Let's see your guitar and bass gear!

In reply to Antihero :
 

Antihero said:

Anyone like weird Ibanez? This is an ADD120, nade for only one year and I never play it. I should really flip it so I can get other stuff I barely play since I've had it for years. It's not perfect but if someone here is interested it's a hell of a rare guitar.

 

 

Give my nephew a call. Welch Music, Twin Falls Idaho.   two-oh-eight  seven three four ninety ten. Ask for Brayden Norwood.

He's a collector of guitars.

In other news, I've been having terrible thoughts about picking up an Ibanez Mikro short scale.

1) I think they're cool. 2) It would make a good test mule for my son. He is working on some designs for custom bass hardware (bridges, tuners, pickups, etc.)

So, great success. I got rid of a guitar, my worst one, the mutinous Gretsch, and got a small amount of space back in the apartment. 
 

But, never one for simple transactions, I actually traded it. Not for another guitar, that would be stupid. My wife would kill me. 
 

No, I traded it for...

another drum kit. 
 

and not a little one. 
1970s Pear fiberglass kit with a mystery snare. All made in Japan. Missing the bass drum reso head/hoop/hardware. Eh. 
 

But it's the mystery snare that got my attention. Shiny and chrome. 
 

Pearl, made in Japan. Ten lugs. Internal muffling. 5x14. All good things. I get it home and magnets don't stick. !!!?!??!  I've been window shopping for brass snares. Could it be? Even aluminum would be awesome. But then. 
 

That sweet, sweet yellow sheen. Feeing like Charlie Buckets out here, finding a golden ticket. Oh man. I am the excite. 

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

Woohoo! Concert toms!

In reply to Antihero :

Oh yeah. Even numbers from 6". And the 16" floor Tom has a bottom head, but it also has a muffler, which I've never seen on a Tom before. It's a cool old kit. 

That's an interesting old Pearl kit you got there! A lot of older (as in, 70's and prior) drums had internal mufflers on all the drums. We used to have a massive 70's Ludwig Rocker kit at my old high school that had them on the 13" and 14" rack toms AND the massive 18" floor tom. And I used to regularly play a 50's Gretsch club kit that had them on both the rack and floor toms. I kinda miss that from modern drums. 

And that snare! Score! Any badging/numbers on it to ID the year? 

In reply to Tony Sestito :

The only badge is this:

I think it's a B4514. Supposedly the same thing used by Stewart Copeland back in the day. I have an Evans G1 but the snare side is quite broken and it needs new wires since the old one was missing several strands. As for dating, I don't know. Pearl is pretty bad at cataloging and serial numbers. I stripped it down and cleaned it. Saw more brass peeking through in places. The shell is in great shape, slight pitting on the hoops and lugs. The seam in the shell is visible from the inside. 
 

And the throwoff is pretty. 

Im stoked to finish rebuilding it. Hopefully I can pick up the wires and a head this week. 

A sneak peak. For eventually when I get out of the apartment. 
 

Eventually, I'll match the floor tom to the head setup I have (when they're not these low volume jobs) and probably the same on the little concert toms. I don't know if I want to bother with the 10 or 12, or even the 22. The kick didn't come with a reso hoop or any hardware. And my little 20" kick just punches through. Idk. I'd hate to break up this kit, but I really want to supplement my current one. If space wasn't so tight... for now, the shells will get stripped and cleaned and stacked in the garage. They're fiberglass so they should be fine as long as they're out of the sun. The snare is going to be the priority. I want to play it. And it came with a super heavy and nice stand. I can rock two snares. That would be rad. 

A bunch of internet sleuthing and I'm confident the snare is a B4514. Gonna snag the needed stuff this week and see how it tunes up. So stoked on it. Every time I hear a snare on a record and it sticks out enough for me to look up what was used, and I mean every time, it's always brass. Wackerman, Dailor, Grohl... my wife is probably really annoyed at how excited I am. 
 

In other news, I finally restrung my les Paul, and it's so good. Definitely a good purchase. The case smells though. Not foul, but nothing I'd call pleasant. Also I need to replace the dimarzio plastic clip strap locks. I've never liked the plastic clip-in jobs. I may have something kicking in my hardware stash. 
 

down to only three electric guitars. So that's not too bad. But then there's two drum sets, two tube amps, two bass amps, two mixing boards, half dozen mics and cables and all... so much fun. I wish I had space to set everything up and get some jam sessions going. 

Woohoo! After a year or so these are back in stock, amazing that such a cheap instrument is do highly sought after but after playing it I know why.

30 inch Baritone but it'll live it's life as a Bass VI for me and it took 3 days to get to me from Germany

Not a "show you" yet, just a question.

I've been toying with getting a bass in addition to the guitars so I can say I can't play bass or guitar and a PRS SE Kingfisher has popped up locally. It's actually been for sale for quite a while, and I'm wondering if that's a bass I should go check out as I'm a massive PRS fanboy.

In reply to BoxheadTim :

I can't knock PRS other than "nice new balance shoes, dad"

You should always go check them out. If it feels good, get it. Especially with todays tone shaping tools. So many options. But if it feels good, you're more likely to pick it up and actually play. 

Speaking of PRS, I realized the other day that my work has an office that's in the same small town as the PRS HQ. Might have to stop by if I pay that site a visit. Wonder if they do factory tours and pass out "samples"? 

In reply to Tony Sestito :

Dunno about the free samples, but I'm pretty sure they used to do factory tours. Someone on a PRS group on FB mentioned recently that the factory tours are still marked as suspended on their website, though.

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

Well, I'm certainly the right age for New Balance shoes .

Funnily enough I do own a couple of PRS, but my favourite guitar is a Sterling/Music Man JP157.

In reply to BoxheadTim :

Those JPs play fast. I spent a long minute with one in a guitar center a few years back. I generally prefer a bit more girth and mass, and a bit less refinement. Basically I'm a cave man. 

Drumming is fun. Especially when progress is visible. Today I hit a bit of a milestone. Double bass 16ths at 160bpm. Only for short 5-10s bursts, but considering a month ago I was struggling to do the same at 140... and now I can hold that 140 for 35-40s clean. Also getting better at polyrhythms. Still struggling to play 1/8ths over 1/8 triplets at any sort of speed, but soon. If anyone reading along has wanted to try but struggled with rhythm, just do it. It's fun. Get a good teacher, be methodical and consistent. 

Just a quick bass amp poll here;  My 13 year-old spent his own money for his first bass guitar and has less than $100 for an amp.  Would his money be better spent on a low-end new amp or digging up a better used model from Reverb, eBay, Guitar Center, even ShopGoodwill (others?)? 

In reply to Crxpilot :

What is the intended use? Bedroom practice, band rehearsal? Solo recording?

Im a huge fan of the Fender Rumble series. Currently own a rumble15 I picked up used for $50. I don't know that I'd try to keep up with a drummer, but in a pinch it might. The 40w would, and I've seen them for around $100 on occasion. 25s are $100 all day long. 
Also look at used Peavey stuff. The older models are bigly heavy, but cheap and robust. Example:

TNT. Even the name is cool.
But definitely look local FB and CL first. Save on freight. 

Crxpilot said:

Just a quick bass amp poll here;  My 13 year-old spent his own money for his first bass guitar and has less than $100 for an amp.  Would his money be better spent on a low-end new amp or digging up a better used model from Reverb, eBay, Guitar Center, even ShopGoodwill (others?)? 

 

Used is cheaper and the good thing about a cheap used amp, is usually if you don't want it in the future you get your money back.

Like above : what's his usage?

Yes just practice and playing with his drum-hitting brother

In reply to Crxpilot :

Drums can be pretty loud so you are looking at something in the 100w range if you are talking older amps. The Peavey TNT combos are a great recommendation really.

Newer Class D amps you'd want to do a lot more than 100w though, strange but true

I'd agree - hard to beat a used Peavey for a low-budget bass amp.  Watch local FBMP trading groups and buy the largest one in budget.  Should be able to find one for less $ than in the used section at GC. 

For example, this one is local to me for $150.

If you were local I'd make you a good deal on my peavey just to not ever have to move it again. It's a great workhorse, but there's a LOT of extra gravity in it. 

I concur on the suggestions above. I'm a card carrying member of the PEAVEY CVLT, and will always recommend their amps since they are built like tanks and are a fantastic value, especially on the used market. You can typically find some flavor of Peavey bass combo amp with a 15" speaker for around $100 anywhere in the US used. TNT 115, Max 115, Combo 115... ALL PEAVEY $100, as we say in the FB group. I'm partial to the "Red Stripe" era, but the Teal and Silver Stripe ones are great as well. The newest line is no longer made in the USA, but they still get the job done.  

Personally, I have three Peavey Red Stripe amps, and two are bass amps. My chonky boi is a Combo 115 that I bought new for $299. List price on the thing was $700, and it had been sitting in a small local shop collecting dust for a couple years, so I scored it cheap. It was probably there for so long because no one wanted to lift the thing.

It's awesome. Sounds pretty good and can hold its own at a gig, let alone a band practice. It's basically one of their standalone bass heads with a built-in cab. That has 200w by itself, or it switches to a 300w 2 ohm mode if you connect a 2x12" extension cab. Thing weighs 100+ lbs and can withstand a direct nuclear warhead strike. When I finish remodeling my house, I think I want to seek out that extension cab so half the town will be able to hear me. 

The little guy is a Microbass, and that's a very basic  15w bedroom amp.

That was $20 from some lady on Marketplace. It was barely used, but had the typical Peavey rear output jack weirdness that makes the speaker cut out. I use it in the office with an old Bass POD as a preamp. Fun for playing along to stuff in there, but won't hold up to a drum kit. 

The Basic 112 is another model I don't have, but have experience with.

They have a smaller 12" speaker, so a little more portable. They are also around $100 used full retail and can get pretty loud. 

Other ones to look for that can be cheaper:
-SWR Workingman's 12 or 15:

I had a friend growing up that had the 15, and it was a great amp. Compact, powerful, and had great tone. 

-Fender Rumble (25 and up): Simple, great sounding little amps meant for the budding musician, and they get the job done

-Crate 15" amps (BX100 or the ancient B80XL):



My first bass amp was an 80's Crate B80XL that I put some hard miles on before it crapped out on me. They can be had dirt cheap these days. Is Crate even around anymore?