Rain Posted September 30, 2023 Share Posted September 30, 2023 (edited) I grew up in a relatively poor household, so I have many contenders for the title of worst piece of gear you've ever owned. My first electric guitar was a used crappy Les Paul copy, a brand named Mann, that I got for Christmas in 85. I found a picture on the web. Mine had the black pickguard and the black speed knobs. And here's me with mine: I remember me and my pal bringing our guitars to have them adjusted by a friend's dad. When we came to pick them up, my buddy's Sears Harmony Strat copy was all set up and intonated. He then handed me mine with that sad look on his face, saying: sorry, there's just nothing I can really do about yours. THAT crappy. As much as I was happy to have a guitar, a tobacco burst Les Paul stood out like a sore thumb when you were an aspiring metal god in the age of superstrats. In the late 80's, you'd rarely see any metal guitarist with a LP, much less one with that kind of finish. But I kept at it for the next few years, and eventually, after an entire year without an electric guitar, I got a Sears Strat, all black, which was already a huge improvement, and then my Korean Fender Squier. I often wonder whether it's possible that that Mann sucked so bad that it slowed down my progress. I think so. Not to mention that I couldn't afford a set of strings, I'd buy individual ones when I broke a B or an E, but I'd sometimes go on with a 4 or 5 string guitar for a few weeks. I had so many bad memories that almost 25 years passed before I even considered playing a LP again. Ironically, they then quickly became my favorites. Not only did my guitar suck, but I didn't have an amp until the following Christmas. Ad then this is what I got: And no pedal, of course (I eventually got a BOSS Super Overdrive, a year or two afterwards - although that was yet another compromise as I could not get the orange Distortion I lusted after). For a while, I rented amps whenever I could afford it and needed it for a rehearsal or something. I'd also borrow a little Traynor from school. And I eventually inherited that ROSS amp - though I seem to recall mine was for keys, it had no overdrive. But, yeah, that one and all the rest of these are the stuff of nightmares. And the reason I was so ecstatic when I finally got my Korean Strat and my first Marshall combo. Edited September 30, 2023 by Rain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitflipper Posted September 30, 2023 Share Posted September 30, 2023 My garage is a museum of orphaned gear that I once wanted enough to pay for but now collects dust. I have two of these sitting under a desk, and can't give them away: I had two of them for running in stereo. These sound great on organ, but they're heavy and not powerful enough to compete with guitar amps. I replaced them with a pair of 1KW QSC powered PA speakers. Even those tended to distort with piano at high volume, so they got repurposed for vocals and I bought these more powerful versions for keyboard amplification: Those worked quite well, but because I placed them atop stands it was sometimes a hassle to find a good stage location for them where they weren't blasting directly into my ears. Nowadays I run keys through the mains and use the 8" version of the above as a monitor. The K10.2s are now floor monitors. But we plan on going to IEMs for monitoring so when that happens I'll be adding a total of 6 rather pricey QSC powered speakers to the museum. Years ago my favorite software Hammond emulation was VB3. So when Crumar came out with an organ that ran VB3 in hardware, I thought it would be the ultimate portable Hammond. It wasn't. Turned out, it ran the newer VB3-2 which doesn't sound nearly as good as the original VB3. So this poor orphan now collects dust on a shelf, a $1500 mistake. It does have a nice Hammond-style action, though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted September 30, 2023 Share Posted September 30, 2023 My first guitar: A Hondo Jimmy Page Les Paul look-alike. Great for taking pictures with or swinging at small animals. Just don't try to learn how to play guitar with it! When I was able to get a REAL 1976 Les Paul, the Hondo was literally given to Goodwill since I couldn't justify even selling it for $20 without feeling like I was screwing someone over! LOL. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted September 30, 2023 Share Posted September 30, 2023 My first keyboard... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bapu Posted September 30, 2023 Share Posted September 30, 2023 30 minutes ago, paulo said: My first keyboard... I've only juan thing to say.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notes_Norton Posted September 30, 2023 Share Posted September 30, 2023 Conn 16M tenor sax. My first sax, student model, bad intonation, thin tone. My grandmother chipped in, plus my savings, I bought a used, made in France, Selmer Modele 26. It was an older pro model, but it had better intonation and big tone. I never missed the Conn, but it did serve its purpose. Notes ♫ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted September 30, 2023 Share Posted September 30, 2023 So, you were Conned into that first one Bob? 😁 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfssongs Posted September 30, 2023 Share Posted September 30, 2023 I gotta say I don't regret getting rid of stuff, I regret Buying it. SO what I don't regret getting rid of: almost everything I got rid of. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rain Posted October 1, 2023 Author Share Posted October 1, 2023 11 hours ago, craigb said: My first guitar: A Hondo Jimmy Page Les Paul look-alike. Great for taking pictures with or swinging at small animals. Just don't try to learn how to play guitar with it! When I was able to get a REAL 1976 Les Paul, the Hondo was literally given to Goodwill since I couldn't justify even selling it for $20 without feeling like I was screwing someone over! LOL. A kid in school had one of those Hondo LP. I thought it was infinitely nicer than my Mann. What does that tell you... lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 1 hour ago, Rain said: A kid in school had one of those Hondo LP. I thought it was infinitely nicer than my Mann. What does that tell you... lol The strings were over an inch off the fretboard? 🤔 😂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rain Posted October 1, 2023 Author Share Posted October 1, 2023 (edited) Yeah, it was that horrible. I know there's a lot of people my age buying toys and stuff they used to own in their youth because it brings back memories. A few years ago, I even tracked an old 8 track player exactly like the one my dad owned when I was a kid and acquired it. For the memories it brings. But that guitar would be in the exact opposite category for me. I am not sure it still exists. It was in a closet in my parents house, in 2 pieces (bolted neck) last I saw it. It's probably been dumped ages ago. The only thing to do with that piece of garbage. Edited October 1, 2023 by Rain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheens Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 (edited) when I found an audio amp exactly like I had as teenager, bought it but.. it wasn't MY amp I had....so that didn't work for me.. gave my dad's approx 1980 Ibanez western guitar back to him + gave his Sansui amp and Sony record player to my brother. they were my dad's and awesome pieces but dunno if I want to be remembered every day my dad's gone. probably not as it makes me sad always. Edited October 1, 2023 by Sheens 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 19 hours ago, Bapu said: I've only juan thing to say.... Are you telling me that you don't already have the vst version installed? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notes_Norton Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 19 hours ago, craigb said: So, you were Conned into that first one Bob? 😁 Actually, Conn used to be a fine saxophone, but the one I bought was a student model and it was made as the company was in its downward spiral. BTW unlike the flute and clarinet, the sax is a connical shaped instrument. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User 905133 Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 When they were young, my kids discovered my Alesis MMT-8 [Multi-track MIDI Song Sequencer] in a pile of unused gear. It had a whole bunch of rubbery buttons and a flip-top instruction panel that the kids loved to play pretend with. While I regretted that the buttons were wonky and the ease of use was more on the difficult side of the scale, I did not regret that the kids appropriated it for their own playful purposes. In fact, I was glad to see it be useful for something. They had much more fun with it than I ever did. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gswitz Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 Earthquaker pedals for me. I've loved so much stuff. My guitars first and foremost. An old seagull guitar I was playing this morning, for example. There are some things that never took. A tube mic for example. I never loved it. It crackled sometimes and I couldn't trust it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheens Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 (edited) regret a new (not cheap) Keeley Compressor Pro, way too much NOISE (maybe I got a bad 1). Edited October 1, 2023 by Sheens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeyjx Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 I had one of the early M-Audio interfaces, and it was horrid. Glad when I got my first "real" one with the Tascam FW-1884, which was an awesome purchase. Anytime I built a DAW with an AMD processor and/or a non-Asus board, I was happy when I got rid of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfssongs Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 Does when my kids moved out count ? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 4 hours ago, Sheens said: regret a new (not cheap) Keeley Compressor Pro, way too much NOISE (maybe I got a bad 1). I'd say you did! Mine was flippin' awesome! NO noise. (Are you sure you didn't accidentally get the "student" model? 😂) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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