Used 2 inch Ampex 499 Gold for $2!

[Scooter B]

I stopped by an estate sale in my neighborhood and saw 7 rolls of Ampex 499 2" tape.

The guy moving out of the house is the father of a professional keyboard player I know who did local studio engineer work and plays in the Christian Band MERCY ME.

Anyway they appeared to be one pass multitracks or masters and one only had one song listed on it.

They only wanted $2 a roll and a sign outside the closet said everything was 50% off!

Since I don't have a real studio (I'm stuck in 4 track casette finances) I entertained the idea of buy them to resell but my online research only turned up two sale references.

One was on e-bay and one was on digibid and neither had sold yet for a minimum bid of $35 and $60 respectively.

It is too late now and I am really short on cash till Friday but could I have resold these easily for like $20 a reel?

I'm thinking I could have made an easy $133 (140-7 invested).

would I have had any takers?

 

[Han]

In Europe, a reel of 2" 499 costs 192.60 euro.
A box of two reels costs 354 euro ( 1 euro is $1.19)

A one pass reel of 499 can do $50-75 easely I think.

I don't wanna spoil your day, but that wasn't very smart.

 

[Scooter B]

I don't wanna spoil your day, but that wasn't very smart.

Han,

I figured I would eventually be able to sell it for at least $20/ roll but.

1. Ampex changed there name a while back and I am not sure how old the tape is.

2. I could not guarantee it was only one pass.

3. After spending 30 minutes searching on the internet the only two listings I found ( one each on e-bay and digibid) never sold.

4. I did not have the cash at the time....

It would have been nice to have made some cash on that though.

 

[Han]

Ampex changed their name to Quantegy, but the 499 tape remained 499.

You can recognize a one pass tape by looking at the beginning of the tape, it looks like new, no crease or wrinkle in the crush zone

As far as I know 499 tape is not sensitive for shredding and/or getting sticky.

You can bring me 100 reels of used 499 tape for $20 each.

 

[Scooter B]

You can bring me 100 reels of used 499 tape for $20 each.

Well I will keep that in mind!

If I had actually had the cash I would have jumped on it....

I was originally hoping to get $50-$60 b/c I knew brand new was close to $150/roll.

That would have earned me some gear money.

I wonder if any one bought them?

I drove by later that evening after the sale was over to see they laying on top of a trash pile but I did not see them.