When you have your rig basically perfect... and you ruin it

Make it loud here.
Post Reply
User avatar
stevejamsecono
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 4552
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:55 am
Location: Brooklyn, NYC
Contact:

When you have your rig basically perfect... and you ruin it

Post by stevejamsecono » Fri Apr 28, 2017 5:55 pm

Guilty.

For about a year I had a fairly perfect thing going on. I was running my Yamaha Studio Lord, a glorious Les Paul Custom copy, into an Avatar 18 watt head and a small board. The sound was consistently great no matter what the backline cabinet situation seemed to be, and I got compliments after every show about how I sounded. Hell, the guitar player in Swans told me it was "the sound".

But then, as fickle nature and GAS goes, I decidedly abruptly that A.) My Yamaha was heavy and I'd rather carry around a lighter guitar and B.) I could use the money and a Tiny Terror could do the job of my Avatar for half the price. Additionally, having to travel on foot, the TT weighs less and is smaller than the Avatar. Great plan, right?

Wrong.

I bought a pretty "meh" example of an Orville Les Paul Junior off Ebay, and quickly found that the Tiny Terror sounded way too much like an 80s Marshall for my tastes. Ughhhhhh. It's been bad tone nights ever since and worse playing to go with it. I try to be pretty easy going on Amp Du Jour, but it's been clear the vibe is off.

Now the plan is to put the Yamaha back into rotation and hock the Orville and the TT to get back into 1974x land and pronto.

Anyone else ever do this? I know variety is the spice of life, but sometimes if it ain't broke, don't fix it?
And you find out life isn't like that
It's so hard to understand
Why the world is your oyster but your future's a clam

Resident Yamaha Fanboy

COYS

User avatar
Ursa Minor
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 5892
Joined: Sun Mar 14, 2010 8:26 am
Location: Chicago

Re: When you have your rig basically perfect... and you ruin

Post by Ursa Minor » Fri Apr 28, 2017 8:18 pm

Without getting into specifics. Yes. But I always come back to my trusty setup. Eventually I learned to stick with it because the loss was too frustrating and I'd just end up buying back gear I already had. I guess it takes that curiosity to help us appreciate what we have. I mean, what is gear without eternal tinkering? That's part of the fun but there can be pitfalls.
The artist formerly known as kosmonautmayhem.

User avatar
StevenO
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 17768
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:06 pm

Re: When you have your rig basically perfect... and you ruin

Post by StevenO » Sat Apr 29, 2017 4:45 am

This is why you never sell something you enjoy in hopes the new thing will be better. Sometimes what works is just what works, and nothing "better" on paper or more expensive will compare to what is already doing it for you.

I've sold a few things over the years because I didn't think it was good enough. Sold one of those awesome sounding 51' Reissue P basses because I thought an American Standard Jazz Bass would be "better" at twice the price because it had more pickups. It's been 15 years and wish I hadn't bought the Jazz Bass. I sold a Peavey Classic 50 head that I loved the sound and a Tweed Super Amp clone that I didn't give a fair shake because I thought I needed a super loud clean amp to play live (Fender Showman). The Showman gets zero use and has never sounded anywhere near what I wanted it to.

Sometimes things just work, regardless of what it says on the box, and should just be enjoyed as such. However... Sometimes things don't work as intended, but all it takes is a little elbow grease to get it there.

Point is, life is too short to deal with gear that isn't bringing you the kind of joy you want it to. Get exactly what you want, even if it's not popular and even if it takes you awhile to get it, and be happy.

User avatar
stevejamsecono
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 4552
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:55 am
Location: Brooklyn, NYC
Contact:

Re: When you have your rig basically perfect... and you ruin

Post by stevejamsecono » Sat Apr 29, 2017 5:36 am

Cheers to that!
And you find out life isn't like that
It's so hard to understand
Why the world is your oyster but your future's a clam

Resident Yamaha Fanboy

COYS

User avatar
shoule79
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1963
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2013 11:57 am
Location: London....the one in Canada

Re: When you have your rig basically perfect... and you ruin

Post by shoule79 » Sat Apr 29, 2017 6:08 am

A better question is has anyone ever not done this?

My first step backwards was selling my 70's Peavey Classic for a red knob twin that was twice the price.

In college I swapped an Ampeg Jet for a Bassman 10. More of a step sideways overall, but the smaller jet was way more convenient, had trem and reverb, and to my ears sounded better.

More recently, and most devastatingly I traded my AC30 cc2 for a SFPR. Big upgrade, right? While it was, and the Princeton is amazing, the Vox + a Klone was my sound. I'm not playing out regularly, and the AC30 was overkill for anything I've done the past 10 years, but my tone was always right there with that setup. If anyone ever asks, that's the best amp I've ever owned, beating out a half dozen vintage fenders and marshalls, plus some other decent miscellaneous tube amps over the years.

User avatar
redchapterjubilee
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1775
Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2011 11:01 am
Location: AVLNC

Re: When you have your rig basically perfect... and you ruin

Post by redchapterjubilee » Sat Apr 29, 2017 5:29 pm

Yup, you are not alone. My major problem is that I think and read about music far more than I play it. I contemplate my gear more than use it. And the more I contemplate, the more I'm likely to do what you did.

User avatar
Unicorn Warrior
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 3491
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Kentucky, USA

Re: When you have your rig basically perfect... and you ruin

Post by Unicorn Warrior » Sat Apr 29, 2017 8:21 pm

I've done this so many times i'm sick. I'm deciding to just accumulate gear rather than sell it. Hope it works out for me this time haha

User avatar
dylanafghjkl
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 421
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 8:59 am
Location: Melbourne

Re: When you have your rig basically perfect... and you ruin

Post by dylanafghjkl » Sat Apr 29, 2017 11:44 pm

redchapterjubilee wrote:Yup, you are not alone. My major problem is that I think and read about music far more than I play it. I contemplate my gear more than use it. And the more I contemplate, the more I'm likely to do what you did.
yeah i'm definitely guilty of this one

User avatar
StevenO
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 17768
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2006 7:06 pm

Re: When you have your rig basically perfect... and you ruin

Post by StevenO » Sun Apr 30, 2017 4:21 am

Unicorn Warrior wrote:I've done this so many times i'm sick. I'm deciding to just accumulate gear rather than sell it. Hope it works out for me this time haha
This is me.
redchapterjubilee wrote:Yup, you are not alone. My major problem is that I think and read about music far more than I play it. I contemplate my gear more than use it. And the more I contemplate, the more I'm likely to do what you did.
Also me.

User avatar
stevejamsecono
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 4552
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:55 am
Location: Brooklyn, NYC
Contact:

Re: When you have your rig basically perfect... and you ruin

Post by stevejamsecono » Sun Apr 30, 2017 9:34 am

StevenO wrote:
Unicorn Warrior wrote:I've done this so many times i'm sick. I'm deciding to just accumulate gear rather than sell it. Hope it works out for me this time haha
This is me.
redchapterjubilee wrote:Yup, you are not alone. My major problem is that I think and read about music far more than I play it. I contemplate my gear more than use it. And the more I contemplate, the more I'm likely to do what you did.
Also me.
Yup. And the people that I know that seem happiest? Are the ones that don't have time to do this.

So that settles it, time to get the Avatar back and deal with the transport without complaint.
And you find out life isn't like that
It's so hard to understand
Why the world is your oyster but your future's a clam

Resident Yamaha Fanboy

COYS

User avatar
Embenny
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 10363
Joined: Tue May 24, 2016 5:07 am

Re: When you have your rig basically perfect... and you ruin

Post by Embenny » Mon May 01, 2017 6:45 am

stevejamsecono wrote:
StevenO wrote:
Unicorn Warrior wrote:I've done this so many times i'm sick. I'm deciding to just accumulate gear rather than sell it. Hope it works out for me this time haha
This is me.
redchapterjubilee wrote:Yup, you are not alone. My major problem is that I think and read about music far more than I play it. I contemplate my gear more than use it. And the more I contemplate, the more I'm likely to do what you did.
Also me.
Yup. And the people that I know that seem happiest? Are the ones that don't have time to do this.

So that settles it, time to get the Avatar back and deal with the transport without complaint.
Yes! This. We all love gear. But my times I've been the happiest have been when circumstances limited me to going with the essentials. Like one bass and a SansAmp, or my one Jag and my old Red Bear Mk60 head with a 2x12" cab. Simple. I focused on the music, not on knob twiddling, signal chains on the pedalboard, and stuff like that.

Of course, I now have more gear than ever. But I try to pick 2 guitars and 1 amp at a time and just focus on the music. Every few weeks I swap in a different guitar or amp, but I keep the rate of change slow enough to not get too caught up in the minutiae.
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

User avatar
CS
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 351
Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 10:49 am

Re: When you have your rig basically perfect... and you ruin

Post by CS » Mon May 01, 2017 7:42 am

To the OP...

I've been playing for a very long time and had crappy gear as well as currently a lot of very nice gear. One thing has never changed. If I change this guitar/amp/pickups/valves/speakers/strings it will be better. The flip side of that is that if I play a decent guitar into a vox type amp in a lie situation I'm happy.

I've been slightly unhappy with one of my amps lately ,it's not as 'chimey' as another one and I was going to get some replacement speakers or sell it. However whilst experimenting abing the amps they bother sounded identical into a difference cab, Then I realised that the cab was angled. So I saved myself a new amp by tilting the old one 45 degrees.

I think sometimes we just want new gear and our head does things to justify it.

Whoever suggested slowly accumulating more gear is right IMHO. If you keep what works and experiment it's less painful than selling somethign that worked to get something that didnt.

User avatar
budda12ax7
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 6795
Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2009 4:04 pm
Location: Mean Streets of OC

Re: When you have your rig basically perfect... and you ruin

Post by budda12ax7 » Sun May 07, 2017 8:17 pm

Sold my JCM 800 100 Watt to my buddy, who still plays and gigs with it. Whenever I go to his house he makes a point to plug in and play it in front of me....worst deal ever.

Post Reply