Honestly it is such a small minor thing and if you did your research well enough you should have noticed it, that is one of the biggest signs everyone says to look for when buying an older one, the small logo.
It is not the headshell that makes the pre-500 worth alot, it is the actuall amp, the fact that the headshell has been replaced should not change the value of the amp at all, unless it went from having a black face to a silver face. You have to understand when the rectifiers first came out dealers where changing the headshells anyway per customer request, that is why you see some silver on chrome, some black on black out there in the world.
I think what you are suffering from right now is buyers remorse, but there is not much you can do. More then likley either he did not know, or just figured you would notice, or as most people will say, not a big deal as the headshell has nothing to do with the tone of the amp. Trust me a pre-500 with a mint headshell that is newer headshell will sell better then a pre-500 with a beat up headshell.
If you are trying to get the $2400 back you paid for the amp, well that is probaly the reason it is not selling, right now it is a buyers market since the economy is such crap. Back when you bought that amp it was the going rate, now the going rate for Pre-500's are between $1900 and $2200 and that is when selling on ebay, if you are selling outside of ebay you will be lucky if you do sell it. I feel your pain too, a year ago i was offered $3000 for my R0005, now i would get probally about $2200 for it, so take my advice, unless you are desperate for money, hold off on selling the amp till the economy turns and it becomes a sellers market again.
One final thing, technically if i was gear monkey and you came at me, i would tell you to go away, you say it in your post, he advertised a Mint Dual Rectifier pre-500 with new tubes, sounds like he never stated it was all original! Once again unless someone is buying it as a collectors piece to showcase, a headshell should not make a difference in the price.
shredd_r69 said:
I purchased dual recto # 0064 from gear monkey, paid him $2400 for a quote "mint dual rectifier pre-500 with new tubes". It turns out that the head box was replaced with a newer one. I had NO IDEA. I feel like I was ripped off by this dude and just want to make sure that the rest of the **** amp is original, minus the tubes, of course. This just seems like the wrong way to do business to me. I've been trying to sell the amp and finally someone told me why it may not be selling, so I looked around and sure enough the head box is different. Granted maybe I should have researched it better, but I figured that the members of this board looked out for one another. I am calling on gear monkey to make this right, at LEAST with an explanation. I tried to email Charlie personally before I did this but got no response so I figured I'd try the board. Maybe one of you stand uppers could point me in the right direction. Thanks and happy holidays!
