when is it time to stop buying old cheaper rack gear?

CoolCat

Well-known member
when is it time to stop buying old cheaper rack gear?

what year is a cutoff? realizing if it fails its not worth repairing, if repairs are even possible most likely not worth it.

recently ive had a few broken, road worn and done, failed units....meters out, scratchy pots, one channel works one doesnt, this is broken but it "kind of works", new buzz noises etc...

and these are cheaper aka entry level rack pieces <$300 units, 2002, 1997, 2007 aged.

Its just weird because on Reverb, Ebay, Sales sites it seems people are increasing prices on these old things. I recently grabbed two units and both have failed parts and are dysfunctional units.

maybe I should have titled this BUYER BEWARE?

I think in the future , Budget gear is best bought Brand New, imo.
 
I just sold off the last of my "rack gear", not that I had a lot to begin with. Just recently sold my UAD Apollo 2 Duo which was a rack mount interface and downsized to the Apollo Twin USB. It's all I need anymore.

Just this thing.

apollo_twin.jpg

So, I say the time is now. Stop buying old junk!!! :D
 
So, I say the time is now. Stop buying old junk!!! :D

Ya, but you need a computer to make it work. There are lots of people who cannot handle computers. My rack gear works every time I plug it in. It sounds phenomenal.

ADA equipment from the 80-90's should cost $10,000+++ per. People have not figured out that computer music is a lie.

Its nothing. They reduced it to nothing. Oh its software now...What the fucks that? And why does my guitar feel so disconnected when I play it...
 
I just sold off the last of my "rack gear", not that I had a lot to begin with. Just recently sold my UAD Apollo 2 Duo which was a rack mount interface and downsized to the Apollo Twin USB. It's all I need anymore.

Just this thing.

View attachment 107782

So, I say the time is now. Stop buying old junk!!! :D

Glad you were able to sell that! Did you lower the price to do it?
 
Ya, but you need a computer to make it work. There are lots of people who cannot handle computers. My rack gear works every time I plug it in. It sounds phenomenal.

ADA equipment from the 80-90's should cost $10,000+++ per. People have not figured out that computer music is a lie.

Its nothing. They reduced it to nothing. Oh its software now...What the fucks that? And why does my guitar feel so disconnected when I play it...

I don’t know what you’re saying when you say computers being reduced to nothing.
 
Are there any marshall amps in there? Micronized? In the grid?
]

...and yet, you have an Apollo. At least you say you do. The amp sims are phenomenal, you have a "micronized" marshall stack right in the interface. It's there, go take a look. I personally have a fender Tweed and a Dietzel. Both sound wonderful.
 
You stop buying rack gear when there's no longer anything on offer you want? Now's a great time to pick up bargains that you wanted, but never got!
 
chili, I recall when you bought that flagship rack UA unit, when you sold it I wondered if you'd stay with the UA stuff. Having just a desktop unit instead of the rack is where Im heading too. The purchase tells me you like the UA plugins and all UA drivers etc...as you didnt switch over to something else. congrats!

I do like me a little outboard (which keeps me shopping?) but for 2020, my winners are clearly the Cloudlifter and JDI Radial both brand new and < $200pcs. ...... the I/O boxes are great for plugging into...

STOP buying used cheap stuff! I hear you.

..yeah my experience in 2020 recently might just be enuff bad old cheap gear whining, after getting a few bad units shipped in and having a few old units of mine start dying off....... to turn me off not to buy someone elses old used rack gear thats frkn crap near death.

but to complain some more of USED BEWARE...its a cash loss too that could have bought Brand New.

Example ART stuff, a brand new with warranty is $99 for single/mono or $215 for TPSII or $359 for MPA dual all brand new. If it works out of the box its probably good to go until it craps out in years and years.

but USED and ABUSED ART, APHEX, BEHRINGER...already old 10yr-20yr cheap gear from lightening strikes and gigs of pukebeer might be going too low in the budget bin! and just dont waste the $50 or $129 plus tax/shipping. A person just doesnt know where its been...with failing parts or arriving with dead meters and rack rash and noisy pots...and then what spend a week shipping it back or being stuck with it.... 1997...2002...cheap gear? :facepalm:

I might put these crap-pieces I have in a rack case and go to GC and sell it "as -is" towards a new UA DUO... say hell with all the cables and junk......but Ill keep the Cloudlifter and JDI...and maybe get a brand new ART TPSII for $215 - old rack crap$$$.= $75 out of pocket..... lol

one mans garbage is another mans dream?:drunk:
 
...and yet, you have an Apollo. At least you say you do. The amp sims are phenomenal, you have a "micronized" marshall stack right in the interface. It's there, go take a look. I personally have a fender Tweed and a Dietzel. Both sound wonderful.

Yes, I have the Apollo Twin. It needs a USB 3 port, which I am having difficulty with.

20210109_114020.jpg

Yes it has great sounding VST guitars.

That is not why I bought it. I have the best sounding REAL amplifiers. I bought an interface to record those. Not a fake version inside its software DAW mixer. I needed it to record my stuff. I spent 30 years finding that sound.

I notice the latency playing. Shred tripplets through the pentatonics real fast, you should catch it.

Line 6 Toneport sound fine too. Its just VST,s.

Would your drummer be happy taking away his whole kit? Then handing him a 16 pad midi controller and tell him to 'have at it'. Nope.
 
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yeah I get that...the workmanship and time getting a sound and the gear itself vs economical and efficient, and cheaper.... soundwise I cant tell anymore but the player and his gear "sounds" is another thing.

one of my elder best buds has the tube and biasing and tones of many speakers he changed and tried for decades, great gear stories and wealth of knowledge.....and he doesnt even like computers! lol...he is about as interested in DAW's and Podfarm as nothing.... his whole life is plugging into those amps and chasing the grail.

but yeah, as I look at my single KT2A with two knobs and think how easy my $30 Klanghelm comps can be like owning 400qty units that sound as good in the mix....I wonder what Im doing.

still in the end I think I prefer trying to create the sound outside is more fun than the mouse, but soundwise and cost wise...plugins win all that.

and Lazer your rack gear isnt really cheap, but those ADA units are getting pretty old....do you ever repair them or anything gone bad yet? like buttons that stopped working or display chips burn out?
 
and Lazer your rack gear isnt really cheap, but those ADA units are getting pretty old....do you ever repair them or anything gone bad yet? like buttons that stopped working or display chips burn out?

Yes. Not often. The front knob and filter caps on my MB-1, was last year. My Mp-1's are solid. Internal batteries I replaced. ADA made EXTREMELY high quality gear until 1996. 1996..

At some point i want to replace the speakers in the cabinets.

My guitar cabinets pictred are Ultra lite weight 12" Aluminum GK cabinets. With 30wt greenbacks for a 20 watt EL84 amp.

Or a 1960A/1960B with GT75's and EL-34's.
 
chili, I recall when you bought that flagship rack UA unit, when you sold it I wondered if you'd stay with the UA stuff. Having just a desktop unit instead of the rack is where Im heading too. The purchase tells me you like the UA plugins and all UA drivers etc...as you didnt switch over to something else. congrats!

UA plugs and interfaces represent a significant investment, one that I built up over the years, one plug at a time. Hard to walk away from that, especially when they yield results I like. I downsized because eventually the wife and I will be moving to a sailboat and I want as small a footprint as possible. The UAD Apollo Twin is perfect because it works with most any PC or laptop that has USB3, has the same capabilities as the Apollo 2 minus a few channels, and I no longer need a firewire card... and it is small. I'm hesitant to say this, but it might be my last purchase of audio equipment. Okay, I ~might~ buy a Fender Hotrod IV.


I do like me a little outboard (which keeps me shopping?) but for 2020, my winners are clearly the Cloudlifter and JDI Radial both brand new and < $200pcs. ...... the I/O boxes are great for plugging into...

I hear so much about those JDIs, I think our lead singer would benefit from one.
 
Yes, I have the Apollo Twin. It needs a USB 3 port, which I am having difficulty with.

Oh, what's going on with that? Mine has been working perfectly on my PC. I have yet to try it on my laptop, but maybe I will do that this weekend.


Yes it has great sounding VST guitars.

That is not why I bought it. I have the best sounding REAL amplifiers. I bought an interface to record those. Not a fake version inside its software DAW mixer. I needed it to record my stuff. I spent 30 years finding that sound.

I notice the latency playing. Shred tripplets through the pentatonics real fast, you should catch it.

So, I'm actually working in reverse. I love the amp sims, especially the Fender amps. I might go buy the real thing here soon. I have a lead on one at a really good price. Not sure if it's going to happen yet.

As for latency, when you use the plugs with the Unison insert, the latency is right around 1-3 ms. Well, you get more latency from a real amp if you stand 10 feet away from it... that's about 10ms for the sound to travel from the speaker to your ear.


Would your drummer be happy taking away his whole kit? Then handing him a 16 pad midi controller and tell him to 'have at it'. Nope.
I'm in 2 bands. One drummer has a nice edrum kit. He doesn't use it, wants to sell it, but he has one. The other drummer.... who cares, he's a hack. lol.

But for recording I use EZDrummer. All in the box.
 
Oh, what's going on with that? .

Heaven only knows.

I sent it for service. The Asus Via USB3 driver is not availible through MyASUS pdater. You cannot download drivers from ASUS for it directly. It installs the generic drivers from Windows and performs as a USB 2.0.

On return they claim it will have the VIA USB3 driver installed as the ASUS Vivobook 14 has 1 USB 3 port standard.
 
who cares, he's a hack. lol.

But for recording I use EZDrummer. All in the box.

Stay clear of sketchy percussionists.

EZ Drummer is alright. Have you tried a midi controller with phrase samples? AKAI has the MPD218 . The MPC software can standalone. Make beats all day. Its fun.
 
Heaven only knows.

I sent it for service. ... On return they claim it will have the VIA USB3 driver installed as the ASUS Vivobook 14 has 1 USB 3 port standard.
Well, hopefully that'll take care of it for ya. I wonder why it wasn't working to begin with; it should have been.

Have you tried a midi controller with phrase samples? AKAI has the MPD218 . The MPC software can standalone. Make beats all day. Its fun.
Nah, I enjoy EZD and have no ambition to go try anything else.
 
So, I'm actually working in reverse. I love the amp sims, especially the Fender amps.
x.

A guy that comes to jam( years ago now)and his girls, they use the Toneport UX2/Eleven Rack. He uses Mesa Boogie power amps with them on the line outs. His daughter uses an Eleven rack. Still they use a Mesa 50/50 power amp and code red cabinets.

Its got preamps, FX, everything. It is affordable for any budget. It sounds nice. For less than $100 it has every effect and modulation. The Eleven Rack was slightly more.

The Apollo's Diezel H4...sounds like WEEZER!
 
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