That one piece of gear....

[kramer.geetar]

What’s the one piece of gear (besides a guitar, amp, or pedal) that you’ve bought that you either cherish a lot or it really changed your playing, tone etc that you now cannot live without?

[elelpe]

Re: That one piece of gear....

Flatwound strings (on my tele).

[d2718]

Re: That one piece of gear....

A bass.

Once I started playing bass, I learned to pay a lot more attention to when my notes end.

[ErikH]

Re: That one piece of gear....

Recently, I would say the Perpetual Burn humbucker. About 10 years ago or so, the Screamin' Demon humbucker. While I had a lot of other pieces in place, once I started using both of those, I noticed a very pleasing change to my tone and I was able to have better control over my playing.

[muttznmongrelz]

Re: That one piece of gear....

I started using DiMarzio 500K Volume Pots and Fender TBX Tone Pots...really took away the unwanted noise and made my guitars sound bigger and cleaner/clearer while giving me more control over the tone via the TBX.

[Coma]

Re: That one piece of gear....

Note stand.

[The JEM Ghost]

Re: That one piece of gear....

Dunlop Max Grip Nylon picks, decent straplocks and Elixir coated strings (because I really have acidic sweat that kills regular strings hyper fast) are a must have for me.

I am also really fond of my Dunlop Lucky 13 straps, cheesy but true!

[Larioso]

Re: That one piece of gear....

Getting a DPA dvote 4099G mike for acoustic - so even having internal as kksound or taylors es2 - this makes a really nice stereo with a slight phasing/chorus effect almost when you pan channels hard left/right.

[zizyphus]

Re: That one piece of gear....

Recently, I would say the Perpetual Burn humbucker. About 10 years ago or so, the Screamin' Demon humbucker. While I had a lot of other pieces in place, once I started using both of those, I noticed a very pleasing change to my tone and I was able to have better control over my playing.

I definitely hear that – the PB is fantastic! I'm a fiend for midrange though, so I swapped in an UOA5

Mine would have to be an analogman tube screamer, modded to be more similar to the TS808. I'd never stacked gain before, and didn't realize how gorgeous and thick you could make something sound while keeping it free of fizzy mud

[ErikH]

Re: That one piece of gear....

I definitely hear that – the PB is fantastic! I'm a fiend for midrange though, so I swapped in an UOA5

I still use the Screamin' Demon in a few guitars. I got the PB with a GC gift card after hearing Triumphant Hearts. Had to have it. Put it in a Les Paul and it was OK there but I knew it wasn't the right fit there, the SuperD suits it better. But as soon as I put the PB in my latest Frankenstrat build, I knew it was the perfect fit. I doesn't need any more mids. And it splits fantastically well.

[AlexR]

Re: That one piece of gear....

Setup tools (nut files, crowning files, etc). Nothing like a guitar playing absolutely the way you want it to.

[ehdwuld]

Re: That one piece of gear....

I have to echo the Flat wound strings

I use the Wound D'addarios that have the same feel as the Flat Wounds

and I got those on all my Electrics

super slinky feel

[Clint 55]

Re: That one piece of gear....

I can't live without my Fender heavy picks. (In red moto :P).

[kramer.geetar]

Re: That one piece of gear....

I can't live without my Fender heavy picks. (In red moto :P).

[ATTACH=CONFIG]104611[/ATTACH]

I know what you mean. For me right now it’s the regular Ultex Jazz III. I bought a pack a while ago and from the moment I started using it, it felt perfect. I’ve used Jazz III’s on and off in the past including the Eric Johnson ones but these feel so much better all around.
I tried getting away from them, cause it’s a small pick and I didn’t wanna be locked in. I like the Jim Dunlop Celluloid Shell Heavy, but the Ultex Jazz III is perfect and keep coming back to it. I wanna check out the Primetone version.

[nexion218]

Re: That one piece of gear....

That was a good question, made me think! I came to the conclusion that it would have to be the internet router. It is really the gateway and key for all the knowledge out there for me: from yootoob metronomes to sheet music to e-books to online lessons to this forum. Everything really. And to me the most transformative thing regarding my playing was when I realized that literally every piece of knowledge ever conceived regarding music and gitars is right here in front of me at my fingertips and its only up to me. There are no excuses. With the internet I can have Guthrie Govan or Rick Beato giving lessons in the middle of my room. That is a quite a far cry away from when I used to think as a teenager that there is some magic potion to great technique and knowledge and I don't have access to it.