Interesting Trade Proposal - opinions solicited please

[Raoul Duke]

Hi All,
I have a couple of old Boogies for sale locally and got an interesting trade proposal a couple of days ago: my April ‘85 MkIII for a ‘72 Sound City 50 Plus. Been doing some research on this amp and it seems pretty interesting with separate bias pots for each EL34, active EQ, Hiwatt connection etc. The amp seems like it’s been maintained and is pretty clean. Sounds pretty good; got some hum going on (much like my Marshall before the tune-up). Old tubes, all original Partridge iron and looks like original electrolytics. Seems like a candidate for a good cleanup and going over - which always leads to me learning 100 new things, lol.

My concern is that it’s such an odd design (compared to what little I’m used to) that I figure it’s either a fantastic learning opportunity or so weird that I’d be setting myself up for frustration and disappointment. Seems a bit “packed in” and certainly not assembled like an old Hiwatt - but that might be normal from what I’ve seen in my research.

Wondering if anyone here might have some factual or experiential information to share regarding these unique amps/circuits; I.e. inherently problematic due to layout or construction, hard to work on because of the strange chassis etc.

Anything is helpful and I greatly appreciate it!

Thanks!

[Stevem]

These amps have a active not passive tone control section so they cover a lot more ground so to speak.

Some folks are in love with them and some are not.

There's definitely a different feel to these amps so you need to judge for yourself.

[Raoul Duke]

Understood, that seems to be the consensus. Not really interested in the brand - was more interested in the unique design. All in all I think I’ll probably pass. I think moving a Boogie might be easier than moving a SC?

Now if it was an older DR504 I’d probably jump on it - but who wouldn’t, right?

[WhopperPlate]

I imagine a vintage mkIII to retain and appreciate its value in time better, and trading it for an amplifier that needs a ton of work seems questionable