Lou Reed Gear Up for Auction
Gearheads rejoice: A number of items used by Lou Reed and his band over the years are going up for auction on eBay. The current listings include two Kurzweil keyboards, a vintage distortion rack mount with foot switch, and a Pendulum Stereo Preamp for acoustic instruments plus a footswitch and three preamp modules, two of which were ostensibly modified by Reed.
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According to a note on Reed’s Facebook, more items will be posted online in the coming days, while those in the New York City area can sign up for exclusive listings that will be available for local pickup before they are put on eBay.
The auction, however, will not feature Reed’s more priceless guitars, amps and effects, which will be archived by Sister Ray Enterprises. Proceeds from the auction will help further develop the Lou Reed Archive.
Reed died last October of liver disease at the age of 71, leaving behind a massively influential catalog of music, as both frontman of the Velvet Underground and as a solo artist, that has shaped rock and pop for decades. As meticulous a sonic architect as he was a songwriter, the items up for auction represent a part of of Reed’s ever-evolving pursuit of tone and sound, which he touched on his final interview.
“I just remastered every album I have to take advantage of the new technology,” he said a month before his death. “And it was so beautiful, it made me cry. I am very emotionally affected by sound. Sounds are the inexplicable… There is a sound you hear in your head, it’s your nerves, or your blood running. It’s kind of amazing to hear that.”