nightlight
Well-known member
I had a serious discussion with my wife about my problem with spending too much money on gear. And it is a problem. This is going to be a long winded post, so if you want to know what my strategy to end my GAS once and for all is, scroll to the bold bit at the bottom. And then let me know how you're doing with GAS and whether you have a strategy to end it.
It's not even like we have the space in our small house, I've completely run out and now I have trouble plugging in and out of stuff that is sitting at the top of my amp pile when I added one more over the weekend.
It's not even a huge collection, I just have four guitar amps, one bass amp, two preamps and two power amps. I have one 2x12 and one 4x12. The guitar collection is currently seven guitars and a bass, with two of the guitars in storage. There's also an electronic drum kit and a rack full of interfaces and my digital modellers.
It's way too much for one man to logically use to its fullest extent, I have been thinking. I'm not Slash or Bonamassa that I can afford to keep around valuable instruments and gear without playing them a lot more.
The amp pile towers over me and I'm seriously scared it's going to topple one of these days and defenestrate some part of my body. Or worse, crush a few guitars on the way down.
I'm not a professional musician, and there are some days I look at my guitars and amps and worry that I only play them in rotation to the extent that each of them really sees only a few days of cumulative playtime in a year.
The cabs just sit around lying useless most of the time, because I really cannot mic them up to save my life, and perhaps more importantly have noise concerns in my neighbourhood.
I think the electronic drum kit was a very wise decision, as I can play even till late at night with headphones. But I t recently somewhat foolishly agreed to buy a new module and a digital snare to improve it, with plans for more toms and more cymbals so that I can have a "monster kit".
Why?
The biggest concern for me, I guess, is that I really should be thinking about putting money into more lucrative assets like stocks and property. Another couple of decades till retirement, and my wife will depend on me to keep her comfortable in her golden years.
The GAS is real though. I keep looking at guitars like Music Mans, PRSes and Mayoneses. I keep drooling over amps like Bogners and Mesas. And the urge to just pull out my credit card to pay is strong, with feelings of guilt and anxiety coming later as I worry about how I'm going to have to curb spending on more rational things just so that I could play on something for a few hours every month.
So I put together a list of what I owned and have begun to downsize.
I got off to a good start when I sold a guitar (Jeff Hanneman JH-600EC) and a Czarcie Kopyto drum pedal (which I replaced with a cheaper pedal). Currently selling a bass amp, a modeller, a drum module and a bass (which I will have to replace with something else unfortunately).
After the sales that I have already made, I am a couple of grand in the green, and this is after I bought the pedals and a VHT Sig:X. Hoping that the other stuff I have listed will sell soon so that I can put some money away.
And in some good news, I will be done paying off one of my home loans by the end of this year, so I can look at taking out a new mortgage on it and using the funds to buy an investment property.
Can't bring myself to part with any more of my guitars and amps though. And my dinky-little amp collection is my pride and joy, I have sold a lot of amps over the years and have always regretted it. So they'll have to stay.
But I took a decision to just buy one or two more amps and then stop altogether. None this year, I've already bought a tonne of stuff. But next year, maybe $5k all in, and then I'm going to try to quit cold turkey.
The amps I am looking at are a Diezel VHX (got to have a Diezel, if I hadn't sold my VH4 this wouldn't be necessary) and either a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Multiwatt or a Rectifier Recording preamp that I could pair with my Rectifier Stereo 2:100.
That's my "big decision" haha. GAS always gets the better of me. But I think of it as two baby steps and then just resisting temptation.
I've done this before, and maintained my decision for a long time. But then GAS got the better of me and I caved in.
Trying to do better, but it's a real problem.
It's not even like we have the space in our small house, I've completely run out and now I have trouble plugging in and out of stuff that is sitting at the top of my amp pile when I added one more over the weekend.
It's not even a huge collection, I just have four guitar amps, one bass amp, two preamps and two power amps. I have one 2x12 and one 4x12. The guitar collection is currently seven guitars and a bass, with two of the guitars in storage. There's also an electronic drum kit and a rack full of interfaces and my digital modellers.
It's way too much for one man to logically use to its fullest extent, I have been thinking. I'm not Slash or Bonamassa that I can afford to keep around valuable instruments and gear without playing them a lot more.
The amp pile towers over me and I'm seriously scared it's going to topple one of these days and defenestrate some part of my body. Or worse, crush a few guitars on the way down.
I'm not a professional musician, and there are some days I look at my guitars and amps and worry that I only play them in rotation to the extent that each of them really sees only a few days of cumulative playtime in a year.
The cabs just sit around lying useless most of the time, because I really cannot mic them up to save my life, and perhaps more importantly have noise concerns in my neighbourhood.
I think the electronic drum kit was a very wise decision, as I can play even till late at night with headphones. But I t recently somewhat foolishly agreed to buy a new module and a digital snare to improve it, with plans for more toms and more cymbals so that I can have a "monster kit".
Why?
The biggest concern for me, I guess, is that I really should be thinking about putting money into more lucrative assets like stocks and property. Another couple of decades till retirement, and my wife will depend on me to keep her comfortable in her golden years.
The GAS is real though. I keep looking at guitars like Music Mans, PRSes and Mayoneses. I keep drooling over amps like Bogners and Mesas. And the urge to just pull out my credit card to pay is strong, with feelings of guilt and anxiety coming later as I worry about how I'm going to have to curb spending on more rational things just so that I could play on something for a few hours every month.
So I put together a list of what I owned and have begun to downsize.
I got off to a good start when I sold a guitar (Jeff Hanneman JH-600EC) and a Czarcie Kopyto drum pedal (which I replaced with a cheaper pedal). Currently selling a bass amp, a modeller, a drum module and a bass (which I will have to replace with something else unfortunately).
After the sales that I have already made, I am a couple of grand in the green, and this is after I bought the pedals and a VHT Sig:X. Hoping that the other stuff I have listed will sell soon so that I can put some money away.
And in some good news, I will be done paying off one of my home loans by the end of this year, so I can look at taking out a new mortgage on it and using the funds to buy an investment property.
Can't bring myself to part with any more of my guitars and amps though. And my dinky-little amp collection is my pride and joy, I have sold a lot of amps over the years and have always regretted it. So they'll have to stay.
But I took a decision to just buy one or two more amps and then stop altogether. None this year, I've already bought a tonne of stuff. But next year, maybe $5k all in, and then I'm going to try to quit cold turkey.
The amps I am looking at are a Diezel VHX (got to have a Diezel, if I hadn't sold my VH4 this wouldn't be necessary) and either a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Multiwatt or a Rectifier Recording preamp that I could pair with my Rectifier Stereo 2:100.
That's my "big decision" haha. GAS always gets the better of me. But I think of it as two baby steps and then just resisting temptation.
I've done this before, and maintained my decision for a long time. But then GAS got the better of me and I caved in.
Trying to do better, but it's a real problem.
