What's the best bit of kit you've ever bought?

[Len_derby]

I wondered if any of you have got something in your gear that has proved itself as a 'best buy' over time?
It could be a bass, backline, effect, cable, flight case, whatever.
Something that's given you real and reliable money's worth and has maybe surprised you. The stuff you'd buy again without hesitation.

For me it would be my Roland Cube 100 bass combo. Even though I've now also got a Barefaced cab and a Markbass head the Roland still ticks all the boxes for lots of situations.
In second place would be my Boss Tu-2 tuning pedal.

What are your 'gems'?

[gafbass02]

Cool idea for a thread. Gotta be my blue jazz, it's just been my best friend for so long now, and it's the one that will always be with me, and luckily it's a great bass too.

[essexbasscat]

Peavey MK IV amp for £60.00

It's heavy for sure, but it produces a full sound that's easy to shape and tailor to the circumstances. Also renowned for being ultra reliable.

I'd like to get an American Eden WT400 at some point, just for the ease of carrying, but I'll always have the Peavey mk IV as a back - up.

[JTUK]

Sure...my SM400 and 3 Sei basses.
Quality and class, IMO

[Truckstop]

GK 400RB-IV. Got it for £345 from GAK nearly 7 years ago and it hasnt put a foot wrong yet. If it died today, I'd buy a new one tomorrow.

Truckstop

[Pete Academy]

Apologies for stepping into guitar territory, but my old Casio Midi Guitar I bought in the 80s. Transformed my home recordings.

[Happy Jack]

PJB Bass Buddy.

Basses and rigs come and go, but my Bass Buddy remains by far my most regularly-used and versatile piece of kit.

[Delberthot]

I think for most people its likely to be what they own currently apart from those 'why did I sell that' items

For me it has to be the Thunderbird. I was working it out earlier that if I'd bought the bass and the parts I added to it, it would've cost me £400 but was around the £250 mark for the bass and all the addons

Had it 7 months which is a modern record for me - modern being post-basschat/talkbass/egay

I'm still getting to know it and adjust it exactly to my liking but it was pretty much on the money when I bought it. Such a fantastic looking and playing bass and something a bit different

I'd also have to say Gallien Krueger amps. went round the doors using different stuff and came right back to GK because it produces the sound I want

Edited April 29, 2011 by Delberthot

[purpleblob]

Easy one for me, my Wal Custom without a doubt - however technically my Dad bought it for me (so is that allowed ?) way back when Wal's were relatively cheap. It's still as fantastic to play now as when I first got it and if I could only keep one instrument, even though I prefer a 5 string E-C tuning now and this is a four string, I'd still keep it above all others (ofcourse there's massive sentimental reasons for that as well ).

Aside from that, I did have an old Tascam 4 track cassette recorder that was great fun and I did most of my demos on it (back in the day) - so that was a great purchases and deserves a mention.

More recent purchases that have proved to have been good are my Genz Benz shuttle 3.0 (with extension speaker) which sounds fantastic and is tiny and mega lightweight, and my Sei 5 string fretted as it's given me the high C I crave and sounds and plays brilliantly (even if I don't!). Close on it's heels would be my Sei 5 string fretless as it's renewed my interest in playing fretless bass.

[Marvin]

My Hercules Mini Stand. It folds down soooooooo small My guitarist has 3 Hercules grab stand things, always looks like he's going camping the amount of metal he carries around.

I'm easily pleased.

[Len_derby]

[quote name='Marvin' post='1214731' date='Apr 29 2011, 11:28 AM']My Hercules Mini Stand. It folds down soooooooo small My guitarist has 3 Hercules grab stand things, always looks like he's going camping the amount of metal he carries around.

I'm easily pleased.[/quote]

'camping' and guitarist.

[Blink]

I bought a secondhand Peavey Brightbox about 12 years ago. It's a 2 x 8 powered (100w) speaker which was designed to sit on top of the TNT amp that had the cross over. I have used this as: practice amp, amp for smal gigs, pa with karaoke or computer or ipod, monitor, etc.

Just fantastic

[Mr. Foxen]

Would be my sansamp, except that I keep selling them and buying another shortly after. hopefully settled on a Paradriver and a VT bass now.

[risingson]

I don't know how I'd get on without my little Korg PX4D, great for practice and taking away on the road.

[Graham56]

Best value for money?

My custom-fitted earplugs. They work brilliantly and make the gigs much more enjoyable. I don't go home with ringing ears any more - and it means I'll be able to carry on doing this for years to come.

Cheers

Graham

Edited April 29, 2011 by Graham56

[chris_b]

[quote]....What's the best bit of kit you've ever bought?....[/quote]

My moulded ER15 ear plugs. Without them I'd have had to quit 5 years ago.

[xilddx]

My POD X3 LIVE. I'd be lost without it.

[thodrik]

Probably the Sansamp, I don't use it live anymore but it is just a great bit of kit to have.

[jontywisp]

1974 Fender P bought for £150 in 1977

has now become 'vintage' because I have

was mint when I first got it, now looks very relic-ed...

[geoffbassist]

My Sadowsky 5 string ash/maple m24. . .Always sounds great and It's stopped the gas for 2.5 years. . .well most of it :-)

[Clarky]

flatwound strings

[BottomE]

The Focusrite Saphire 6 USB interface. It provides a studio - the ability to record all my basses - import midi files and play along - record practises - play along to the Abersol mp3s - record other instruments. Wow - not even £150.

[urb]

2 Sei basses and my Genz Shuttle 9.0

[derrenleepoole]

My very versatile and packs-a-punch Ibanez Promethean P5110c combo! Small, light, highly configurable, modular and bloody loud for its size! As good as anything else out there, but at a fraction of the cost. One of the best kept secrets of bass amplification

[LawrenceH]

In terms of usage/value for money, my Sennheiser HD280 'phones. Had 'em for years now and they've served me very well. Or, my crap Behringer mini mixing desk, despite one channel dying ages ago! They have outlasted all my basses. My old UK-built Ashdown Electric Blue was a great piece of kit for the cash too, gigged tons of times and utterly reliable.
Having said that, I wouldn't replace them with the same thing if stolen now, because my needs have changed. I'd get Sennheiser headphones of some kind though.