we survived, so now what? GEAR GOALS 2021

[dubkitty]

like it says on the tin. what do you want?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzdmXOUZpGw[/youtube]

[Paul_C]

While I still like making the music I've been doing for the last three years, I also feel like trying a few other things as well.

When it comes to pedals I don't think I want anything other than another Count To 5 (I've bought two new ones and one s/h and currently have none).

I might spend a month or two playing bass through my set up just for some variety, maybe make a dub album.

I'd quite like to see if I can make something both stripped back and listenable too.

So unless I can find a way to justify it to myself and come into a sizeable amount of money, I think 2021 is going to be a quiet one for me when it comes to buying gear.

[coldbrightsunlight]

moar modyools

a short scale bass

Maybe a big tube amp and maybe a small but really I don't need either

Probably I'll get a mixer and/or something else to streamline my "studio" setup a little. Once I figure out what would help.

[dubkitty]

at the moment i'm in a similar quandary as to what i want to do musically, but more about that later.

this year's main goal is to get my MacBook Pro fixed and have Logic Pro installed...i don't think the computer will handle Pro Tools. i have a Focusrite Scarlett interface that's been sitting in an unopened box for a year and a half, so i guess i'll be sorted for the basics then. the computer and software will be doable in December when the annual bonus check arrives. inevitably, after that will come plug-ins galore, and it'll require a couple of better mics than the old budget Shure my second wife gave me for Christmas back in the early 90s. apparently i'll also have to find some sound deadening material panels to cover the windows and door in the living room since neighbors have been griping about my guitar playing this week. i'm going to follow the advise of noted punkabilly asshole and Gretsch Pages denizen Billy Zoom, who recommends getting a good set of stereo speakers and an amp rather than buying powered monitors...he may be a dick, but he knows stuff.

naturally i have a whole bloody list of guitars and guitar projects waiting in the wings. my priority here is to finish the stuff i already have on deck, which is quite doable. the highest priority is the Squier CV Mustang bass. i would really like to get a second Guild Aristocrat and install the Guild LB-1 pickups like the Thunderbird and a Guildsby so i can get close to the sound of the Guild Duane Eddy thinline Stephen Stills played in the early Buffalo Springfield. probably the most useful thing other than the CVMB would be an electric 12-string. i'm not sure i really need more guitars, but when has that ever stopped anyone? anyway, there's a list.

for amps, i first need to get my three sick/dead amps fixed: an Epiphone Electar Tube 10 with one 6V6 and one 12AX7 and a ceramic 8" Jensen speaker, a Kalamazoo Bass 30 which needs some serious Geritol, and the Laney VC30 which occasionally emits blasts on noise out of nowhere even after i changed every tube in the fucker. beyond that, i'm interested in the 20-watt Marshall Origin and a Fender Princeton Reverb reissue; i got to try the 50W Origin last weekend and liked it a lot. i want to get a couple more 1x12 cabinets for different speakers...i have Celestions up the kazoo and a delightful Weber JBL D120 clone, but want a Fane clone and a 12" alnico Jensen.

effectswise i'm relatively set, but have a few interests. i want the original Jerry Cantrell wah, which is the only wah i've ever really liked. thinking about an acoustic simulator, of which the Hotone is the most convincing i've heard by a wide margin. a reverse delay that can produce convincing backwards guitar parts with the mix full wet would be useful; weirdly, the EH seems most useable. and i really should finally find a Shin-Ei Companion copy. i can think of other stuff that i could use, but nothing that's really essential to what i want to do.

but my big gear goal of the last 30 years will be accomplished soon. i have a 1968 ES-335 which i bought for $200 in 1975. it was the guitar i learned to play electric on, but it toppled from a guitar stand and splintered the neck at the nut in 1991. i've been dragging it around for 30 years thinking i couldn't afford to get it fixed, until a well-reputed luthier i know from another forum volunteered to fix it for a very reasonable rate. when Big Red comes home, it's not far-fetched that i might play many of my current instruments seldom enough that they could be adopted out to new forever homes. seriously, it's that good.

summary: home recording, short-scale bass, other stuff as affordable/available, prioritized to the needs of recording projects i.e. if i buy a guitar, i need for it to be more essential than recreational.

[dubkitty]

which raises the whole "what do i want to do?" question. i have some material from the 80s/90s that i think is pretty good in my 20th-century style, major influences being Neil Young, Garcia, and Jorma Kaukonen's writing in Hot Tuna, but i really don't feel that's who/where i am now or how i want to represent myself. what i want to do is psychedelic post-punk/shoegaze if that's not redundant at least in part, but writing in that vein is difficult while i could crank out a fake Dead tune a month. i think i'm going to try to move ahead with new work and perhaps put the old stuff out as a EP/short CD of juvenalia after i get some new stuff accomplished.

i really wish it hadn't always been so easy for me to synopsize and bite other players; i never entirely developed a style of my own, and once you know those patterns it's almost impossible to avoid them. "OK, now play NOT like Jerry Garcia." and learning to play like Andy Gill or Craig Scanlon is not the solution. the best i can do currently is to pare it all the way back to age 13 with Stills and Young and then become more annoying from there.

[MrNovember]

I'm also thinking that I will (hopefully) have a slow gear year. I am pretty much happy as far as synths, guitars, and pedals go.

It might finally be time to upgrade my amps. I am happy with my Excelsior and would probably keep if for a stereo setup, but I've wanted to pick up one of the Fender Bassbreakers since they came out. I'd also be interested in a Fender Vapourizer. Not sure what bass amp I'd want, but I would like to upgrade to something with more character than the Traynor DB200 combo I have.

I am on the waitlist for a few things (Revelation Marrakesh, Demedash T-120, Hordijk Blippoo Box) so I might grab those if my place comes up on the list. Maybe I'll finally invest in a 3D printer too

[Gone Fission]

My big goal is upping my amp game for my needs/use. Watching for the updated version of the Fryette GP/DI to come out—seems like the perfect thing for real amp sounds, whether into a speaker or not, and gives a bit more flexibility than a straight preamp does. Going to liquidate all or most of my little solid state amps that are great for home use but not for my rack workflow.

I’ve put together a small rack with an Eventide Orville, a Lexicon PCM-80, and a mixer. Gonna do permanent wiring of that and try work it to the hilt next year to do better immersion in these units without bringing others into the mix. Other stuff I have is great, but I want that focus and to see whether, after extracting all I can from the two, whether I really need or want more . Along with this plan, getting serious about my MIDI control.

I want to try to hack together a lap steel for a homeless pickup, maybe two. Might stave off guitar G.A.S., which is starting to kick in a bit.

[goroth]

Hmm.

Get a new Macbook Pro. My current one is a decade old and going strong but I'm starting to wonder for how much longer.
Get a case for my amp head.
I think I've zenned as much gear as I can, but maybe see if I can get rid of a few more things.
Keep recording demos and pre-production stuff and try and get good with what I've got
Fix my Nelson so it doesn't play like trash
Avoid buying an 8 string.

[coldbrightsunlight]

i really wish it hadn't always been so easy for me to synopsize and bite other players; i never entirely developed a style of my own, and once you know those patterns it's almost impossible to avoid them. "OK, now play NOT like Jerry Garcia." and learning to play like Andy Gill or Craig Scanlon is not the solution. the best i can do currently is to pare it all the way back to age 13 with Stills and Young and then become more annoying from there.

IDK I think actually biting the styles of a LOT of other players and fusing it into something else IS developing your own style. Andy Gill played like Andy Gill and Jerry Garcia played like Jerry Garcia. Neither played like Andy Garcia or Jerry Gill.

Avoid buying an 8 string.

I cannot support this.

I'm adding "maybe buy a stupid extended range djentstrument" to my list. I don't remotely need it so it's a very silly idea.

[fcknoise]

I think this year has been a good year for gear, I have really only gotten stuff that is amazing, Analog Four and Traynor YSC-1 with a cab mainly, and for pedals it has been Pest Tattern and supercollider. I have recorded a lot more music this year than I normally do and I want to keep that up.

If I get a job where I actually have a decent income, I can see myself getting a shortscale bass and/or a baritone guitar. Perhaps also a proper bass amp to go with it. If I don't get a job with a decent income I am happy where I am

[qersty]

I want a strat, maybe a jazzmaster. havent decided. think its leaning towards the strat tbh. i also want a guinness tshirt to go with it if i dont feel like wearing a denim jacket (as is customary for startocasterists)

i wanna learn how to use looping too. I like loops but i dont like playing loopers

[Chankgeez]

Wait, we survived?

[JonnyAngle]

2020 was pretty enlightening for me. I used to obsess over what piece of gear i need to get THAT sound. Now i play what I have and just roll with what comes out

now i'm pretty content with having fewer things. I do kindof miss some of the zvex stuff I had, and might get a Fat Fuzz Factory next year to round out the collection. Spring Reverbs and distortions are really all I need to keep happy these days

I love all of my guitars and my dusky d20, so there isn't much that I can't live without!

[01010111]

I think this year I’m going to ban myself from buying more “big” pieces of gear until I’ve accomplished something musically. I’ve got lots of good equipment, and lately I’ve been lusting after stuff that “has a good interface”. Which seems like a bullshit thing to lust over gear for. So, I think I’ll pick some minor things like 1/4” tape and a microphone stand, and start recording stuff.

Depending on how that process goes, I’ll probably have a lot of gear lust. If Korg actually releases a mini ARP 2600 around the time I typically get a yearly bonus I might break pedge, tho.

[spacelordmother]

2020 was pretty enlightening for me. I used to obsess over what piece of gear i need to get THAT sound. Now i play what I have and just roll with what comes out

now i'm pretty content with having fewer things. I do kindof miss some of the zvex stuff I had, and might get a Fat Fuzz Factory next year to round out the collection. Spring Reverbs and distortions are really all I need to keep happy these days

I love all of my guitars and my dusky d20, so there isn't much that I can't live without!

You've also got a fat foam factory full of rad Peavey amps.