that was an interesting day

pucho812 · Apr 4, 2018

So I got called to go out as I am in between gigs and go see an auction. I would have turned it down except it was for a for profit university that did medical, music, and religion. The music stuff was the peak interest to me and my companion was interested in purchasing some mics if the right price were to happen.
A place I never new existed and had been around for 20 years was gone. Just like that. There was lots of practice rooms full of drum and percussion kits, guitar amps, and bass amps. Lots of audio equipment. A few full blown studios with some of the nicest gear a person could get their hands on. We are talking midas mixers, an amek Galileo, impressive pro tools rigs and controllers that high end money could buy. Some rooms were parted out, some rooms sold as a single lot. One music room had a midas mixer in it but had the power supply and stand in another room. Both of those rooms auctioned off as a whole lot. Lots of microphones for sale that were all high end. Some of the studio racks were sold off as a whole rack with all the gear in it. One rack went for a song and it had an SSL g384, a la2a, a tube tech cl1B, 2 X distressors and 2 X DBX 160 compressors.

Now there is a 88,0000 square foot building in L.A. that will rent out for an average of 150,000 a month assuming it rents out. Or it will get converted to housing. I think.

john12ax7 · Apr 4, 2018

Let the rest of us know about these things. I would have bought some gear

What part of LA?

pucho812 · Apr 4, 2018

atwater village off san fernando road...

If I had more advanced warning i would have said something.

Tubetec · Apr 5, 2018

Easy to get stung when some disposal company is charged with liquidating tech gear ,I bid on my amek Bc3 online ,when I arrived via sea and road over six hundred miles to collect I was told by the crooked auction opperator that the patchbay for my mixer wasnt included in the deal ,there was a really sound tech guy who wanted to help me out and make sure i had a workable unit before I left ,but some half arsed ex military grunt in charge litterally told us we would be arrested if we didnt get the f**k off the premesis ,Irish plates on the car didnt help ,I wound up with a mixer with edacs on everything bar mic/line inputs ,and the original manual resided with an outside service company ,properly gimped no hope ,anyway I eventually connected with a kind gent who turned out to be a member here later on who had the proper back panels for balanced jack conectivity .Lesson learned after crossing the Irish sea in a force 8 with my pal who didnt have sea legs worth a shite,be wary, very very wary .

JohnRoberts · Apr 5, 2018

I've been to a couple bankruptcy auctions and most are generally above board but there can be competing interests, if the bankrupt organization tries to repurchase their own stuff on the cheap. At one auction there was a disgruntled investor trying to bid up every item, even though he didn't have the money to actually buy them. We let him win an early item, and he was gone for hours trying to raise money to pay for it.

Sadly he ended up with my first meter patent for a few hundred dollars, and refused to sell it to me later at any reasonable price.

The court appointed trustee (usually a lawyer) in charge of the auction will have little insight into the value of the equipment/inventory being sold. But will be motivated to maximize money raised to pay debts quickly.

I bought two distortion analysers at the Mark Levinson auction (back in the 80s), but didn't get to take them home, because at the end of the auction, the group who succeeded Mark Levinson bought the whole shebang with a higher (entirety) bid than the piecemeal auction raised.

JR

pucho812 · Apr 5, 2018

yes there were some competing interests. Some guys there were former students with less then a month till graduation. They were trying to get some of their money back. I feel for people, it sucks, but what can you do.