"What am I gonna do with all this crap?" -- Tales of a Recovering Gear-A-Holic

[Blue Jinn]

I am still overwhelmed by too much gear, too little time, and too much time spending chasing down hum, fixing a PSU, resoldering a connection, figuring out why this mic i just built doesn't sound like the other one that's exactly the same except it has different power supply, but same voltage, and I need to get zener diodes for the two MXL PSUs I got to replace these two power supplies so they match and why do I need this Fostex Dolby unit that I found out the easy hack to make it switchable and now I have two of them, see where I'm going with that to actually make music.... BTW @sweetbeats, do you still have that SCSI DAT drive? ;-)

 

[Chilljam]

3 steps that worked for me to put an end to the constant acquisition of gear.

1. No browsing eBay/CL/Facebook/Gumtree at all.
2. Put together a simple, robust, flexible and portable setup strictly with working gear that you already own.
3. Sell everything else that isn't 100% required to make the setup in step 2 work.

 

[TalismanRich]

My solution is to get the kids to take all the crap that they have left at the house for the past 10+ years, and then, with the extra room, I can set up all the gear I've got.

So far, it hasn't worked. I wonder what I can get for Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals, some old car speakers, Cabbage Patch Dolls, and a bunch of Legos if I post them on Craigslist???

 

[TAE]

Wow this is an oldy...but not even a quarter as old as half the crap I have out in my garage and music room. Like several others that have posted here..my Pops was depression era survivor and lightweight hoarder...Use it up, wear it out make do or do without. I am the curator of the museum of my life and my Dad's life and sadly there aren't too many customers / visitors. Sure the grand kids and son-in laws take a run through and go OH WOW that's cool. Willie my one son-in-law just shudders when I say "and when I die this is all yours and Omar's" ( the other son-in-law ). Holy shit storm of my 40+ years of "use it up" plus my Dad's 40+ years of "use it up" plus his Uncle Billy's 40+ years of tools n shit...Some cool stuff and 98% probably of value to someone but worthless to most. I am really trying. I've done well on selling off music gear but I'm still not there..closer but not there. We had our roof redone and when the roofers tore off the old roof a bunch of shit fell down it the garage soooooo. I started at one corner and worked my way around pulling every thing off of shelves sweeping vacuuming and sometimes even going damn why an I keeping this and throwing away some things the horror, the pain....Well I purged may 5% of the 98% ...93% to go OUCH! In the museum I have plumbing wrenches with wood handles, Electrical boxes that use those cylindrical fuses, all metal electric drills , drill bits made for a hand drill, ancient micrometers....OK I do have one thing that is the prize possession of the museum. I have a genuine gold stick pin that is stuck in a cork in a awesome microscope enclosed in a cool wood box with velvet lining where it is stored AND I also have the circa 1930's banner that went with it saying "See the Lord's prayer engraved on the head of a pin!" Crazy shit, How day do dat? I digress...it's a long and winding road that leads to a garage where my wife can park her car...but I'm going to try and give it to her. I swear!

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

That's easy. If you don't use it, put it on Reverb/ebay and send it back to the fires of creation.

 

[witzendoz]

I am looking at all the gear in the studio that never gets turned on any more. Should I sell it? Well, it's not worth anything, who wants a load of old gear?

What am I going to do with it when one day I'll retire from the studio? No one will want my old Cr#p.

Well the answer folks is that one day I will die, then the whole lot will end up in a big skip bin, along with the massive record collection, the cassette tape collection, the CD collection, etc. Hopefully the instruments will end up at a good home. But you know what, I'll be dead and won't care

Remember we are just the Custodians of what we have, not the owners.

Cheers

 

[altruistica]

Wow this is an oldy...but not even a quarter as old as half the crap I have out in my garage and music room. Like several others that have posted here..my Pops was depression era survivor and lightweight hoarder...Use it up, wear it out make do or do without. I am the curator of the museum of my life and my Dad's life and sadly there aren't too many customers / visitors. Sure the grand kids and son-in laws take a run through and go OH WOW that's cool. Willie my one son-in-law just shudders when I say "and when I die this is all yours and Omar's" ( the other son-in-law ). Holy shit storm of my 40+ years of "use it up" plus my Dad's 40+ years of "use it up" plus his Uncle Billy's 40+ years of tools n shit...Some cool stuff and 98% probably of value to someone but worthless to most. I am really trying. I've done well on selling off music gear but I'm still not there..closer but not there. We had our roof redone and when the roofers tore off the old roof a bunch of shit fell down it the garage soooooo. I started at one corner and worked my way around pulling every thing off of shelves sweeping vacuuming and sometimes even going damn why an I keeping this and throwing away some things the horror, the pain....Well I purged may 5% of the 98% ...93% to go OUCH! In the museum I have plumbing wrenches with wood handles, Electrical boxes that use those cylindrical fuses, all metal electric drills , drill bits made for a hand drill, ancient micrometers....OK I do have one thing that is the prize possession of the museum. I have a genuine gold stick pin that is stuck in a cork in a awesome microscope enclosed in a cool wood box with velvet lining where it is stored AND I also have the circa 1930's banner that went with it saying "See the Lord's prayer engraved on the head of a pin!" Crazy shit, How day do dat? I digress...it's a long and winding road that leads to a garage where my wife can park her car...but I'm going to try and give it to her. I swear!

I hear you brother.....

 

[altruistica]

I am looking at all the gear in the studio that never gets turned on any more. Should I sell it? Well, it's not worth anything, who wants a load of old gear?

What am I going to do with it when one day I'll retire from the studio? No one will want my old Cr#p.

Well the answer folks is that one day I will die, then the whole lot will end up in a big skip bin, along with the massive record collection, the cassette tape collection, the CD collection, etc. Hopefully the instruments will end up at a good home. But you know what, I'll be dead and won't care

Remember we are just the Custodians of what we have, not the owners.

Cheers

I hear you too, brother. Man, we are all in a reflective mood....must be the alignment of the planets...

 

[sweetbeats]

I’m kind of taken-aback this thread has continued to bubble along through the years. I guess I was and am very much not alone.

I’d love to post a very detailed reply, but there’s just no time...brand new baby here on top of a toddler with some special needs...

I still have a fair amount of the gear I noted at the beginning of the thread, but a lot of it is gone. Other things have taken the place of those items, but I believe it is all slowly narrowing in to a logical package/setup. I think I’ve stopped buying things just out of curiosity...diminished hoarding type tendencies. I’ve got a pretty clear picture of the studio setup I’m moving toward, so purchases fit into that vision. I’ve got some stuff to sell, just hard to find the time to even do that these days...comprehensive Tascam 58 setup, and I think I’ve decided to sell my TimeLine Micro Lynx bundle. But I’ve been busy taking care of a lot of other things.

 

[Blue Jinn]

I think I’ve stopped buying things just out of curiosity...diminished hoarding type tendencies.

Yeah, I went on a huge buying spree a "wouldn't it be cool to have" and "OK, I can mod this or that and...." and, while I don't have quite the knack you have, i still got some screamin' deals on some of the glut. I have to say it's an inherited trait though. I visited a couple of friends of mine years ago, and he'd said to his sister that he was sure I could go into my dad's basement and grab some arcane tool and fix their TV. She asked me to try anyway, so I popped the hood and all it was just a bent trimmer for the horizontal hold.

 

[sweetbeats]

Yeah that’s kind of the nature of a lot of stuff I bought over the years...was always curious about a certain mixer or recorder...just excited about the different gear. But I’ve deeply felt the frustration of how that distracts from fixing/setting up the gear I know I want to use ongoing, the core setup, and beyond that (more importantly) how that distracts from actually making music.

I have a number of friends that, on occasion, refer to me as “Macgyver”...fixing or rigging stuff using whatever is on-hand, etc. it’ll come in handy in the zombie apocalypse.

@Blue Jinn you asked in some other thread if I still had your DAT drive and associated stuff...indeed I do...never got to trying to figure out how to get it working (to direct transfer audio DAT tape data to HDD)...honestly am not sure I will ever get to that...I’ve kept it all safe...reach out if ever you need or want me to send any or all of it your way.

 

[Blue Jinn]

So, I sold my Teac 5, and the two Fostex 80s. So now I got to decide between the MSR_16 and the 38. Against better advice I'm leaning toward the convenience of 16 tracks over the simplicity and sonics of the 38. The published specs are actually pretty close on the two decks, the obvious big difference being crosstalk is about 2dB worse on the 16 and the necessity of using dbx. I will probably also keep the 22-4 also. The 38 is in need of servicing too, track 7 won't go into sync and it needs a level calibration bad. I have a replacement channel card, and can do the bias and playback/record level calibration. Getting out of the rack scares the crap out of me though. I'm haven't been hitting the gym lately....

 

[sweetbeats]

So, I sold my Teac 5, and the two Fostex 80s. So now I got to decide between the MSR_16 and the 38. Against better advice I'm leaning toward the convenience of 16 tracks over the simplicity and sonics of the 38. The published specs are actually pretty close on the two decks, the obvious big difference being crosstalk is about 2dB worse on the 16 and the necessity of using dbx. I will probably also keep the 22-4 also. The 38 is in need of servicing too, track 7 won't go into sync and it needs a level calibration bad. I have a replacement channel card, and can do the bias and playback/record level calibration. Getting out of the rack scares the crap out of me though. I'm haven't been hitting the gym lately....

Good on you for thinning the herd a bit. I hope you got some good return on what you sold.

The issue with the 38 and sync mode on track 7 is probably a relay issue, and unfortunately relays can be a bit of a PITA on the 30 series. One of the relays...K2? Is an obscure footprint/pinout. You can install more commonly available relays there but I believe you have to solder in flying leads and mount the new relay with RTV upside-down. Anyway...makes sense to me if the 16 track works, and the 38 needs work, and if you imagine you'll want more than 8 tracks to play with, if you're keeping one then the 16-track fits the bill. And I can also see keeping the 22-4. Good little machine, nice to have an honest-to-goodness 4-track around.

I have to pull my 3M M64 halftrack out of the rack. Damn thing is a beast.

 

[Blue Jinn]

Good on you for thinning the herd a bit. I hope you got some good return on what you sold.

The issue with the 38 and sync mode on track 7 is probably a relay issue, and unfortunately relays can be a bit of a PITA on the 30 series. One of the relays...K2? Is an obscure footprint/pinout. You can install more commonly available relays there but I believe you have to solder in flying leads and mount the new relay with RTV upside-down. Anyway...makes sense to me if the 16 track works, and the 38 needs work, and if you imagine you'll want more than 8 tracks to play with, if you're keeping one then the 16-track fits the bill. And I can also see keeping the 22-4. Good little machine, nice to have an honest-to-goodness 4-track around.

I have to pull my 3M M64 halftrack out of the rack. Damn thing is a beast.

Guy bought it as a lot. He got a screamin' good deal, but let's just say I still came out well ahead of what I paid for all of it, so I'm OK. It was "priced to sell" and it did.

I'll pull the 38 out of the rack, and, if I can get rack rails, rack up the working Otari.