Vintage Guitar Amps, a Hedge Against Inflation?

Vintage Guitar Amps, a Hedge Against Inflation?

Howdy guitar buddies!  If you have not thus far, go now and read last weeks blog to get up to speed on WHY we all need to figure out how to financially survive the next year or so. Last week I gave you my take on the viability of trading your rapidly eroding fiat/fake dollars into the hard asset of a vintage guitar.  Just like last week, I must issue this disclaimer: the views in this blog are mine and mine alone, I speak for other individual or company!!! Got that?? Okay, now...  lets roll! If you have been living under a rock or had your brain deactivated by the corporate mainstream media/social media and have not yet realized the mount of trouble we humans in the western world are in all I can say is "WAKE UP".  The only other option is to be an obedient little sheep and follow the masses over the cliff when instructed.

Again, start with my take on guitars last week!  Now how about those luscious, rich, golden-tone tube amps of the electric guitar's "Golden Era"?  I have been an AMP junkie for decades, and I still believe there is something amazingly awesome about the great tube amps of yesteryear.  I have amassed quite a collection, just as a result of being me and being alive.  Over the last decade or so I have joyously noticed how dramatic the increase in value has been for these vintage tube amps from the 1950's and 60's.  And, I have ALWAYS seen them as a crucial part of my "retirement account".  But never has the world seen a time like the one we live in right now (June 2022).  For anyone over about 40 the unthinkable looks like a serious possibility: the entire western world, including the USA, as a colossal socialist  internment camp, ran by a small number of the worlds most elite individuals and their respective companies.  When that happens we are all screwed right back into the world of the USSR of  1922, when socialism took over and about 15 million people were starved to death, and the remainder toiled for pennies a day art whatever task their overloads demanded of them.  Sounds sweet, doesn't it?  Heck we could even wind up living the cushy life of those lucky folks in North Korea.  Unthinkable to most in the free world, but due to the advanced and subtle mind-control that's been unrolling for decades now, it may be unstoppable.  If you don't agree, or maybe your mind is so damaged that you actually believe socialism WOULD be better than a free society, it's probably too late for ya.  God have mercy on your souls.

But the most common scenario is that our international puppeteers will continue to simply continue to erode the wealth, power, and influence of the middle and upper classes (but not the super-elites who ARE the puppeteers) until we have no means to resist the take over, and if enough of us put up the biggest fight we possibility can, that may be years away, heck maybe there is still time for a miracle that will make America great again. So, how DO we retain any amount of wealth for as long as possible.  The obvious answer is to get rid of our worthless fake paper money as quickly and trade them for some form of assets that will at least keep up with inflation.  There are a TON of great minds out there that discuss their plans on how to do that.  I can only speak to what I know intimately, Guitars and amps.

Are Amps a good Safe-Haven asset in this period of inflation and depression (stagflation)?

As the owner of lots of the worlds most valuable vintage amps, the answer pains me more than most. No.  No they are not.  Are they better than just keeping cash in the bank?  Oh HECK yes!, but if things reallyget desperate, folks just won't want your Vibroverb or Bassman.

Why?  Well, when the SHTF, folks will NOT want physically large or cumbersome possessions.  Those who do not KNOW history are doomed to REPEAT it.  Many of you under about 40 know practically nothing real about the history of the USA or the western world.  Sure they taught you propaganda, but not actual history.  Just PRIOR to the great depression, an automobile was the ultimate possession for most folks, more desirable than any other.  Fast forward a couple years and and they were WORTHLESS and abandoned all over the country!  No one had the money to buy gas, and if they did, they would rather buy FOOD. In 1930 the only real use most middle-class folks had for an automobile was to use it as a sort of make-shift camper-home.  Sadly, I think amps will suffer the same fate, with one key difference.  During the depression, model T's were a dime a dozen thanks to Ford cranking them out by the millions, and they were ALL ALIKE.  So, definitely NOT a scarce or rare item.  The great tube amps of the golden er are different, they ARE rare and scarce, so there will ALWAYS be a buyer for them, but it won't be at top-dollar.  Beggars can't be choosy!  And so many will let go of an amp that once fetched enough money to pay ALL the family's bills for months just to have a little food to keep the family alive.  Eventually we will all own NOTHING, the global elites are certainly right about that,  but we sure won't be happy!  And what will happen to all those elite and rare vintage amps, they will all wind up in the collections of the elite masters of the world of course.

So as "wrong" as this sounds coming from me, here's my advice:

Try to sell any and all valuable amps as quickly as possible, and then immediately turn the trash ... er, I mean cash, into the kind of hard assets everyone will always WANT, like food, medicine, fuels, and all manner of what people need to survive, or anything that is portable and would make a good bartering item.  Better yet, buy a plot of land near fresh water and as far away from a population center as possible.

When I began this blog well over a decade ago, I could have NEVER imagined any scenario that would cause me to pen a blog like this one.  Ignorance really is bliss!!! The problem is that I am not ignorant.

One last parting, and much more up-beat tidbit. 

I definitely do NOT advise you sell EVERYTHING and quit playing.  Man, there's simply no reason to sell the stuff that isn't worth much money now.  For instance, my favorite amps to play through right now are a Quilter Micro Pro Mach II and a fender Vibro Champ XD.  When I bought those amps I KNEW they were NOT investments, they were just what I wanted to play through.  So, by all means keep those puppies and keep on playing through them as long as possible ... and bring a little happiness into your life and those around you!  :-)