How about a review of something you’ve owned for more than say 2 years.

[nickmsmith]

I have been singing with the 25 dollar Digital Reference Drv100 microphone for about a decade. The ones that GC always blows out for bottom dollar.

the things are absolutely great. Built rock solid, sound great.. do exactly what I need them to do. I’ve owned more expensive Shures (PG series) and AKGs that just weren’t as durable, and didn’t sound any better.

also they have withstood many drunken clowns swinging them around in karaoke. Not one cutout, not falling apart, as good as the day I got them.


Two thumbs up after a decade of abuse. Wouldn’t trade them.

IMO you don’t cheap out on wireless.. but evidently you can on traditional mics.

 

[pypa]

I agree with you. I think there should be a rule on reviews of any product that they should be used for a certain time before you can post. This will eliminate a ton of puppy love as well as rants.

by the way, I love this thread and would buy it again! I highly recommend! Worked great out of the box.

 

[Dave Hicks]

Gretsch 6150T amp (mid-60's vintage) - I bought it in 1981 or -2 for $80. It was the only amp I owned for about 20 years. Makes a pretty nice jazz noise when needed.

The one above is mine - here's a closer look at somebody else's:

 

[bgmacaw]

I'll mention some stuff I bought new, still like and either I use or used to use often.

Peavey Bandit 65 - Bought new in 1987, my first real amp since I had only played acoustic previously. I used it a lot over the years, most often as a power amp for a preamp or modeler. It needs some repairs now so I don't use it but I'll get it fixed.

Behringer Eurorack MX802A mixer - I've had it since the early 00's and it still works great for recording and with a mini-PA. I've considered replacing it with a more modern, feature rich, mixer but it's never been a priority since it works well.

Behringer TU300 Chromatic Tuner - Oh noes! A Behringer pedal with a plastic shell! I've had it for about 10 years now, use it every day and it works fine.

Tech 21 SansAmp GT2 - I bought this pedal in the 1995 and it was my go to preamp for a little over 20 years. It was eventually replaced with more modern modelers and IR cabs but I still use it from time to time.

Epiphone LP Jr - I bought it new at GC in 1998. It's super cheap but sounds and plays very good. I've never modded it, even keeping the covered gear trapezoid tuners.

TheFretwire Mosrite JR kit - Since this is a kit I did a lot of work and mods to it may not be fair to have it on the list but this kit came out excellent. It's become my go to guitar over the 4 years since I built it.

 

[Old Deaf Roadie]

I had my Carvin LB50 bass built for me with delivery in February 1983 and I still have it. The only mods over the years have been new frets (once) from using RotoSound round wounds, but who cares? Frets are cheap. And, the brass nut was cutting new depths from those round wounds, so that was replaced with bone, which surprisingly has not worn...yet. It is stereo wiring, meaning that if 2 cables are plugged in, you can send each B22 pickup to it's own amp. I did that for awhile with a pair of Peavey TNT 100's, but cable management became an issue at my feet. The Schaller machines are as smooth & solid today as they were new, and the set neck is straight as an arrow. This bass has been around the world with me as I served my Navy enlistment, and could often be seen in it's case occupying the space behind the seat at Sensor Station 3 aboard the P-3C aircraft I crewed. It is family, as when funds were tight, I refused to sell it knowing that I could always use it to earn $ for food which I did on a regular basis because musicianing and mixing sound don't typically come with a big payday for most of us.

 

[Tuneup]

My UA Arrow audio interface, advertised as having ultra low latency and internal processors to lighten the load on the computer when you run their plug ins.
1: Latency is the same as USB for me unless I crank the sample rate up to 98khz, which is fine until you start stacking tracks then the computer will have issues.

2: Their plugins aren't really that great, the internal procs are nice for that, but since I rarely use UA plugins that's a wash too. I prefer Native Instruments plugs or indie plugs.

All in all an expensive interface that in the end didn't really offer me anything better, at least with the system/set up I currently have: iMac 3ghz 8 core 32 gigs of RAM.

 

[Tuneup]

I'll mention some stuff I bought new, still like and either I use or used to use often.

Peavey Bandit 65 - Bought new in 1987, my first real amp since I had only played acoustic previously. I used it a lot over the years, most often as a power amp for a preamp or modeler. It needs some repairs now so I don't use it but I'll get it fixed.

Behringer Eurorack MX802A mixer - I've had it since the early 00's and it still works great for recording and with a mini-PA. I've considered replacing it with a more modern, feature rich, mixer but it's never been a priority since it works well.

Behringer TU300 Chromatic Tuner - Oh noes! A Behringer pedal with a plastic shell! I've had it for about 10 years now, use it every day and it works fine.

Tech 21 SansAmp GT2 - I bought this pedal in the 1995 and it was my go to preamp for a little over 20 years. It was eventually replaced with more modern modelers and IR cabs but I still use it from time to time.

Epiphone LP Jr - I bought it new at GC in 1998. It's super cheap but sounds and plays very good. I've never modded it, even keeping the covered gear trapezoid tuners.

TheFretwire Mosrite JR kit - Since this is a kit I did a lot of work and mods to it may not be fair to have it on the list but this kit came out excellent. It's become my go to guitar over the 4 years since I built it.

I have that same GT2 and I like it as well, I feel Tech21 is highly underrated.

 

[superjam144]

Focusrite scarlet studio. Great for recording into a laptop with a dynamic mic. Never caused any issues, works well with nch movie maker.

2018 am pro tele, unassumingly beautiful guitar, plays great. Pickups were swapped out for original vintage fenders.

Blues Jr, one repair in 7 years, entry level tube amp still sounds great.

Blues cube hot, great travel amp insane reverb. Doesn't take pedals well, but great tone alone.

Beat buddy pedal, genius design, great pedal.

Blues driver and mini wah mostly used together, solid pedals.

Ehx electric mistress good chorus pedal.

Levy's wide leather strap durable, aesthetically pleasing.

Fender tweed gig bag excellent.

 

[northernguitar]

I have that same GT2 and I like it as well, I feel Tech21 is highly underrated.

Good enough for Joyo and Behringer to ruthlessly rip off for designs.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

My gear seems to fall ( timewise) into 2 broad categories:

-Stuff ( most of what I own/and gig with) I have been playing now for over 20 years ( guitars/amps/pedals)

- stuff I've had for about a year- still 'on honeymoon' ( OR did not make the cut and gone)

Then I have some gear, in the middle ground time frame, say longer than 2-3 years
- so in this last category, 2 items rise to the top!

- my Vox Pathfinder 15R ( bought used, going on 8 years?) no need to get into details- it is just a perfect amp for my gigs- mostly small

- my 2018 Blueridge BR-163 ( an import Martin OM/000-28 type)
This guitar was actually a very nice 60th Birthday gift from some guitar buddies
- as they know I love my Martin spruce/mahogany dread, but was always interested to try a smaller body 000-28 style guitar, but no $$ for one, even an import...

This guitar is stellar- build ( all solid spruce/Pau Ferro, not RW), playability, big volume and bold tone. It is vintage-spec and Beautiful.
After not quite 3 years of daily home play, I finally got a K&K pickup system installed and am now gigging with it. Comfy body and it is as loud as my dreadnought with a more focused bass. Amazing guitar

 

[bgmacaw]

Good enough for Joyo and Behringer to ruthlessly rip off for designs.

And on every "ruthless" DIY pedal site on the internet...

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2015/11/tech-21-sansamp-gt2.html

http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=22

https://metrodcmusic.com/blogs/guitar-kit-builder-pedals-effects/build-sansamp-gt2-clone

https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4375&start=20

 

[northernguitar]

And on every "ruthless" DIY pedal site on the internet...

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2015/11/tech-21-sansamp-gt2.html

http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=22

https://metrodcmusic.com/blogs/guitar-kit-builder-pedals-effects/build-sansamp-gt2-clone

https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4375&start=20

None of those are a threat like taking the design and building as cheaply as possible to sell to the masses.

 

[supersoldier71]

Korg SDD-3000 digital delay.

I bought it from Sweetwater, when they’d been discontinued again and they were blowing them out, I think six or seven years ago. It was mostly a lark. I’m not a big fan of the Edge or U2, and I’m not chasing his tone.

Yet this pedal is a cornerstone of my various setups.

I have three amps: a 30 year old Peavey Classic 50 410, a 25 year old Mesa DC3 and an almost new Quilter Overdrive 200. I use the Korg with all of them.

I use the Kosmic setting with a short swell, medium ducking and about adjust wet-dry, depending on the room.

It’s the best reverb I’ve ever used!

The Peavey’s reverb was never it’s strongest point; the Mesa’s is good, and has independent levels for each channel; the OD200 doesn’t have it. In all cases, I run it through the effects loop.

Those who are familiar with these pedals know the magic is in the preamp. That’s mostly true, but the amount of control one has over various parameters, including input and output is another reason this thing is hard to replace.

And I’ve tried. Most notable of the ones I’ve tried to replace it with: EHX Cathedral reverb, Boss DM-2W and Boss TE-2.

See, the biggest downside of the Korg is its size. It’s like a pedal board sitting beside my pedal board.

As I tried to replace it though, the size became less an issue because replicating all its function would take at least as much space. Reverb, delay, modulation and preamp: that’s a healthy pedal board.

So I’m done trying to replace it because it does so many things I like, and I’ve figured out how to work around its quirks. A fairly well known issue is a slight volume drop when in SDD mode, for example.

For whatever reason, while I can hear the drop, it’s never been an issue.

Discontinued, quirky and seemingly irreplaceable: my SDD-3000 delay.

 

[Fuelish]

Was gonna talk about my fun '15 Honda Fit, but, keeping it to music related stuff..... Have two guitars that I love both to death.....a Fender Tele Thinline '72 RI that my wife bought me for my 60th b-day 3 1/2 years ago.....fine instrument, imo, feels great. looks great, plays great......dunno why so many folks diss the "modern" WRHBs, they sound fine, prefer playing it over my old Epi LP. The other is my Bullet Strat my son bought me for Father's day some years back.....needed a lil fret end filing, and I added a jumper wire so the neck tone controls the bridge as well, I absolutely love the Bullet....it's light, plays great, sounds great, one of my go to guitars...... My Epi LP sees occasional use, as do others, but these two are quite nice

 

[Chester P Squier]

Bang for the buck:

If you can quantify "bang", you can divide it by the "buck" to get "bang for the buck."

If it's not very much buck, then my 1999 Squier Affinity Strat. 169.00 plus tax in 1999. Plays well, sounds good, and stays in tune. Rosewood fretboard. Maybe I'm a rosewood guy, but I don't have anything with maple fretboards.

"Made in China" is imprinted, but sources say it was actually made in Taiwan.

 

[That Cal Webway]

Fender Performer Tele & Strat,

Very great.

 

[Obsessed]

I agree with you. I think there should be a rule on reviews of any product that they should be used for a certain time before you can post. This will eliminate a ton of puppy love as well as rants.

by the way, I love this thread and would buy it again! I highly recommend! Worked great out of the box.

+1. Gotta love the review of a thread of reviews. I think this thread is brilliant as well. Great stuff on here and reflects the opportunities of inexpensive gear out there that can be sufficient over the test of time.

 

[Midgetje94]

I'll mention my MXR Prime Distortion pedal. I paid about $50 for it as a Guitar Center pedal a decade ago. It does what a distortion pedal should, without a lot of extraneous noise. I've never felt the need to "upgrade" it--it drives a clean amp into distortion while retaining string-to-string clarity.

I got one used a while back. And it’s surprisingly one of my favorite drives.

 

[telemnemonics]

I'll enter with an amp I learned about right here in 2010 when I joined, then bought used on the TDPRI classifieds for $350.

For background I've owned a lotta small amps as well as most of the big ones in old time Holy Grail territory.
For small amps I own or have owned: 1957 5e3 Deluxe, 1967 Deluxe Reverb, 1963 Brown Princeton, late '50s Ampeg Jet (Deluxe killer), 1960 Martin 112 (Deluxe destroyer), 1971 Traynor 20w Deluxe Reverb style YGA-1 or something like that, Ampeg Reverberocket (the good one with octal pre and 6v6 power (killer little screamer) Orange OR15h, modded '70s Princeton with 6L6 power (bigger than small, like a baby Boogie), and a bunch I forgot plus many smaller SS amps like Polytone.

On the TDPRI I learned about the crowdsource designed 18w Marshall TMB, a bodged together modded model 1974 with an extra preamp tube for a second channel with full tone stack. Figured WTH there was a cheapone build by a teck from a Weber kit with upgraded MM OT, basically the price of the kit, so being a devoted amp whore I coughed up the money and sent a MO to Cali and waited.

She's a small box redhead and fairly good lookin' to start, and she sprung to life upon arrival.
For the sake of review, I want from my tube amps, a good lower volume clean that stays pretty clean up pretty loud, and prefer Marshall cleans but spent decades with Fender cleans too.

So the 18w TMB should be louder clean than a tweed Deluxe but not as loud clean as a Deluxe Reverb.
The clean sound was way louder than I expected on paper, and the bass is really big and also solid, not muddy or loose, surprisingly tight bass. At full distorted volume it sounds like a vintage Marshall but certainly not the same as a four input 50 or 100.
I can't describe the difference, and in a mix youmight not hear it, but for one it is certainly less punchy at full volume due to cathode bias and tube rec. So the response gets more like cranked AC30 than cranked 50w Marshall, but again on paper, since the differences even between well known classic dirty amps is better heard than described.
I really don't use it for full volume dirt though, the thing is closer in volume to a 50w Marshall than to a 12w Deluxe or Princeton.
I'm using efficient speakers too though, but still, the squishy little Tweed Deluxe or Brown Princeton are just gone when you turn up the 18w next to them.

The thing I'm most amazed by, since it's not hard to make a loud dirty sound, is the range of loud cleans.
Really just the best fat cleans that have a bit of envelope and feel but are not squishy and keep a good solid bass way up the volume knob.
Plenty of bass too, compared to the stock 1974 or RI 1974x, so if you tried a 1974x you haven't tried an 18w TMB.

No reverb which is fine because I listened to the cliche guitar sound shaking a metal spring and reamped for long enough.
A tiny bit of AD for ambience works great, but I can play the thing dry and it sounds way better than the typical BF Fender with the reverb off, because the tone is fatter and more singing, though to be fair it's possible the BFPR/ PRRI with reverb off has a similar singing quality just missing the solid bass and extra volume.

I've played non reverb BF and Brown Princetons plus a PRII and again, none have the awesome toanz of a basic 18w TMB.

As far as fave builders with some magic dust or secret circuitry, I have three 18 watters and the two TMBs are hobby/ kit builds, so aside from quality USA components and not butchering up the soldering etc, the circuit is the goos stuff and the guy or gal assembling is not what makes an old time tube amp sound good IME.

FWIW I read over and over by players that el84 power tubes have "a sound" and likewise 6v6 power tubes have their own different sound.
One of the two TMBs was built with 6v6 while the other is all stock, and the 6v6 version does not sound more "Fendery" or "American" than the el84 version.

These amps sometimes have a PPIMV and one of mine does.
There is no preamp distortion, no cascading gain. The extra 12ax7 oddly does first gain stage AND tone stack recovery duties rather than say running into the normal channel for more dirt, so the use of the MV does not really deliver low volume grind.
For clean and dirty sounds below power amp clipping I just run pedals and use the TMB channel for both.

But, I've also run dirt pedals into the "normal" channel with just V&T controls so I could turn the clean volume up more and have cleans at same volume as dirt. That works! The clean volume is adequate for a mature drummer and realistic band that doesn't have a horn section or more pieces for more volume etc. The V&T channel has less bass than the TMB channel but dirt pedals love that IME, so it sounds great with Muffs, FF, Benders, MIABs (gets nasal) TS (gets nasal but some like that thick nasal thing), BB1 (a bit shrill but that's kinda the BB1 thing). Dirt pedals don't turn the bass to mush like a BFPR/ PRRI/ 5e3 Deluxe.

Again though, I have not comapred it side by side with a BFDR/SFDR/DRRI and those amps on paper should beat the 18w for headroom.
But for audible volume in a band mix, the 18w has the mids thing that makes a four input 50w Marshall often sound louder than an 85w BFTR on the same stage.

Every other builder seems to offer an 18w and most add MORE so those may not be the same amp.
If you want a small Brutish 18w style with a high gain channel, look at the other brand names who make those on the basic 18w framework. But for a clean pedal platform user who wants a fatter more singing clean sound than PRRI/ DRRI plus a more Brutish distortion at full volume, the 18w TMB is by far the best I've found without going to the super expensive boutique brands.
I like them with Red Fangs or Golds, and with a variety of other unamerican speakers, but I don't prefer the more extreme old time Celestions associated with crunch like Greenbacks. A GB kind of neuters the 18w into a more limited amp.
But there are something like nine different GB models just from Celestion and some are better than others for open sounding cleans that can both twang and snarl. True American voiced speakers I don't like but you can move the 18w into more American tone with something like a P12N or other bigger magnet American voiced speaker. No need for hemp cone treble cutting. You can also just cut the mids and turn up the T&B for a more twangy tone. Lots of sounds in there!

So much discussion of PRRI & 5e3 seeks to fix the problems of weak bass and sometimes of ice pick or shrill tone.
The 18w TMB fixes those problems.
Similarly DRRI users are often GASSING for MIAB magic dust to get more Brutish tone.
The 18w TMB fixes that too.

 

[telemnemonics]

+1. Gotta love the review of a thread of reviews. I think this thread is brilliant as well. Great stuff on here and reflects the opportunities of inexpensive gear out there that can be sufficient over the test of time.

Good point that reviews of reviews need reviews to confirm or deny confirmation bias caused by our collectively becoming jaded by fanboy adoration syndrome!