought VIP tickets to see Ryan Adams at Red Rocks Amphitheater and, if I wanted to go, get a plane ticket and get to Boulder. 

I live in San Diego, so round trip tickets on Southwest can be pretty reasonable. As luck would have it, they were right around $225, the same amount I had recently spent on my Excelsior amp. So I bought the plane tickets and promptly put the amp back up for sale on Craigslist, fully confident that I could even make a few bucks profit.

I listed the amp at $260 and didn't get any bites. Turns out, in a stroke of bad luck, there were 2 other Excelsiors on Craigslist at the same time. WTF? So, I dropped my price down to $225 and got an email from a guy named Ace. He "really, really, really wanted the amp" and wanted to meet a couple of days later on a Saturday morning. He was knowledgeable about the amp and you could tell he wasn't a scammer. We set it all up and then, the night before we were to meet, he emailed and claimed he had an emergency and was going to be gone for a few days and would still be happy to buy it when he got back, if it was still available. With no other inquiries, I decided to hang on to it for Ace until he got back. Then nothing. After a few additional emails, it became obvious Ace needed to be discarded (get it?) and I relisted the amp. A two week waste of time.

Got an email from a new guy. Wanted to know how soon we could meet up and he could buy the amp. I write back and give him options and details. No response. Two days later he writes again, I write back to set something up, no response. Get a new email from a guy who gives me his phone number and wants to talk about the amp. I call and he asks some questions, is satisfied that the amp is good, and then says, "So I'm really calling on behalf of my friend John who wants the amp, but he keeps emailing you and you don't answer him back." Actually, I tell him, I have answered John back twice and John doesn't get back to me. "OH!," he says, "John doesn't have email! You have to call or text him." Interesting, since John emailed me about the listing and never game me his number.

Through all of this nonsense, the guy sounds very sincere and John really wants the amp. So, at his insistence, I try to text John. No answer. Wait a day and try again. No response. After another two days, I try one last time: "Hey John, I have emailed you twice, I have texted you twice, and you never respond. Your buddy swears you want this amp, but I'm tired of trying. Last chance...if you want the amp call me." Phone rings immediately. John wants the amp. Can you bring it by my house to try out? Yes, I am headed that way later this evening and I can bring it by. This is a long story, huh?

John tells me his house is very near mine, but it turns out his skills in estimating distance are not good. His house is many miles further than his estimate. I would soon figure why. I get to his neighborhood and it's SKETCHY. One of the worst neighborhoods in the area. I finally find his address and go knock on the door. John opens the door and about 4000 cubic feet of weed smoke comes billowing out of the door. "C'mon in!" As a sufferer of severe asthma, this is the opposite of fun. I walk in and we head to his bedroom where he has maybe seven other guitar amps set up, about 12 guitars hanging on the wall, a huge display of stomp boxes hooked together on the floor and a girl sitting on his bed...or should I say mattress on the floor with a dirty sheet on it...with her boobs literally pouring out of her corset-like shirt. Probably no less than eight bongs sitting around the room in all shapes and sizes. Jars and jars of weed lined up next to the bed...I mean mattress. She looks up at me and says, "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey." Then never spoke again.

John plugs the amp in and gives it a test. He plays extremely well, I might add. I was surprised. He played it with his Ibanez. He played it with his Strat. He plugged this pedal in, then that pedal in. I thought he was going to try out every item he owned through my amp. Finally I couldn't handle the smoke any more. "So...do you want the amp?" "Heck yeah! Here you go!" He hands me $225 in small, unmarked bills. I stuff them into my pocket without even counting them, nod good-bye to stoner renaissance chick, and stumble out the door. I get in my car and head down the road, quickly realizing that I wreak so much, I'm going to have to do laundry when I get home. I hop on the freeway and roll down all the windows to blast some air through the vehicle. I was wondering if any right-minded police officer would buy my true story about why I smelled like a Phish concert in the event I got pulled over.

It took all that to sell an amp that I would have preferred to keep, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do if you want to see Ryan Adams at Red Rocks. There aren't many things that take priority over my guitars, but this was one of them and I couldn't miss it.