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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!

I was going through my gear the other day for insurance purposes, and started musing on which purchases were THE best I've ever made. I'd have to start with my 1963 Fender Stratocaster. I bought it down in Oklahoma city in the 70's (after my '65 Sunburst Strat was stolen). It was sitting on a guitar techie's bench with the finish all stripped off, just bare wood. I picked it up, played it, and loved it! So I asked the guy how much he'd let it go for, "as is." He thought for a second or two, and said "How about $200." I said "Sold!"... I still have her; she's my baby. And she's worth at least 100 times what I paid for her!

#2 is a Soundcraft 1-S 16x4 mixing board. It's one of the first ones Soundcraft ever made, and ironically was used on The Eurythmics' first album. Same setup as mine at the time: Soundcraft board and a 1/2" Tascam 8-track... The only thing was that board cost over $4000!!! Woah, baby. But it's worth every penny. I still use it every day in my studio. The mic preamps are amazing, as are the individual "English Parametric EQs" on each channel. It's a +4 (pro level) board, and still sounds amazing!

Finally, #3 is a piece of gear available to anyone with a modest budget (if they still make 'em). It's an Alesis Masterlink Digital Mastering Audio Recorder. That thing is astonishing in what it will do. It comes with a hard drive, multiple inputs and outputs, software such as compression, EQ, crop etc., and is so versatile. The final cool thing is you can arrange your tracks in any order you want, then they go into a CD burner drive! Since CD-R's are so cheap (I use Taiyo Yuden), you can burn a CD mix, take it out into the car etc., and if it sucks, make a coaster out of it and try it again until you get it right... I must've paid around $900 for it about 8 years ago, and that was a STEAL! It's NEVER failed me, and plugging XLR cables directly out of my Soundcraft into the Materlink is a breeze. It's a definite "must have" if you're at all serious about recording.

Next post: How I bought a Sennheiser K2-U condenser microphone at a garage sale for $5.00!

Peace,

Ern

Yeah, I'd say my Strat. Always wanted one, and when someone ran into the back of my car, the whiplash compensation was just enough to get me one back in 2002 .
I placed an ad in the local paper for Beatles records when I was about fourteen. A fella had most of the original albums, ep's and singles, plus Christmas fan club messages. Can't remember what I paid, but it wasn't a lot. Maybe this should be first in my list!
My Frontier Tranzport controller was a great buy. Really frees me up in the studio.

K2-U $5.00 lol

1. My Variax. So easy to play. Easy to get a good to great sound.
2. Clavinet D6 - I no longer own it, but it was a great instrument.
3. Fender Suitcase Rhodes/Wurlitzer P200 - I no longer own these, but for many years they were my most frequently used keyboards.

This was a very thought provoking question. I've had a lot of gear over the years. I sort of stretched the 3 purchases. It was a tie between the Wurlitzer and the Rhodes.

I'll narrow my list to one... that help me get started: Dad brought back from a Navy tour that included Japan (possibly Okinawa)... around 1966/67, I think...
my first-ever electric guitar: a cherry red, 3-pickup Teisco. Price tag: $28.50.
I sold it to a guy in Germany c. 1970... for $35, when I switched to playing drums. Thems was fun times and days.

Best purchase for me was my 1960 Selmer Mark VI alto from a high school senior in Dallas that was going to college and needed some extra money. I saw the horn, saw that the serial number put it into the golden age for saxophones, but also noticed that it had been relaquered, and not very well. I asked her if they altered the finish and she said "Daddy had it repainted." I knew then that this horn needed to be rescued and given a proper home. $1000 in 1985, I still have her today, even after she was stolen in 2006. Got her back a couple of months later, along with my stolen soprano sax. Miracle.

Second best purchase... hmm. ::looking around the studio:: My 1984 Ludwig Rocker drum set. Bought from a neighbor that was moving. It was in his closet, barely used. Got the whole kit for $500, including some fantastic Zildjian and Sabian cymbals Several cymbal stands, pedals, drum bag, two snares and an excellent throne.

Third best purchase... Taxi membership. I'm not making money yet but I've made so many friends that have enriched my life in the past almost two years.

Paul

LamarPecorino wrote: 3. Fender Suitcase Rhodes

Ah! Good one! That also has to be in my top 5. A REAL Fender Rhodes is an amazing and unique instrument. I used mine so much, dragging it up and down stairs at gigs, that it was pretty beat up when I sold it. The legs were gone. But I should have never sold that baby.

If you listen to a record like Steely Dan's "Gaucho," you'll see how a REAL Rhodes is so dynamic. It can be loud, soft, snarl, bite, be really mellow etc. It's pretty had to do that with a sample... And although it was pretty hard to work on, especially tune (you had to have the hands of a surgeon), it was almost totally mechanical. Quite an amazing instrument! Classic, just like a Hammond B3 with tube Leslies. Nothing really sounds like that, no matter how hard the samplers try to capture all the nuances.

Ern

ernstinen wrote:

LamarPecorino wrote: 3. Fender Suitcase Rhodes

Ah! Good one! That also has to be in my top 5. A REAL Fender Rhodes is an amazing and unique instrument.

Thanks Ern!

Mine had been on the road and studio with Carole King. I had the tour cases as well. I got rid of it to get a stage version after I moved to LA. Big mistake! You're right about the samples. There are some great ones available. The physical sensations of playing a percussion instrument are missing, but that is luxury that I can't afford. I simply don't have room for all the gear that has passed through these hands!

At this point, I'm trying to learn to work faster and produce more with less.

Ask in a month? Different list; ask a month ago? Same thing. My gear sluttery knows no bounds. The all-time, great-value list is pretty easy, though. #1 is my 1965 Fender Super Reverb, (I also have a silverface drip-edge '69) #2 is my Antelope Zen Studio, and #3 is my 1982-ish Fernandes Strat with a grandfathered-in Brazilan rosewood slab fingerboard.

The bang per buck list is a lot longer, though; maybe it's more instructable? Of course, y'all can ask me anything....but I gotta give honorable mention to the Korg SV1 stage piano and the 'so flexible, it's hilarious' Line6 X3Live, both of which have dual ouputs at both line and instrument level on both XLR and quarter-inch TS-type connectors. The SV1 even has a pair of pass-through inputs for stacking.and dang it, I can't leave out the Variax, either; in fact, these last three represent an entire music store's worth of pricey vintage instruments and equipment, and if you'd asked me twenty years ago if my studio would ever have this kinda firepower/horsepower I'd have told you-not even in my wildest dreams.

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