Selling McCormack Upgraded Gear


No, I'm not selling mine - huh-uh, no way, never. Well, not unless I go to monoblocks.

Anyway, I notice most people agree McCormack's revisions make his gear comparable to stuff at much higher prices, yet I've noticed sellers on a'gon have relative difficulty selling the modded stuff at even reasonable prices (the Rev. A DNA-0.5 seems to be an exception for some reason.)

As an example, someone had monoblock rev. A DNA-1's on here, couldn't sell them at $3600 through classifieds, and I think he then auctioned them. I didn't get to see the final price, but I think the bid was about $2750 with half an hour left. There's a rev. A RLD-1 for $2600 that has been listed for over 2 months now.

Anyone have insight on why it's so difficult to sell these pieces? As a follow-up, are you losing money when you sell modded equipment across the board, or do some mods "hold their value" in resale, so to speak?
aggielaw
The best way to reduce the risk of losing money on the sale of a modded amp is to buy it used. That way, it has already have the depreciation hit. It takes a little patience while you're waiting for that modified amp to show in the listings, but it's worth it if you have any thoughts of re-selling later. I did this myself when I wanted to try a DNA-2 modified by Steve. I picked up an A+ Platinum revision for a good price, listened to it for a couple weeks, and re-sold it for what I paid. Had I paid retail for the modification, I'd have lost a bundle.

Phd, I liked it, but I liked my VAC Phi 110/110 tube amp better. It was a tough call. In the end, acoustic music on the VAC sounded more real...and for me, that's the test.
Tvad, I understand! I always look for solid state amps that sound tubish but there is nothing like tube gear for fleshing out all the music/details.
i agree with most of the previous posts. also you have to look at the supply /demand relationship. when no mccormack gear is available the next piece to come up will probably sell fast for a good price. when the market is loaded up with units for sale, demand is low and prices fall. the same thing happened with pass labs x gear as everyone has been dumping the x's to upgrade to x.5 gear. i also have a dilemma with a manufacturer jacking people up for mod work, i think it should have been offered as an option for about 35% of the mod pricing, but thats just a personal opinion.