Best/worst piece of gear/equipment for the price

[monkie]

What is the one piece of gear or equipment you bought that you feel is worth every penny? Why? Which is the most useless/$$$ wasted and does not worth every penny (if any)? Why?

To me, the most worth it piece of gear I bought is my fender strat. I find myself playing more than recording. I'm actually getting good at it pretty quickly, too. And the worst..... that would be the Bass. I play my guitar so much that I don't really have any time left for the Bass. It's just sitting around collecting dust. I shouldn't have bought it in the first place. I could've used the money for a different piece of gear/equipment.

What's your???

[tojo]

haha i hardly play my bass! I paid $ 50 for it, my dad re-soldered the cables inside it so it would work better and now i just use it for recording!

Man i wish i had a strat though, or even better a telecaster.

as for recording gear i think my at2020 is great.

[monkie]

Originally Posted by tojo

haha i hardly play my bass! I paid $ 50 for it, my dad re-soldered the cables inside it so it would work better and now i just use it for recording!

Man i wish i had a strat though, or even better a telecaster.

as for recording gear i think my at2020 is great.

Lucky for you; I wish I had paid only $50 for my bass. Just like you, I only use it for recording but since I play guitar so much nowadays that I probably won't get back into recording until I can come up with a really cool lick, or get a new piece of gear for my studio.

[omtayslick]

Roland Cube 60 guitar amp.

Why?: It's lightweight, small and portable. Sounds great. Effects are good sounding and simple to adjust. It's 60 solid state watts will drown out a drumkit with a high output guitar. And it has various other nice and useful features. People are often shocked when they see what I'm playing through. "All that sound came out of that?"

[mikeh]

Man, waaay too much gear (over a long amount of years) to even remember -but of the things I currently have in the studio:

Best purchases (most use for the cost)

Fender Tele - Used $400 - Ends up on almost every recording I've ever made

Octava MC012 mic - new $50 - I record accoustic guitars and percussion all the time with it - one of my most used mics

Roland TD10 V-drums - cost $3000 new - I've tracked more drums tracks than I can even count, with no mics, no snake, no complex room treatment, etc. I would not complete any recordings if I did not have my V-Drums

Most useless?

BBE Sonic Maximizer - used $100 (when they first came out) - I rarely used it unless dubbing cassettes (which I rarely do anymore)

Art Tube MP - New $100 - I quickly learned a better mic pre was worth it - rarely used the Art

Ibenez AG75 - Used $200 - I just never felt good about this axe - it plays OK, but does not record well (if I can't record it, I don't much need it)

Boss Jamstation - New about $400 - I thought it would be a cool writing tool - but waaaay to complicated. One of the dumbest impulse purchases I've ever made.

[MattNZ]

Most useful: Martin acoustic. Play it daily.

Most useless: Pignose amp. Bough on a whim. Cheap, but pretty useless...

As for recording gear, the most useful has definitely been my Edirol UA-25. Most useless? Dunno. It all gets used!

[Anfontan]

I would say my best amp purchase is my Peavey Classic 20-a 15 watt all tube amp with 2 12AX7 preamp and 2 EL84 power amp tubes. Just right for my recording needs. The Johnson J-Station is high on the list too, it is great for direct recording of guitar and bass parts-and an excellent songwriting tool.

The best guitar purchase is a Tele copy I bought at a going out of business sale-maple neck, ash body, vintage bridge and authentic Tele twang for $65!!!
And a MIM Fender Strat a friend gave to me-after I replaced the pickups it's a go-to recording and gigging axe~

The worst is a Fostex FD-4 digital 4 track that uses 100 mB zip discs.
The combined tracks gave about 4 minutes of song time and it has a tiny LCD display--every time I would use it I had to relearn the awkward menus again.

[jeffree]

Ditto on the J-Station, which I've been using happily for six years. The Yamaha AW16G workstation has been my most satisfying recent purchase, though, if I don't include my guitars, especially my Guild Starfire IV electric. What a tone on that puppy and it plays like butter.

Worst? The pricey cassette mixdown deck that I bought and used a few times. Digital took over, and I was stuck in the slow lane. Stupid move.