Lockdown GAS/boredom

BintyTwanger77

Over the past year I’ve bought and sent back/sold a number of pedals, and all out of boredom. I know that it doesn’t necessarily take a global pandemic for a lot of us to have acute gassings for the latest piece of kit, but for me the restrictions have exacerbated that. It’s triggered a particular boredom that has had me acquiring pedals I will barely use, just for the novelty, and then sending them back (or in a couple of cases selling). 

I’ve kept the same main delay, reverb and drive pedals, completely happy with them, and the Terraform is working well for me for the occasional bit of modulation. However, the same question has continually entered my bored mind: what new, shiny, weird, bloopy boxes can I add to my board that I will only use occasionally for a limited number of strange and wonderful noises?

I’ve got a Meris Hedra arriving today, giving it a second chance, but even now I’m wondering if I’ll use it enough to justify it: I’m even half-thinking of overhauling everything apart from my drives just for the novelty of something different, it’s insane! I’m not unhappy about any of this, by the way, not a despairing/negative post, it’s all daft amounts of fun, this, and very much a “first world problem” (even if it is a problem).

I’d like to hear your experiences of lockdown-boredom-induced purchases, because I can’t be the only one here, judging by the number of WTB posts on here over the past year.

DoctorX

I’ve bought and sold plenty of pedals since corona lockdown. These are the ones I can remember:

Bought and kept: Analogman GE7, chase bliss condor, CXM1978, Nobels ODR1, compact Revival Drive, Greer Lightspeed, Meris Polymoon, Boss DD2, Weaver Midnight Vibe, Pigdog Electric Eye, Small Stone v3, Digitech Synth Wah, 1981 DRV, gigrig g3 atom.

Bought then sold: Kingtone Soloist, Spaceman Sputnik 3, Automatone preamp, Weaver Face of Spades, Sola Sound mk4, Supro Tremolo, Surfy Trem, Strymon Flint, 1987 RAT.

lockdown boredom also lead to me stripping the poly finish off a 2008 US Strat and doing a shoddy DIY nitro refin, trying various pickups out, changing the wiring in my ES-335 (making it worse).

Only bought 1 guitar though and only 1 amp so consider myself pretty restrained in the circumstances.

Vintage-T

Right there with you. I've redone my home board, my gigging board, gone to kemper, gone back, preordered a Quad Cortex, then cancelled it, with the funds I has set aside for that I built a new board purely out of Earthquaker pedals, stripped out my final final ever I don't need any more pedals Gig board again, bought 3 new amps, 2 new guitars. And I've not played any more gigs that I had this time last year.

I think it's totally down to boredom, the prospect of having something new to entertain you and look forward to. Totally justifiable as long as you can afford it. After all fun for the most part was cancelled at the beginning of the first lockdown, we've gotta have something to fill the void.

Mostly everything I've acquired has been 2nd hand and if I've moved it on it's not been sold at a loss. I was also in the fortunate position to be sat on a collection of items that have in the past year boomed in price, so I sold these to fund my GAS. Haven't lobbed anything on a credit card. I think if you're putting stuff on tick to fund GAS, that's the time to step back and really have a think as it's not something that's really worth getting into debt over.

munckee

Strewth I can't remember it all, I bought back a silver face champ I had previously sold to a mate, I recovered a super champ x 2 and changed the grill cloth, bought a new speaker for the silver face.

Guitar wise I bought a j mascis jazzmaster and a vintage modified  jaguar to see which I preferred, sold them both and bought a classic vibe 70s jag.  Then I sold my 79 strat to the chap I bought the champ back from and got a 88 US standard tele in exchange - which has been sent away for refinishing.  With the extra cash in the deal I sold the classic vibe jag and bought a mexican classic lacquer jag.   I recently (very reluctantly) sold the jag to part fund an 86 rickenbacker 360/12 string.

Pedal wise, I remember buying and selling a Nobels ODR1, a Mr Black Deluxe Plus, a zen clone, a tone city sweet cream.  I've bought and hung on to a white whale spring reverb/tremolo pedal, a frederic green russian and a klon clone, oh and I bought and sold a boss compressor and have since bought a wampler ego compressor.

BintyTwanger77

Vintage-T said:

Right there with you. I've redone my home board, my gigging board, gone to kemper, gone back, preordered a Quad Cortex, then cancelled it, with the funds I has set aside for that I built a new board purely out of Earthquaker pedals, stripped out my final final ever I don't need any more pedals Gig board again, bought 3 new amps, 2 new guitars. And I've not played any more gigs that I had this time last year.

I think it's totally down to boredom, the prospect of having something new to entertain you and look forward to. Totally justifiable as long as you can afford it. After all fun for the most part was cancelled at the beginning of the first lockdown, we've gotta have something to fill the void.

Mostly everything I've acquired has been 2nd hand and if I've moved it on it's not been sold at a loss. I was also in the fortunate position to be sat on a collection of items that have in the past year boomed in price, so I sold these to fund my GAS. Haven't lobbed anything on a credit card. I think if you're putting stuff on tick to fund GAS, that's the time to step back and really have a think as it's not something that's really worth getting into debt over.

Very much agree with the last point: I’ve learned my lesson with credit-funded GAS, and I’ll only buy something if I can pay for it within a couple of months (PayPal Credit has been handy for that, and my account balance always goes back to zero within 2-3 months). That’s why I only have one electric, one amp, one acoustic, one pedalboard. I’ve only sold a couple of pedals that I’ve bought new over the last year, the rest have been 2nd hand or I’ve sent them back within the 14 or 30 day returns period, so not made much of a loss. The main and obvious blow to my finances over the past year has been not being able to get any self-employed work.

Cookiemonster

I spent a lot of money on pedal parts, transistors, enclosures, soldering iron, breadboards, Vero boards, etc. But have built about 15 circuits now, and have enjoyed it.

I did buy at the start of lockdown a TateFX fuzz with a bias control, bad Penny fuzz in an old camera, and a couple of other boutique pedals, which started me on the building journey. But not too bad really, although I am now looking at Epiphone Dots because for some reason I really want a Cherry Red one and it's a lot cheaper than a Gibson.

Heartfeltdawn

Lockdown started with an Eastman PCH1-OM acoustic guitar and it's lovely. 

By April, I was bored and dropped the big load on Helix LT. Bought Native within a week and that was everything. Sold LT. Bought POD Go... nah. Too limited. 

Then work started up again. BANG. No life, little spending outside of domestic bills, so I bought an Eastman T-386 and an RME Babyface Pro FS. Both are splendid. Oh, JBL LSR305 speakers. 

Now I'm planning out the future and going back out toward Bristol. With Native being so good and the Babyface being likewise, I've just ordered a Behringer FCB1010 MIDI floor controller and I will be going with a setup that is plugins of various types running in Kushview Element. KE is a modular plugin environment, virtual patch cables, very much like the much missed Audiomulch. There are pedals I'd like out front but I'm determined to go from August to March next year on virtual pedals and amps alone whilst I'm studying. If I pass the exams, then I will muse over buying a new acoustic or a Roland JC-40. 

MrTee

Guilty.
FGN Les Paul, ceriatone Horsebreaker, J-Rockett Archer, J-Rockett dude, blues driver waza, nux Atlantic, snouse Blackbox, Vick audio rams head, Peterson strobostomp, truetone cs6, fulltone 69. Probably more I've forgotten. Crikey. Kept 4. 

Moe_Zambeek

Lockdown for me has seen a fairly steady downsizing, trying to get down to a Metro16 board. That’s not really been that hard because I had a very sparsely populated PT2 to start with.

Did just buy an Aquavibe though!

BintyTwanger77

MrTee said:

Guilty.
FGN Les Paul, ceriatone Horsebreaker, J-Rockett Archer, J-Rockett dude, blues driver waza, nux Atlantic, snouse Blackbox, Vick audio rams head, Peterson strobostomp, truetone cs6, fulltone 69. Probably more I've forgotten. Crikey. Kept 4. 

That is a LOT of dirt.

loveagood69

I've bought and sold 4 of the exact same wah pedal over lockdown. I buy one because i miss having a wah. I get the wah, realise i don't know what to do with it and then sell it. Then i miss having a wah.

Im even thinking about buying another wah right now.  

BintyTwanger77

loveagood69 said:

I've bought and sold 4 of the exact same wah pedal over lockdown. I buy one because i miss having a wah. I get the wah, realise i don't know what to do with it and then sell it. Then i miss having a wah.

Im even thinking about buying another wah right now.  

I have the exact same relationship with the H9 Max. Had a ridiculous buying/selling cycle for ages, haven’t had one in about a year and a half I think... and now wondering whether I need/want one for the Nth time  .

rze99

I’ve only made more guitars I don’t need. I love it. 

BintyTwanger77

Cookiemonster said:

I spent a lot of money on pedal parts, transistors, enclosures, soldering iron, breadboards, Vero boards, etc. But have built about 15 circuits now, and have enjoyed it.

I did buy at the start of lockdown a TateFX fuzz with a bias control, bad Penny fuzz in an old camera, and a couple of other boutique pedals, which started me on the building journey. But not too bad really, although I am now looking at Epiphone Dots because for some reason I really want a Cherry Red one and it's a lot cheaper than a Gibson.

rze99 said:

I’ve only made more guitars I don’t need. I love it. 

Blessed are the gear makers...

This is a great use of lockdown compared to gear-flipping, wish I had the skills.

TTBZ

My lockdown buying has only really consisted of one pickup (resold straight away), a Pocket Pod and a Digitech Drop pedal which I've wanted for ages. Will probably be replacing the Pocket Pod with a NUX Mighty Plug soon and that's it. Over lockdown I've actually managed to spend more time writing and recording music than I have messing with gear and tone chasing which is nice. Problem is I'm sick of hearing the songs I've been working on and have no desire to rehearse or gig them now

MrTee

BintyTwanger77 said:

MrTee said:

Guilty.
FGN Les Paul, ceriatone Horsebreaker, J-Rockett Archer, J-Rockett dude, blues driver waza, nux Atlantic, snouse Blackbox, Vick audio rams head, Peterson strobostomp, truetone cs6, fulltone 69. Probably more I've forgotten. Crikey. Kept 4. 

That is a LOT of dirt.

Ended up with a fulltone 69 and tubescreamer. Go figure! The fulltone hasn't even arrived yet either, so there may be more to the story too!!   

Winny_Pooh

I have been working all through lockdown so less boredom than just an antidote to sadness.

Gained:
MXR super badass
Delay llama extreme
Subdecay vector
MXR m300
Dist+ clone
TC spark

Lost:
300 cds, Marshall reverb, Darkglass VMT & more in the house flood.
£1200, my car and the ex who kept both.
The relationship with the person I love the most.
My pig.




 

BintyTwanger77

Winny_Pooh said:

I have been working all through lockdown so less boredom than just an antidote to sadness.

Gained:
MXR super badass
Delay llama extreme
Subdecay vector
MXR m300
Dist+ clone
TC spark

Lost:
300 cds, Marshall reverb, Darkglass VMT & more in the house flood.
£1200, my car and the ex who kept both.
The relationship with the person I love the most.
My pig.










 

I’m so sorry to hear that.

joeW

Too ashamed to confess. But it’s not good... 

BintyTwanger77

joeW said:

Too ashamed to confess. But it’s not good... 

You’ve taken up the bass?

JOKE, please don’t @ me... 

slacker

I've been restrained, just one pedal, a Rastop Superdivider. I've bought other stuff, Celestion Gold, Mullard ECC81, Callaham Strat block and arm-fitted today. 

It did go a bit pear shaped at the weekend when I impulse bought a Gigrig MIDI Pro 8. That must count for vintage, oldest better etc. Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow and more hopefully I might be able to work it.