Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => The Dressing Room => Topic started by: Alex on May 16, 2010, 01:15:09 PM
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This might seem a ridiculous post to some, but I've put some thought into this.
The last 9 days I had been down with a very bad cold and sinusitis. I wasn't able to work a lot and my PC bored the hell out of me so I spent a lot of time reading and, more importantly playing guitar, mostly sitting down.
Due to me sitting and the way my room is set up, I was just playing and couldn't reach amp or pedals unless I got up.
After a week of this I realized that
a) I don't need pedals very much
b) I don't need all this gear.
One good amp and one decent guitar is really all you need. Being forced to work with fewer options and toys was a bit limiting at first, but then strangely liberating!
Why do we guitar players constantly look for new stuff and whenever we are stuck in a emotional or creative rut, look for different gear? I honestly think that being limited to fewer guitars/amps/pickups/pedals after a while opens up the playing more and more.
As a consequence, I've decided to not buy anything guitar related gear anymore for this year and sell all the stuff I don't really need or use.
Focusing on the art of playing and making music than the gear and equipment, if you want to put it this way.
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Everything you say is true, and we all know it.
Unfortunately there is no known cure for GAS.
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I think you're probably right.
I certainly feel that way over pedals/effects. I'm pretty much a "plug in, dial a sound, and play" kind of chap...
But I do like my different guitars for different moods and inspiration :D.
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Yep, you're right. I've mostly given up on the search for the perfect tone. I've found that my current tone is "good enough" - nothing special but it does the job and doesn't sound offensive! I enjoy playing much more when I'm actually thinking about playing rather than whether my tone is any good. But the tone also needs to be good enough that it inspires me to play more, as I hate playing with really bad tone.
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Everything you say is true, and we all know it.
Unfortunately there is no known cure for GAS.
there is ... it's called successful money management ... most people call it 'being broke' :P
i got 3 gutiars.. Jackson DK2M singlehum in E, a Jackson DR3 in A# and a Charvel Fusion Deluxe, which is going to be the Opeth guitar tuned in dropD.
amp vise, a Laney LH50R and 4x12 .. i highly doubt i'm ever going to need something more. Pedals.. so far i've just got a custom HBE pedal that does everything. i'd like a bit more (like a fuzz war and other .. mostly gimmick pedals), but it's unnecessary. only thing i'm probably going to get is a Ibanez SM7 again, and see how that suits the band, but probably won't do much, cos the amp gives me exactly the tones i want.
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Everything you say is true, and we all know it.
Unfortunately there is no known cure for GAS.
there is ... it's called successful money management ... most people call it 'being broke' :P
i got 3 gutiars.. Jackson DK2M singlehum in E, a Jackson DR3 in A# and a Charvel Fusion Deluxe, which is going to be the Opeth guitar tuned in dropD.
amp vise, a Laney LH50R and 4x12 .. i highly doubt i'm ever going to need something more. Pedals.. so far i've just got a custom HBE pedal that does everything. i'd like a bit more (like a fuzz war and other .. mostly gimmick pedals), but it's unnecessary. only thing i'm probably going to get is a Ibanez SM7 again, and see how that suits the band, but probably won't do much, cos the amp gives me exactly the tones i want.
Being broke isn't a cure for GAS, it just puts it in remission. :wink:
But you may be one of the lucky ones with a natural immunity.
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I keep my pedals to the absolute minimum.
RE-20 space echo and a Box Of Rock clone.
Can't play rockabilly without the echo, can't play classic hard rock without the BOR.
Had a chorus hooked up a while. The power lead broke, took it out. One tone sucker less.
I played my Esquire through a mate's JCM800 2X12 combo. Straight in, no FX whatsoever, no reverb. That was great.
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Yep! In the past 18 months I've sold loads of gear... several "spare" pick ups, several pedals, 4 amps and 8 guitars. I stiill have a few, maybe more than I need and I will sell what I don't use. I have occassionally played gigs without pedals, just guitar/ lead/ amp and as you say it is quite liberating. It's a good testto see if you have improved too as there is nothing to hide behind! On that note I'd better go practise! :lol:
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I have the fortunality (?) of being in London for university so I have to leave most of my stuff at home in Belfast. So I have my three guitars and my Toneport.
And if Mr. Eyjafjallajokull would shut up for a day or two my dad can bring over my VHT.
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I agree with the one great guitar and a cool amp thing - and especially the practising and playing lots and enjoying being creative.
However like everyone else here I love guitars and amps and equipment
It took a HUGE amount of reserve for me NOT to buy a THD Univalve amp I saw on Ebay last night - especially as I have so much love of my existing Egnater stuff - just a tone junkie I guess.
However the money is best spent on other stuff (like the 2010 guitars or having a holiday later in the year - first in 5 years)
I saw Kiss in concert last week and hearing loads of songs that were the driving force for me learning to play guitar in the first place reminded me I should sit down (or stand up) and play more guitar.
I do fancy making a couple of new Lion Cub guitars though - simple retro types (but with a few creature comforts)
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Meh -- you keep Christmas in your way and I'll keep it in mine. :)
I like having a few guitars, several amps, and L O T S of pedals ...
I enjoy tube rolling and swapping pickups. I have fun trying different cables.
I don't have any "Catholic guilt" over my gear.
If one guitar/amp suits you, that's awesome -- enjoy!
And I will enjoy my stuff.
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Meh -- you keep Christmas in your way and I'll keep it in mine. :)
:lol:
Definitely with you on "I don't have any "Catholic guilt" over my gear."
Since my first post, I've realised that if I had the space, and a place to turn them up, I'd probably have as many amps as I have guitars (I'd have less guitars though, if I'd been spending on amps as well). The only reason I haven't got loads of pedals is they don't really grab me.
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Yep, I realised it over the past few months, so I downsized.
Got rid of most of my pedals, kept the essentials.
Traded my 4 x 12 for a practical 2 x 12.
Streamlined my guitars to just 2, a Strat and a Tele, no floyd roses, no awkward switches or messing around with wrenches.
In doing that, I've gotten over my writers block and have come up with some pretty good stuff that's more interesting to me. Not just the same old rehashed metal stuff.
I think it's now more important to think of guitars etc as tools rather than collectable pieces of wood and metal. You don't need a million tones from 20 different guitars. Just enough tones that are usable from 1, 2 at most guitars.
Fair enough if you've got the money for lots of guitars, but personally I'm at my most happiest with my tools now and don't have a desire to build up a collection again.
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Guilty as charged, I get through tons of gear, part of the problem is the actual buying of the gear is so much damn fun, especially on eBay. I'll often bid on gear I'm apathetic too just to get a bargain.
I'm 1000x more productive with just an acoustic and a pick, in-fact I sat down and learned Led Zeps Rain Song the other night and just playing through that with an acoustic was one of the most rewarding things I've done in a while.
Having said that there's an awesome looking Wampler Plexitortion pedal with two hours left on it on eBay :-p
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i'm with ben :lol:
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I'm much better than I used to be. I don't own any gear I don't use a lot, which I used to. I get hankerings for stuff but I'm pretty good at ignoring them when it's stuff I wouldn't gig or record with.
Years of spending a lot of time working/dealing with full time musicians who only own one or two guitars and one amp made me a bit of a pragmatist with regards to gear.
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Just realised the reason I never spend money on guitar any more (I haven't even bought new strings for ages) is because I spend it all on my bikes :lol: MTB is an expensive hobby, the forks on mine cost more than my entire bmx!
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More time spent buying gear also means less time learning to dial in properly, then if you do find "perfect tone" as soon as you move the amp your going to have different room acoustics, and putting it in a mix is whole other thing!
I don't own a lot of gear but I certainly stopped wasting hours looking at it.
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I have been way too gear obsessed in the past. I'm not so bad nowadays and have a very simple set up of guitar and amp (I have ordered a Bad Monkey though).
I am much more into Guitars than amps or effects. If I had my way I would have a strat, tele, LP, 335, SG, PRS (SC and Custom) and a great acoustic. I don't have the money though so can't :(
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What's that you say? I'm sorry, I can't hear you over all the fans:
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3525/3856582169_1e27c31fdd_o.jpg)
Seriously, we probably are but what the hell! It's FUN! :D
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I have 4 electric 6 strings, 3 acoustic 6 strings and a bass.All get used a lot so I consider them all justified though in truth I could probably make do with 2 electrics and 2 acoustics I do around 60 gigs a year so I feel no guilt- they have all more than paid for themselves over the years and given me tons of fun.
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i have no guilt about my gear selection... /but/ the experimentation has taught me what are generally good gear combinations, and what i like personally. as a result, i might get rid of some stuff..
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I don't have a vast array of gear but I'm pretty sure I spend more time looking interesting stuff up online than I do playing. I've been trying recently to limit my GAS problems by telling myself that I want to own exclusively red guitars, which has worked to some extent, but it turns out I now need more effects pedals than I probably have the floorspace for to make up for how good I've been. There really is no cure.
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I've been trying recently to limit my GAS problems by telling myself that I want to own exclusively red guitars, which has worked to some extent
Not a bad idea, but red is a very "available" colour so you're still left with lots of choices. Maybe if you went for something like chartreuse sparkle?
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^Problem with totally weird colours is you pretty much have to get everything custom made, which ain't cheap. Red is available but it means I can't have a V or an explorer or a tele at least (I'm sure there are others which look horrible in red too).
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i have no guilt about my gear selection... /but/ the experimentation has taught me what are generally good gear combinations, and what i like personally. as a result, i might get rid of some stuff..
Nothing wrong with culling the herd!
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Everything you say is true, and we all know it.
Unfortunately there is no known cure for GAS.
Yes there's one : poverty :mrgreen:
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Seriously, we probably are but what the hell! It's FUN! :D
I think that was one of the main reasons for me most of the time - it was just fun to check out new stuff.
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However the money is best spent on other stuff (like the 2010 guitars or having a holiday later in the year
That's a lot of guitars, I think you should limit it to under 2000 :lol:
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Everything you say is true, and we all know it.
Unfortunately there is no known cure for GAS.
Yes there's one : poverty :mrgreen:
Or Kids. In fact you could say the two are related :?
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I'm certainly too gear obsessed in that I'd be a lot happier if I didn't keep buying things and losing money on them and if I spent more time playing that looking stuff up.
However part of the problem is that there's so much gear nowadays that promises so much for so little. You buy it then it sounds okay but not amazing and sell it on. There's new stuff to entice us all the time, and yes it's fun to research then buy but as there's something else almost the same it's easier to get grass is greener syndrome....
So my thing with gear now is buy quality, buy it once.
Which unfortunately makes my GAS list rather expensive :?
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So my thing with gear now is buy quality, buy it once.
Which unfortunately makes my GAS list rather expensive :?
Welcome to my world! I love quality gear, but it certainly slows down your purchase rate once you've sold off your less expensive stuff.....
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I'm certainly too gear obsessed in that I'd be a lot happier if I didn't keep buying things and losing money on them and if I spent more time playing that looking stuff up.
Agreed with all that. Especially the losing money bit! :lol: I could probably have bought a PRS Private Stock (or two, or three) with the money I've lost on guitar sales over the years.
So my thing with gear now is buy quality, buy it once.
Which unfortunately makes my GAS list rather expensive :?
Sounds like a good policy, in theory, but I'm not convinced quality necessarily guarantees satisfaction, guitars are such personal-taste things. Even an amazing guitar can have things about it you wish were different. And then, in fact, I suspect it just goes spiralling up to ever-more-expensive gear.... :|
Having said that, I've gone into a similar phase myself :? . I'm no longer looking at Japanese guitars on eBay (perhaps partly because the exchange rates have caused prices to rocket!), I'm contemplating PRS and Fender Custom Shop. But maybe that's good, it makes impulse-buys much more daunting.
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I'm not so bad with guitars, my 2 Partscasters meet my quality requirements, good wood, good hardware and pickups and feel right to me. I would really like a CS Tele or Strat but I wouldn't really be getting anything additional except the vibe of a real reliced Fender, but that said my Strat and Tele are taking on a personal vibe of their own so I'm happy with them. I certainly don't GAS for anything better
But amp l wise you really do get what you pay for. I've been through so many amps over the years that have sounded okay but once you try something better quality you really notice a difference in the detail and purity of tone. For example I tried a Balckstar HT40 the other day, it was okay, Guitarist gave it a choice award, it is very versatile, loud and portable. But it would never have that dynamic 3d sound you get from a handwired booteek amp so I'd end up selling it and trying something else in search of tonal bliss.
So I'm going to get a very nice amp and that should last me a lifetime:D
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Yeah, good point about amps. I tend not to think about amps too much because I'm strictly a stay-at-home, low-volume, rubbish-player sort of chap and I have absolutely zero need of an expensive amp (which shouldn't stop me GASing for one, but luckily for me amps don't appeal in the same way guitars do).
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One electric that I play, the Ibanez as a gig backup, haven't even plugged it in or strummed it for over a year... One acoustic at home for those few minutes (or hours?) while the wife is getting ready to go out, for example. And one proper amp. Oh I suppose I have a few pedals, well, three, but I never use the Zoom unit any more, and haven't used a wah for a long time either, so I don't think I'm doing too badly gear-wise.
Now if only I wasn't shite...
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I've got One head, One Cab, Two Gibsons and an array of pedals which almost get every tone I need (although I'd like a Bad Monkey for those bluesier moments). The only other thing that I'd like in my rig is a nice Strat or Tele.
I've also got two knackered electrics at home which I NEVER use. Must get my Epi SG sorted so I can use take it to gigs when I can't take two guitars in flightcases...
Paddy
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On the one hand, theres nothing wrong with having whatever gear you want.
On the other, for me, it becomes a problem when I'm playing with the gear more than I'm playing guitar. Sitting there tweaking and fine tuning a sound is fine to an extent, but when it reaches the point that youre not really doing that much guitar playing then thats where youre missing the point.
IMO.
The only exception is recording and experimenting with recorded tones. I've been known to spend a couple of days on that, with several total room recalls, and only end up liking the first sounds I got, but not being able to recreate them accurately enough and just going '$%&# it' and getting it done anyway.
Bottom line in all cases - if the sound services the music, its a good sound, and provided its *more or less* there less time should be spent pissing about, more playing the damned music, which is what its all for (for me at least; I seem to recall Dave dissagreed with me once on that one and its about the thrill of buying and trading to him; I cant empathise with that, but thats fine too).
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One electric that I play, the Ibanez as a gig backup, haven't even plugged it in or strummed it for over a year... One acoustic at home for those few minutes (or hours?) while the wife is getting ready to go out, for example. And one proper amp. Oh I suppose I have a few pedals, well, three, but I never use the Zoom unit any more, and haven't used a wah for a long time either, so I don't think I'm doing too badly gear-wise.
Now if only I wasn't shitee...
There was a day that I had a few guitars, but all were cr@p but one. It was, and is a great guitar, was 'my guitar', and it was pretty much the only one I played. To all intents and purposes I had one guitar.
It simplified things A LOT. I probably spent more time learning and wrting and generally 'just playing' when I just had one guitar and no thought of getting another, and it was great.
Now I have (a very modest by this forums standards) 9 guitars, of which 5 are 'main electrics' that take the place of that one guitar years ago (one of them IS that guitar). I "know" that I only really need one of them, but I also cant do without the others!
Well, I could do without 2, I suppose. The 3 core guitars, I NEED!!
But dont.
But DO!
But really dont
Except that I do, damnit!
But I know I dont.
But I do.
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:lol:
^ That sums me up
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Jeez, you guys analyse things WAAAAY too much :lol:
Do what makes you happy :D
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i agree that buying quality is a good idea, it's daft if you're continually buying and selling on and then buying again (though i would add that buying expensive stuff, if all the forums I go to, is no defence against that- some people just buy and sell a lot, and others don't). But it depends on the situation, too. If you play a wide range of stuff, 4 "good" guitars (say a strat, tele, LP and LP special) would arguably make more sense than one "awesome" guitar costing the same as those four put together. Ditto with amps.
EDIT: ^ yeah, i agree. I don't agree with rationalising it at all. I don't drink or smoke, and I don't see drinkers or smokers rationalising that (or anyone else who buys anything, ever), so forgive me if I don't feel bad because I like buying and playing guitars and amps. At least it's something constructive. EDIT: cr@p, that's a rationalisation.
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Well buying lots of expensive gear even if you suck at playing (like me :D ) is till ok for me for the simple reason that you are
a) indulging in a hobby that you enjoy
b) are doing something good for the economy, creating jobs and paying taxes.
I wouldn't ever want to say someone doesn't "deserve" a guitar or amp (because he is simply not a great player).
I just wanted to express that I feel that I personally have been chasing to long after gear as a way to improve my playing/sound, when I realized that the other way around - being more ascetic and focusing on only the bare essential playing - is what it really is about.
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Agree'd...i've spent more time reading \ buying \ talking about guitars than playing them...finally got my Legra customer a couple of years back,just been playing that through a GuitarPort on my PC and enjoying it. I got my Legra after essentialy running out of guitars to try, so i combined the best bits of the ones i liked into it, i will never sell it :)
Now i have some spare money i want an actual amp....i bought a Blackstar HT5 a couple months ago which is great but not hi gain enough for me, so i'm going to get myself another ENGL Screamer - i've had 2 before which i had to sell due to being in crippling debt at various points in the past couple of years, and i loved both of them. Then i will be set, 1 guitar, 1 amp.
Unless of course a 1987 Kramer Stagemaster Deluxe comes up on ebay for reasonable money, which i've wanted for about 7 years after playing one owned by someone in the local guitar shop...that and his Gibson Les Paul 25/50 Anniversary are the best guitars i'll never own!!!!!