The Great Gear Downsize of 2014

[npfrs]

So after much debate I decided I had a lot of gear - in fact a lot of nice gear - that I was not using currently, recently, or going to use in the foreseeable future.

1 week ago I had...

Marshall 2061x with 412 Greenback cab
Marshall JCM2000 DSL with JCM800 (80s) cab
Dr. Z Maz 38 with 210 cab
Fedner SF Super Reverb (heavily modded)
Fender Reverb tank (blonde, 63)

Fender Telebration Cabronita tele
Gibson ES-125 ('59)
Squier Jazzmaster (heavily modded "Swissmaster")
Squier Jazzmaster (not-so-heavily modded)
Epiphone Les Paul Black Beauty (heavily modded)
Goldtone Irish Tenor banjo
Gibson Uke-2 (50s)
Allparts maple tele neck and red double-bound body (possibly project)

Out of the above, I have sold/traded:

Marshall 2061x with 412 Greenback cab
Marshall JCM2000 DSL

And on the chopping block:

JCM800 (80s) cab
Squier Jazzmaster (not-so-heavily modded)
Allparts red double-bound body

Why? Well I realized having a lot of nice gear is great but using that gear is, I think, more important. I still perform live but I always grab my Dr.Z/Super Reverb when I play out. How many guitars do I need/can I reasonably take to a gig? Well Cabronita/LP in standard, Swissmaster in Open D, ES-125 DI'd as acoustic - that seems like enough to have on stage.

I've decided to reinvest some of the money into recording gear and Ableton Live, in an effort to create a more dynamic solo show (I already do a lot of looping and my pedalboard has a lot of MIDI capability) and my desire to start home recording again, for fun, has been growing. I live in an apartment building now so blasting amps isn't really an option anymore and I've been thinking about recording guitar direct in then routing it through my pedalboard to experiment with different combinations of pedals/sounds/etc.

Long story short - having less gear feels good, has freed up resources to look at advancing other areas of my music, and has, most of all, freed up enough space for a queen sized bed (which I'm told, by a particular person in my life, is needed, haha).

TL;DR

Blah blah blah gear

[braaandooon]

Sounds alot like my 2014, it really does feel nice to trim away all the fat, to make space and gain some productivity.

[Holy Schnikes]

I'm right there with you. Downsizing in order to focus on the stuff I use the most. And yeah, I had way too many guitars and pedals specifically.

[kbit]

Im going through those motions meself. Once I startrd realizing how little I was utilizing a lot of my gear, the fear of "but I could use this for _____" disappered. Twas a big hurdle to jump at first.

[colin]

I'm with you on the downsizing too. In the last couple of months I've sold off one of my two amps and one of my two acoustics as well as a few pedals.

I have a new electric coming soon and I'll definitely be selling one of my current guitars when it arrives and possibly even two. If I have more than two electrics I find that one of them will get completely ignored for months at a time. I think I can be totally happy with two electrics, one acoustic, one bass, one synth, one amp and a pedalboard of about ten pedals. More than that is just unnecessary for me.

[frigid midget]

I *try* to limit myself to 5 electrics. As I'm not a huge gibson fan, four of those will be tele/jazzmaster/strat style.

More than 3 amps is hoarding imo.

Decided for myself that nearly any style of music can played with those gear limitations, whatever the situation or venue is.

Can't seem to keep myself from collection peddles though

[univalve]

I'm right there with you. Downsizing in order to focus on the stuff I use the most. And yeah, I had way too many guitars and pedals specifically.

pff...

[skullservant]

I'm at that point as well. I've got too much stuff and some of it needs to go.

[spacelordmother]

Yup same boat. I don't mind keeping a few extra things (pedals) around, but it just feels heavy to me having stuff if it's not getting used.

[Eivind August]

Yeah, been doing that a bit lately. Problem is I end up buying new stuff... Just pedals though, mostly set amp- and guitarwise.

[skullservant]

I think part of my fear in downsizing though, like you said Elvind- is that I'll either miss what I get rid of, or just end up buying something else with the money.

Like, I want to get rid of one of my Verellen's and a cab, and some pedals, and possibly a guitar or two, but then I just feel like I'll try to buy something expensive like an EGC

[D.o.S.]

You people disgust me.

[Chankgeez]

Yeah, I've been trying to upsize.








(I'm limited by cash flow. So, donations gladly accepted.)

[cedarskies]

I've been thinking about selling my more expensive gear and just shuffling around a changing cast of cheaper stuff

[zRobertez]

If you ignore pedals, I have the bare minimum of everything. 1 real amp, 1 real guitar. 1 acoustic. Everything is cheap and just for a little bit of extra fun, something to do when things break. I don't think I could put more than two amps to use. And still then, one would probably get used much more than the other. I really want an SG though