Best "cheap" piece of gear you've ever bought

[MadAsAHatter]

I picked up a Crate Stealth 50 watt combo about 5 years back for around $250. Lee Jackson design and one of the best hot-rodded 80's metal Marshall style amps out there. I converted it to a head and it sounds killer through a 4x12.

I also grabbed a Crate Blue VooDoo 300 watt monster for about $400. This is when they were still USA made in St. Louis. I recovered it and sprayed the grill metallic grey a while back. This thing is a tank (in weight and durability) It weighs almost 90 lbs. It also sat under water for 3 days during a flood. Didn't do anything to it but give it a long time to dry out and it fired right back up like nothing happened. I can get some really good Marshall tones out of it. And with 300 watts it can put the loudest drummer in their place

 

[Devin]

I have an Ibanez DN600 that plays and sounds really good (at least to me) that I got for $400 with a hardshell case.

That thing looks rad

 

[Bardagh]

My Friend Chad at the time was an apprentice at a Tattoo Studio & needed to buy ink. He sold me his Jubilee & His Explorer. So I bought his 1991 Explorer(He was & is an SG Guy) for $500.00 & the Jubilee for $390.00. HIS Exact words to me was tha the Jubilee being 50 watts, did not sound as good as his 100watt JCM 900.

$390 not even a full $400.

A friend of mine who lives up in the DC area was given a 2203 JCM 800 for free by a guy he worked with. The guy heard him talking about playing guitar and told him he had a Marshall of some kind in his basement. The guy I guess didn’t really play and I don’t know how he came to have it. My buddy asked him if he was interested in selling it and he said sure, it’s just been sitting there forever.

He went over to his place and lo and behold, its an old 2203. Pretty sure there wasn’t a cab or anything so he wasn’t even sure if it worked, so he said just take it.

This was about 10 years ago, so they weren’t pulling crazy prices like now but you weren’t getting them for cheap anymore either. He took it home and hooked it up and it worked but sounded funky. I think he had to replace the power tubes but that’s it.

It was the loudest goddamn amp. He has a big open room studio setup in the basement of a split level house so there’s NO ESCAPE. He ran it with an attenuator and it was still just crazy loud, open and percussive sounding.

The sad part of the tale is he was going to sell it to me for $500 the next time I visited him because he is one of these guys who cannot break himself of needing super saturated gain for everything, so he just wasn’t using it. But he lent it to a friend to play some shows and it got stolen.

Easy come, easy go I guess.

 

[Bardagh]

I picked up a Crate Stealth 50 watt combo about 5 years back for around $250. Lee Jackson design and one of the best hot-rodded 80's metal Marshall style amps out there. I converted it to a head and it sounds killer through a 4x12.

I also grabbed a Crate Blue VooDoo 300 watt monster for about $400. This is when they were still USA made in St. Louis. I recovered it and sprayed the grill metallic grey a while back. This thing is a tank (in weight and durability) It weighs almost 90 lbs. It also sat under water for 3 days during a flood. Didn't do anything to it but give it a long time to dry out and it fired right back up like nothing happened. I can get some really good Marshall tones out of it. And with 300 watts it can put the loudest drummer in their place


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That 300 watt Blue Voodoo has to be one of the least necessary amps ever made. Some dude has a bunch of videos of one on Youtube though and it definitely sounds pretty good. I had a BV120H back in the late 90’s and it never sounded that good.

 

[MadAsAHatter]

That 300 watt Blue Voodoo has to be one of the least necessary amps ever made. Some dude has a bunch of videos of one on Youtube though and it definitely sounds pretty good. I had a BV120H back in the late 90’s and it never sounded that good.

I don't know what they did different but the BV150 & BV300 were completely different from the rest of the line, Even the 120's that were being produced at the same time sounded different and not as good.

And yea, 300 watts is complete overkill. Playing with a really loud metal band at one time, I decided to have some fun and let the monster roar. I cranked it & drowned out the entire band with room to spare on the volume knob. I guess one way to look at it is you'll never run out of headroom.

 

[Bardagh]

I don't know what they did different but the BV150 & BV300 were completely different from the rest of the line, Even the 120's that were being produced at the same time sounded different and not as good.

And yea, 300 watts is complete overkill. Playing with a really loud metal band at one time, I decided to have some fun and let the monster roar. I cranked it & drowned out the entire band with room to spare on the volume knob. I guess one way to look at it is you'll never run out of headroom.

BV120 was a very weird sounding amp. It was muddled and cloudy sounding. It wasn’t real bright, wasn’t very punchy, didn’t have any authoritative low end. It was the definition of “meh.”

 

[Detroit1973]

$390 not even a full $400.

A friend of mine who lives up in the DC area was given a 2203 JCM 800 for free by a guy he worked with. The guy heard him talking about playing guitar and told him he had a Marshall of some kind in his basement. The guy I guess didn’t really play and I don’t know how he came to have it. My buddy asked him if he was interested in selling it and he said sure, it’s just been sitting there forever.

He went over to his place and lo and behold, its an old 2203. Pretty sure there wasn’t a cab or anything so he wasn’t even sure if it worked, so he said just take it.

This was about 10 years ago, so they weren’t pulling crazy prices like now but you weren’t getting them for cheap anymore either. He took it home and hooked it up and it worked but sounded funky. I think he had to replace the power tubes but that’s it.

It was the loudest goddamn amp. He has a big open room studio setup in the basement of a split level house so there’s NO ESCAPE. He ran it with an attenuator and it was still just crazy loud, open and percussive sounding.

The sad part of the tale is he was going to sell it to me for $500 the next time I visited him because he is one of these guys who cannot break himself of needing super saturated gain for everything, so he just wasn’t using it. But he lent it to a friend to play some shows and it got stolen.

Easy come, easy go I guess.

It would of been a full 400 but it was all i had on me at the time. I was maybe 18 or 19 & working part time while in college making $7.00 an hour. that time in my life Sucked except for the chick i was dating, she was awesome.

 

[* velcro-fly *]

1934 Martin 0-17 acoustic for $350

Best "cheap" relative to what it is and worth now? My 07' Hamer USA Korina Vector for $1200 shipped

 

[Trendkiller333]

Its a cross prototype. Super weird one-off.
Has the custom shop cross logo on the back of the head stock but instead of saying "23 of 100" it says PROTO.
Got it from a guy with a huge collection of weird Washburns right after dime passed.
He had Steve Stevens protos, Nuno protos....crazy stuff.
Pm me for pics. I just had my bro pull it out and send me pics of it a while ago(have my gear parked all over DFW)
Don't know how to move pics from phone to my tablet. Too old.

The funny thing is I have no clue how to send a pm on here. I tried the message button but can't find an option to send a message ?????

 

[ClintN667]

Peavey vtm 60 for $130. Damn I wish I would have kept it or the second one I bought for 350.

 

[the rossness]

Years ago, I picked up a G&L Superhawk off a local guy for $300. I've had it for ages and its my only hardtail guitar. The maple body sounds really cool1 Full of low-mids!

 

[Devin]

Peavey vtm 60 for $130. Damn I wish I would have kept it or the second one I bought for 350.

I traded a Yamaha THR100HD head that I owned for a few years for a VTM 60 and definitely feel like it was a steal in the grand scheme. Fuckin thing rules

 

[sivad]

Two yrs ago paid 25 bucks for a used Dean acoustic/electric that plays better than most electrics and sounds good. Was given a new in box reissue tube screamer by someone at work who knew I played guitar. Paid 200 for a Kramer Baretta several yrs ago and still have it.

 

[tpruitt]

Demon FX TubeScreamer II

I got a demon fx klon clone. Kicked all the other boost pedals off my board. Sounds great in any amp I try it through.

 

[megamike]

BOGNER Mini head

 

[Texsunburst59]

Here’s some great scores, with most being over the last few years

$500 - ‘80 Gibson “Jimmy Wallace” ‘58RI LP Standard

$59.95 - ‘74 Fender Jazz Bass

$1200 - ‘03 Tom Anderson Hollow T Drop Top

$762 - ‘08 Gibson LP Standard Plus

$923 - ‘95 PRS Custom 24 10-Top

$325 - ‘90 Fender Strat Plus

$1000 - ‘89 Gibson LP Standard

$1100 - ‘77 Gibson RD Custom

$500 - ‘75 Fender Mocha Strat

$400 - ‘78 Fender P-Bass

 

[Texsunburst59]

A few more

$270 - ‘03 Taylor Jumbo Custom

$923 - ‘81 Martin 7/28

$115 - ‘90 MIJ Fender ‘57RI P-Bass

$400 - Mesa Boogie Roadster Dual Rectifier

 

[Techdeth]

Danelectro Cool Cat v2 . Only distortion pedsl I’ve ever liked

 

[8len8]

This. Awesome investment.

https://www.hotoneaudio.com/products/controlers/patch-kommander

 

[angelspade]

I bought a pair of mint condition Fender Mexican made Blacktop series guitars used on on craigslist very cheap about 10 years ago. One HH strat and one HH Tele. I swear that they are some of the best playing and sounding guitars I own. There was some magic ion that Fender Mexico factory.