Members kit_strong Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Mine might be a bit surprising to some people.Last night while tweaking some patches I came to the conclusion that my Line6 HD500 is probably the smartest gear purchase I ever made. I picked it up a little over a year ago and since then have had no real desire to buy any more amps and absolutely no interest in getting any pedals.I'm sure that for any individual effect there are scores of pedals that would do a better job but when looking at the whole package and the way I use it it's truly a fantastic value. Couple with a pretty cheap pair of Kustom powered wedges I can get tons of usable tones at any volume level.Between the HD500 and my Mesa Boogie ElectraDyne I find myself more than content in the amp/effects department. The Dumbest? My Line6 JM4 Looper. It was a good looper but just way more than I really needed and I barely even used it. Shortly after buying it I picked up a GIO for my Mac and just used that anytime I wanted to do anything with looping so it was basically money down the drain. I recently sold it to a friend and recouped half of my losses so it could definitely be worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lonnie99 Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Smartest was a 79 Gibson LP Custom I picked up for $400 about 8 years ago. I could barely play at the time and sold it immediately for a huge profit. Dumbest was a Memphis LP copy that was probably the worst guitar I've ever held. Didn't pay much for it but still felt I got screwed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bluesnapper Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Dumbest was definitely this 1984 Tokai offering: I've hardly played it. I bought it cos I liked the retro 80s stylings and also because my girlfriend of the time had just broken up with me. So I bought a guitar. Smartest I'm not sure. Probably my Strat - shopped around, got a nice one and a great deal and I play it all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tweak'd Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 The smartest is a tie....a 1980 Burny FLG-90 LP and a Bacchus LS-120. Two of the nicest LP's I've ever played. The dumbest was an SX from Rondo many years ago. So poorly made I could not make it playable no matter what I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Floyd Rosenbomb Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 The smartest was a '08 MIM strat with fender 57/62 pickups.The dumbest was a new '08 Mia telecaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tom92 Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Mine might be a bit surprising to some people.Last night while tweaking some patches I came to the conclusion that my Line6 HD500 is probably the smartest gear purchase I ever made. I picked it up a little over a year ago and since then have had no real desire to buy any more amps and absolutely no interest in getting any pedals. Have they been out a year:confused: My best - Fender MIM Telecaster and my Vox AC15. My Worst - Marshall MG100DFX, 2nd could be my Fender CIJ Jaguar but once it's back from getting a decent set up my opinion may change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ArchangelYabbo Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Smartest: TC Nova System & JS100 IbanezDumbest: Tascam 4 track Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wagdog Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Dumbest: Selling my '77 Tele to finance an SG. Man was that a dumb move. Smartest: Selling the SG a year later and buying a new '81 Black Les Paul Custom (which I still have). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FoonkySteve Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Smartest: Laney TT100 combo amp - (it's the tits!) & Planet waves String winder/snipper Dumbest: Digitech HotHead pedal, a crate GLX212 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members drawdeep Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Smartest: 3-way tie between my Les Paul Studio Lite in tobacco sunburst, Digitech Distortion Factory and my Marshall TSL combo... sheer visual, playing and sonic bliss Dumbest: the never-ending stream of flavor-of-the-week 30-watt modeling amps that I tried because I was somehow convinced that I could not get good sound out of a high-wattage tube amp at reasonable volumes. I have never lost money on a guitar but I lost my a$$ on some of those amps at resale time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Spike Li Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 I dont know if it can be counted as "smart", but id have to say that my best gear purchase would have to be my 2x12 mesa cab. My singer talked me into it and its just great - makes everything i plug into it sound about 10 times better Dumbest was probably my Dan Armstrong. My second most expensive guitar and my least favourite... bought it because im a huge Foo Fighters fan boy, but beside being too heavy, ive never been a fan of how it sounds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dega500 Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Smartest: 79 American Strat, three color tobacco sunburst, $300 in the early nineties Dumbest: Trading that same Strat for a brand new Hartke 3500 Bass Amp and a good little sum of cash (the exact amount escapes me at the moment, around $150 I think it was) I was a bass player at the time and needed a head badly. It was a killer amp and I played it for years so I don't really regret the trade, it just turned out to be a bad move over time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kit_strong Posted June 28, 2011 Author Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Have they been out a year:confused: You are correct, it definitely hasn't been a year. With a new baby in the house (almost 14 months now) the last year has been a blur. I think I got my HD500 in September. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Smartest: Parker DragonFly. I actually got paid $100 to get this guitar (retailer shipped a more expensive guitar, refused to take it back, charged me for the DragonFly, so I sold the more expensive guitar, bought a DF and ended up with $100 in my pocket and a free Parker DF). The DragonFly is the best guitar I've ever played. 14" radius ebony fretboard with stainless steel frets make bending strings "like butter". Light weight and contoured body make it the most comfortable guitar I've ever worn. Sperzel locking tuners, graph-tech nut, and innovative bridge make the tuning ultra-stable even when using the whammy. Duncan SC & HB pickups plus a Fishman under the bridge makes for a great variety of tone colors. Dumbest: Cakewalk 8 sequencer. I spent a few hundred bucks on this, hated the interface, it was too slow, so I hardly ever used it and I went back to using Master Tracks Pro. Notes ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ozzeh Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Ugh. Smartest : Gibson Blueshawk mint cond. for $400, Ampeg Super Rocket 2x12 for $400Dumbest : Schecter S1 w/duncan designed pickups for $400, traded the Ampeg for a Marshall Haze 40W tube cuz I needed something smaller... The singular stupidest thing I have ever done was trade the Blueshawk though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members c2rex Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Dumbest: Bought a guitar and no tuner. It sat for long priods because of this. Smartest: A tuner. Made all the difference in the world to getting me started playing after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metallica_00 Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Smartest: used Heritage H535. It just has a TON of vibe and a very vintage feel - I got it for $1250, which is a pretty typical used price, but that price range is a steal for this caliber of guitar IMO. I just really like playing it. Worst: no matter how cheap it is, the boss ds-1 sounds like garbage and is not worth any sum of money. Besides that, Mesa Single rectifier...not a bad amp, but not the right amp for my style. I kept fighting it, eventually sold it and got a deluxe reverb and have been much happier since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members artiem Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Smartest: My Gibson SG. It was my first electric after owning an acoustic for 10 years, and re-ignited my interest in playing. Dumbest: My Taylor 12-string. It's a nice guitar and fun to play now & then, but I just don't get a lot of use relative to the $$ I have in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Strung_Out Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 smartest: tc electronics polytune tuner pedal, makes tuning a far easier process. dumbest: can't think of a dumb purchase, I've used and had great experiences with pretty much everything I've owned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jarick Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Smartest: honestly the Rose Mariposa pickups, went through probably $600 in pickups before finding these for $30 Dumbest: Paid $3000 for a custom drumset that ended up being awful and only got about $700 for it two years later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BydoEmpire Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Smartest: DR. Z MAZ 38 Studio Deluxe combo. My Super Reverb died, and while it was getting repaired I needed another amp. I wanted something a little lighter to carry to gigs, and the Z seemed to have just a little more girth and teeth. Man, this amp does everything. It's been my main amp for over ten years now and I'm STILL finding new tones out of it. The thing is built like a tank and sounds great with strats, teles and les pauls. Dumbest: Probably a Marshall Valvestate head. I wanted an amp to replace the JCM 800 I sold a few years prior, and it didn't even come close. Complete waste of $400. My dumbest SALE (as opposed to gear purchase) was that JCM 800. Wish I still had that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mel Cooley Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Smartest: Carr Hammerhead for $600.00 or Guild Custom Shop M-70 for $600.00.Dumbest: Pyle replacement speaker way back in the day. Previous speaker lasted 5 years, Pyle lasted 8 songs of a set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members xrleroyx Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Smartest: Investing into amps more than guitars. I've found that the amp has much more effect on what I sound like than any high-end guitar. I'm stupid, young, blow money I don't have, and still figuring things out. Dumbest: Traded my '85 SG Special with a Bigsby that I custom painted british racing green with two creme stripes for a Marshall JTM-60 head. Don't get me wrong, I modded it so it wouldn't overheat, and it was the best sounding Marshall I ever had. If you guys have this guitar, or have seen it, I will pay good money for it back. It was my main guitar all through high school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ashasha Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 Smartest: AxeFX Ultra. Without a doubt the best piece of gear I've ever used. Dumbest: Selling it too soon since there is a waiting list from now until who knows when for the AxeFXII. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jkater Posted June 28, 2011 Members Share Posted June 28, 2011 smartest... first thoughts are SA2200, Snark tuner, TS-808, bg pure90's... dummest... i wouldn't know where to start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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