Your 2019 in gear: What'd you get? What'd you sell?

  • You can whisper which two. we won't be telling anyone.

    (uad 2-choice, chose capital chambers, then ua175b and 175 tube compressor collection)


    SO LIKE I SAID, NO MORE UAD2 PLUGINS FOR ME


    I recently did an upgrade to the Waves Abbey Road Collection (missing 1 plugins, sales made it low price, like $30, had gotten the Mastering Chain last January)

    Got Modern Pop Grooves from Toontracks on an xmas sale.

    Metal Fusion MIDI from Toontracks ($10 sale, metal Midi is surprisingly useful outside of the metal genre)


    Currently deciding to sell the Lexicons 80, 81, the cards (ie duel fx 1.0 and an sram), X-Touch, and the FX8, all on the chopping block.

    I typically decide based on use. If I don't use something for a year, I consider selling it and box it up. If I don't use it after another year, I sell it. If I am SURE I won't use it, like the FX8, I'll sell it right away and pay off other gear (still have debt from the lefty R4, Integra7 & DSI Rev2, but the last 2 are interest free. I try to pay off any interest purchases fast. My thing is to "Buy First, Ask Questions Later" to see if it fits my needs. Return or Flip if it doesn’t. For left-handed guitars, I often have to buy sight-unseen. And stores carry less high end gear now, so it's hard to trial them out first-hand, either.


  • I also made another purchase of UAD plugins in the last few days of 2019. Picked up the Precision Mastering Bundle during the sale.


    In my case, while I think the UAD stuff is really overpriced, I do think it performs as advertised and often is far better than the alternatives available from competitors. Their preamp plugins are really good, and so are compressors like the 1176 and Fairchild tube compressors. I also have a Townsend mic, and it's pretty nifty to be able to track with it with zero latency.


    Of course, like everybody else, I'm dreading the day they ditch the UAD-2 series of plugins and come out with UAD-3 or whatever, at which point I'm most likely to abandon ship. Already spent thousands on their plugins and the hardware is expensive too.


    I'd like to migrate to hardware as well, but it's even more costly and doesn't afford you the possibility to really mess with it after tracking like the UAD stuff does (which is a godsend).

  • For the first time in many years...


    In - Nothing

    Out - Nothing ( except a last minute purchase of an Alto 312 purely for Karaoke at new years eve!).


    2020 - planning a Gretsch White Falcon...


    I have said it many times on this forum, I now have no interest in other amps or pedals. I have very few guitar desires at the moment although might sneak in an N4...

  • bought:

    ESP horizon

    EVH 5153 EL34 100 watt

    1980 Marshall JMP 2204

    1978 Marshall 4x12

    Mesa OS 4x12

    Peavey 6505

    Peavey JSX

    PRS MT15

    Mesa 2 channel dual rectifier

    Bogner Uberschall

    ESP LTD EC7

    Genelec 8040 monitors

    Focusrite 18i20

    Two notes torpedo Live


    Sold:


    NOTHIN!


  • VESmedic How do you like the PRS MT15? Could you give me an objective review versus your 6505 or JMP? Does it lack low end thump or balls? I had a Mark V:25 and always felt it sounded tiny compared to my full size amps. I did use to own an Archon 25 combo though, and that thing slayed. Thinking of buying it back, but there's also a MT15 available locally that I'm thinking of buying. However, I have no idea if it'll be like the Mark V:25 (great tone, but little balls).

  • VESmedic How do you like the PRS MT15? Could you give me an objective review versus your 6505 or JMP? Does it lack low end thump or balls? I had a Mark V:25 and always felt it sounded tiny compared to my full size amps. I did use to own an Archon 25 combo though, and that thing slayed. Thinking of buying it back, but there's also a MT15 available locally that I'm thinking of buying. However, I have no idea if it'll be like the Mark V:25 (great tone, but little balls).

    I have owned both the MT15 and the Archon 50. They are both great amps but if I was given the choice I would take the Archon every time. The MT15 is an amazing amp for the price but the key phrase there is "for the price" The MT15 sounds great and it is way louder then you would expect. The MT15 did require me to buy an attenuator in order to get apartment volumes. There is also the build quality. The MT15 is made over seas and the Archon is hand wired in the US. If you can swing the Archon get the one.

  • There is also the build quality. The MT15 is made over seas and the Archon is hand wired in the US.

    I'm sorry to inform you but that is totally bs. Build quality has nothing to where in the world it's made. The computer or the cellphone you use is not made in the US. They're all made in China. It's all about how much is invested into something that makes difference.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • I'm sorry to inform you but that is totally bs. Build quality has nothing to where in the world it's made. The computer or the cellphone you use is not made in the US. They're all made in China. It's all about how much is invested into something that makes difference.

    So you are trying to tell me that an amp made on an assembly line by machines and people that could care less about the product is going to be as good of quality as an amp that is hand wired by a few guys that live for this? I never said the build quality was bad but dont think for a second that it is even in the same league as the Archon. Like I said I owned them both. The MT15 had to go to PRS within the 1st week of receiving it to have a hum issue corrected, turn out to be a bad tube and a poorly routed harness. My Archon never had an issue and I wish I still had it.

  • I completely disagree on the “for the price” comment personally... the amp flat out SMOKES a lot of high gain stuff out there. Under a mic especially with good IR’s you would never know it’s “only 15 watts... or rated at 15 watts anyways. Has PLENTY of thump and power, the best deal on the high gain market by far in my opinion... it’s been used on some records lately, including the new Whitechapel blended in with a dual recto rev F through a driftwood power amp and Fortin blade pedal... that’s some heavy company... the amp flat out smokes, period. Regardless of price point.

  • So you are trying to tell me that an amp made on an assembly line by machines and people that could care less about the product is going to be as good of quality as an amp that is hand wired by a few guys that live for this? I never said the build quality was bad but dont think for a second that it is even in the same league as the Archon. Like I said I owned them both. The MT15 had to go to PRS within the 1st week of receiving it to have a hum issue corrected, turn out to be a bad tube and a poorly routed harness. My Archon never had an issue and I wish I still had it.

    I admit that you can get a bad product made in a fabric. That can happen with anything made in a fabric. But still so many believe the marketing bs hype about boutique amps and pedals. Just because something is handmade doesn't make it sound better. You liked the PRS better becuase of the sound and had nothing to do with if it was handmade or not. They same is true with guitars. As soon as it says made in America, and very steep price tag, they justify the price with that. No one can in a song mixed or at a live show with eyes closed hear any difference if it's ridicolus expensive handmade guitar/amp or a cheaper guitar/amp made in a fabric in the East. My point is that so many musicians are lost in a lot of myths and there are those that keep them alive simply becuase they want ppl to pay alot of money. The same is true in studios. You can take a cheap mic and get a really pro sound instead of using a 4K mic.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • I admit that you can get a bad product made in a fabric. That can happen with anything made in a fabric. But still so many believe the marketing bs hype about boutique amps and pedals. Just because something is handmade doesn't make it sound better. You liked the PRS better becuase of the sound and had nothing to do with if it was handmade or not. They same is true with guitars. As soon as it says made in America, and very steep price tag, they justify the price with that. No one can in a song mixed or at a live show with eyes closed hear any difference if it's ridicolus expensive handmade guitar/amp or a cheaper guitar/amp made in a fabric in the East. My point is that so many musicians are lost in a lot of myths and there are those that keep them alive simply becuase they want ppl to pay alot of money. The same is true in studios. You can take a cheap mic and get a really pro sound instead of using a 4K mic.

    You are aware that the MT15 and Archon are both PRS amps, right? Its not like I am comparing a Fender delux to an Epiphone practice amp. I was comparing an American made PRS amp to an imported PRS amp. Not only are they both PRS amps but the MT15s gain channel is reported to be modeled after the Archon as well. I was not making as blind assumption about either of these amps, I have owned them both and within the last year. My opinion was not based on their country of origin but of my own experience. I have played them, heard them, opened them, and poked around inside them.


    IF you have had a different experience buying things from China, good for you. I have yet to see a quality guitar or amp come out of China (except the MT15).

  • Keep this up and you'll have no need for a Kemper, mate. :D

  • After far too much insanity in previous years, a more modest list.


    In:

    • DXR-10, twice. First for Kemper then a second one so I have a pair of powered monitors in the live room.
    • Projector stand for toaster
    • Korg Kronos keyboard, because it's impressive to play more than one instrument poorly.
    • Argosy desk for said Kronos

    Out?


    You mean we're supposed to get rid of stuff, too? Hey, this changes everything...

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • I think the approach long-term is to see which plugins you like best (and for what chain) and work on those that make the biggest difference. For me, the Neve 1073 was huge. So I got a BAE 1073. Worth every penny (got the DMP, cheaper, used, and snoop dog uses it, haha) Then, I upped to the Slate Microphone. On it, the Neumanns did well. The 251 did best, but that's an expensive mic. So I grabbed the U87ai. Amazing. (used, good deal) And then the LA2A, so a warm audio WA-2A. Cheap, but the guy sold it with NOS tubes which make a HUGE difference. That chain was the best thing I've ever done with my studio. Kudo's to UAD2 to push me in that direction.


    I think the KPA has the same abilities. If you find yourself gravitating towards Marshalls vs Fender profiles, then if you ever decide to get another amp, that helps narrow the choices down. Maybe that amazing amp you thought you always wanted in comparison just isn't so amazing after all.


    The Digital can help narrow the search for Hardware and shorten a 20 year journey into a 2 year journey, is my point. The cost of that chain was $3500. But I've spent way more than that on UA interfaces (5th one now, 2x uad 1s, 2x uad2s, Twin, then 8 Quad, plus 2 satellites) So IF you just grabbed a used satellite ($400) which you could flip, and used the 14 day demo window, you could use their plugins to decide an narrow down a chain.


    if you HAD to get some plugins, Waves makes pretty good plugins. What others can't replicate as well are the UAD2 Reverbs IMO. And their Neves are better.


    But you are right, any HINT of a UAD3 before a NAMM and "I'm OUTTA here!" Hardware will always keep equity.