Gary Flanigan wrote:

I've always thought that, unless the item for sale was in some
way compromised, it is really no one's business why the seller
is selling it.

Many potential buyers seem to want an item with a "back story" to it--
whether the narrative is true or makes sense or is relevant or not.
Rational choice and the attitude that "if it sounds good, it is good"
aren't quite as prevalent in this business as we may like to pretend.
The power to spin a good myth is still very good for sales, even in a
technical profession such as this one.

It's utterly impossible to predict how something will sound based only
on the knowledge that it uses tube circuitry or FET circuitry, or IC
circuitry, etc., and everybody knows that full well. But then some
people choose to act as if that awareness doesn't matter as much as
the other thing does--the subjective satisfaction of owning the same
mike preamps that the Beatles used, etc.