So, when did you start buying, selling, "getting into" gear?

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Stramm8

Stramm8

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This topic may have already been covered but I was curious to see when you all starting "getting into" gear? Not necessarly guitars/amps but when did you develop an interest in something and start buying and selling "gear" in order to obtain the "right" piece. For me, I got into BMX bikes and parts when I was 11 or 12. I read all the mags, hung out with guys who had nice gear and started buying/selling/trading in a quest to assemble the ultimate bike. It's been like that for just about anything I was seriously interested in since then including guitars and vinatge drums. It's safe to safe you are all like minded when it comes to guitar stuff, just curious if you have been dealing with this "compulsive" behavior as long as I have :lol: :LOL: Let the social experiment begin!!
 
I was never hardcore into gear until about 3 or 4 years ago.
I stuck with amps for a LONG time and only really had 1 or 2 at a time.

Finally, I bought a Peavey VTM and an oldschool EV mic, and that's when it all began.

Once I realized how easy it was to make a little bit of cash on flipping gear, I've been a gear whore ever since.
 
2003.

I had some money and wanted a new guitar and amp. I was looking to buy a Marshall AVT because the dude at the store said it was good. I decided to do some research on the internet and after about a week I signed up for my first 'guitar forum'. I was told to list various bands that had a sound I really liked and a trend developed in that most of them used some form of Mesa. I wound up getting a Recto and was much happier than I would've been with that AVT.
 
When I got back into playing around 2002, I was out of the loop and could not believe the amount of amps out there I never heard of. Bought and sold for several years until I found my tone and that was it. Gear wanting was over for me.
 
Stramm8":1873qw1d said:
This topic may have already been covered but I was curious to see when you all starting "getting into" gear? Not necessarly guitars/amps but when did you develop an interest in something and start buying and selling "gear" in order to obtain the "right" piece. For me, I got into BMX bikes and parts when I was 11 or 12. I read all the mags, hung out with guys who had nice gear and started buying/selling/trading in a quest to assemble the ultimate bike. It's been like that for just about anything I was seriously interested in since then including guitars and vinatge drums. It's safe to safe you are all like minded when it comes to guitar stuff, just curious if you have been dealing with this "compulsive" behavior as long as I have :lol: :LOL: Let the social experiment begin!!
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Same story here; too funny. Bikes, Skateboards, all of it. Same age, too.

Music gear by probably 18. Used to grab the Recycler at 7am every Thursday to see what was available, so yeah, a REALLY long time. Way before the 'net, this just makes it easier :lol: :LOL:
 
Must have been about 8-10 years ago or so, I finally realized that one guitar and one amp just would not cut it anymore, there is no perfect amp or guitar, so I started selling, trading and building the empire! Now if I would have just spent more time practicing,,,,
 
jcj":umfc6pzk said:
Stramm8":umfc6pzk said:
This topic may have already been covered but I was curious to see when you all starting "getting into" gear? Not necessarly guitars/amps but when did you develop an interest in something and start buying and selling "gear" in order to obtain the "right" piece. For me, I got into BMX bikes and parts when I was 11 or 12. I read all the mags, hung out with guys who had nice gear and started buying/selling/trading in a quest to assemble the ultimate bike. It's been like that for just about anything I was seriously interested in since then including guitars and vinatge drums. It's safe to safe you are all like minded when it comes to guitar stuff, just curious if you have been dealing with this "compulsive" behavior as long as I have :lol: :LOL: Let the social experiment begin!!
Click to expand...

Same story here; too funny. Bikes, Skateboards, all of it. Same age, too.

Music gear by probably 18. Used to grab the Recycler at 7am every Thursday to see what was available, so yeah, a REALLY long time. Way before the 'net, this just makes it easier :lol: :LOL:
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I hear ya! Down here we have/had the "Atlanta Advertiser". Bought a mint condition late '80s black Les paul Standard for $500 out of it. I took my older brother with me to pick it up and he couldn't believe I spent that kind of money on a guitar. Two months later I sold it for $1100 or something :lol: :LOL: Also found my first EBMM EVH in the Advertiser for stupid cheap...Ah, those were the days.
 
some dude":3llagvtw said:
Note the custom built frame (Solid BMX)... Fly rims, DT-Swiss spokes, G-Sport hubs, Terrible 1 bars... Tree sprocket... Fly stem, seat... yadda.... yadda... yadda...

IMG_4882.jpg
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Sweet ride. I got to relive my BMX GAS last year when I bought my then 7 year old girl an SE Racing Pink cut down 20". Very cool little bike and relatively cheap. I can't wait to she grows out of it so I can strip it down and refinish it in black primer for my 3 year old boy when he gets ready to move up in a few years :rock:
 
A few years back. I've been trying to get MY sound down for a long time, and I think I've finally figured it out. Les Paul (50s neck, WCR pickups) --> Bogner 101b --> Scumback M75s (Bogner 4x12). Of course there's more to it than that, but that's my go-to rig!
 
Until the year 2001, I had three guitars: My original off-brand hot-rodded strat, My Ibanez RG770DXLB, and my Ibanez RG760BK. I'd never played a Les Paul before, but didn't want to spend big dollars on one, so I bought an ebony Epiphone Les Paul Standard (I SO regret selling that guitar). I fell in love with it, and got a REALLY good deal from a drop-ship broker on eBay. So, I bought another (Heritage Cherry) and another (Goth). Then I started making more money and at the same time decided I wanted to go back to amp heads instead of rack gear. The crucial moment was when I was in a GC and played a Hughes & Kettner Triamp. Sounded SO good I vowed that day to get one. Not too long after that, I got a great eBay deal on a TriAmp MK II. After that... well, it's a progressive disease. I topped out at an audacious amount of gear, and I've recently started selling off pieces, trading quantity for quality.

Thing is, the sound/tone that I had before the great "time of acquisition" was REALLY GOOD! I often think I should pull out the notebooks, re-assemble the rig like it used to be, and go back to that setup and tone. I just know I'd miss some of the sounds (Diezel, Vintage Modern, Hughes & Kettner, Marshall 1974X, etc.).

I have VERY few vices in this world. My music is one of them.

Cheers,
 
Right near the end of college, I grabbed an ibanez rg750, an alvarez shred axe, an ada delay, a rane mixer, a rocktron pro gap ultra within like a month.

That was truly the beginning of the non-stop sickness.
 
I remember before the internet you had to cold call Daddy's Junky Music or stop by Starving Musician in the Bay Area to find good stuff. Also classifieds in the paper, not much on the internet till the late 90's. I think it was after 92 or 93 when my Mom let me go to my first concert to see Metallica I got into gear but I did not really "get into it" hard core main line style till 2000 or 2001 thanks to Ebay.
 
i have been a gear whore since the beginning, or as long as i can remember. i have known since 99 exactly which pieces of gear i want to own, but i am constantly sidetracked by other things that seem cooler at the time ... :doh: . i think i am at the end of my road though, as i am pretty well dead set on just buying my original dream rig and leaving well enough alone :thumbsup:
 
After seeing Kiss Alive I, and deciding I wanted to play rock and roll forever..... I started a lifelong lust affair with gear. I had not really gotten into getting much in the way of good stuff until the last 5 years. Finally have a few good amps dedicated to blues, rock, metal voicings.

In the end, after getting to a baseline level of quality in an amp and a guitar, I get more bang for the buck out of guitar lessons from a local studio pro.
 
Right around the beginning of my first job.

Which coincided with the first time I was earning money. Sitting in front of a computer all day, I discovered these magical "gear forums" that informed me that my current gear was no good, and that I needed new boutique stuff! haha
 
When I joined a band after moving home from college, so like 5 yrs. I started in high school by always making it work with whatever I had, but back then it was no big deal. I was really into punk so all i needed was my strat and my 2x12 crate combo haha. Then in college I had no room for the amp so I went acoustic. I never understood why my friends had so many guitars and different amps and pedals etc.

Then I started expanding my musical horizons, and I started hanging out with my friend Brian McCoy. He went to Berklee for audio production and made my jaw drop everytime he picked up a guitar. He has a Jem, SG, '87 RG, LP, etc. Until I hung out with him I didn't know what a rack was :lol: :LOL: Then I joined this site this year and it has increased my GAS 10 fold. If you wanna hear some of the stuff Brian has done check him out at:

http://www.brianmccoymusic.com
 
i always had 1 guitar and a spare, and a cheap amp that had some gain for metal. then i did the "big rack" thing in the mid '90's. in 2001 i stopped playing for about 3 years and sold off everything thinking i was done. started back up when a friend died and i thought i owed it to him to start playing again. by that time i was making good money, and things got outta hand.

started out buying my bro's sig models. then started having the company build me my own design. now i've moved on to a private luthier to get them built EXACTLY the way i want them. evolution, i guess.

i always wanted a wall of cabs, then found out how much better the wall sounded running different heads at the same time. then found better and better heads. now the sound pressure levels have removed all the hair from my cats and dogs.
 
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