Best / Worst music gear purchases

Dominic Macrone · From: Florida, USA

So after rehearsal last night I was talking to some of the band mates about equiptment upgrades we are all planning on doing. I was looking at my mic (a Shure SM58) and thought..."that has to be one of the best purchases I ever made"...I think there was a rebate and I paid about $89 for it...it sounds great, works great, and is bullet proof. How many other musical purchases can I say that about? Well, I bought a Fender Steel King when they first came out (6 years ago?)...there was a sale at one of the on line retailers so I think that was $599, free shipping, no tax, and they threw in a tuner (which I still use) and a strap. I don't think the FSK is the greatest amp of all time but it has served me well. The one issue it had was fixed under warranty. I bought my Gibson Chet Atkins SST 10+ years ago for $900 or so...and that has been my daily guitar since. I did have the electronics upgraded (the factory stuff is not great) and the guitar has lots of nicks and wear, but it has served me better than several $1500+ guiatrs I have bought (and sold) since. I had a Sans Amp bass driver DDI that was awesome and I only sold it because I don't have a current need for it. Got almost everything I paid for it back and enjoyed using it, so I consider that a good purchase.

On the other hand, I bought a Rivera Sedona Light without testing it enough. It is a bit of a lemon and I have put money into repairs and upgrades. It still doesn't sound great and I would be lucky to get half of my money back on that IF I had a buyer.

I am curious to hear other's experience with purchases that paid off many times over and purchases that took your money and never delivered!

Doug Earnest · From: Branson, MO USA

My JacPac pack-a-seat is 25 years old now and still in great shape, except the cloth on the seat is starting to get a little thin and it could use new foam. Pretty darn good service.

The best thing I ever bought is a Peterson VSII tuner.

Mark van Allen · From: Watkinsville, Ga. USA

Cool thread, Dominic.
Best deal I ever got was trading an 8 track player (I mean 8 track cartridges!) even up for an orange label dotneck Gibson 335. I sold it a few years later to a jazzer friend for $300, but still...

In 1976 or so I bought a used ShoBud Maverick for a couple hundred dollars- I've heard lots of disparaging remarks about 'em, but I learned to play on that one (or started to!) and made quite a few thousand bucks along the way. The guy I bought it from has also remained a dear friend all these years.

I've had quite a few other great deals along the way, so I'd just as soon not dwell on the lemons!

Johan Jansen · From: Europe

some Behringer stuff, keep your hands away from that!!

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

Worst purchase: Behringer Ultracoustic ACX1000 acoustic instrument amp. Two in a row from American Musical Supply. Both had multiple problems. Returned them both for full refunds.

Best purchases: ACE Pack-A-Seat, in about 1978 or so. Still using it. Evans FET-500LV amp, in 1985. Still using it. Goodrich Model 120 volume pedal, in late 1980's. Still using it.

Dominic Macrone · From: Florida, USA

And if you are like me, you probably thought long and hard before spending $100 (or whatever) back in the '80s on an item that still works well decades later.

It kind of makes you want to go out and start rewarding yourself with a lot of gear purchases now based on all the value they will return Smile

Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

Best purchases:

Used Webb 6-14-E for $400
Fender Steel King $550 out the door
Steelers Choice Easy Rider Seat with back and side compartment
Fender Deluxe Reverb
Jim Vest's old Sho-Bud Pro II Custom

Worst purchase:

By far the Evans FET 500 LV with the reverb that never worked ($700 sunk into this puppy new)

Greg

Alan Brookes · From: Brummy living in Southern California

Best purchase: a TASCAM 2488 Reel-to-Reel Portastudio. Big and heavy and 100% reliable ...in fact later I bought a second one.

Worst purchase: a Carter Starter.

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

Best; 1957 custom color. The pickguard is a '61,,, but still! $2,500

The worst? I have no explanation, nor a good excuse!

This is a mystery, even to me! (But it was a gift)

Wayne Franco · From: silverdale, WA. USA

Of course I love my Zum steels but I think my most coveted piece of equipment beside my steels is my TC Furlong Split 12 amp. Honestly I can't get enough of it.

Eric West · From: Portland, Oregon, USA, R.I.P.

Best: Hilton Pedal

Worst: Hot Rod Deluxe.

Smile

EJL

Bill Bassett · From: Papamoa New Zealand

Best: MSA Classic S-12 1975 Factory direct $1500.00. And the 1967 Telecaster neck I picked up in 1971 for $50.00 (NOS) I'll be playing on each of these this tonight.

Worst: Peavey T-60 guitar that I got in trade for a damaged ES 335 in 1983. It's long gone.

Per Berner · From: Skovde, Sweden

Best: My Gibson J200 acoustic 100th anniversary model. Way too expensive back then (more than a top notch D-10 pedal steel), but I've never regretted buying it. After 16 years it still feels very special every time I pick it up.

Worst: A natural ash bodied/maple neck Fender Telecaster from 1979 – Fender at its very worst. 1/8 thick plastic on the body, which crazed. Weighed a ton. Almost as thick on the neck, which made it just about fretless. Slipping tuners, rusting pickup cover... a year after I sold it, the trussrod broke...

Dominic Macrone · From: Florida, USA

Still waiting for someone to come up with these worsts....

SUNN mosfet guitar amps (bought one when I was under the influence...once I came to my senses I realized how bad it sounded)

Fender bass stack (it was really cheap, looked impressive with head and two cabinets, sounded lame)

....and not to digress, but how can a company that makes such wonderful guitar amps have so much trouble making bass amps?

Drew Howard · From: 48854

Best: Fessenden SD-10

Worst: Peavey Nashville 1000

Paddy Long · From: Christchurch, New Zealand

The best piece of kit I have ever bought (besides my Zums) would be my Revelation Preamp --- nothing else I have ever had has made such a big impact on my overall sound -- just need a couple of TC's boxes to compliment it now Very Happy

Worst thing I ever bought was a brand new Sierra Uni 12 string - early on in my career .... it was so bad it was almost unplayable ...had it for about 3 months and couldn't shift it off fast enough.
_________________
14'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
08'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
94' Franklin Stereo D10 9+8
Telonics, Peterson, Steelers Choice, Benado, Lexicon, Red Dirt Cases.

Brett Lanier · From: Madison, TN

best:
Traded my '95 Les Paul (which could not be intonated) for my first steel guitar; a fender 1000. Couldn't be happier about that one.
and..
getting KL's 6,7,8 installed on my D-10

worst:
Herb Ellis Gibson 175 (junk!)

John De Maille · From: On a Mountain in Upstate Halcottsville, N.Y.

My Best-
ZumSteel U-12, RusLer S-11, 66' Tele/B string Bender

I've been happy with most of my amp choices.

The Worst-
1974 Fender Strat
The neck was so out of shape it never played right, no matter what I did to it, except get rid of it.

Asa Brosius · Posted 16 Jan 2010 3:07 pm

My 'best' is definitely the 'worst' piece of gear I own. In my first week of college, 12 years ago, I traded 3 books for a Profile brand dreadnought-style acoustic. The neck is still straight despite tremendous abuse and neglect, flights to Europe and Latin America, ( it's the ultimate campfire guitar), it's still a great sounding, easy playing instrument, and I've never worried for its safety.

Ben Jones · From: Seattle, Washington, USA

Per Berner · From: Skovde, Sweden

Actually, I have another worst: A 1973 Hagström II N, my first electric. (red stained mahogany, looks a bit like a Gibson SG). The tuners were useless, the humbuckers had no treble in them whatsoever, the Tremar vibrato system ate strings for breakfast, lunch and dinner and made intonation impossible – plus it never returned to pitch. The neck was so flexible that the guitar went out of tune the second you touched it. Or looked at it with heavy eyes...

Larry Bell · From: Englewood, Florida

Best: push-pull U-12 (I'll take it to the grave), and my two Standel Custom 15 amps. I have about $2500 total in all 3, they have paid for themselves many times over the past 15 yrs or so, and I wouldn't part with them for double the investment.

Worst: push-pull D-10 that looked great on the surface but turned into a 'money pit'. I had Mike Cass restore it completely and had more money in it than I could ever recoup, then decided that I had no use for a D-10. I lost almost $1000 on it.

The winners:

_________________
Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
My CD's: 'I've Got Friends in COLD Places' - 'Pedal Steel Guitar'
2021 Rittenberry S/D-12 8x7, 1976 Emmons S/D-12 7x6, 1969 Emmons S/D-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Quilter ToneBlock 202 TT-12

steve takacs · From: beijing, china via pittsburgh (deceased)

BEST: DeVoe Archtop Electric Looks super & plays and sounds the same. Got it for a fourth of what they cost later from Tom DeVoe, the luthier out of Florida when he was first building them.

WORST: Market-Rite steel guitar kit. Should have been labelled "Market-Wrong". Did not stay in tune once a pedal was engaged, but it was cheap & I got what I paid for. At least I had a perfect excuse for my lowsy playing when I was just starting out.
Here is a post about this steel:
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=132115&highlight=marketrite
I swiped this photo from Mark Lee Allen's post:

Rick Winfield · From: Pickin' beneath the Palmettos

Best axe was a 72 Les Paul Deluxe (pancake)with mini humbuckers. great blues, and southern rock tone, thru my Marshall 1/2 stack.(EL34's)
Worst was a 70's(?) Maverick. Learned a lot from it, but never stayed in tune, and broke a lot of strings.

Right now my favorite is a 73 MSA D12

Rick

Eric Philippsen · From: Central Florida USA

Best purchase was a 95' ES175 which I've used on so many jazz and pop jobs. I've owned a lot of 175's and still have quite a few dating back to 53' but this one is the best.

Worst purchase? Tough question 'cause there have been a lot of those. Had a Les Paul Artist and a couple of 70's strats that were poorly made. Oh, now I got it. Not too long ago I bought a Peterson "Body Beat" metronome that had an attachment that you clipped onto your shirt. The metronome sends a pulse to that so that you can "feel" the beat. Sounded like a novel idea. In reality - just about worthless. I shake my head every time I look at it on the bookshelf. uhhhh....it's for sale.

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