Author Topic: Gush about yer gear  (Read 704 times)

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Offline Zanick

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Gush about yer gear
« on: November 30, 2014, 03:54:45 am »
Tell is about what you use to play, record or produce your music. I've got too much, and it's still not enough.

Years ago my mother got me this MIDI calable 64-key keyboard that has a lot of presets, and that's pretty good. In high school I used it as a controller for the Finalé notation software to compose work for my music theory class. I had good success with this combination. Unfortunately, I no longer have Ableton or any other software. My computer is out of commission. I badly want a Macbook or desktop to resume musical activities, or at the very least a goddamn iPad.

Now, for performance I have a few guitars I like. My Fender Jaguar bass with the sunburst design was ~$900 and is my go-to bass. I also have a red Ibanez with finished wood grain that I lent to a friend years ago and see little. My best guitar is a Gibson Explorer. It's the 2010 reissue of a vintage model that I was told was vintage by the shop where I bought it--I was too eager and new to the trade to check the date on the headstock, but it was only $1k for what is essentially still a great instrument. I've considered letting this one go; the proportions are small for my liking and it's mostly just gathering dust. For jamming, I keep an older Danelectro that plays nicely. It fell a few years ago when I had a bad strap (always use strap locks) and now the built-in distortion is no good, but that feature sucked anyway. It uses three single-coil pickups, but I'd really like to get switch the bridge pickup for an old lipstick tube for that patented, bassy sound. My acoustic guitar is an off-brand that I got on eBay for $50 as a camping guitar. The action isn't good but the sound was actually perfect and crisp, to my surprise.

I have this big, rumbling Fender bass amp at 100 watts that plays well with 2x12" speakers. It's big enough to need wheels. I installed sturdy ones and I have good memories riding it home from gigs. I also have a 20 watt Roland MicroCube--hands down, the most important piece of equipment in my growth as a guitarist. The effects modulator lets you explore genres at any reasonable practice volume. Besides that, I have a shitty, broken 45 watt Crate guitar amp that I've been meaning to fix up. For years I've kept two small Marshall amps: 10 watts and small enough to clip on your belt. They have a fun, crunchy sound if you crank up the gain, but the clean sound is also pleasant and sharp.

Time to discuss recording! My most use interface is a small Alesis mixing board. It came with Cubase LE, which seemed like bullshit and I never used it past installation because my computer is shit. As a standalone mixing board, it does pretty well and I've never felt a need to replace it. I have an old 8-track recording station I snagged off eBay a few years back for $100. It's supposedly worth over $1,200 but a button was missing and it could be defunct--I bought it mainly for the steal and haven't had much opportunity to figure it out. For now, it's just an investment. To practice, I have a couple of Fender microphones that aren't bad. And of course, the reliable Shure SM57. I have a couple of small condenser mics that I haven't had a chance to use also, but they're a bit too sensitive.

I'm a big fan of Zoom. I've had two of their performance cameras and will always stick by them.