Got any "sleeper" gear?

C

Chistopher

malapterurus electricus tonewood instigator
What gear do y'all have that either by price, aesthetic, or reputation doesn't seem all that high quality, but works? Here's mine:

DigiTech Bad Monkey- Who doesn't want a cheap TS style pedal with a bass cut and a direct-to-mixer amp simulator? This has the most tonez per dollar of any effect pedal on my board.

Johnson Millennium Stereo 150 212- This is probably the only modeling amp I actually like, and I got it in exchange for a MX412 cabinet that was spending it's time as a cupholder more than a speaker. Plus it makes a cool whirring sound when you turn it on, like an old desktop computer.

Taylor Big Baby- This guitar is to this day the only acoustic that I've ever bonded with. I bought it new for a mere $400 dollars, and while it sounded on par with the higher end guitars (and was much louder) it played like crap. After I lowered the nut and bridge and sanded down the neck, it played like a dream. I then installed an LR Baggs Anthem pickup, which now in my mind the best acoustic pickup on the market.

What all do you have that punches above its weight class?
 
Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

I've got a Schecter Telecaster. Swamp ash with maple neck. Dimarzio area hot T in the bridge, and area T in the neck. The thing smokes.
 
Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

Chistopher said:
What gear do y'all have that either by price, aesthetic, or reputation doesn't seem all that high quality, but works? Here's mine:

DigiTech Bad Monkey- Who doesn't want a cheap TS style pedal with a bass cut and a direct-to-mixer amp simulator? This has the most tonez per dollar of any effect pedal on my board.

Johnson Millennium Stereo 150 212- This is probably the only modeling amp I actually like, and I got it in exchange for a MX412 cabinet that was spending it's time as a cupholder more than a speaker. Plus it makes a cool whirring sound when you turn it on, like an old desktop computer.

Taylor Big Baby- This guitar is to this day the only acoustic that I've ever bonded with. I bought it new for a mere $400 dollars, and while it sounded on par with the higher end guitars (and was much louder) it played like crap. After I lowered the nut and bridge and sanded down the neck, it played like a dream. I then installed an LR Baggs Anthem pickup, which now in my mind the best acoustic pickup on the market.

What all do you have that punches above its weight class?
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A friend of mine has that Johnson amp, and it really is rather great.
 
Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

MXR 6-Band EQ.

up 800Hz with a PAF-type pickup equipped guitar into a Plexi.
 
Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

Xeromus said:
A friend of mine has that Johnson amp, and it really is rather great.
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Yeah, the only downside to it is that it weighs 70 pounds (that's about 16k penny weight for our friends in the UK) and tends to break if you move it around too much. Lucky for me it spends most of it's time in my "studio" and I have other more reliable amps for when I'm out of the house.
 
Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

G&L ASAT Tribute that has had the control section bashed in (very thin layer of wood between cavity and top) and repaired, crappy repaint so it looks like a refugee...however, it plays like a dream and with P-Rail neck and ‘59 bridge sounds awesome...P-Rail wired for p,rail, in series and parallel with itself...P90 sounds better than the best and in parallel HB is just what a neckbucker should be. Probably couldn’t sell for 100 but it’s worth a thousand to me....
 
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Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

I have a Shure Beta 57. Not the Beta 57a that has been in production, the weird looking one that came before it. I think it cost me 30$ more than ten years ago. Super reliable, it's great on guitar cabs, drums, and for singing.

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Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

Chistopher said:
Johnson Millennium Stereo 150 212
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Sweet, underrated amp. I have the "pod" version. The Johnson J-Station. Killer unit that was way ahead of Line 6 at the time. I don't know why they went out of business. :dunno:

I also have my Johnson Strat. (No relation at all to the Johnson amps/pods.) It plays and feels as good as any Fender I've tried or owned. And since it was "cheap", it's been through many wiring iterations. It just keeps on truckin'.

Johnson_Strat_collage.jpg
 
Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

I have a Bad Monkey pedal that I love. I use the 'mixer out' into an amp. I also love the little plastic Danelectro Surf & Turf compressor, and any BYOC pedal I've built.
 
Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

I have a semi hollow ESP Eclipse (MA Hollow) from '97 that's pretty amazing. Looks like a jazz box and a pointy guitar had a secret affair but it just works for some reason.

I'm not sure it's a sleeper because it's not overly cheap, but it is definitely cheaper than what the more recent solid body Eclipses go for.
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Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

'76 or '77 Gibson Marauder. Gets laughed at because it has a bolt-on maple neck (you know, just like EVERY fantastic vintage Strat and Tele...)
Been heavilty modified once before I got it and twice by me. Looks...interesting. Plays ok. Sounds GREAT.
Bought it for peanuts 25 years ago, sold it to a friend 20 years ago, bought it back 5 years ago and will never sell it again.
 
Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

Dave Locher said:
'76 or '77 Gibson Marauder. Gets laughed at because it has a bolt-on maple neck (you know, just like EVERY fantastic vintage Strat and Tele...)
Been heavilty modified once before I got it and twice by me. Looks...interesting. Plays ok. Sounds GREAT.
Bought it for peanuts 25 years ago, sold it to a friend 20 years ago, bought it back 5 years ago and will never sell it again.
Click to expand...

I love those guitars.
 
Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

JB_From_Hell said:
Word. My entry is an old Peavey Predator MIA Strat copy. It's really heavy and has a junk bridge, but the neck is incredible.
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I can't speak for 90s and on Peavey -only because I don't own any and they started building overseas a lot -but the 70s and 80s Peavey stuff is as tough and reliable as it gets.

Plus the 70s/80s Peavey Mach Bass gear is really really good.
 
Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

My Godin Montreal Premiere is a wonderful semi-hollowbody. Any Godin can be on this list, though.
 
Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

Most of my gear, I guess...

- Squier '51: One of my favs guitars, the only mod is a JB bridge, got it around $100 new I guess.

- Hohner L75: Modded to hell, rebuilt / refinished sporting CC/Pearly, the guitar is worth less than the pair of pickups I guess. For a while I had a Gibson LP studio but I preferred the L75 so much that I sold the Gibson.

- BlackMirra: Pre-OLP MM Axis copy modded to hell with a JB bridge. I bought it around 1994 or so. Folks seen me onstage believed that it is a real MM Axis and years later they told me that the sound and look inspired them to buy their MM Axis guitars. The copy felt better to me than the blue MM Axis SS I had for a while during somewhere around the second half of 2000s when I could afford the real thing (used). I sold the MM and kept the copy.

- Marshall JCM900 SL-X 2500 50W EL34: I had different Marshalls (800, Silver, TSL) and Laneys (TI, AOR, GH, Klipp) with higher price tags / hype, also a Diezel and a 5150. I sold all of them and kept the SL-X only that I liked the most. My fav amp is the cheapest tube amp I bought, got it around $400 or so used / mint somewhere around the late of '90s.

- AMT preamp pedals. I play shows with them, going directly to the PA and a FRFR. No one in the audience would dare to think it's just a $100 pedal.

- TLAudio FAT2 tube mic preamps. I had some hyped mic pres through the years (AMEK, Focusrite, UAD and so on) but they did not put as much more to the table as the price difference would suggest. I A/B tested the hell out of them and I sold all the others through the years. I bought a pair of FAT2s for around $400 or so, ages ago.

- Reaper DAW: After fighting with a number of hyped DAWs, most notably a couple of years in expensive Pro-Tools hell, after the recommendation of my sound designer friend Vincenzo (Crysis, Witcher 3, Project Cars2, FarmSim19 etc) I ended up using this tiny ninja of a production software for paying audio and video gigs. It was just $60 and solved all my production / recoring problems, ever.
 
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Re: Got any "sleeper" gear?

Mooer Blues Crab pedal. Does a great JTM/plexi type thing and cleans up the same way the amp does too.
 
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