What is your favorite (and surprisingly awesome) cheap or underrated gear?
First off I'll begin by saying that my everyday bass for the last 6-7 years has been a Rickenbacker 4003, and finding any kind of decent backup has been a losing and exhausting endeavor, I've gone through probably 5 basses trying to find something acceptable and finally... I got one.
The girlfriend gave me an Epiphone Les Paul Special Bass for Valentines day (yeah im late on reporting the procurement of it) and after playing it for a while I have to say.... I fucking love it, it plays a charm and sounds pretty damn good for something that cost $300. I have heard lots of complaints about the quality of Gibson and Epiphone products of late but this bass must break the mold or be a diamond in the rough cuz I'm really happy with it in all respects.
Those cheap Fender effects pedals aren't bad.
(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a47/bren1973/My%20rig/92711003.jpg)
$400 for both! Bogen PA 50 Watts A/B, 4x10 Celestion cab.
Peavey T-40 ;D
baltar,
tell me about your bogen....i just bought a 35 watter and haven't done anything with it yet....is yours modded?
Yeah it's modded. The guy who sold it to me did it. I can ask him if it's ok for you to email him, he builds amps all the time I guess. It was already close to a Bassman circuit, but he changed it around for an earlier break up. I'm no good for modding amps, I can do some pedals, but not amps.
I picked up an Epiphone G400 Custom for $150 and two pedals I wasn't using, and I'm having more fun with it than a grown man should. I'll end up replacing the pickups, but it's just... fun. (Plus I'll end up putting on a Bigsby, swapping the speed knobs for top-hat knobs, and getting a full face pickguard for it so that I can properly emulate Glen Buxton.)
love my Boss SD-1. $25 all day long
those <$200 ibanez RG guitars. amazing players, tho they sound like crap, but effects and stuff works fine.
i'll put the action of one of my RG's up against any PRS or graphite Fly. srsly. retarded close with no buzzes, except i wore out the frets so it is still sitting. frets are super in tune. gibson WISHES. truly amazing for a POS.
now i shopped the GC's in my area hard for months before finding it. i played every one i found, so no, no other one was ever like this black one. none were dogs with major issues, but they weren't perfection. i did also get a silver one that was runner up, but the black one will be the bar for nice action on any guitar i ever touch. that's why that is my favorite cheap gear.
I love my Peavey Windsor, when it's working :o
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xLqK-_w7CsI/Tmn4uhIt2PI/AAAAAAAAALk/HJyDdCaofuU/s576/IMAG0359.jpg)
I've been trying to get Hondo to endorse me but they don't return phone calls and their fax number doesn't work or something... weird.
(http://www.johnson-amp.com/image2/artists/yngjstation.jpg)
The Johnson J-Station. One of the old digital modelers. They made a really crappy sounding amp that a roommate of mine had but I got this cheap. They added a bunch of new amp models about a year after it came out and then they seemed to disappear. I was fucking around a few years back and plugged it into a Mesa 20/20 rack power amp and it was some of the best high gain metal tone I've ever heard which didn't make sense coming out of a digital modeler into an EL84 loaded power amp but there it was. The bass models are also quite nice and there are some fucked up sounding settings that do great fuzz tones. It's pretty great for practicing at home...I can use the headphones (which I normally don't like) or I can run it into my Sunn concert slave for fairly low or high volume jamming.
Quote from: clockwork green on October 08, 2011, 07:53:09 PM
The Johnson J-Station.
Agreed. I keep my J-Station hooked up to my computer for quickie recording, and while it's not the
best-sounding modeller by today's standards, it still sounds great and is easy to use.
Old Harmony guitars. They get a bad rep for being unplayable junk, but a lot of them just need to be properly set up. I just picked up this one for a mere $50. Humbucker and 2 singles, 5-way toggle and floating bridge. Sounds and plays nicely. I probably couldn't have touched a Squier set up like this for less than $200.
(http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j48/ranbat1/file-7.jpg)
Quote from: clockwork green on October 08, 2011, 07:53:09 PM
(http://www.johnson-amp.com/image2/artists/yngjstation.jpg)
The Johnson J-Station. One of the old digital modelers. They made a really crappy sounding amp that a roommate of mine had but I got this cheap. They added a bunch of new amp models about a year after it came out and then they seemed to disappear. I was fucking around a few years back and plugged it into a Mesa 20/20 rack power amp and it was some of the best high gain metal tone I've ever heard which didn't make sense coming out of a digital modeler into an EL84 loaded power amp but there it was. The bass models are also quite nice and there are some fucked up sounding settings that do great fuzz tones. It's pretty great for practicing at home...I can use the headphones (which I normally don't like) or I can run it into my Sunn concert slave for fairly low or high volume jamming.
I have a friend who swears by these. As a matter of fact, we've recorded MANY demos with them. He owns two, runs them stereo for guitar AND bass.
I payed $300 for my 1984 Tokai Silver Star (and that was including shipping by air mail from Japan, took only two days to get it!).
I've got an old ltd/esp flying v - 100. That thing kills. When I first had it, it slayed almost any guitar I could find under 800 or so. Also it kinda opened my mind to using pointy shredder guitars for fuzzy/doomy stuff. I had always used it for my thrash band and when I started playing doom seriously I bought an epiphone sg. However I soon realized that they both had a pretty similar feel and sound. The sg cuts more and the v has a more full bottom end and heavier tone overall. Also v-100 doesn't really play as well as the sg because I've played the v since I was 14 and the frets are pretty done for. I have pretty heavy hands, especially during guitar solos. But yeah I second the guy talking about his epi sg, they're great.
My Maison Les Paul Custom. Bout 120 dollars. centre of the pic below
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/307500_10150314159021741_617881740_8433354_1926170599_n.jpg)
The black Gibson SG was free with a badly smashed neck and was only charged about 70 dollars to get it fixed. I had to force the luthier to take teh money as he reckoned because the guitar was free he should do the work for free and I'd end up with a really nice SG all free but I couldn't accept that level of kinda workmanship for free.
Nice, dig that Ibanez, too; is the tailpiece stable (for being a trem, I mean) ?
Yeah it was great, when I had the arm on and was using it it stayed in tune really well. I've since traded it away though as I couldn't justify two SGs, especially since I'm a bass player by trade. The neck was also a bit too chunky and because it was a bolt-on the fretboard was a good inch in front of the body which just isn't how an SG should be.
Another vote for that Johnson J station, I got mine for 30 bucks when they were on clearance, I've used it for demo recordings and even as a last minute substitute for a broken fuzz pedal.
What does sound awesome is when I run my Realistic MG-1 (Moog synthesizer made for and sold through Radio Shack years ago) through it on the "Brit Stack" setting with the "Rotary" effect and you have the intro to "Tarot Woman" by Rainbow.
That MG-1 is another favorite piece of cheap gear, though they have become collector's items and not so cheap anymore.
the ibanez sg copy is sweet..
DOD 250 overdrive into a tube amp.
Quote from: Lumpy on October 20, 2011, 11:34:04 PM
DOD 250 overdrive into a tube amp.
works well for chris spencer!
The DOD 250 has been my main dirt pedal on bass for about 10 years. I bought mine used for $20.
I think I'm going to do a DIY build for the 250 from GGG or BYOC. So many plans, so little money.
Is it worth a kit? It's a simple enough build for a perfboard.
http://www.joehartband.com/DOD250.htm (http://www.joehartband.com/DOD250.htm)
Maybe I have been spending too much time near the pedal snobs, but the Rotovibe for me is still the standard for Leslie tones.
You can buy a used DOD 250 for cheaper than you can build one, so unless you really want the experience of building it, people are selling them used all the time.
(http://alvc.ru/uploads/posts/2011-02/1298030938_-ibanez-de7-1.jpg)
yeah, that ibanez delay pedal is awesome. i love it.
one thing i will say though: the dry output isn't on unless the pedal is engaged, so can't use it to split your signal to 2 amps.
I've had 2 buddies that have used that delay and swear by it as a good back-up!!!!
I used it as a backup for a while, but it does all I need and takes fuzz like a champ. My main delay these days.
Quote from: martha_KH on November 02, 2011, 01:18:25 PM
I used it as a backup for a while, but it does all I need and takes fuzz like a champ. My main delay these days.
plus it self ocilates and makes spaceship noises.
DE-7 doesn't have trails though. You turn it off, and your trails are chopped off.
Quote from: Lumpy on November 02, 2011, 05:12:46 PM
DE-7 doesn't have trails though. You turn it off, and your trails are chopped off.
that's true. i've never owned a delay that has done that though.
Marshall 1960 cabs (also JCM800 and 900 cabs). :-X
somebody should make a dod 250 and a boss ds 1 doom demo
Late-70s Japanese Yamaha BBs. I have a '78 BB-800 and a '79 BB-1000 and they're both awesome. They're what Fenders would sound like if they had balls.
Electro-Voice 635A
Quote from: inductorguitars on November 23, 2011, 02:36:40 AM
Electro-Voice 635A
yes. god, i have got some of the best recorded tones this side of a royer with one of those.
also works great as a mono drum overhead, since it's omni.
actually, i can't think of a thing that i DIDN'T like it on, it was OK on bass, but then again, the rig was just OK as well . . .
Quote from: justinhedrick on November 23, 2011, 09:12:42 AM
yes. god, i have got some of the best recorded tones this side of a royer with one of those.
also works great as a mono drum overhead, since it's omni.
actually, i can't think of a thing that i DIDN'T like it on, it was OK on bass, but then again, the rig was just OK as well . . .
Yea it's a meh mic for bass. imo. I got 2 for $30 on ebay long time ago. Saw people paying $40 for one no way was I going to pay them.
My favorite underrated amp - the Fender Super Six Reverb. 135 reverb-drenched tube watts through six 10's. Makes me wanna pick up a tele, dime everything but the bass (I think somewhere around 1 or 2 would be plenty) and kill every tree and insect within 50 feet of that summbitch.
Quote from: Discö Rice on November 30, 2011, 06:49:14 PM
My favorite underrated amp - the Fender Super Six Reverb. 135 reverb-drenched tube watts through six 10's. Makes me wanna pick up a tele, dime everything but the bass (I think somewhere around 1 or 2 would be plenty) and kill every tree and insect within 50 feet of that summbitch.
wre those ultralinear? didnt realize.
pretty much al fender silverfaces could be in this thread right?
they are all cheap and under-rated IMHO.
Quote from: Chovie D on November 30, 2011, 07:09:05 PM
wre those ultralinear? didnt realize.
pretty much al fender silverfaces could be in this thread right?
they are all cheap and under-rated IMHO.
From wikipedia -
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The Super Six Reverb is essentially a master volume Twin Reverb equipped with six Oxford 10L6 (or CTS 10" AlNiCo) speakers featuring 10"/5.2 ohms (8 ohms each in series-parallel) and 100 watts RMS (changed to 135W in 1977). Introduced in 1972, this silverface combo amplifier was discontinued in 1979.
__________
I'm okay with them being underrated - keeps the prices manageable. I will own a super six one day.
I bet you could find one fairly cheap as probably not many wanna haul those beasts around.
My friend Jeff who played with Killdozer and POwerwagon used one or years. If Im not mistaken they ahd trem too.
I think all the 135s are ultralinear..god those fuckers are loud.
The regular super itself is a cool amp too. 4x10's. My friend has one and it sounds great too.
I wouldnt wanna haul it around either tho.
I would like a silverface deluxe reverb, thats more my size.
But they are known cool amp and priced accordingly at $1000.
one of the better fender sleeper amps is the silverface Musicmaster bass amp. killer low wattage guitar amp.
definetly underated, as in not rated at all, you can score one for under $300 usually.
Quote from: Discö Rice on November 30, 2011, 06:49:14 PM
My favorite underrated amp - the Fender Super Six Reverb. 135 reverb-drenched tube watts through six 10's. Makes me wanna pick up a tele, dime everything but the bass (I think somewhere around 1 or 2 would be plenty) and kill every tree and insect within 50 feet of that summbitch.
Minutemen covers !
D used a super six?
btw Id be careful cranking the treble on those, unless you enjoy icepicks to your eardomes :o
Quote from: Chovie D on November 30, 2011, 08:17:16 PM
D used a super six?
btw Id be careful cranking the treble on those, unless you enjoy icepicks to your eardomes :o
His tone was pretty stabby (on purpose I bet).
I'm unsure if his fave was exactly a Super Six; I just saw Telecaster, Fender amp and treble cranked to ear spear levels and immediately thought of D Boon...
I can't do treble anymore...ear spears done speared my ears
Wha? Could you repeat that please?
New fav cheap thing is my Dano Chicken Salad