the gear nobody else seems to "get"

[Leevibe]

Do you own or GAS for gear that nobody else seems to understand or be interested in? Here are a few of mine:

Fender Pro Junior - I own an older, first generation version of this amp and it is just a fantastic little 15 watt combo. I know people like to replace the stock ceramic 10" speaker and mod them for a colder bias, but I love the way mine sounds stock. I can't believe more people aren't into these awesome little amps. I think they live in the shadow of the Blues Jr.


ISP Decimator - I know there's already a lot of love for these noise gates but I wish more of the guys I play with would get them. I love mine for completely taking care of my single coil hum without eating into the attack or decay of a note. It just works.


TC Nova Dynamics (NDY-1) - I was so sad when they discontinued these and so happy when I got mine for cheap on a MF closeout. This is such an amazing compressor. It has two discrete compression engines that can be run in series or can be split to two different parts of my signal chain, or to two different rigs for that matter. It has a very capable stomp box type compression, but what I love is the 3-band studio compression that's available. It has a dry blend feature but I pretty much never use it because the studio mode is so transparent. It works equally well for electric and acoustic. It has a gate mode too which can be tweaked to do a slow gear type thing. There's even a 10 segment LED meter so I can see how much my signal is being attenuated. It's just the perfect compressor.


Sonic Research Turbo Tuner (ST-200) - This tuner is so far and away better than anything else I've ever seen or used, I just can't believe everyone isn't using one. They are a little plain to look at, but the speed, accuracy, and usability are so good, I think everyone should have one. This is a true strobe tuner, not a sim. It's insanely accurate, and the price is about the same as a Boss. A few of my guitar playing buddys have been won over to it after borrowing mine.

[jtn191]

That TC compressor looks cool. It didn't get a wonderful review on Ovnilab. But he's super picky. I guess I'd add Ampeg and Traynor amps. The vintage Ampegs were kinda Fender-like but intended more for jazz.

[Leevibe]

That TC compressor looks cool. It didn't get a wonderful review on Ovnilab. But he's super picky. I guess I'd add Ampeg and Traynor amps. The vintage Ampegs were kinda Fender-like but intended more for jazz.

I never saw the ovnilab review. It was one of those pedals that I bought solely on all of the user reviews I was reading and I feel like it delivered. I pretty much run it all the time as a way of smoothing string balance and subtly boosting sustain because I tend to not use much gain. I really never use the stomp mode.

I'm intrigued by Traynor amps. I've heard they are serious bang for the buck when it comes to vintage gear.

[GermanCdn]

Godin guitars - great instruments, terrible marketing, particularly the Core line.

Any US made Peavey gear.  I think all of us have owned a Bandit at one time. 

Wound for Sound pickups.  Just had Chris build me a killer set of Alnico 5/2s.  Crazy good, and the entire set cost me less than one BKP.

[juansolo]

Feline guitars. They tend to come in at around the price of a CS Gibson, but for that you can get something tailored to your taste and IMO, better made. Staggeringly good things, but their lack of profile outside of a couple of UK forums kills re-sale on them. Then again, they rarely come up for sale as most people who buy them keep them. Why anyone would buy a Gibson over a Feline baffles me. Especially with current prices and Gibson's massively variable quality.

The new EMGs (the Het-Set and the 57/66 set) are staggeringly good. All the advantages of active (quiet, clarity, taughtness) but voiced like passives. I very much rate them. But people assume they sound like the old ones, which are compressed and scooped in comparison.

Wound for Sound pickups.  Just had Chris build me a killer set of Alnico 5/2s.  Crazy good, and the entire set cost me less than one BKP.

BKPs have lost their edge now. Back in the day when Tim would entertain some wild and wonderful ideas they were great. In the UK they're not massively over priced also. However now you can only get stuff off the shelf and any custom deviations are not really entertained. Shame as most of my guitars had BKPs in them.

As such I've started using Oil City Pickups (Ash/Guitar Weasel over on The Fretboard). His pickups are very, very good, fair priced and he's up for doing custom sets, indeed I'm having an interesting set made at the moment.

[Tremster]

Way Huge Pork Loin maybe?!
I see it for sale a lot on ebay. And with five external and three internal pots it can be intimidating at first and tricky to set up. But if you take your time it's very very rewarding.

Also, why is there so little talk of Brian's Grease Gun on here? It's been my #1 dirt for quite some time now.

[PhiloB]

Way Huge Pork Loin maybe?!

Friend of mine does very well playing blues.  He swears by the Pork Loin.  If I remember right, Brian is releasing a version of the PL (Etchers Paradise, this month possibly?!)
Me personally, my Ampeg GVT 52-112.  Best sounding 'clean' amp I've heard.  The overdrive channel is so versatile with the Baxandall EQ.  I don't do metal, but if I wanted to I could (old school and modern).  I usually stick with Channel 1 which loves pedals.  As my friend said 'That's convenient'

[GermanCdn]

BKPs have lost their edge now. Back in the day when Tim would entertain some wild and wonderful ideas they were great. In the UK they're not massively over priced also. However now you can only get stuff off the shelf and any custom deviations are not really entertained. Shame as most of my guitars had BKPs in them.

As such I've started using Oil City Pickups (Ash/Guitar Weasel over on The Fretboard). His pickups are very, very good, fair priced and he's up for doing custom sets, indeed I'm having an interesting set made at the moment.

Chris winds the pickups to your spec; there isn't an off the shelf version.  My first set from him, I told him I wanted a slightly hotter than vintage set, 6.2k neck, 6.5k middle, and a tele-ish sounding bridge pickup.  Overall I wanted a Keith Urban strat tone.  He came back with the following suggestion

A5 magnets for the EAD strings, A2 for the GBE strings.

42 Ga wire for the neck and middle pickups, 43 Ga for the bridge, 8.5k bridge

Vintage stagger for the magnets with the G lowered as I don't use wound G's.

Had them built and shipped in three days.  Best sounding strat pickups I have ever played.

Oh, yeah, and the whole set, custom wound, cost me $85 + shipping.  I think he's now raised his price to $90.  Still cheaper than a set of Tex-Mex's, and barely more expensive than GFS.

[juansolo]

Awesome. That's what's missing from BKP these days. But then again, when you get to the popularity that they are now, you have to standardise things. Comes with the territory.

[muddyfox]

anyone has a lead on a decently priced LP builder in mainland europe? something like the aforementioned Feline, only a tiny bit cheaper? like a LP standard range instead of CS?
i would like a decent LP but neither my wallet nor my playing can accomodate a 3k gbp instrument.

[GermanCdn]

anyone has a lead on a decently priced LP builder in mainland europe? something like the aforementioned Feline, only a tiny bit cheaper? like a LP standard range instead of CS?
i would like a decent LP but neither my wallet nor my playing can accomodate a 3k gbp instrument.

Fame builds out of Poland or the Czech Republic if I remember correctly.  More in line with the price range you're looking for, but I'd be a little specific on the hardware, as the reason I never bought from them was that the hardware was a little on the cheap side.

Carvin has representation in the EU, though you end up paying more than you would in North America, but an absolutely pimped out CS6 with a quilt top, five piece neck, abalone inlays, etc, etc, etc, will still only run you the same price as a plan top LP Traditional.  If you don't want all the bells and whistles, you can pick up a CS4 for about the price of Studio and it's a far better guitar.

[muddyfox]

carvin has folks in eu? every time i visited their site to do a configuration for fun it came up with some ridiculous amount in usd.
never heard of fame, will look them up, thanks!

although, reading up on felines, they do seem to be a top notch outfit. i just cant afford them

[GermanCdn]

Carvin's got a rep network setup in various countries in the EU (Station Muzik in Germany, I don't remember the rest).  I don't remember what the deal was for ordering, but you can't order direct from them, you have to go through their reps.  What effect that has on pricing I don't know.

As far as pricing goes, the last CS6 I ordered was spec'd out with a quilt top, triple step orange burst, abalone block inlays, ebony board, locking tuners, TUSQ nut, C22 pups (which I swapped out for Dimarzios), stainless steel frets and a hardshell case, and it came to $1863 US if memory serves, but I'm in Canada and I can still order direct from them.

I think Fame is the house brand for musicstore.de, but they also have a semi custom shop if I'm not mistaken.  VFM wise apparently they're pretty good in local market terms.

[muddyfox]

good stuff, thanks!

[muddyfox]

i just took a look at carvin.nl and there's a cs6 with bells and whistles for 2k5 eur. even with inevitable shipping and customs import from US, thats just too much a diference?