It is not the economy that stuff is not moving IMO

[Atropos_Project]

Nice rant Scott.

It does seem hard to get excited about anything gear related these days, maybe I'm just burnt out on it.

I bought a new bass not too long ago... ordered it in May, received it in the first week of July. I've yet to even plug it in yet. I think that's the definition of 'lack of excitement', lol.

 

[JackTripper]

All I know is that I have bought quite a bit of gear in recent years. The economy has been good to me though..

Same here.

 

[polaris20]

I agree...so share your money elsewhere!

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/richantonelli


In my case though, my economy dried up when I had kids.

Quoted for truth.

 

[thegame]

I've sold some gear recently, all advertised here on RT and elsewhere. None of it sold on here to forum members. RT is fairly popular, but there's still a large population of gear heads out there unaware of this forum.

Incidentally, of those recently sold items, the most expensive one sold for MORE than what I had it advertised for on RT.

 

[guitarmike]

Played another couple gigs recently with just my 1X10 18w rivera-era super champ and pedals and it was totally fine. Had a rehearsal last night using just a little SS fender combo and that was fine too. Do I prefer my bogner rig big time? Sure but it just doesn't really matter that much to the audience though is what I've accepted. I've been playing gigs for around 16 years now and seeing live music for a little longer, I've just accepted that what blows me away is a great band with a great overall mix, individual guitar tone isn't that important if the band mix isn't killer too.

Accepting this reality is very hard to do. I played in pop cover bands for 12 years and no one in the crowd ever cared about my tone other than to say my guitar sounded nice. If you play in a cover band the crowd hears clean guitar, distorted guitar, and special effects (flange, wah, etc.). I developed my sound to please me and if you like it great, if not that's great too.

I get "my sound" regardless of what music I play, even in the Maiden tribute band I sound like me (not sure if that is a good thing ).

There is so much new high end gear at the price point we were paying for old/modded gear, the old stuff has lost value. Why pay $3k for a Cameron modded Marshall when you can buy a CCV for under 3$ used?

Is the market saturated? I don't know.

The economy is as much psychological as it is real and people just are not spending money right now.

Perhaps the flippers are tired of boxing up and shipping amps.

If my personal economy was in better shape I'd be buying every sub $1700 Cameron, Friedman, Fortin amp I could because they will go back to $2500. Most of those amps can play any style music and are built /modded well enough to survive another decade or 2. There will be demand for these amps again, just not at $3k+.

 

[richedie]

I find the economy has been doing great, I find a lot of the negativity is psychological. Our company has been hiring like crazy because they are so busy, they can't keep up with the work and number of new clients. A buddy of mine has an amp business that has had one of his best years ever. While on vacation this year, every place of business we talked with, said it was one of their best years on record and that they are having trouble keeping up with the crowds. Two friends of mine who were out of work, both now have good jobs and have had multiple offers........and I keep buying gear. LOL.

 

[MOAAH]

...buyers have bought and bought and there is just nothing left to buy.., This can be said for ALL types of amps, not just one brand by the way.

I hate to state the obvious, but not really.
If the market seems slow for some,
maybe it's cause everybody and their dog is building amps now?!?

 

[soundchaser59]

Sorry but after years and years of people cycling through gear like there was some sort of cure for suck the buyer well is just dry, plain and simple. The buyers have bought and bought and there is just nothing left to buy other than some new things down the pipe or cool guitars that show up now and then.

There are just so many diodes to try out from different men.

This can be said for ALL types of amps, not just one brand by the way. As much hype as my Cali mod has been given I bet I would lose money on it and it would sit there in the tumble weeds that was once flipper heaven.

Guys from the days will remember GMW stratheads, they lasted minutes before being sold. No longer. Why? Market has dried up, nothing to do with the economy.

New amps will continue to sell, I am sure Steve will have great sucess with his launch and many men will be romancing ralph and mike when it is time for the Randalls to launch.

The old stuff though? The well is dry so just play your amp and enjoy it.

IT IS NOT THE ECONOMY.

I'm glad your economy has so much cash to play with.....

Here in America where my economy is people don't have enough money to eat, let alone buy amps.....

 

[soundchaser59]

Perhaps the flippers are tired of boxing up and shipping amps.

You got that straight, slim.....

 

[Badronald]

I find the economy has been doing great,

What planet do you live on? The economy is horrible. There will always be people that do well during tough times based on what they do, but don't kid yourself, there are whole countries going bankrupt (America is on that track too my friend) and people are losing everything.

Please don't belittle the hard times that people are suffering through now.

 

[richedie]

Im not belittling anything. I help people as much as possible, always donating money, volunteering time, I have even bought music gear for friends, quite a few times. All I know is our company is doing better than ever in 30 years and have been hiring like crazy, all the companies in our area are hiring like mad, stores are crowded, businesses are doing well, restaurants are crazy crowded, and so on....raises and bonuses have been good, any people I know who were out of work, are now with good jobs and get calls all the time from companies to see if they are interested in a job, etc. Maybe the Northeast part of the country has been better than most? I wish they would just raise the taxes on the rich and end the debt.

 

[Digital Jams]

Sorry but after years and years of people cycling through gear like there was some sort of cure for suck the buyer well is just dry, plain and simple. The buyers have bought and bought and there is just nothing left to buy other than some new things down the pipe or cool guitars that show up now and then.

There are just so many diodes to try out from different men.

This can be said for ALL types of amps, not just one brand by the way. As much hype as my Cali mod has been given I bet I would lose money on it and it would sit there in the tumble weeds that was once flipper heaven.

Guys from the days will remember GMW stratheads, they lasted minutes before being sold. No longer. Why? Market has dried up, nothing to do with the economy.

New amps will continue to sell, I am sure Steve will have great sucess with his launch and many men will be romancing ralph and mike when it is time for the Randalls to launch.

The old stuff though? The well is dry so just play your amp and enjoy it.

IT IS NOT THE ECONOMY.

I'm glad your economy has so much cash to play with.....

Here in America where my economy is people don't have enough money to eat, let alone buy amps.....

Called busting my ass for over 35 years, investing for 25 years, banking 20% of my salary a year, not buying stupid shit, Maxing my 401k every year.................thanks for the kind words but it took disipline.


I know lots of people in your neck of the woods, yes some are check to check but that is because of their own stupidity. KNow guys that are doing very well due to hard work and fiscal disipline.


Glad this thread has provided a sounding board for all to use and yes custom guitar orders still take years due to the business doing just fine.

 

[racerevlon]

I think another huge part of it is that after tons of gear rental (flipping) most have landed on a configuration and sound they're happy with so the chase is over. I know that's my story. I found Splawn, Jet City, Ceriatone, and Hughes & Kettner and all of the other stuff sort of fades into the background. I bought some custom cables and will be assembling my "live" rack shortly, have my rehearsal rig all set, have my recording setup, and a couple of B-rigs/Backup rigs. Sifting through the guitars now to choose what to keep and everything else going bye-bye.

I have a backup rig in a BOSS BCB-60:

Digitech Hardwire Tuner
MXR NOISE CLAMP
BOSS FB-2 BOOSTER
BOSS ST-2 POWER STACK
MXR Carbon Copy
EH 44 Magnum

All I need is a Hughes & Kettner Red Box and I can drive a cabinet and go to the board in a pinch. AND... As many have said here and my band agrees, the sound of that emergency rig is better than most of the stuff recorded today.

B-rig is a VooDu Valve Online and a Marshall Valvestate 80 / 80 in a 2-space Anvil briefcase.

Pretty soon we'll all be playing through computers anyway. (Axe-FX)

 

[soundchaser59]

I think another huge part of it is that after tons of gear rental (flipping) most have landed on a configuration and sound they're happy with so the chase is over. I know that's my story. I found Splawn, Jet City, Ceriatone, and Hughes & Kettner and all of the other stuff sort of fades into the background.....

....AND... As many have said here and my band agrees, the sound of that emergency rig is better than most of the stuff recorded today.

I can see it in a way, I suppose......

Another forum recently bragged about a 10 year anniversary being online. So if I assume that about 10 years is the going average for online music gear forums, and if I assume that online forums had a lot to do with players getting new opportunities to buy/sell/trade gear, then maybe we could suppose that it just took about 10 years for all the gear swapping to level off and the dust to settle. I could see that happening.....that's part of the reason why my own gear transactions have declined. The more I buy/sell/trade, the more I'm happy with what I have.

And yes, my backup gear sounds way better than what I used to call my best gear even just 10 years ago. I think a lot of the sounds I get at home sound better than some of the old classic rock stuff I grew up on. But if the economy was way up instead of way down, I think I would still be gassing and trying more different pieces of gear.