gear aquisition syndrome (GAS) time to confess

[nestle]

OK , I know TapeOp is/was supposed to be grounded in the low budget recording roots but once your bitten and you get a bad case of GAS where does it end? I just realised its gotten out hand recently, my gear lust is off the map. I need that compressor I need that mic, I need that guitar. I pine away over catalogs, going someplace like this new MEGA guitar center in NYC is like an alcaholic going to the liquor store for me. I know it should be mostly about the music, but I can't stop buying stuff!
It hit me hard the other day when I looked at my ebay purchases for the month and it totaled $1400...I sold about $300 worth of stuff. AND I need to go to the dentist, the cars falling apart ect...
Yeah I make money with it too, but the profit margin is hardly there. does it ever stop? What was your moment of realization its outta hand?
I want to hear some hardcore stories about this. Have you ever made boondoggle purchases and wondered what you were thinking?, kids need shoes but I just had to have that mic sorta thing.
I wanna know I'm not alone I guess....
*sigh*, I gotta problem

[elberto]

I've bought a lot of pieces over the last 3 months; my rationalization for them is that they've all been kits or components to build/modify gear (Hamptone pre kit, guitar pedals, building an amp...), so I'm learning something (*right*).

I'd actually only ever feel bad about purchasing gear if it was more for vanity (collecting) than utility. I mean I use this stuff!

[nestle]

I know, I'm not collecting these things like they were stamps, its just that I get so curious about the possibilties. I use everything I buy,though I question that about guitars because I do think I have too many of those-
Thanks

[G-Rat]

ummm, maybe the key is to realize when you haven't used a certain piece of gear for, oh, say six months, then you give it to me! that would ease your guilt, no? And if you are ever like "Damn, I wish I still had that blue bottle mic for this," you could call me up and I would be like, "Ummm, I sold that on ebay, didn't I tell you?" See? Everyone wins!

I pore over catalogs and websites and can't afford a freaking rnc for godsake! Like when I was a kid and would drool over the 486's in the Best Buy sunday newspaper insert knowing full well my mom would never buy a computer. Except now it's like I am my mom who will never spend the money cause it doesn't exist. Pathetic, I understand my mom.

[tiger vomitt]

gear lust never stops. it only gets worse and more expensive as your ears get better.

[apropos of nothing]

Yeah, I've got this in a big way. Witness my latest journal entry:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sarend ... mode=reply

[alexdingley]

My moment of realization was probably a little too late...

What's really bad is when you start seeing "deals" everywhere you go... Like that absolute steal I got on a Panasonic DA7 mixer... Because you start to rationalize more expensive, less-bargain-like purchases...

So, you save big on the digital console... but then you're impatient on getting adat cards for it, so you pay top dollar to get them shipped overnight from jabib. then, you get premium lightpipe cables... then it's a Lucid word-clock...

Then, all the sudden, you realize that you can't have clients in your control room if they have to look at you working on two odd-sized, odd-brand, different colored CRT monitors that aren't quite the same color temperature... so you spring for the two LCD's... which predicates buying a high priced AGP dual output video card that you didn't bank on.... and the Griffin technology ADB/DVI extender...

and then, somewhere between the two 1,000 credit card bills, and the lawyer saying..."just sign here, and you'll be on your way to chapter 7 bankruptcy".. you realize that the gear-lust has gone too far.

... not that I'd know, or anything like that....

[tiger vomitt]

you actually went bankrupt from gear lust?!?

you're right that IS bad... im sorry to hear that



best of luck to you brother,
tiger vomitt

[alexdingley]

It happens to more folks than you'd ever hear about. There comes a point, where you start buying beyond your client base, to satisfy your own studio vanity... it's very foolish, and all too common.

So, Luckily, I filed Chapter 7 and protected my few remaining posessions, that I use solely to make my own music.

Hopefully, I'll be smarter next time.

[tiger vomitt]

it is a lesson i am sure many of us here can stand to learn, including myself. thank you.

[dgochenour]

I used to be reeeally bad. Oddly enough, it was when I made less money than I do now. These days, I start off by thinking, "Spending $1200 on mic X is really a good investment in quality gear." And that's true. But, after a few days I end up talking myself into thinking, "I wonder how a pair on V67G's would sound instead?"

I know that great gear will always be great gear, but lately a pair of $90 mics sounds pretty good. I'll get the other stuff someday... I hope.

[the velour fog]

I'd actually only ever feel bad about purchasing gear if it was more for vanity (collecting) than utility. I mean I use this stuff!

that was my realization...when i was sitting there thinking about more gear while i used my guitar amp as a giant coaster and my monitors for my record player. i wasn't using my stuff at all. of course...i have a pretty sparse setup...but made me realize...i better stick with what i have before jumping into a big setup that makes a lovely paperweight.


but i still look. i constantly research. it's okay to just look right? even if it has the same absurdity as an alchoholic drinking club soda in a bar. "can i just watch you pour the shot of Jack?" but...i've been recording alot more...in the hopes of having the excuse to make some upgrades.

[rainsinvelvet]

Gear lust will never go away.. But, I've noticed the less I spend on recording forums reading about X preamp and Y compressor being "god's gift to drum recording" the less I feel the need to spend $$ on stuff..

so, I just find one piece of gear I reallllly want and just save.. and save..and save... It's more fun that way.


Eric

[JamesHE]

yep. gas

2004 has started off with me in a buying frenzy. I'm a bottom feeder, i.e. I buy crap. So far this year....

TDK DVD burner.

Dual VGA video card. (a deal from crap usa.. to bad it sucks)

Some small 10" stage monitors from Yahmaha- (actually I just borrowed them from Banjo center for one gig... lol)

Shit-ass Neutrik patch bay. NYPbwhatever (the thing is goig back to auto-harp center as soon as i have some down time next week- in the meantime i'm practicing my voodoo as to weather or not the connection will work with full insertion or half insertion)

crap ass AP brand patch cables for the shit-ass patch bay. (in a hurry to plug things halfway in half the time you know)

shock mounts for my mxl 603's (got them like $10 cheaper than most places from 8th street. I guess theyr'e cheaper cause "trouble processing your order" comes with them, and that delays shipping by about 3 years. I will have probably moved onto differnt overheads by the time those arrive)

Art dual MP (ebay- when you need a few more channels just go with what's cheap and with what you know sounds fine- right?)

Boss OC-3 (the "new" octave pedal from BOSS- almost damn usefull)

CAD-M179 ($139 plus shipping on ebay) not sure what it's great on yet. Was able to do some MS micing last night. yeah.. i'm cool...

Today i picked up the straw that's breaking this gear sluts proverbial back...

ready?














beat to fuck Rockman Sustainer from a local shop for $65.
Why I paid more than $30 for this thing i don't know. I mean I hate Boston... lol. I felt a little dirty walking out of the store with it. I guess I felt some need to rescue it. It had been sitting in the display case for months and months. It needed a home. Might be cool for some occasional guitar sound, but like hell I'm putting this in front of my Mesa DC-3, and rocking out like it sounds "better"


at least I am recording these days. My little album is starting off nicely... but by the time I'm near completion I'm sure I'll have better crap to record it with and I'll want to track it ALL over again...

[Noodles]

Look, if you are going to be any good at what you do, you will learn to work miracles with what you have. Consider it a challenge to yourself. Sqeeeze every last ounce of mojo out of what you now own.

I was on my way to becoming a gear slut buying guitar gear. I lost a job which put it on hold, and now I find myself still learning to do more and more with what I have. So what if some of it turns out not to be exactly what you want? I bought a distortion pedal, a good one, that after a couple weeks I didn't care for as I did when I bought it. Never the less, it's stayed on my pedal board. I used it because since it sounds a bit different than what I might prefer, it expanded my sound in a way that I might have otherwise not have gone.

Now I'm starting to like it, having used it for the better part of a year. I've adapted, and so can you, brother.

p.s. Unless you absolutely have to, don't get rid of the stuff you've bought. Put what you don't use away and pull it out every year or two. You might find that eventually it was just the piece of gear you need for the job. Enjoy what you have.