The Ultimate GAS Test - Confessions of a Gear Addict 

During lockdown I sold over £30,000 of gear and paid off my mortgage and now only work 2 days a week :) I keep 2 Strats, Martin custom shop, a tone king imperial and a Klone pedal. I couldn’t be happier :)

Ed Bickert, the great jazz guitar player, bought a Tele and just played it using back line amps for 50 years. As far as I can tell, he literally never looked for another guitar or piece of gear. For guitar players, that is insanely eccentric.

Buying stuff and finding out you don't really need it is how you learn. If you never tried it you wouldn't know.

After spending thousands of dollars making giant pedal boards, I’ve returned to an original version of my rig from my teenage years. Tele > compressor > ts 808 > CE2w chorus > dl4 mkII > amp. My brain has been slightly broken thinking about how many other versions of this setup I’ve tried, and then ultimately come back to the original signal chain. Less is more.

As someone who has designed a lot of pro-audio gear, the blues driver is one of the most sophisticated pedals from a circuit perspective. I was building and selling things that are the same or better than an Ibanez tube screamer in the late 70s -> 80s. The big breakthroughs, from my perspective, were Blues Driver and Klon Centaur. One for getting you a tube amp behaviour in a pedal and the other for adding positive harmonic reinforcement with gain. No other pedal attempted or imagined the benefits of that.

You’re not the only RU-vidr to bring up the subject. I had GAS bad. The lesson I learned is that it’s not always a bad thing, it helps you to appreciate what you have and decide what’s best for you. You also realise that sometimes you buy things because you WANT to like them because “so & so” plays well with it. I’ve come full circle. I am a Strat fanatic. I wanted to like Les Paul’s, I’ve had 5. I wanted to like Tele’s, Ive had 3, & so on even with peddles. Now I have 4 Strats, a Blues Jnr, Boss Katana, TS808, BD-2, Tone City Golden Plexi, a Chorus & Delay. That’s it. Sold the rest. Hey, I could’ve saved a mint but I learned what works for me.

Every time I’ve sold gear (once I got out of my 20s), it’s because I thought it made something harder, or got in the way. Every time I’ve bought something I didn’t regret, it was often a guitar or a single pedal. Amps… I’ve struggled with. You can’t really know if an amp or a complicated processor/pedal is what you need until you gig it for a year. Guitars, I can judge in a day or two. The ones I have speak to me or are a part of my history, touchstones. I recently had to get rid of all my big tube amp head and 2x12 cab because I hurt my shoulder in a possibly permanent way. Life is short. Things you find fulfilling have an expiry date. Live and learn. I’m currently re-learning how to program a digital rig. Don’t break yourself buying things, but if you are moving in and out of gear with actual reasons that you’ve thought about… I think that’s part of being a guitar player.

Lost my mind over Covid lockdown and bought about 7 guitars to try and find "the" one. I am in the process of selling all them all after finding the company Shabat guitars. Sometimes you have to go down a path to find what connects with you. Yes, I lost money, but I can now die knowing I found the perfect guitar that inspires me :) Hopefully we all find the guitar that inspires and connects.

I agree I have about 15 guitars and really only play two of them constantly. You will find that when you play you know what works for you.

I bought 3 Sire guitars, 1 Yamaha, 1 vintage Les Paul, 1 vintage Vibrolux, 2 Mesa boogie amps. All of these because of you, Jonathan. Now you're telling me to regret that? You got to be kidding me.

YES. MY FAVORITE TOPIC. Let's get high on gear, Cordy.

i recently sold almost all my gear. Not because i needed money or it got out of hand, but because i had found that i am only using some of it and haven't touched a tube amp or a real cab in years... so i sold it all. I kept a FRFR speaker, my boss katana arist mk2 combo, my Quad Cortex, 5 Guitars and one Bass. Of course my in ears, interface, Studio Monitors and my Midi Keyboard stayed aswell. Before i sold all of the stuff i always had to make descisions wich things to use for a recording or what to take to a gig or to the rehersal room. Those descisions took me ages since i liked the sound of it all. So i took captures with the Quad Cortex, got rid of it and spend the money on things that actually help me do what i love, wich is play guitar! Now my Workflow is the same for everything: take guitar, start quad cortex, play. All that changes is the device that outputss the sound. At home its the Studio Monitors, in the rehersal room and live it's a combination of the Katana, the FRFR and my in ears. My overall Workflow for both guitar and bass got so much faster without sacrificing sound or feel in any noticeable way. Also my Back pain got a lot better because i do not haul around tube heads and 4x12s anymore. The Recordings i do for my Band also sound better, becasue i take the now gained time focussing on the playing side and not so much wich amp sounds best or wich guitar i take, now i just play. Conclusion: Keeping only what i really use was a huge relief for me. Owining a ton of gear is nice, but it kept me from actually focusing on the thing that was the reason i got all of it in the first place: playing guitar and having fun with it.

The thing about instruments is that they tend to hold their value relatively well, unlike a computer or software plugins. If you buy a nice guitar, you can usually get most of the money back when you decide to sell it. It’s almost like a free rental, provided you take care of it.

I've sold most the guitar gear I've bought, mostly at a loss. They were all important parts of the journey, and I can't say I regret it. But, yeah...I've got 3 nice guitars I love, a fractal, some ancillary bits and bobs to make it work the way I want and actually be able to hear it...and just enough pedals I can't bring myself to sell just in case I "have to" play someone else's amps (seriously, it's 4 pedals). And, I'm really happy with it. The closest thing to an "upgrade" I'm even considering is a new fractal in a generation or two.

I've already done this! Been through many boutique guitars and pickups, every major must-have pedal in the P&W scene...all I have now is a stock Harmony Silhouette and Line 6 Helix. Best tone I've ever had, easiest rig to travel with, endless tones, and the simple joy of playing! Now if only I could have gotten all that money back...

What I keep is used, always. The only new guitars I’ve bought are either long gone or currently on reverb. I went through a long phase of flipping so I could try out gear I normally wouldn’t but knew I could make a profit on and now after the lockdown there are so many people doing that I can’t keep up with getting good deals. I kept all of the stuff that really spoke to me and made me a better player. Monetarily speaking, I’ve been paid to have the gear I have. Right now the gear I’m keeping is a 2006 dc Les Paul standard (the version with standard pickup spacing), a nice tele, a Vibroverb, custom shop supersonic 22, a few drive pedals, a flint, and a tuner. That’s all I need. I’m pretty much done with gas.

We moved to a smaller house last year, which gave me the opportunity to reevaluate my gear collection. I sold 60% of my guitars and a truckload of pedals. I don't have any amps anymore, only a Strymon Iridium based rig with two FRFR speakers. I am actually quite happy with what I have right now

Right on! Over the last few years I've downsized to a few pieces that I REALLY enjoy using. Now down to two basses, two guitars, a Helix board & a pair of Boss amps. Happy as can be. Frankly, I'm quite content with what I have, and that contentment is a huge blessing :)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. I now have the idea, after a very long time, that these things are just tools. And as Keith from Five Watt World said, the memories they evoke won't go away.

I've never had much gear. As an amateur hobbyist, I had enough to make my own music (which I found very difficult; I really needed a teacher). I got into pedals instead of digital modellers in 2021 and I started playing much more and tweaking tone much less. I had upwards 20 pedals, built two separate pedalboards, then found my thing and now I have 8 effects pedals and a handful of utility pedals. I have two delays and two reverbs on my board. I could go to one each, but I like the versatility. My problem is that I have 8 electric guitars, mostly in different tunings: E standard, Eb standard, drop D or I even drop the low E to C, DADGAD, Db-G-A#-F-G-D, which is Yvette Young's tuning, but a whole step down, and two guitars are tuned to D standar, though one can go to drop C. I like pedals, and I like to get inspired by sounds. But I don't want to have too much stuff, I won't be playing then. I just want to be able to go from subtle to ambient, wild and crazy even. And I feel I've got that right now. The Old Blood Noise Endeavours Excess V2 is an important tool to me.

I did exactly what you’re talking about. In the video. I’ve been playing guitar for 23 years and back in the day. I had a small pedal board with a few boss effects and a digit Tech RP 200 and I played shows with it and I loved it. Few years ago I started watching RU-vid a lot and ended up with about 60 pedals. Multiple pedalboards marshals oranges in about 10 guitars in my room. The works. This year around Thanksgiving I got tired of not using most of the petals and didn’t want to just collect them anymore but I had already stopped by and petals for about a year at that point , I sold everything and kept a bass amp and a guitar amp a small 20 W orange Terri’s Stamp to be specific, sold all the Gibsons and about 58 pedals, converted it back to over 10 Grand, and lost about the same amount in the process, but I’m just happy to be rid of it. Now I play guitar a lot more and I use every piece of gear that I own all the time and I love it that way it’s a more minimalist approach and it suits me just fine. I think you’re right on the money even if you lose some you should definitely sell a gear that you aren’t using and just acquired just to get it

I off-loaded a ton of stuff in 2022, basically sold everything except for a 4x10 cab and a Stringray bass my dad bought me in highschool that I used to tour with (this bass is seldom used and lives in a hardcase under my bed). Total I sold 2 P-basses, an active Jazz, a half stack rig, and a smaller combo amp. I bought a higher end Jazz bass and a compact cab/head for small gigs and rehearsals. I can use the head on my bigger cab when need be, but otherwise I plan on using the compact rig for everything. Admittedly, these last few months I ended up building a partscaster P-bass but this was mostly a project and coincidentally ended up with a great sounding/playing yet extremely cheap bass I want to hang onto for a while, but overall I don't want to own several guitars and amps anymore. It's too overwhelming.

I don't regret buying most of my current gear. There are one or two guitars I'd rather have not bought, but the rest I would rebuy in a clean slate scenario. I usually spend quite a long time thinking about gear purchases, so I'm usually happy, long term.

I feel the same way, within the past year or so I’ve sold 5 guitars, about 20 pedals and 2 amps. Loving my simple minimal setup with the IR-X as the center. Two different Nick Johnston USA and a Strandberg is really all I need. 👌

Recently I’ve also been focusing on dispersion creating less productivity. This certainly is applicable in musicianship.

I'm in a similar position in a way. I'm keeping 1 amp, 1 cab, 2 guitars and necessary pedals for what I play. (tuner, fuzz, drives, comp, vibe, delay, reverb). So still a lot really. I'm selling a Dr z combo, suhr head, jtm45 clone, gibson les paul and many pedals. From the beginning of this year I focus on selling the excess and playing and practicing more. I did purchase some "experimental" pedals to make song writing easier. Turns out I just needed a few lessons and dedication to the instrument. G. A. S. Is a detriment to anybody that isn't financially stable. Bedroom players with thousands of pounds of excess stuff is a joke. Got to give up that gas, man.

Well said! When lockdown happened I had all kinds of extra time to play that I hadn’t in a while. I had 18 nice guitars to choose from, and everyday I kept picking up the same 2 or 3. By the end of lockdown I had the 5 guitars left that I really couldn’t ever part with and I’m way happier with my collection.

I made spreadsheet of what I bought and sold over the last 8 years and when I saw the totals, it stopped me cold. I haven’t bought anything except strings since.

You didn't buy perishable objects. You're young. In the future, there is always chance to give them as a gift for your kiddo, cousin, nephew, neighbor's kid, grandchild, if they're into it. I witnessed that "giving & expect nothing" attract Love. And I think thats better than convert them all back to money.

I don’t regret it honestly! As a beginner, new gear would inspire me to play more. Now as an intermediate/advanced player, I have more sources of inspiration other than GAS (technique, recording, your videos, etc), so it’s less “bad”… but I probably wouldn’t be here without that initial source of inspiration. So yes, I would love to have all that money, but I do not regret it. I hope to have a kid one day and he/she to enjoy it as much as I do so far 😊

I needed to hear this. Thank you

Imagine if you could get a printed receipt of every single piece of gear you’ve ever bought with the grand total. I mean everything! Everything from expensive amps and guitars to the picks and strings. I’m sure many of us would not be proud of the number lol.

So true, I was just thinking about that yesterday. I was looking at all my gear and thinking I wish I never bought most of it especially since I need to get my house fixed from the rain damage here in California. Since I got my modelers my pedals just sit here. The funny thing is that if I add up the cost of all the pedals they cost way more than my Axe-Fx III and don't do nearly as much or sound as good. I don't gig anymore so that makes it even more desirable to get rid of them.

Excellent video and realistic comments. Good Job !

I’ve bought and sold so much gear. Often selling stuff to fund purchases then a little while later selling on the new gear! I’m in a selling cycle atm, a bunch of stuff I simply wasn’t using. But I always have an eye out for stuff too, but I’m trying to be less impulsive and consider purchases more carefully these days

If you don't try things you'll never know what you like and what you don't. As you said, you would experiment with other new things. Talking in retrospective sounds always very wise.. Also when you know what you don't want you can focus on what you want.

I currently use either a Schecter Nick Johnston HSS Traditional or a Gibson LP Classic and I pair it with my Ampero Stomp II (bought it thanks to your videos). Used to add a Keeley Caverns v2 and a clean boost post amp sim, but I managed to streamline most of my presets in order to have a boost assigned to one of my footswitches and I stopped doing ambient music, so I need less reverb and delay. Thinking on getting a Digitech The Drop and a volume pedal to compliment the Ampero and that would be my whole setup. The Schecter gives me my single coils with a bit of humbucker and my LP gives me my full humbucking sound and with the Drop I can have them both tuned and set up to standard. The Ampero scratches the itch for every amp sound I would ever want. Might eventually get a FRFR or some kind of PA system to play at home without running through my interface and out of my speakers (kind of cumbersome). Also thinking of getting a baritone, but not right now. I'm not going to say "less is more", but I do think you're a more efficient musician when you can make the most out of the least. I don't regret owning all the gear I've owned since every piece has lead me to my current setup.

You have to recognize that it comes in cycles. Sometimes the function of owning something is so that you don't have to shop it again. Owning one example keeps you from spending even more money. Sometimes going through a selling phase just makes room for more buying. If you hung onto what you have you might ultimately save more money.

Me and the missus were talking about FOMO this morning. Being left handed has definitely made it harder for me to part with instruments because they're so rare despite their often modest value. The two items I regret selling were ones I bought whilst a teenager: a 1969 Bassman Export Amp head (that Ive mentioned before on here) and an all black strat with glossy maple neck made by Harmony in the 80s. I didnt realise how good a guitar it was at the time. Sold them to pay the phone bill in my late 20s. Got back what I paid for them, £100 each. So with inflation I lost out. So when I started guitar again seriously (as in I actually had to play for people) it slowly got out of control..... I'm at about 40 instruments now and have sold on almost half again. I dont regret selling anything since, but I am having trouble letting go of what remains since I know I will be hard pressed to see many of the same models for sale again should I find myself regretting the sale. I guess in another 10-15 years when I'm semi-retired I will have to start selling stuff to pay bils. By that I may have settled into what I really like and be able to rationalise it all down to 20 instruments....😂 My amp collection is more modest bit includes bass amps. One way I cope space wise is by letting others borrow them until I need them.... And even though I have no more space at home the GAS continues and I now have a decent complement of cheap pedals I will never use live because my Zoom B3, G3n and G3nX do almost everything I need (plus the EHX B9😊). But I'm having a lot of fun with the analogue pedals at home and using that to make better patches on the Zooms.

The reference to buying amps during the lockdown caused me think about how RU-vid timespans are different from the rest of the world. I notice that on RU-vid, people talk about things that happened a few years ago the way everyone else does for things that happened decades ago. You'll regularly hear things like "i remember years ago that 'X' happened. This was all the way back in 2019-2020."

Jazz great, Jim Hall, played the same ES175 till it wasn't playable anymore. My favorite quote of his is, "I know a guitar when I see one". I wish I had that gene.

Well... yes, I mean: - 10 years ago while being a student I wanted to get back into photography (my dad taught me how to use a analog Olympus OM-2 SLR that was older than me in my teenage days), bought one of the earlier entry-level DLSM model from the same brand. Year later I swapped that one for a Mk2 version that had a splash-proof body. If I look at my shelf, it sits there along with a Panasonic that I bought because better video quality and half a dozen interchangeable lenses. The amount of 4k videos I shot is maybe a dozen, the amount of days where I used the Mk2 version in bad weather that would have justified the upgrade is in the same ballpark. If I could sell one of these and 2/3 of the lenses for the price that I bought them, I would to it hands down. Heck, for what I do I most likely could sell both and simply swap to a camera with a fixed lens and be happy. Every time I went on holiday with one of those two cameras and a few of the lenses, I ended up using the 14-150 zoom lens for outdoor photography. - Played acoustic guitar (incl. having my mum pay for teaching sessions) as a teenager, had my concert guitar repaired Christmas 2022 ago and decided that I now have the time and money to maybe pick up a electrical one (which i couldn't afford as a teenager). 14 Month later I have a PRS SE, a H&B 25th telecaster, a inexpensive Ibanez Mikro bass and Ibanez ukulele, a Spark Mini and since December also a spark cab. And if I'm honest with myself I watched way more gear videos on YT (incl. the ones on your channel) than I spend time practising... So yeah, GAS is a real thing...

Peak years of my gigging career I could move in a taxi...had a les paul, an ovation elite and a Roland JC 77...had 5 boss pedals in one of those fiberglass cases with an EQ, DS1, BD2, Dimension C , tuner and Delay...that gear got me through a couple of decades of gigging...then I bought a house....no more moving in a taxi. 20 years of gear collecting, I'm ready to purge again

I paired my guitars back, and now I have a humbucker electric, a single coil electric, a dreadnought acoustic for flat picking, an orchestra model acoustic for fingerstyle, and a bass. I’ve decided if I want another single coil or whatever it is, to sell the other one I have to replace it so I’m not doubling up. It also forces me to be brutally honest about whether this new guitar I want is genuinely better than the one I’d sell to get it. Don’t know how long this will last, or if I’ll cave and end up getting like 10 guitars again, but so far it’s working for me 🤷‍♂️

When i was a teenager i didnt have a lot of money.i got to where i was playing out but my lack of vocal ability kept me from getting in the really good bands where i lived.i gave up guitar completely.35 years later i have taken guitar back up and cant believe what is available as far as equipment. Now i have money.And GAS. Its hard not to make impulse purchases.i do a lot of research before i buy and im having a lot of fun.

I have 3 core PRS and one private stock. One amp, 2 cabs, 6 pedals. I have sold the guitars I didn't want to keep forever, and got at least what I paid for them. Very few regrets.

RU-vid is basically one big infomercial, and constant exposure to marketing has you chasing tone and spending cash. There are only a handful of pieces of gear I’d repurchase.

The Boss GX100 is the piece of gear that i couldn't live without at the moment.

I've boiled it down to the following: - 3 guitars: A thinline Tele, Gretsch hollowbody, LP clone. - 2 amps: Fender Princeton (for practice/smaller gigs), and a Vox/Matchless clone (Trinity TC15) into 1x12 cab with a Fane A60 (awesome speaker!) - A small pedalboard with an HX Stomp, five pedals in a loop switcher (mostly different flavours of drive), a midi controller (MC6 Pro) and a couple expression pedals. If I pack right, I can go in and out of gigs from my truck with just one trip and I can do everything I want to sound wise. You do have to experiment with gear to find the stuff you really like, but in the end most of us move on from 9 out of 10 of the pieces of gear we buy and stick to a few pieces we really like.

I love your channel and this vid. I’m also in a process of downsizing my gear. So far everything that has gone has been nearly forgotten. It *was* hard to let go of a beautiful Tele I simply wasn’t playing…it just sat there being admired…the bottom line was I always reached for another guitar that felt better in my hands. The money from that immediately funded gear I’m now using everyday.

2 Guitars, 1 Quad Cortex, 1 Small Pedalboard with IR-2, Collider, Volume Pedal, and lastly, one combo drive pedal that I keep switch selling buying selling buying repeatedly these days. Feel like buying pedal reminded me buying bunch of SNES games back then… just 10x expensiver…

The actual guitar itself is quite important though…Decent action, good intonation, good quality output from the pickups

My GAS is under control now. In fact, I have quite a few things to sell that will go on Reverb soon. I've bought one pedal in the last 3 months.. Very reasonable. If I had to choose my "absolute keepers" guitars: Strat, Tele, SG.

The best gear has been the gear I’ve bought in local shops before buying. I’ve been generally disappointed in things I’ve ordered.

""The struggle alone pleases us, not the victory...We never seek things for themselves, but for the search."--Pascal

I would only buy Boss pedals and maybe a Squier HSS strat or something like it.

Keep my Suhr HSS that I bought two years ago from Humbucker Music (it has a roasted flamed maple neck and I haven't really looked at any other guitars in the last two years since. I sold every other axe I owned as well), return to a channel switching amp, and a few select pedals. Currently looking at a Fryette Deliverance. Simple, incredible sounding, beautiful cleans, more gain than I would ever need, and can also be used as a "pedal platform" if you want.

I actually like having lots of guitars. It keeps me inspired and I love having the variety but it's nice to have a few favourites. I have some I'd never sell and they mean a lot! Some others are special in their own right. I definitely think it's fun to have a revolving door of guitars and amps and if you regret selling, remember there was a strong enough reason for you to want to get rid of it!

I tend to look back at all the stuff I didn't buy and regret not having done so.

The Angry driver could do with more switching - on/off, BD/Gv, both, BD > Gv(?), Gv > BD(?) Anyway, more than one. Real estate is the only plus for me

Your music is great mate

Wait! So you mean it's better to actually play my guitar, learn some theory, and....play my guitar than perpetually shop for, acquire, and tone tweak a constant procession of new gear? This is going to flip many, many guitarists' worlds upside down... Thank you for making this video -- but can you please block my wife's access to it? 😂

Totally! Most of the time just my Tele and a couple of pedals…Prefer to dedicate the lil’ time I got in actually playing 😊😉

One I never regretted was the nomad music set up kit

Brilliant playing & interesting video. "There's nothing as expensive as that which you buy TWICE." I have loads of gear that I seldom use, but already paid for (much of it bought used at good prices). I could sell some, but I already have it, so it's like "sunk costs". If I sold & wanted to buy an item again later, that just burns cash. Plus, the good stuff appreciates.

I've never bought loads of gear, and I've kept hold of most of what I have bought. I've kept most of my guitars, but now have one Martin acoustic, one Fender Strat, one Kentucky mandolin. Pretty much going the 5 Watt World way. The main thing I would want to buy again that I did sell is an Ensoniq ESI4000 digital sampler. It was a bit of a bastard to understand how to use, but once you got over that, it was an absolute beast for creating fantastic sounds. And it sounded great.

I havent sold any of the gear I have owned through choice. Only through needing a quick buck. All of it was bought after a lot of deliberation or from need so I still have it. I have sold two guitars, given a few away to friends and swapped one and regret selling both of them. The strat I even bought back, sort of. I bought the same year and model albeit with a rosewood fretboard but the RG3270m I might never see again. Certainly not in that condition. Long story short. My pragmatism and utilitarianism has saved me from gas.

As someone who currently owns 90 guitars - you have read that right - , 100 pedals and at least 4 amps, I am a way worse addict to GAS than you. So, the question is real for me as well. The answer is equally: No, likely not. I think I could do with as many as maybe 10-20 guitars, and even less if need be. The more important question is: If you realize you don't actually would buy all this stuff again, why not sell it instantly? Yeah, I know. That is the tricky part. It takes ages for me to make a decision about this, and it's a very hard emotional path to finally decide to let something go. But after I did, I never miss a single guitar or pedal or amp I ever sold. It is an illusion that you will regret selling something.

YES. Guitarists Buy Too Much Stuff. Wed yourself to one guitar and one amp. Commit to the marriage for life. Become One. This is way of true bliss my friends🙏❤️

I got into DIY during the pandemic and started building all my pedals. Since then I have sold all my pedals (had a nice 50+ collection) except for my ibanez wah and Boss tuner. Since then I have to admit I have built more pedals than I need to, but for the price you can build a fuzz or an overdrive (less than 40€) I don't feel too much guilt on trying to test different Big Muff designs or different types of clean boosters...

I haven’t owned a lot of gear ever at one time. I’m no professional and I have never had a large income, but I will say I’ve always been happiest with the guitar I play the most and I’ve learned to sound good with minimal pedals and amps. I think that as soon as I got a strat and a Marshall style amp and an overdrive that isn’t as mid forward as a Tube Screamer I had all I need. For luxury I’d add a telecaster cause it will get me close enough to gibson tones I like from the 60s-early 70s. And I do use delay a bit.

Whenever I’ve been considering new gear, I always think back on EVH…if he could do what he did with a cheap homemade guitar and an old amp what right do I have with a $3000 or more gibson or prs or what not…it’s just how I keep myself in check

john was going to suggest you could sell off all your bridge and middle pickups as not used, but then you go and outro using the bridge pu, so i'll just return to the corner.

Interesting. I’ve pared it down my main board to a nano+ representing core tones only. Signal chain is bp-w (ce) > KTR for cleans/edge of breakup > dumbloid for leads > ce-2. Sometimes I add a Keeley bd-2 before the dumbloid for an additional gain stage. All of my other pedals are on a huge “test board” for trying out different combos. That’s why I don’t part with anything; there’s always a new configuration to spark some temporary inspiration.

i remember Ed using a small Polytone amp. such a quiet laid back guy. Voicing genius as is Lorne. Another great guitar player is Rob Piltch. If you listen to a lot of various music you probably have heard his bass playing brother David Piltch.

Beautiful intro playing!

As a player of 25 years, I rarely part with gear. I own over 30 guitars, 10 tube amps , and around 100 pedals. I traded two guitars, sold two amps, and traded one pedal in that time. That’s about it. I buy things that I know I like and that have the versatility I require.

I spent a lot of money, mainly on pedals. I could get by with just the following chain: Danelectro FAB Fuzz > Polytune > EHX Hot Wax > Fender Hammertone Reverb. Maybe also throw in a cheap multi modulation and a simple delay, but could do without, really. I think your observation is true though: you have to spend some money and try a bunch of stuff to know what you like.

Thank you for your confession; I'm still early in the pedal game and I've only ever owned one amp. I'm starting to lean towards learning to build my own drive pedals instead of ever buying any. I already have resistors. (it would have been helpful for you to show pictures of the pedals / gear you were talking about; I was somewhat lost as you listed them.)

I currently use a well-setup Anygig from Amazon, a passive Varitone pedal, an inexpensive volume pedal, a Zoom G1xon, and either two LyxPro 8” woofer PA cabs or a Mackie Thump TX415. I just bought an NK guitars fanned fret 6 string, but if it doesn’t feel right, I’m just sticking with the Anygig. With the ZOOM and the PA cabs, I can get almost any tone I want.😊

Since 2015, i’ve owned and sold around 40 guitars, 30 amps and 150 pedals. I’m also an addict in recovery since 2004. Sometimes, GAS is painfull as hell. We need help. Thank you for this episode.

Yes @johnnathancirdy! Less is More! I’m down to 3 electrics and one acoustic. One all in one modeler. No if I can stick to one modeler for more than 1 year. 😆

The journey is fun though. When i played live it was a basic setup. But sitting around the home studio i was always down to try something new. Sometimes i found inspiration.

Keeping it real Cody. Love it. I realized many of your tones sounded around the same ballpark with many of the drive demos (The Dude, Hrm, Bluesbreaker) so the tone really comes from the fingers (and tweaking). Kinda had your realization after buying my last pedal last week: a $300 Blues Power v2. GREAT pedal, but was it really worth double the money of my other ones? That’s still on debate.

At one point, I had an epiphone LP junior (P90), an line 6 dl4, a big Muff, and a vox pathfinder 15. I loved that setup so much

I have a 100-watt tube amp I don't need. But it's nice to look at, nice to play. It's nice to have stuff that makes you want to play it. There is a lot of stuff going through one's head when playing. The gear seems to add to the mood of the music.

Hi John… great thoughts… I have a bunch of stuff I think I could live without (mostly pedals) but yet to take the plunge… in my mind they are boxes of value to be exchanged for cash but they are also kind of collectable(maybe…in my mind) I can’t reconcile this with myself yet

I have tried thousands of drive pedals and i stuck with the Ratt and a Nobels . can't beat them

All you “need” is a strat and some type of humbucker/P90 with Gibson scale length guitar, an amp like a deluxe tonemaster or Roland blues cube, and a handful of effects/modulation pedals and you can get dang close to nearly every tone you need. Obviously this is dependent on what you wanna play but this is for any type of classic rock and blues

What do you downsizing guys do when someone offers you FREE or extremely cheap equipment you don't have or really want? I was offered a H Benton 15 watt amp w/o the amp part. Bought a $60 Hotone Mojo Diamond (Fender Tweed) head and got the best practice amp l've ever owned. Then on another day I was sent to clean out a mobile home trailer and found a Yamaha 88 key board, a Korg M-1 music station,a Peavey keyboard amp and a old rusty stand. Took it home , everything worked but the Korg. Got it fixed for $200 bought covers, sustain pedals and 1 more stand. I don't play keys but for the price I'll store this until I learn how. Another crazy deal, a friend asked me to find a cheap drum set so she could learn. After searching for about a month found a Behringer cheapo set and got it down to $200. She turned it down and I couldn't pass up such a deal. When delivered turned out to be a brand new set that was B-stock. Dont know why cause everything was perfect and now I store a drum set in a storage box on wheels. Just equipment just keeps coming to me for free or so cheap, I can't help myself. Guess I could sell it but thats when life changes and I'll need whatever gets sold. On the guitar front my 2 electrics are great my 2 E/acoustics will do the job and are beat up enough that I don't mind outside or even beach time for either the 6 or 12 string. And my last guitar is a bass. Nothing great but at least I got that part covered also. Enough equipment for a whole 6 piece band. And these days only thing that constantly gets use are guitars usually unplugged.

I find you really only need one strat, tele, 335, and les paul. As long as you have a screaming ibanez or charvel or two. Of course for amplification it's best to have at least one tweed and blackface fender to complement the marshall and boogies laying around to complement the vox.

I round Robbin all of my guitars on the weekend. I wouldn’t play nearly as much if I had less. I’ve saturated myself though and it’s caused a large reduction in GAS as it’ll be harder to get around to playing them all in an enjoyable timeframe

I think about the Marie Kondo thing, does the item "spark joy"? And quite sincerely, yes. The guitar stuff I own makes me happy. When I use it, when I see it, sometimes just thinking about owning it.n

Amp-wise, I’ve settled on a JC-40 and a Princeton. I think I’ll add an acoustic amp/mini PA at some point, but I don’t see myself getting anything else there. With pedals & guitars, though, I like having variety and being able to match the gear to the job. So, while I won’t ever have several Les Pauls or several Tube Screamers, I’m aiming for one of everything that I’m interested in. That said, I won’t be too surprised if one day I give up all the pedals and go fully software. Or at least something like the Helix where I can have the same toolbox in both one piece of hardware and one piece of software.

I’ve realized that ultimately all I need are my current instruments, plus one more…

For me having more guitars means constantly having more inspiration. When the Tele is not speaking to me in terms of song writing the Les Paul or SG kicks things into gear or maybe the Jag or Jazzmaster. That being said I keep my collection relatively small with around 10 guitars but they are constantly keeping me inspired to play. Each guitar sings different songs. I cant imagine just having one but I know that for some that works perfectly.

That's why you have kids. Give it all them when you're old or gone so they can sell, keep, or whatever. Quality guitars likely are going to keep their value or go up in price. Great subject!

Really interested to hear more about the custom shop les Paul you had then sold. Please share more on what you bought and what made you return it. Keep up the good work John.

I agree, there area few items I have right now that have little to no use to me. Even having cleared out a LOT of gear after getting a Helix, I still have many items that I simply do not use and would be thrilled to have those thousands of dollars back. However, what's even worse is getting rid of a piece of gear and later realizing it was a mistake! For me that mistake usually happens when something "new and amazing" comes out, and I sell off some gear to justify buying it, only to hate it. the Shuriken Variax comes to mind.

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom