Today I got a $75 gift card from GC because I bought my Tele during Presidents Day weekend. I'd love to put it aside and save it, but it expires in 6 weeks, and there's no way I'm going to be able to add any additional funds to it right now. So I have 75 that I have to spend or lose. I'm throwing it out there for ideas...what would you do?
Some of my thoughts are, cheapish MIDI controller, decent delay pedal, new pickup or two for the strat, a microphone maybe, or a folk instrument like a uke. The uke is leading right now, actually. I'd love to be surprised by some creative guitarnoise member and get something better though.
How would you spend $75?
In a word.....STRINGS!
I don't think you can ever have enough spares....I suppose I'm lucky, in a way, that the three guitars I use the most - the Tele, the Squier Tele, and the acoustic - all have 9's on. It's what I'm used to, and what I'm comfortable with. I do have a spare beater acoustic - any time I change the strings on of of the "big three," I put them on the beater - I don't let them get too old and grubby, so there's still a bit of life left in them.
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
i'd just try to figure out what i wanted the most, regardless of whether it's less than 75, and go out of pocket for the rest if necessary.
i wouldn't switch pickups unless i was actively dissatisfied with what i currently have.
but if you don't want to spend much of your own:
if you're thinking of a uke, have you considered a mandolin? you'd probably get more out of it.
if you have a bass, bass strings are expensive and useful.
hand drums are a lot of fun
a nice pedal of your choosing. personally i'm in the market for a nice distortion and wah.
vic had a good idea. if you play a lot, you probably go through at least half a dozen sets of strings a year.
how's your recording setup? that might have room for improvement
guitar stands, hardshell cases, picks, straps, cords, other miscellaneous shwag.
Vic...strings are a possibility. I have a ton though (and it's the #1 gift people tend to give me) so it's not top of the list.
Jason...good idea on the mandolin. i will consider that while I'm endlessly browsing through guitar center.
+1 on Jason's suggestion to figure out what you want and apply it there.
personally: percussion "toys" are always a plus. getting good on hand drums is very cool for gigging and jamming, as well as for improving guitar playing. other things: volume pedal, EQ, metronome, good strap
particularly useful for Tele: a compressor pedal, good gig bag -- Teles are pretty durable and don't really need a hardshell case for every short trip.
-=tension & release=-
Do you need a case for any of your guitars? Might be good to pick one up.
How about song books?
Capo?
Pickups?
Pedal Board & Bag?
New chords?
-=- Steve
"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"
New chords?
those are free on GN!
-=tension & release=-
Hmmm...
A Dulcimer
or
an assortment of harmonicas and a harmonica holder
or
a lap steel (Ok, you'd have to toss in an extra $4.99 for that one)
or
a Mandolin (again with me putting you $4.99 over budget.. sorry)
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
well i was planning on waiting a while but as fate had it i drove right past the GC and figured I'd go in. It's an hour trip for me and i had to take my wife somewhere near there so i figured why not. Browsed the store for an hour...considered a condenser mic, but my proficiency with my recording rig isn't nearly good enough to warrant that yet. Checked out the ukes and mandolins. Eh, they didnt have much in my price range...everything was over $150, except one uke that was 40 bucks and it looked cheap. sounded cheap too. but they had a sale going on the midi controllers. I picked up a 25 key m-audio key rig.
I would be enjoying it now, but the m-audio website will not let me register the software. and i cant use it until i have a registration certificate. and tech support's not open today. so who knows if the thing works or not.
well forget about the MIDI-controller idea. It doesn't work. My computer meets all the requirements, but for some reason, it's a no-go. I took it back. Guitar Center told me that because I have Vista the chances of me finding any computer-related hardware or software that's fully compatible are slim. It's thrown my recording plans around...I've never been able to figure out my Tascam (I'll prolly sell it), and I can't record with my computer. it's really the straw that broke the camels back, as I've never bonded to the idea of recording myself and creating songs. At best I might try to trade the Tascam (or use the cash I get from it) to get a standalone field recorder/portable digital recorder, but that's a stretch too. I've learned that no matter how much I try to make myself like it, I don't like it.
So armed with that new info I had 2 choices as I stood in the GC. I could get a stringed instrument, a hand drum or go all guitar and get a pedal or a strap or some strings or whatever. I figure at this point I'd have to make another special trip and my $75 expires in a few weeks anyway so it's now or never. I checked out the hand drums...fun and interesting, but they didn't grab me. Maybe in the future but it's not my interest right now. Found a decent uke, but it didn't feel comfortable. Went over the vast array of Boss pedals and thought the only thing I'm missing is a decent fuzz. I've got every other effect I need except a delay pedal, and the delay pedals I want are all over $150 (Line6 or EH Memory Man) so they're out. Finally stumble into the used pedal area...nothing special really. But then I look a little deeper into the back of the used pedal cabinet and i spot a pretty pristine looking ProCo Rat. $50. It catches my eye...i'm looking for a fuzz, and my previous 2 experiences with fuzzes didn't work out. I used to have a Seymour Duncan TweakFuzz, which turned out to be too difficult to use and way too harsh. (I ended up trading it for an Ibanez JetKing, which I in turn traded for a Fender Jazz Bass, so I can't complain about it). I also had an EH Double Muff that was too weak and thin sounding (again, sold to fund my MIA tele). So i'm playing the Rat with a cheap Epi through a cheap Peavey (they didn't have my amp and I was too lazy to go find a good strat) and I could hear that even though i wasn't using my own stuff, I was getting a good fuzz sound that is what i was looking for. thicker, fuzzier and warmer. The perfect in-between from the double muff and the tweakfuzz. So i brought it home ( and 3 sets of strings).
It's perfect. It's the fuzz I wanted 2 years ago. It kind of makes my orange Boss distortion seem inadequate. and it works well with my Dano Fab OD (i love that pedal).
Now here's a question hopefully someone can answer for me. I figure it's a ProCo Rat II, considering it was only $50. I read that Rat IIs are made in China. Mine says Made in USA. Does that make it a "vintage Rat" model? Is there such a thing as a Rat I? It's hard to find an answer to that so maybe someone can help me.
