The horrible 80s/90s gear thread

[Elric]

It was in Nuno’s rig at the time and a LOT of racks. It helped counter the effect of the sh*tty loopers available then particularly if you used any front end. The Rocktron Bradshaw was total crap unless used to switch pre amps and line level gear only. Put it in front and instant reverse BBE.

Yeah, basically a lot of those 80/90s guys using BBEs in racks were probably fighting 'tone suck', basically.

 

[NKP]

Zoom 505, Korg ax1000 , gt6,8….
Soundtank and …snarling dogs

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Marshall Shredmaster
Marshall Guvnor
Marshall Bluesbreaker
Marshall Drivemaster

I bought a Guvnor and Shredmaster. They were bad because they didn't seem to sell too well.

 

[Desertdweller]

Here's another one from my youth. I picked this up as a teenager in the mid 90s used for about $150 or so. it was awful, but it was my first real amp head.

 

[fretworn]

No offense to our DOD brothers here… But one of my earliest effects processors from my rig was a DSP 128 version… it was silver colored.

I traded it to my brother-in-law for a Roland Octopad; R8 drum pad triggers … I made out like a fucking bandit.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Marshall Shredmaster
Marshall Guvnor
Marshall Bluesbreaker
Marshall Drivemaster

I bought a Guvnor and Shredmaster. They were bad because they didn't seem to sell too well.

I somehow managed go buy these in the order listed. I was going to wait til my pay check came in to get any more of these, but I saw that Pitbull Audio had one and had to jump on it. Buying a Drivemaster with my next pay check to finish off the set.

 

[norminal]

Ampeg AX-44C. Amazing cleans and chorus, but couldn’t get a decent EOB or gain tone out of it to save my life.

 

[dronerstone]

Ampeg AX-44C. Amazing cleans and chorus, but couldn’t get a decent EOB or gain tone out of it to save my life.

View attachment 5512

I actually stumbled upon one of these about 15 years ago. Up for sale, locally, dirt cheap. Back then, certain folks were already in on the "old Ampegs" game and anytime one popped up, it was sold quickly.

Nevertheless, I went and got a closer look, did some research before, the usual stuff... But when I arrived for inspection/testing, I was underwhelmed. Pots were all scratchy, probably needed a good re-tubing, looked rough, and what came out just sounded meh.... Can't believe it, but I politely declined and drove back home.

You couldn't even make me buy that thing for 100 bucks. Still convinced I made the right decision.

 

[norminal]

probably needed a good re-tubing

It only uses a single 12AX7 in the preamp, so that’s about a 5 second job.

But in all seriousness, it was a decent amp for my 12 year old self, but there are WAY better options these days for $100.

 

[Speedyone]

My first amp:

My first pedal:

My first guitar:

My two favorite guitarists were Randy Rhoads and Yngwie.

I couldn’t find any cheap Strats, so I found the Harmony in a sears catalog for $89.

Score!! Lol

 

[norminal]

My first pedal:
View attachment 5763

Same!

 

[Speedyone]

Same!

Seriously?!

The same gear?!

No way!!

 

[norminal]

Seriously?!

The same gear?!

No way!!

Just the pedal!

 

[Speedyone]

Ahhh, ok!

Yeah, I thought the odds of us having ALL the same gear were slim, lol!

 

[Bob Zaod]

I hear ya. The other guitarist in my band had a DigiTech Twin Tube system that all over the M-80.

Probably the GFX-1. I have been looking for a decent priced one since 2 weeks after I sold mine 16 years ago (w/matching foot controller btw) and not having much luck. Best rack pre-amp I have ever used. I am still sad to this day that I sold mine.

 

[dronerstone]

Probably the GFX-1. I have been looking for a decent priced one since 2 weeks after I sold mine 16 years ago (w/matching foot controller btw) and not having much luck. Best rack pre-amp I have ever used. I am still sad to this day that I sold mine.

This seems affordable?

DigiTech GFX1 Twin Tube Rack Guitar Preamp | Reverb

The Digitech GFX1 is Digitech's first real tube guitar preamp/effects processor.It has two 12AX7 vacuum tubes to create anything from smooth overdrive to punching high-gain distortion.As a multi-effects processor it has a great range of tools:- Compressor- a defeatable Clean and Driven Tube Pream...

reverb.com

 

[Bob Zaod]

This seems affordable?

DigiTech GFX1 Twin Tube Rack Guitar Preamp | Reverb

The Digitech GFX1 is Digitech's first real tube guitar preamp/effects processor.It has two 12AX7 vacuum tubes to create anything from smooth overdrive to punching high-gain distortion.As a multi-effects processor it has a great range of tools:- Compressor- a defeatable Clean and Driven Tube Pream...

reverb.com

Certainly but...

and...

 

[Baba]

Probably the GFX-1. I have been looking for a decent priced one since 2 weeks after I sold mine 16 years ago (w/matching foot controller btw) and not having much luck. Best rack pre-amp I have ever used. I am still sad to this day that I sold mine.

Between the post-covid, "I'm on drugs, so I'm going to list it for X", and just the general being in that, "I'm at a place where I can spend play money on this stuff, but so can everyone else my age" bracket, I think we are in a very bad time frame, for looking for old gear we grew up on.

I just saw an 85 Kramer Focus 2000 on Reverb for an asking price of $850.00, WITHOUT the original German Floyd, (another Floyd was put on it), which I thought was insane, then I looked at 2 others that were listed for like $1,000.00. I bought mine for $325.00 back in '85. Those were not insanely popular, signature, or limited edition models or anything.

All the cheap, regular/non-special pieces I used to have are just, more now than when they were new, and too expensive.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Between the post-covid, "I'm on drugs, so I'm going to list it for X", and just the general being in that, "I'm at a place where I can spend play money on this stuff, but so can everyone else my age" bracket, I think we are in a very bad time frame, for looking for old gear we grew up on.

I just saw an 85 Kramer Focus 2000 on Reverb for an asking price of $850.00, WITHOUT the original German Floyd, (another Floyd was put on it), which I thought was insane, then I looked at 2 others that were listed for like $1,000.00. I bought mine for $325.00 back in '85. Those were not insanely popular, signature, or limited edition models or anything.

All the cheap, regular/non-special pieces I used to have are just, more now than when they were new, and too expensive.

Buying stuff right now sucks. Selling stuff right now sucks. Ugh.

 

[dronerstone]

Certainly but...

View attachment 5780

and...

View attachment 5781

WHAAAAT, I'm really sorry. I'm on my phone and probably too chaotic to do specific research atm... F*ck.
Again, truly sorry here.

For some reason I didn't catch that. Ahem... I'll see myself out for today.