2011 year in review: a gear retrospective

[guitarhack]

I picked up a couple of used Peavey guitars, a Generation S-3 and a Generation EXP ACM, plus a DeArmond M-75T. I sold a Takamine a/e 12-string.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Quite a bit of gear churn for me this past year:

Guitars

Sold: Xaviere XV-870 Strat copy (to Monkus here); Epiphone Elitist Les Paul Standard

Bought: Gibson Custom Historic Series '59 Les Paul Reissue (R9); Squier Classic Vibe Tele Custom; Squier Classic Vibe '50s Strat

Amps

Sold: Egnater Rebel 20 head; Mesa Transatlantic TA-15 head (another sale to Monkus!)

Bought: Mesa Express 5:25 10" combo; Jeff Rubin Rocket head (Trainwreck Rocket clone)

Built: BYOC Champlifier (Fender tweed Champ 5F1 clone)

Pedals

W-a-a-a-a-y-y too much to bother listing here....

 

[sunvalleylaw]

@riverrick: Is this the 60th Thinline tele? http://www.chorder.com/electric-guitars/Fender/60th+Anniversary+Modern+Thinline+Telecaster+3678/

Looks cool! I must have missed the thread when you got it.

 

[Mac Morganfield]

Yes, unintentional but it's been a busy year on the gear side for me. Lets see now:

'06 Gibson Melody Maker (came in and went out)
'10 Epiphone Dot Studio (came in and went out)
'00 Gibson SG Standard
'98 Gibson LP DC Standard
'03 Fender Stratocaster Standard MIM

Vox AC4TV10
Vox Lil' Night Train with 1X12 cab

More pedals than i can list came and went which leaves me with a T-Rex Alberta OD and a Boss CS-3

I also bought Gator hard cases for the SG, Dot Studio and the Strat, 5 sets of strings (DR Pure Blues nickel 10-52's and a set of 11-50's). I have also 'invested' in having all my guitars set up by a pro this year (The SG, Strat and LP DC)

I don't see it as a GAS problem, just the road to refining my sound.

The big question is this: Am i a better player than i was 12 months ago? Answer: Yes, a LOT better. Still not great but if i can improve like this year on year, i'll be able to become a full time professional musician.........by the time i retire aged 65!

What will 2012 bring? Well, i'm on a self imposed spending ban for the next 6 months at least but i'd like to get a set of Bare Knuckle 'Irish Tour' pick-up's fitted to the Strat when i can afford it and real life does'nt get in the way!

 

[riverrick]

@riverrick: Is this the 60th Thinline tele? http://www.chorder.com/electric-guitars/Fender/60th+Anniversary+Modern+Thinline+Telecaster+3678/

Looks cool! I must have missed the thread when you got it.

Yep that's it. You didn't miss the post....never posted that buy. I know you guys like to see some pics (I just just have a hell of a time putting up pics) Really love that guitar, it's light as a feather and plays like a dream. Only thing I did was swap out the pups. Put in some D. Allen Fat Cats.

 

[bcdon]

The big question is this: Am i a better player than i was 12 months ago? Answer: Yes, a LOT better. Still not great but if i can improve like this year on year, i'll be able to become a full time professional musician.........by the time i retire aged 65!

What will 2012 bring? Well, i'm on a self imposed spending ban for the next 6 months at least but i'd like to get a set of Bare Knuckle 'Irish Tour' pick-up's fitted to the Strat when i can afford it and real life does'nt get in the way!

I think we are on the same trajectory! By the time I retire I'm going to be the shredder I've always wanted to be!
You won't be sorry with those Bare Knuckle pups.. I have an 'Irish Tour' / 'Nailbomb' combination in my Hell ZeroDot strat and it is wicked bad! :dude

 

[Brian Krashpad]

I'm broke from cancer bills so I didn't really buy anything this year, at least not anything big that I intended not to immediately flip. I bought an Epi SG bass that I woulda loved to have kept but flipped. Also a '60's Cordovox 2x12 cab with the original Jensens that I'm still trying to flip. Only thing I've bought not intending to resell is a Juice Box OD pedal, and I don't really need that. Oh, and a couple Snark tuners.

 

[kiteman]

Eric, what about the Godin? Did you get it in 2011?

(going through my receipts)

Blackstar HT408 speaker cabinet
4 used old stock tubes (2 preamp & 2 power amp)
Prewired strat pick guard from GFS (really weak pups)
Set of Carvin S60A single coil pups (to replace those weak pups)
Rolling Stone Early Rock to Late 60s tab book

 

[Eric]

Eric, what about the Godin? Did you get it in 2011?

Uh...I think I got that in 2010, but I'm honestly not sure. I flipped it for a CV tele and some cash this year. It was too noisy and something (e.g. scale length, bolt-on neck, etc.) made it something other than what I was hoping for.

 

[kiteman]

Shame as that was one pretty guitar.

 

[Eric]

Shame as that was one pretty guitar.

I agree, but I was hoping for a lighter Les Paul. Despite my best efforts, it ended up sounding quite different. It seems weird to say it, but I think it might have been due to scale length.

 

[Monkus]

2011

Squier Classic Vibe in Olympic White, sweet guitar, couldn't get past the metal pick-guard, came and went,

Xaviere Surf Green XV-870 awesome purchase from DVM.

Carvin AE 185. http://www.carvinworld.com/catalog/guitars/index.php?model=ae185
...Couldn't help myself there...

Mesa Boogie Transatlantic TA-15, another excellent purchase from DVM. My go to amp :socool
Built a cab for it here: http://www.thefret.net/showthread.p...-Thiele-Small-guitar-cabinet?highlight=thiele

Boss GE-7 Eq pedal.
Boss DD-7 delay


Boss BD-2 Blues Driver, pedals bought used....


Zoom R16 Recorder, bought to catch performances from church...


That's it (I think) .

 

[Spudman]

Monkus - that R16 seems like a really practical piece of gear. Have you spent any time with it yet? What is your take on it?

 

[Monkus]

Spud..
Its become invaluable. Our church is typical Presbyterian, Stuck in the 60's. The hymns are sung at hair growing pace. As the leader of the band I've decided to preserve the traditional and introduce contemporary worship music. So we do the normal hymns, in light jazz, celtic and acoustic modern. In order to 'advertise', I've recorded practices on the R16 and put it up on our fb page as 'marketing'. I bought the R16 after much research as I didn't want to lug my 21.5" iMac and a bunch of gear twice a week. Its easy to set up, lightweight and runs on batteries as well. If the recordings are good enough, I hook it up to the iMac via usb, and move the wav files into Logic for further processing.

here's a quick and dirty recording using just the external mics, no processing:


Note: the real name of the song is "His Glory Appears" sung by Brooke Fraser. :thwap

 

[syo]

It was a lean year for gear but most notably added a nice Gretsch (6120 Setzer Hot Rod). Otherwise mostly recording software (Reason upgrade) and plug-ins (Amplitube upgrade, Amplitube Fender, A few more EZ Drummer kits, EZ Mix and a bunch of other software I bought on impulse and can't remember right now). Also some fun music "toys" like the Korg mini KP, Wave Drum mini, Zoom Rhythmtrack RT-223 Drum Machine. Oh and lots of luthier supplies thanks mostly to StewMac!

And just remembered the Akai LPK25. Really handy, compact controller/keyboard. I really like this little thing!