No, not my Flashback on max delay and feedback. The merry-go-round of FX lust and confusion.
A million years ago I started out with stomp boxes, adding a Boss HM-2 to my dream rig (ahem) of a Kay Strat and a 10w Sound City practice amp, because it just wasn't fizzy enough already ...
Then poverty and a lust for more options than I could actually afford meant multi-fx, bankrupting myself for a Korg G3 and then a ToneWorks AX30G followed by an AX1500G.
At some point snobbery kicked in, and I ditched all of the above for a small number of individual stomp boxes. Years go by and a couple of projects crop up that cause gross mission creep, and I end up with a "in the front" board and an "in the loop" board. All to service a 3-show am-dram performance I was involved with as a volunteer.
Time marches on and I get cheesed off with lugging two boards around, and the floor real estate at church is limited, and there's a panto thing coming up, so I consolidate the whole lot onto one board and introduce a loop switcher.
Now I'm thinking "Most of the time I only really use the tuner, drive, and delay. Maybe I should just have a smaller board instead of carting a 3' Pedaltrain flight case everywhere. Or perhaps one of those funky new multi-FX so I've got the other options just in case, but it's light and compact".
WTF is wrong with me? I'm very much an amateur. I mostly play at church, where these days I probably play acoustic 65% of the time with no board. I
want to play in other situations, but haven't got the requisite local mates, or the requisite self-confidence to just walk into a band-recruiting scenario.
I'm starting to think I just need to buy everything to cover all bases.
At least if I do I'll be divorced, so I'll have more time to focus on my playing!
Comments
I've had the same board unchanged for about 5 months and I consider that an epic achievement.
I'm not so gloomy as others. It might end. It does for some people. Unfortunately it can cost a lot of money in flipped gear for you to get there, and a lot of the time you can end up buying the same pedals again that you bought you didn't want/need.
I think I do have genuine needs for new / different gear (as do you) but it does breed A/B madness which can lead to the merry-go-round of gear flippage. Lots of people seem to have cured themselves by buying a Helix or AX8. Didn't work for me though!
[I say this somewhat hypocritically as I literally sold my Axe FX II a fortnight ago in order to fund an Axe FX III! tut tut]
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
I wanted to love the Helix but haven't been hugely bowled over with either Native or the rack version I tried. Still want to have a go on a properly set up one to see if it'll let me ditch the rest of my gear for good.
I really don't know, but it seems like a good idea
Do I need help?