Your nostalgic gear...

themindwillnotletgo

themindwillnotletgo

New member
I dig all kinds of gear. Betraying my age, I got a few pieces that I spent enjoyable parts of my life with. I'm always interested to hear other people's musical lives. You got anything meaningful to you?


Here's mine:

Ibanez PUE-5 - This got me through my college band days. It sounded good, had stereo headphone out for playing in the apartment, complete with noise gate, external loop and stereo outs. I was poor, so I ran stereo out to a solid state Crate amp and a band mate's Peavey Bandit. I even re-covered the speakers in matching, unbranded, fabric to hide all the poverty :D I had guys coming up after shows asking me how I was getting the great tones. After I bought the amp (below), I loaned my original PUE to some tweaker and the last time I saw it, it was half destroyed. The only piece of gear I regretted letting go of, I recently found an excellent specimen online.

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Johnson Amplification Millennium Stereo 150 - This was one of the first modelling amps, JA and Line-6 came out about the same time right around the turn of the century. I chose the Johnson mainly for the tube preamp section, the Digitech effects processor, and the ability to perform firmware updates via desktop computer. Line-6 survived obviously :D, as far as I know, this is obsolete. Great sounding amp, I ran it with a 2x12 extension cabinet for live, and still use its XLR direct outs today for the vast majority of my DAW guitar tracks.

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Roland R8 - I've worked with a couple guys that had these. This is (was, lol) my brother-in-law's, high-school band mate, college roommate, collaborator of almost 40yrs. I was getting back into solo recording at the time, and he asked me if I wanted to borrow it. If memory serves, this was the first drum machine to use samples of real drums. You could load all kinds of different kits into it via memory card. As with the amp above, if you could wrap your head around the (sometimes deep) scroll-and-button menu navigations, both are incredibly robust and almost infinitely flexible.

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And still collecting vintage gear ;)
For me it just sounds better (?) And inspires much more than a plugin.

Almost everyone I send "masters" i made (and they are far from pro sounding i think) claims to hear more depth and detail. I agree :)
 

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Roland R8 - I've worked with a couple guys that had these. This is (was, lol) my brother-in-law's, high-school band mate, college roommate, collaborator of almost 40yrs. I was getting back into solo recording at the time, and he asked me if I wanted to borrow it. If memory serves, this was the first drum machine to use samples of real drums. You could load all kinds of different kits into it via memory card. As with the amp above, if you could wrap your head around the (sometimes deep) scroll-and-button menu navigations, both are incredibly robust and almost infinitely flexible.

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The R8 was/is a great drum machine. 2-3 year after the R8 came out - Roland released another killer drum machine - the R70. I still have and use mine. I use mine mostly for some of the cool, unique sound effects that you can't find anywhere else. But yeah - the R70 still works perfectly even though it's got significant high mileage at this point.

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Not sure if this qualifies - but I've had this DS-1 so long I can't remember when I bought it. It's been modified to curb that shrill edgy-ness that these are known for - I still use it from time to time. I gigged heavily for many years and this thing was a mainstay on my board during that entire period. I mostly used it as a lead boost with most of the crunch rolled off.
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And these guys:

The amp on the right is a vintage 1965 Fender Tremolux. I picked it up many years ago through a trade after doing some air conditioning work for a drummer friend. He bought it cheap from the original owner who was a steel player. According to him - it never had an electric guitar plugged into it until me. It was all original except for caps when I got it. I've since had the local guru go through it and shore/clean it up. Lower wattage, breaks up nicely at lower volumes, sounds to my ears like so many records from the late 60's and 70's.

The amp on the left is very special to me. A first generation 1990 Bassman Reissue which was my main workhorse gigging amp for many years. If you know these - they have freaky high clean headroom - especially on the normal channel. Takes pedals well - and is loud enough for any small to medium size room. An absolute brick shithouse workhorse, that amp.

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I don't know how I would classify my nostalgic gear. I have the first pair of stereo speakers (Marantz 5G) and Sony turntable from the early 70s. I revived the Sony receiver from '73 with new caps. I have all the gear from my "new" stereo from 1980 (IMF speakers, Bryston amp, Rega TT, Yamaha tuner, Onkyo cassette). They all work still. My 4 track Dokorder is in the basement but doesn't work.

I still have my Guild Thunderbird amp ('69?)and S100 guitar ('74), I actually played the guitar last night. I haven't used the amp in at least 8-10 years. I think it cost me $360 when I bought it. To retube and recap it today would cost roughly $3-400 in parts alone, Tungsol 7591A tubes are $50 each. JJs are half that, but I don't know if they are as strong. The can caps are $40+ each and there are at least 4 that need replacing, plus various other electrolytics. So it sits in the basement. Plus, at over 90 lbs, I couldn't lift the thing up the steps if my life depended on it!

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Gone are my original Jordan Boss Tone, late 60s Cry Baby, early 70s Fender Blender.

I also have a 1953 National Supreme (Valco) that was restored and a mid 40s Gibson BR-3 lap steel. My dad bought those cheap.. probably $25 or less, back in the 60s. I think he wanted me to play like Santo and Johnny! I wanted to play the Kinks, Beatles, Hendrix and Cream! (Sorry Dad, but I did learn Sleepwalk on guitar!)

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This is an '87 H-140 that I picked up used. A good sounding, good playing guitar. It traveled with me on work trips and has made a few jam sessions.

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Everything else is relatively new, as in after 2003. This one is nostalgic because I ordered it for my 50th birthday in '03.

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And I bought this after I finished radiation treatments for cancer a dozen years ago, so it's special for me. It's one of the few times that I said "screw it, I'm buying it. Who knows if I'll be here in 5 years."

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