CURE for Gear acquisition syndrome?

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I said to myself "Do you want that new unknown brand amp bad enough to let any of your other amps go?"
The answer was always "Nope."
Problem solved.
 
Digital amps did it for me before and they're doing it for me now. I had a Kemper since release up until 2020 and that was my only "amp". I've acquired more amps in the past 2 years than I have over the course of my whole life. I recently picked up an Axe-FX III and have been jamming a buddies Quad Cortex. They're good enough for me. I'm dumping all my IIC+s, dumped my rectos, and other amps already. Don't need them. Digital will be just fine. :bash:

Custom guitars do it for me on the GAS end somewhat too. Get a guitar build exactly how you want it to look and play. It'll be too expensive for you to want to resell it. :ROFLMAO:
 
Everybody has their own definition of "Good enough" and it varies widely . The main problem imo is that guitar players are so difficult to please . No matter how good you think your equipment currently sounds eventually you will want to try other things because your brain will convince you there is something that sounds even better .

Just part of being a guitar player I suppose and I would say the number of guitar players that can afford to try new equipment all the time are few and far between when compared to the ones that aren't able to do that . That's just a part of life , nobody ever said it was easy or fair.
 
For me, a major paradigm shift was the simple mental realization that every goddamn amplifier sounds like total dog shit through standard club/bar PAs. The drums, vocals, and bass overtake all live mixes, and guitar honestly is the least important piece of a typical rock band. The past few records I've been apart of, I've mostly used amplifiers that were in studio. They were more exciting and interesting than what I could bring in. I'm not hung up on "my sound" or anything like that. When it comes to recording, I want to get the best sound possible, and often that means leaning into what the engineer is most comfortable and used to working with. I've slowly been whittling my gear down since then, mostly adjusting and buying new gear only for the sake of ease of performance at a gig, rather than gone. It's all about convenience for me now. I am interested in tones but I explore more through modelers, pedals, plugins, etc., which are a fraction of the cost. At my heart, I am a minimalist, so I try to parse things down to the essentials in all scenarios, including my guitar and recording setup. I'm down to only three amps at the moment, which is a major thing for me. I'm down to two guitars. I have a small pile of pedals that I've slowly been selling away, but I'm getting there. I'm done with GAS.. for the most part. There are things I want, but over time I've been paying less and less attention to new gear that comes out. I get more interested in the occasional microphone than any guitar gear lately. I use and buy what I need to get through gigs with the least amount of effort, and for me, that's all I need. I'm half drunk and rambling. Peace brothers.
 
itsme said:
Here's what I've learned in my 30+ years of playing in bands. When I was younger I went thru the gear flipping phase. Always believed there was a better amp, pedal, guitar, etc... Assumed every newly released amp was better than what I had. Wasted a lot of time and money. Today I own an '82 2204, Gower Kali mod, Friedman BE100, Bogner 101B, DSL40c, several guitars, and a pedalboard. I honestly have dialed all my amps to sound almost identical. Any one of them could be all I need. When I play out, I tend to take the same one or two guitars, and will occasionally take different amps for the hell of it. I'd like to move most of my excess stuff, but don't feel like dealing with the selling process. Truth is, once you find a sound you really like, stick with it and remember that any new gear you get will take you to the same sound.
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Lmk when ready to move Killer Kali ?
 
I've seen dozens of Kemper users declare that their amp GAS was cured by the device.

Sure, you're not getting amps 100%, but the (for some) tiny differences in tone and playability are more than compensated for by the "unlimited" variety of amps they can "own".

Guitar GAS is another story. The L6 Variax line had the theoretical potential to achieve the same thing and it has for some players, but not many.
 
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Actually play live, all this shit doesn’t matter in the least anymore. The absolute least I cared about gear was living in nashville playing professionally. Because everyone there is absolutely insane, no one cares about shit like we do on guitar forums. Gear has only preoccupied my mind when I wasn’t busy actually doing anything. Also, get better at your instrument, that helps a lot too.
 
Exo-metal said:
Poison was the cure
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I miss the warm embrace I felt.

The best cure for GAS is to keep a variety of the best gear you've found during your journey. A few guitars, amps and pedals that cover all ther sonic territory you're interested in. It will end up seeming like too much gear.
You'll bargain with yourself to compromise that you only need 2 of everything, but that leads to more GAS and flipping.
So you end up with 7 amps, 5 cabs, 8 guitars, 6 fuzz pedals, 5 delays, 4 ods....that all do something different.
Each day you get to play something different, covering all types of sounds, and GAS is gone.
At least that's how I justify it
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Monkey Man said:
I've seen dozens of Kemper users declare that their amp GAS was cured by the device.

Sure, you're not getting amps 100%, but the (for some) tiny differences in tone and playability are more than compensated for by the "unlimited" variety of amps they can "own".

Guitar GAS is another story. The L6 Variax line had the theoretical potential to achieve the same thing and it has for some players, but not many.
Click to expand...
I'd love to own a Kemper profiler but it's out of my price range.
 
ccn said:
I'd love to own a Kemper profiler but it's out of my price range.
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So many have said this mate.

Look at how many "amps" you get for the money - tens of thousands of free Profiles out there so you don't have to purchase a single pack.

Profile your own amps and flip 'em, further negating the cost of entry. I've seen many a tube diehard ditch entire collections of amps, sometimes retaining just one special one along with their Kempers.

If anything, the money argument exposes the ridiculous potential value of the products once one delves deeper than the RRP.
 
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Monkey Man said:
So many have said this mate.

Look at how many "amps" you get for the money - tens of thousands of free Profiles out there so you don't have to purchase a single pack.

Profile your own amps and flip 'em, further negating the cost of entry. I've seen many a tube diehard ditch entire collections of amps, sometimes retaining just one special one along with their Kempers.

If anything, the money argument exposes the ridiculous potential value of the products once one delves deeper than the RRP.
Click to expand...
Well it sounds like a good idea but……
 
Actually Covid started me playing again after 10 years of not. Been in bands. Sitting at home playing is boring compared to writing songs etc.

So on YouTube people now writing and recording music with home computers. So I started playing again. Those vids led me to amp reviews so I started buying selling and trading gear. I know what I like. I’ve been through a bunch of gear.

At this point I’ve got several favorites that are lifers. Never selling. I’ve still got a few amps and guitars I’m on the fence with.

And I have a bucket list. But now that I’ve got a core of guitars and amps I’m settled.

Now if I had the room and the coin I’d definitely be in trouble ?
 
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