Your most expensive gear mistakes?

[dmccombe7]

7 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

All depends what you consider expensive...I've always been up for a bit of experimentation, but collectively it's £££.  Tons.

Gretsch Baritone...is it a baritone or a just weird bass thing?  Rickenbacker 4003.  Gibson NR Thunderbird reissue (Issues, grrr).  A pair of Aguilar SL112s (they were nice, but not aggressive enough).  Tech21 GED 2112 (just grrr).  TC Electronic BH head (gimmicky Toneprint, fun, questionable output wattage, not very good).  Sansamp VT Bass rack (bought blind, didn't do anywhere near what I thought it was going to do; one rehearsal - 'Uh-oh', one gig and sold.)  Trace Eliot rack gear...lots of it, GP12 SMX/Mono power stage, stereo power stages, just horribly bland, most of it bought in one purchase, immediacy of, 'What the fork have I done?'

There was an Ibanez Roadster thing I loathed from the moment I bought it.  It cost me under £200 decades ago, but WAS a lot of money at the time.  It was forking shirt.  I lost my temper with it when I was gigging and (unplanned) broke it up towards the end of the set, much to the gasps of the people watching.

That's quite a lot of gear i quite fancied trying so thanks for that 

Out of curiosity what are you using now ?

Dave

[51m0n]

The Trickfish 1k.

Sounded great in the shop. 

Seemed very loud.

In practice wasn't.

Also had a very strange noise issue.

Sending it back it was returned with different issues.

Eventually replaced with an EA iAmp Classic. All is now right with the world...

 

 

[stoo]

Selling a 100w Hiwatt head in the 90s to a mate for £40, a year or two before the internet arrived to educate me that it's actual value might have been slightly higher than that....

[wateroftyne]

Remortgaging the house to buy a brand new Mesa MPulse 600, only to sell it six months later for about 1/3 of what I paid.

[PatrickJ]

4 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Remortgaging the house to buy a brand new Mesa MPulse 600, only to sell it six months later for about 1/3 of what I paid.

Did you really remortgage to just buy the Mesa, or was the Mesa just one of the reasons?

Edited October 3, 2019 by PJ-Bassist

[wateroftyne]

5 minutes ago, PJ-Bassist said:

Did you really remortgage to just buy the Mesa, or was the Mesa just one of the reasons?

It was a figure of speech to emphasise how bl**dy expensive it was.

[PatrickJ]

3 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

It was a figure of speech to emphasise how bl**dy expensive it was.

Ah, I can be guilty of taking things a little too literally (rooted in the high functioning autism I clearly have), but equally there are some serious fanatics on this forum and it wouldnt have surprised me if there wasnt some truth in it.

[NancyJohnson]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

That's quite a lot of gear i quite fancied trying so thanks for that 

Out of curiosity what are you using now ?

Dave

Darkglass A/O head, Tech21dUg, Barefaced Big One, two custom build Mike Lulls, a Hamer FBIV, old Aria Primary.  I think that's it.  This isn't to say I still have a want list, but it's all about the getting, eh?

[4000]

Not sure these quite fit the brief, but here goes:

P/x-ing a Pedulla MVP that I loved against a Wal Custom that I never really got along with. Selling said Wal for £550 (ouch!) to a mate in around 1996 (slightly mitigated by the fact that he loved it and so far as I know still has it).

Getting rid of a Wal Pro IIE that cost me £1800 a few years back and then realising from footage I’ve shot how great it sounded. It would probably cost me well over £3k to replace now, which I’ll probably never have. I got rid mainly because of the weight but pretty much always play seated these days. Dipstick.

Selling my custom Alembic Triple Omega for just under £3k when I’d now probably get almost twice that. With hindsight, much as I love the Triple O look, not getting a Balance K instead (it had only just come out), as I’d have been able to keep it; Triple O was only sold because it was too heavy to play standing and was uncomfortable to play seated due to the cutouts; it broke my heart selling it.

Selling my vintage Marshall Superbass in approx 1996 (!) for £150. Probably worth 8 times that now. And not buying a vintage 100w Hiwatt bass head for £200 in approx 1993, but instead buying a rare 375w Marshall 2001 which weighed 100lb, blew up all the time and sounded rubbish.

Not quite on topic, but not buying Neil Brewer’s (Druid) ‘72 Ric 4001 for (IIRC) £500 in 1996 (great year for cockups). Hadn’t heard of them at the time, bought their first album a short time later and absolutely loved it. I’m hoping he still has it, which would make me feel better. 

[LukeFRC]

I've been fairly careful with basses and not lost masses on anything, normally where I can mentally chalk it up as the cost of renting a bass for a few years. Number one expensive gear mistake is the DIY bass I made in my profile picture. I was the second iteration and I ended up spending a fair bit on parts. All in I probably spent double what I would get for it selling it as a bitsa - the worst thing is that it's actually an alright bass - just no where near as nice the other three basses I own. It currently lives in a case ontop of the wardrobe and I've no idea what to do with it! 

1 hour ago, wateroftyne said:

Remortgaging the house to buy a brand new Mesa MPulse 600, only to sell it six months later for about 1/3 of what I paid.

 

If it helps your reviews on here of the MPulse600 and Walkabout helped me when someone I know let me play his Pulse600 and pair of Walkabouts - I left with a Walkabout, so you probably helped me avoid spending ££ on the MPulse 600. It's not that it's a bad amp, it's just....

[wateroftyne]

4 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

If it helps your reviews on here of the MPulse600 and Walkabout helped me when someone I know let me play his Pulse600 and pair of Walkabouts - I left with a Walkabout, so you probably helped me avoid spending ££ on the MPulse 600. It's not that it's a bad amp, it's just....

Ha... glad I didn't send you down the £££ route 😄

The WA is a beautiful amp.

[Al Krow]

@4000 I guess on the flip side you've had some awesome basses! 

[LukeFRC]

3 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

Ha... glad I didn't send you down the £££ route 😄

The WA is a beautiful amp.

Yes it is. Except when the transformer went up in smoke and cost £££ to replace 

[wateroftyne]

6 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Yes it is. Except when the transformer went up in smoke and cost £££ to replace 

Ooof. 😞

[peteb]

17 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

I've been fairly careful with basses and not lost masses on anything, normally where I can mentally chalk it up as the cost of renting a bass for a few years. Number one expensive gear mistake is the DIY bass I made in my profile picture. I was the second iteration and I ended up spending a fair bit on parts. All in I probably spent double what I would get for it selling it as a bitsa - the worst thing is that it's actually an alright bass - just no where near as nice the other three basses I own. It currently lives in a case ontop of the wardrobe and I've no idea what to do with it! 

 

If it helps your reviews on here of the MPulse600 and Walkabout helped me when someone I know let me play his Pulse600 and pair of Walkabouts - I left with a Walkabout, so you probably helped me avoid spending ££ on the MPulse 600. It's not that it's a bad amp, it's just....

In interest of balance I should mention that I paid a lot of money for a Mpulse when they first came out (I got it for trade but still expensive at the time). 

I still use it and it has seen off every other amp I have ever owned since, easily my favourite amp! 

[Jaybeevee]

11 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

Remortgaging the house to buy a brand new Mesa MPulse 600, only to sell it six months later for about 1/3 of what I paid.

Oh man, this one is hard for me to admit to myself, but i spent a heap of cash on a new Mesa Strategy eight 88 and a 4X12 Powerhouse because i considered it the best i could buy, and considering I live in Norway where import costs are colossal… It's heavy but it sounds great. I now realise there are plenty of great amps at a fraction of the cost and weight...

2 years after i got it it blew up... smoke.. drama.. the whole deal. Mesa in California could not have cared less. Their support for customers out side of the US is appauling. I had to deal with (via the shop that sold it to me) a Finnish distributor who also couldn't care less. I returned the amp for repair.. It took 6 months!!.. got it back and blew up again after 40 mins.. more smoke and more drama. Lots more couldn't care lessness later i got it back. It was by this time 12 months after the original failure. The fix involved replacing pre amp tubes and other components that resulted in a loss of power… God i could cry..

But the upside is, i still have it.. it does sound bloody amazing.. and it's so ridiculously powerfull that the reduction in power is meaningless. For a valve head, it doesn't break up nicely though...

i've been a fool

[mcnach]

On 29/09/2019 at 14:37, jrixn1 said:

Joining basschat.

 

Indeed!

If I plotted the number of musical items I buy against time, there will be a sharp peak starting a few months after I joined.

However, it's been a good trip

 

My most expensive mistake? Probably making a custom order for a bass. I didn't gel with it at all for various reasons. It wasn't bad, just not what I look for in a bass. Took a big hit when selling it on.

Then again, my last custom order has been a resounding success, so I'm happy overall. Thanks @Cuzzie 

In general, I bought too many things new that I was not sure I needed/wanted, and took big hits selling them on. But I'm impatient so when I want something and I have money in my pocket... 

 

[Cuzzie]

21 minutes ago, mcnach said:

 

Indeed!

If I plotted the number of musical items I buy against time, there will be a sharp peak starting a few months after I joined.

However, it's been a good trip

 

My most expensive mistake? Probably making a custom order for a bass. I didn't gel with it at all for various reasons. It wasn't bad, just not what I look for in a bass. Took a big hit when selling it on.

Then again, my last custom order has been a resounding success, so I'm happy overall. Thanks @Cuzzie 

In general, I bought too many things new that I was not sure I needed/wanted, and took big hits selling them on. But I'm impatient so when I want something and I have money in my pocket... 

 

No worries young man, and what a purchase it was too, fits like a glove, hopefully between me and @krispn we can get you on the tonestyler wagon too 🤟🏾

[krispn]

"Click Click Click!"

[Cuzzie]

Just now, krispn said:

"Click Click Click!"

10 or 6

[krispn]

10 of course!

[Cuzzie]

4 minutes ago, krispn said:

10 of course!

Spinal tap says 11

[dmccombe7]

11 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

I've been fairly careful with basses and not lost masses on anything, normally where I can mentally chalk it up as the cost of renting a bass for a few years. Number one expensive gear mistake is the DIY bass I made in my profile picture. I was the second iteration and I ended up spending a fair bit on parts. All in I probably spent double what I would get for it selling it as a bitsa - the worst thing is that it's actually an alright bass - just no where near as nice the other three basses I own. It currently lives in a case ontop of the wardrobe and I've no idea what to do with it! 

 

If it helps your reviews on here of the MPulse600 and Walkabout helped me when someone I know let me play his Pulse600 and pair of Walkabouts - I left with a Walkabout, so you probably helped me avoid spending ££ on the MPulse 600. It's not that it's a bad amp, it's just....

I love my Mpulse 600 

Its been the best amp i've ever bought.

Dave

[dmccombe7]

13 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

No worries young man, and what a purchase it was too, fits like a glove, hopefully between me and @krispn we can get you on the tonestyler wagon too 🤟🏾

There's definitely a pattern forming with you Cuzzie. Have you got shares in Sandberg. 

Top man. 

Dave

[Cuzzie]

 

2 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

There's definitely a pattern forming with you Cuzzie. Have you got shares in Sandberg. 

Top man. 

Dave

Probably should have done, however that would likely have caused them to crash being associated with me!

Just try to pass on slightly biased but balanced opinions, but I do love researching stuff and learning as well as virtually spending money via other people!