What would you do with $245?
Jul 10th, 2007
Ok, first off, sorry I have not posted in about a week. I was out of town on vacation with limited computer access. But I decided to help get back into the flow I would start by getting your opinion. It was recently my birthday (I turned 24 on June 29th) and I have about $245 in birthday money that I am allocating towards guitar gear. But I am not sure how to spend it.
That is where you come in. If you had $245 to spend on guitar gear, what would you buy? An effect pedal? Maybe a pedal mod? An amp upgrade? I am looking for some ideas and I would love to hear what you would do? I am thinking about getting a pedal. Just not sure which one. Please post your suggestions to the comments section below this post. Thanks to everyone in advance!
Over the years, I’ve been a bit of a gear junkie myself. I’ve tried lots of different pedals and effects processors over the years. Unfortunately, most of these things don’t stand the test of time for me. Other than a few basics, the only pedal that I still enjoy using is the Line 6 DL-4. I’ve been into looping for a long time. In addition to traditional looping, the DL-4 makes it easy to add creepy ambient, backwards, half-speed loops.
That being said, I have never regretted buying a new instrument. For $245, you might be able to get a low budget mandolin or lap steel. I have both, and I still love playing them. They improve your overall musicianship, flexibility as a performer, and offer a lot of interesting colors when recording.
Good Luck
Jon,
Thanks for your input. The line 6 DL$ is actually one of the pedals i am really thinking of getting. Sounds like you like it. In terms of getting another instrument, i hear what you are saying. The problem is that i barely have time to get in my regular guitar playing. I doubt i’ll have time to get in the guitar playing AND another instrument. But thanks for the input!
Well, I could help you out if you can’t decide on a distortion pedal type.
There are three main types of distortion- dirty, time delay, and filtering. I did a recent blog on dirty distortion, which includes crunch, overdrive, metal, and grunge-
http://guitarfact.com/choosing-between-basic-distortion-pedals/
I haven’t covered the other two distortion types yet, but this will give you a good idea on what to look for in dirtying that signal up!
And as a side note, I would actually spend the money to get a better amp. I’m still running on my basic 10 watt combo, which is actually starting to make me mad because the contact line-in contact is becoming loose and it loses sound every now and then!
Zac (Guitarfact),
Don’t think i need a distorion. I have an analogman modded ts9 pedal that is pretty sweet. I am thinking about the DL4 pedal that Jon mentioned in the first comment. But i also really want to get the BBE soul vibe. I love the uni-vibe sound and it is a lot cheaper the DL4, which would leave me a little extra money for a small amp repair i need. (when turned really loud the grill seems to rattle a bit. Also the distorion channel randomly stopped working, but it is not that big of a deal because i only use the clean, and use the ts9 for gain. But i am thinking of selling the amp in the near future so i may want to have it fixed up.)
thanks for the comment!
Check out the hotcake. Some people swear by the original tube screamer by Ibanez but this one takes the syrup. Used by none other than Mr. Mark Knopfler. link below
http://www.musictoyz.com/guitar/pedals/hotcake.php
I don’t use pedals myself.
I can understand their attraction; I just can’t be bothered.
I would get your amp looked at and then spend the rest on some kind of music lessons/instruction/inspiration DVDs or books.
But, that’s just me. I hope you had a happy birthday, though.
Z