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Kacey Y wrote:I've been selling off gear for years now, very opposite of GAS, but I actually bought something for the first time in a long while yesterday. I saw this Marshall Lead 12 5005 on CL for $125, it was kinda far from me, but on the way to somewhere I had to go yesterday, and I found $25 in an old envelope. So it seemed fated.

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Ridiculously fun little amps! Much better tone than makes any sense, either. I think these might have been on ZZ Top albums, and they were used as a dirty channel in a lot of Bradshaw rack rigs back in the day.

I’m jealous of the non-janky separate line out, but I do have the super cool faded-to-brown grill cloth.

Gone Fission wrote:Ridiculously fun little amps! Much better tone than makes any sense, either. I think these might have been on ZZ Top albums, and they were used as a dirty channel in a lot of Bradshaw rack rigs back in the day.

I’m jealous of the non-janky separate line out, but I do have the super cool faded-to-brown grill cloth.

I fired it up earlier today and wow, I was impressed! Sounded great, and really low noise until it's at full gain. I'm definitely excited to play with it more.

I've been GAS'ing for knowing my gear better and instead of buying new stuff have been instead exploring what I have. Shocking change for me, but it is actually way fulfilling. Been eyeing a few things on my shelf to sell or trade as there are some things out there I'd still like to explore and try. Got my eyes on the MWFX site hoping to maybe dip back into a purchase with a Judder.

cosmicevan wrote:I've been GAS'ing for knowing my gear better and instead of buying new stuff have been instead exploring what I have. Shocking change for me, but it is actually way fulfilling. Been eyeing a few things on my shelf to sell or trade as there are some things out there I'd still like to explore and try. Got my eyes on the MWFX site hoping to maybe dip back into a purchase with a Judder.

Was about to say you have been a little quite

But I am with you - you realize that a lot of these rad boxes do a LOT of rad things and you have to sink some time time into it. Its hard when you get something and something else shiny comes along.

I've had one last giddy moment and ordered a J Mascis Tele to go with my JM.

Blue sparkle goodness

MaxMaps wrote:

cosmicevan wrote:I've been GAS'ing for knowing my gear better and instead of buying new stuff have been instead exploring what I have. Shocking change for me, but it is actually way fulfilling. Been eyeing a few things on my shelf to sell or trade as there are some things out there I'd still like to explore and try. Got my eyes on the MWFX site hoping to maybe dip back into a purchase with a Judder.

Was about to say you have been a little quite

But I am with you - you realize that a lot of these rad boxes do a LOT of rad things and you have to sink some time time into it. Its hard when you get something and something else shiny comes along.

As a collector of things, I really look at acquiring as a total separate activity. Researching, hunting, wheeling and dealing...it's really it's own thing. A lot of times acquiring/collecting is about all the things associated with that aspect...things like rarity, how good of a price for what it is, and often it's just the fact that you were able to find the thing at all.

Whereas making music is a totally different thing...same as learning gear. Lately, I've been in learning gear mode...there is *some* overlap with making music, but the focus of the time spent is learning how to do something and then exploring it and then learning the next thing...and revisiting ideas you learned before and how things interplay with each other. It's actually pretty annoying and I have to kind of force myself to do it at times, but it's always rewarding and usually ends up becoming part making music too.

It can all get very overwhelming when you are all over the place with acquiring, learning, and enjoying...and then it loses its fun and becomes stressful. I tell myself I am in a good place right now...but really I think I'm heading towards a good place. Things feel less pressurey these days and more enjoyable. I am still eager and want to be further along in making these crazy machines do what I want them to do. I've found solace in having more grace with myself. It's fun to get new stuff...until it isn't.

cosmicevan wrote:

MaxMaps wrote:

cosmicevan wrote:I've been GAS'ing for knowing my gear better and instead of buying new stuff have been instead exploring what I have. Shocking change for me, but it is actually way fulfilling. Been eyeing a few things on my shelf to sell or trade as there are some things out there I'd still like to explore and try. Got my eyes on the MWFX site hoping to maybe dip back into a purchase with a Judder.

Was about to say you have been a little quite

But I am with you - you realize that a lot of these rad boxes do a LOT of rad things and you have to sink some time time into it. Its hard when you get something and something else shiny comes along.

As a collector of things, I really look at acquiring as a total separate activity. Researching, hunting, wheeling and dealing...it's really it's own thing. A lot of times acquiring/collecting is about all the things associated with that aspect...things like rarity, how good of a price for what it is, and often it's just the fact that you were able to find the thing at all.

Whereas making music is a totally different thing...same as learning gear. Lately, I've been in learning gear mode...there is *some* overlap with making music, but the focus of the time spent is learning how to do something and then exploring it and then learning the next thing...and revisiting ideas you learned before and how things interplay with each other. It's actually pretty annoying and I have to kind of force myself to do it at times, but it's always rewarding and usually ends up becoming part making music too.

It can all get very overwhelming when you are all over the place with acquiring, learning, and enjoying...and then it loses its fun and becomes stressful. I tell myself I am in a good place right now...but really I think I'm heading towards a good place. Things feel less pressurey these days and more enjoyable. I am still eager and want to be further along in making these crazy machines do what I want them to do. I've found solace in having more grace with myself. It's fun to get new stuff...until it isn't.

I'm fairly certain that had I had more time to play and record I wouldn't have bought anywhere near as much as I have over the last few weeks.

It's been a combination of having to look after my autistic daughter more than usual due to her mum moving house and her struggling to settle in, and having decided to move some long-term savings to my current account so I'd have a stress-free run up to Christmas, plus the feeling that I might as well spend some money while I'm around to enjoy it.

So I would agree, acquiring gear is an alternative to making music for me when I'm not in a position to do so.

Yeah...these days, I try...instead of browsing new things and want ads, to review user guides and other activities.

cosmicevan wrote:I've been GAS'ing for knowing my gear better and instead of buying new stuff have been instead exploring what I have. Shocking change for me, but it is actually way fulfilling. Been eyeing a few things on my shelf to sell or trade as there are some things out there I'd still like to explore and try. Got my eyes on the MWFX site hoping to maybe dip back into a purchase with a Judder.

I think taking a listen to your gear and really getting to know everything from a kind of blank slate perspective is really revealing and useful. Last year I needed to sell off a bunch of gear to pay some medical bills, and I ended up essentially shooting out all the pedals I had against each other. Taking name recognition or cost/value out of the equation and just listening to how all the different pedals actually sounded compared to each other within their categories. It was really revealing and kind of surprising to me honestly. I'm not gonna say all the expensive or custom ones were overrated or amazing, some of them really were unique or the best version of a sound I wanted, but some of the cheaper or midrange production pedals were able to get the same sounds I liked, or were so close it wasn't noticeable in a mix. It wasn't really a matter of better or worse, so much as could it do the things I wanted/liked, which is so subjective. I put every pedal through its paces, sweeping through all the settings, getting to know them all in depth, putting them in shootouts and combinations, making a lot of notes. I'm glad I did it and if my tastes in tone change, I feel like I have a good grasp on how to evaluate stuff effectively.

I had an odd experience a while back with a temp board setup of four dirts with pretty distinct topologies and notional characteristics as they existed in my head—somehow dialing each individually but not in the same session I had settled on settings that put them all in spitting distance of each other. Trying to blast through different sounds did not go as anticipated. Going from that to dialing to useful independent flavors and some nice stacks was an endeavor. But it really put me in the mind that I can get pretty far with just two pedals and the guitar’s controls.

(This has not moved me towards purging dirt pedals, though.)

Incoming: Kinotone Ribbons and OBNE Reverse

Kacey Y wrote:

cosmicevan wrote:I've been GAS'ing for knowing my gear better and instead of buying new stuff have been instead exploring what I have. Shocking change for me, but it is actually way fulfilling. Been eyeing a few things on my shelf to sell or trade as there are some things out there I'd still like to explore and try. Got my eyes on the MWFX site hoping to maybe dip back into a purchase with a Judder.

I think taking a listen to your gear and really getting to know everything from a kind of blank slate perspective is really revealing and useful. Last year I needed to sell off a bunch of gear to pay some medical bills, and I ended up essentially shooting out all the pedals I had against each other. Taking name recognition or cost/value out of the equation and just listening to how all the different pedals actually sounded compared to each other within their categories. It was really revealing and kind of surprising to me honestly. I'm not gonna say all the expensive or custom ones were overrated or amazing, some of them really were unique or the best version of a sound I wanted, but some of the cheaper or midrange production pedals were able to get the same sounds I liked, or were so close it wasn't noticeable in a mix. It wasn't really a matter of better or worse, so much as could it do the things I wanted/liked, which is so subjective. I put every pedal through its paces, sweeping through all the settings, getting to know them all in depth, putting them in shootouts and combinations, making a lot of notes. I'm glad I did it and if my tastes in tone change, I feel like I have a good grasp on how to evaluate stuff effectively.

+1 - even with its limitations I still find the zoom 70MCDR to be outstanding

One more last thing . . . *sigh*

I was reminded that I really love pink paisley Telecasters, but rather than buy one (very expensive) I'm putting one together from various sources (Allparts body (very nice) Fender neck (new from ebay) Suhr pickups (s/h) etc.

Still quite expensive but not anywhere as much as a decent used one.

I got a plain white scratchplate/pickguard for my J Mascis Tele as I didn't like the mirror plate's ability to attract dust, and I'm much happier.



I'd like to change the green plate on the Noventa JM too, but that's probably going involve my buying a plain plate and routing all the holes for pickups and switch, which is too much hassle right now.