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Thread: Looked Down Upon Music Gear that's Great

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    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Looked Down Upon Music Gear that's Great

    Sometimes, I've found myself defending cheap gear to cork sniffers from time to time; and I'm guilty of a bit of cork sniffing too.

    But I also have pieces of gear that were cheap--not because I found a great price on them but because they had no resale value from the moment I started using them.

    it's almost like a "guilty pleasure" of guitar gear.

    I have such a pedal. It's a Digitech Bad Monkey OD pedal. I could preach its virtues all day long. I think it cost me $40 new about 6 years ago. I've gigged a lot with it, practiced and jammed a lot more with it. I'd replace it if I lost it. It's not tube screamer and it's not a Rat. Got a unique tone, close to the Fender tube amp sound and yet not.

    What gear do you have like that?
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

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    Re: Looked Down Upon Music Gear that's Great


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    Re: Looked Down Upon Music Gear that's Great


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    Re: Looked Down Upon Music Gear that's Great


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    Re: Looked Down Upon Music Gear that's Great

    All my gear. I started playing late in life. I read everything about guitars and gear but what I paid attention to mostly was what gear was made of. Musician's Friend had these wonderful catalogs they mailed out in which guitars had excellent descriptions and I read them all over and over every time I got a new one. From the start I bought the Guitar Player's Repair Guide and I read that cover to cover. I already new wood working and automotive repair from doing it for years and I could relate to everything. There's a lot more to tuning a guitar and making it sound and play great than adjusting the tuning keys and I learned it all. I've never had to defend my gear choices. It's not worth anything but I barley paid anything for it. I bought 80% of it on clearance/open box. For example 2 of my Squier Standards I bought new in the box for less than $120 each when they sold for $250 and that's the way I went about buying all my gear. I wanted a Squier Double Fat Telecaster Deluxe in 2001, and they sold for $499 new. I just waited and later got one $100. From the start for me there was more to good gear than the name on the headstock and it has allowed me to really enjoy my hobby.

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    Forum Member redisburning's Avatar
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    Re: Looked Down Upon Music Gear that's Great

    Quote Originally Posted by ch willie View Post
    Sometimes, I've found myself defending cheap gear to cork sniffers from time to time; and I'm guilty of a bit of cork sniffing too.

    But I also have pieces of gear that were cheap--not because I found a great price on them but because they had no resale value from the moment I started using them.

    it's almost like a "guilty pleasure" of guitar gear.

    I have such a pedal. It's a Digitech Bad Monkey OD pedal. I could preach its virtues all day long. I think it cost me $40 new about 6 years ago. I've gigged a lot with it, practiced and jammed a lot more with it. I'd replace it if I lost it. It's not tube screamer and it's not a Rat. Got a unique tone, close to the Fender tube amp sound and yet not.

    What gear do you have like that?
    where are these cork sniffers?

    maybe Im just good at tuning people like that out, but I cant say I noticed a lot of it outside of the vintage collecting circles but I avoid that group like the plague (similar to 78rpm collectors, it's an unpleasant bunch).

    IMO the bad monkey is an excellent way to demonstrate my point here. there are frequently TGP threads about it. that is a place where in the recent posts lists you would see it sandwiched between a topic about sinker Lowdens and which diodes were used in the original Klon centaur, and for all of the comments suggesting there is wide spread derision of it, those comments are no where to be seen. dunno just feel like this one sits with all the "does anyone else...", "am I the only one..." and "I listen to everything but..." forum topics.

    anyway my favorite not so expensive piece of gear is my OCD pedal. it's not one of the early ones that get all the attention, nor is it the newest and greatest one. just the one they made for years and years. I throw a 9v in it and chuck it in my gig bags for when I go play with coworkers or something on a saturday. pretty good sounding pedal and if I forgot it at someone's house I wouldnt cry about it.

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    Forum Member Frat Rettle's Avatar
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    Re: Looked Down Upon Music Gear that's Great

    My 30 year old Peavy Bandit.

    Gave it to the keyboard player in a band I used to sing with.

    Best $200.00 I ever spent.
    I have decided to be happy because it's good for my health.

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    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Re: Looked Down Upon Music Gear that's Great

    I didn't mean that we have cork sniffers here. I know musicians around my area who are silly cork sniffers. And I see others on other fora.

    Nah, we're a good bunch who goes after what sounds best, not what costs most.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

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    Forum Member gibsonjunkie's Avatar
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    Re: Looked Down Upon Music Gear that's Great

    I agree on the Bad Monkey! I still use mine!
    "We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness." Mark Twain

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    Forum Member Kap'n's Avatar
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    Re: Looked Down Upon Music Gear that's Great

    The DOD 250 is still one of my favorite overdrives, despite being Apollo-era technology, and having fewer electrical components than a typical Gretsch guitar.
    Several guitars in different colors
    Things to make them fuzzy
    Things to make them louder
    orange picks

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    Re: Looked Down Upon Music Gear that's Great

    I could probably write a book about looked down on gear because that's what I've looked for over 20 years. No one would listen to me though or read it. The owner of JHS pedals in the videos I've posted above he lays down a lot of details regarding what the scratch and sniff crowd has said over the decades, but he's really only done that recently in the last few years. Jack Pearson known for his stock Squier guitars in the midst of others playing "real guitars" I just love. I wouldn't have understood that if I had not spent years taking woodshop or worked in my father's machine/diesel/automotive shop growing up.

    I didn't think the OP was cutting down the gear of other people. I thought of it as I've found out about stuff what have others discovered. I look at what I've put together like the old "BASF" commercials. I don't make the gear I have, I make the gear I have better. It's been an awesome hobby for me.

    Gear I have as asked by the OP:
    Digitech Grunge Pedal: It's a modified Rat circuit.
    Behringer TO808 is a Tube Screamer 808 circuit

    Want to dial in that Purple Haze vibe and/or the Rolling Stones "Can't you Hear Me knocking" on the cheap that's what this small board does. The Mojomojo is just there to fill a spot at the moment but it's basically another Tube Screamer clone in a metal housing under $50.

    Last edited by mikesr1963; 03-09-2020 at 07:13 PM.

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    Forum Member Don's Avatar
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    Re: Looked Down Upon Music Gear that's Great

    Quote Originally Posted by Kap'n View Post
    The DOD 250 is still one of my favorite overdrives, despite being Apollo-era technology, and having fewer electrical components than a typical Gretsch guitar.
    Even the reissues are a good OD or boost pedal!

  14. #14
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
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    Re: Looked Down Upon Music Gear that's Great

    Carvin gear can be really good. The electronics can be a little flaky, but serviceable.

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