A philosophical question about gear

[DarkAxel]

guys, i have a philosophical question about gear...

i'm a student currently in a pretty bad financial situation because of my summer job blowing up... so i just have to sell some gear. I sold my Boss TR-2 because i can replace it for teh cheapz any time i want to. Then i've been selling Wampler Pinnacle (because i decided to go with fuzz for higain sounds) and Pigtronix EP-1 because the envelope filter is great, but the phasing not so much and it's too damn big and heavy to keep just for the envelope filter i guess...

but then i traded the Wampler for Fulltone Fulldrive Mosfet which i absolutely love and adore and it makes the Pigtronix sound so goooooood...

but there is the question... how do you determine whether to sell the piece of gear or not? I'm not sure that i want to sell the Pigtronix anymore...I mean the envelope filter is great and the phasing sounds much better now, combined with the Fulldrive. But i just don't feel it... i felt much stronger bond to Boss PH-2...

is there a rule of thumb like "if you have to ask whether to sell it or not, just sell it - you don't love it enough"?

[D.o.S.]

No.

[BlindtoFaith]

Most people regret selling something at some point. Things work out in weird ways. Things that you feel you will never be able to obtain again are sometimes easier to get than you think. I say if you can live without it and need money for food and gas then it has to go. There are a few pedals I will never sell.

[DarkAxel]

Yeah, the money is now important as fuck to me

i have to say i regret selling the DLS way more... i've had it for a year and it's been so good... if i could afford it, i'd absolutely not sell it being discontinued i can imagine that prices are gonna go way high now... whatever, i need the money

[dubkitty]

i'm a terrible person to answer this question, because i hate to sell anything on the notion that i might still use it at some point. however, i have a number of things that are potentially on the block at some point if it becomes necessary to liquidate assets to keep from losing my house, ranging from a Devi Ever Truly Beautiful Disaster and a script Phase 100 to some fh(fx) to several of my electric guitars. i've also sold guitars and effects boxes in the last couple of years to fund purchases of stuff i really felt i needed, e.g. my Tokai Les Pauls.

i guess i have two criteria for whether i'm going to sell something. the most important one is: am i actually going to use this thing in the foreseeable future? if not, then off it goes...the Epiphone Wildkat was a lovely instrument, but it just wasn't my tone, so i never played it and my only regret on selling it was the money i lost on depreciation. similarly, the TBD will probably go at some point because i just don't use it...i love it to pieces, but it's just too much for what i do.

the secondary criterion is: do i really NEED this? at the time i sold off guitars to fund the Les Pauls i sold a Strat and an acoustic; at that time i had three Strats and three six-string dreadnought flat-tops, one of which was a Gibson-style slope-shoulder. thus, i could afford to give up one of each in order to get other voices i didn't possess. similarly, i recently sold my two Marshall Guvnor IIs...i loved them--especially run in series--but since i have multiple other boxes that can give me a similar tone they were redundant.

[dubkitty]

not to mention the question of do i like this? am i "feeling this"? the reason the Phase 100 is on the "may sell" list is that i'm just not that into phasers.

[The4455]

The only reason I sell gear is if I don't need it to play the music I play. For example: when I needed some cash I sold my Boss Oc-2, because as cool as it is, I didn't really use it in any of the songs my band played, so it had to go.

[DarkAxel]

it's really nice to hear other people's opinions... i function this way quite a lot - i like to discuss, brainstorm even and it helps me to make my own opinions clearer. Even if they differ from the others'. SO thank you, guys

DLS is easily replacable by the Fulltone Fulldrive and pigtronix, as good as it is... well i just don't feel it. I need money for university (actually my living on university) plus i'm trying to scrape every change i can hoping i will be able to try the dano baritone i'd want to try... PRIORITIES are IMPORTANT

[smallsnd/bigsnd]

sell your body first.

[Mudfuzz]

The answer is most likely yellow.

[dubkitty]

you mean he's going to have to sell because he's gotten a parking ticket? bummer.

[Mudfuzz]

No, it is just the right color for this question.

[sutarappa]

good question.

ideally, gear is tools for the creation of music/sounds. if i am willing to part with whatever sonic potential lay in particular tool, then it can go. some tools can achieve similar results, so nuances of usage become part of the assesment. Largely, i see it as the question of sonic potential, however, there are the broader factors you mention, Axel, like where creation of music/sounds fits in one's list of life priorities. That list can send sonic potential right into the cash drawer at your university's business office.

[Haki]

Another reason to hate education, cuts into the gear fund.

Haven't sold much, because everything I have does at least something that I like. Even if I don't use it much, inspiration can always strike causing me to use something I haven't in a while. The luxury of having options. There are a few things that have overlap and so could part with but as long as there isn't a need to do so, I don't. Your EP is a good example of why, get a new piece of gear and something you thought you were done with suddenly looks hot again, like she's dropped weight and got a boob job.

[DarkAxel]

Another reason to hate education, cuts into the gear fund.

Haven't sold much, because everything I have does at least something that I like. Even if I don't use it much, inspiration can always strike causing me to use something I haven't in a while. The luxury of having options. There are a few things that have overlap and so could part with but as long as there isn't a need to do so, I don't. Your EP is a good example of why, get a new piece of gear and something you thought you were done with suddenly looks hot again, like she's dropped weight and got a boob job.

yeah, it was truly magical

if i could afford it i wouldn't get rid of any pedal i got rid of in last months... SMMH, Disaster Transport, now my beloved DLS and that EP... but i can't. I hope i will have a chance to repurchase in the future (if i still want)