So, this beautiful, handmade, one-of-a-kind, crafted by some hermit-guitar-genius in Burbank, guitar amp went on e-bay today. And I did not buy it. I let it go.
See, I’m not exactly sure what my problem is. If it’s handmade and no one else has one and it’s made by some crazy guy no one’s ever heard of, I just have to have it. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a little tone gnome is whispering to me that I have to buy it because since no one has ever played through one of these, there must be magical tone fairies who will make sure that every note emitted from this piece of gear will bring magic tears to everyone who hears it. And I’m sure it’s a fantastic amp. But the cold hard facts are that I don’t need it! I have more gear than I can use as it is; I like my tone; I’m happy with life….yet, sweet mercy, it was hard not to bi on this. I have issues! I mean, a 1974 Marshall bluesbreaker could sell for $8, and I wouldn’t bat an eye, because people already have those. But give me some random piece of gear that was built in a bombshelter by some half-homeless guitar player, and I’m all over it.
Luckily today, the alarm bells ringing in the other side of my brain, alerting me to the fact that I have bought things like this before and then they have sat in my closet while I eat peanuts and raisins for the next three months. The alarm bells drowned out the tone gnome. And I can pay rent this month.
Yet still I wonder….what if….
welcome Karl – I can’t wait to see more! I did a little write up on ya: http://betterthanblank.org/?p=1157
Hi Karl, read about your blog from Alex .. just wanted to give an official “welcome” to the blogosphere.Fred
Thanks, Alex and Fred! I feel honored to have some of the ‘blog veterans’ come over here and check it out. hehe Hopefully you can get some good worship info, gear reviews, and waste some time over here!
I hear ya bro.. I’m still pretty new to the whole gear thing (just got my rig “complete”). But in considering my next investments I think they’ll be of this nature… Not going w/Marshall or Vox… Give me the bomb shelter special.
Hey Dan!
Seriously! There’s just something so tempting about that piece of gear that no one has seen yet, and that unkown frontier of tone. hehe That’s awesome that you just got your rig finalized. What are you running?
Thanks for the comment, bro!
Funny.. I was reading your latest “varidrive” post when I started browsing and saw you responded to my comment (#4) above six months ago. I wish wordpress.com had a “subscribe to comments via email” option so one could be notified of responses…
They make a plugin for stand-alone wordpress installs (see it in action on my site) but that’s a different story.
Anyways… I’ve been meaning to put together a gear page and this gave me a reason to…
Here’s what I’m currently running: http://www.danbyron.com/blog/guitar-gear/