OT - Purchase That You Regret

[SteveQB]

GEM Equinox - just didn't like what it did. I sold a JV2080 to part fund it which I regretted so sold the Equinox and bought another JV

 

Biggest sale regret was oberheim MC2000 and MC1000 controllers. The Physis k4/K5 are modern takes on them. Great boards

[bjosko]

Funny, when I think about it (Same name, but not same company). First - Crumar Performer String / Brass ca. 1978

Last - Crumar expression pedal with side switches.

 

And a few ups in betweens.

[ehand]

Were the side switches on the pedal arranged so that you could rotate the edge of your foot, hit the switch and change your leslie speed?

[Crazyfoo]

Roland Jupiter 80.

Absolutely hated the user interface.

It's as if Roland went out of their way to make it as complicated and anti-user-friendly as possible.

Sold it after a few months - never again.

[wd8dky]

2007 Dodge Caliber. Non-stop electrical and suspension problems. 10 years and 170k miles and it beat me. I now have a Subaru Forester.

[dougb415]

Novation Impulse 61. It does everything I want it to do, but it appears to be glitching. I've taken it apart, disconnected the pitch wheel (I use it as a Hammond controller), cleaned it out, but it is still sending out bad pitch wheel data, a well as Effect Controller 2 (coarse) data. I've had it for 2 years so it's out of warranty, and it would cost too much to get it looked at.

 

Probably looking for a new controller soon...

[Mills Dude]

My first purchase in 1982, was a Multivox MX-51 piano. I was 16 years old and spent the summer painting buildings at the local mental hospital to pay for it. I paid over $800 from a piano/organ retailer. I'm sure I got ripped off.

 

If only I had a little knowledge and had done some research. I'm sure I could have gotten a great condition Wurly 200A for that kind of money. A 200A or even a spongy Rhodes stage would have been a much better buy for me.

[The Real MC]

Well, you are not going to believe this, but my Steinway L piano. I had always wanted a grand piano to replace the one I grew up with (and took lessons on) way back when, and when I finally moved into a house 2001 I bought the Steinway (50% down, 50% one year of payments) and played it often. We moved it to the new house 2005, but it has become used less and less as the years have gone by. Part of it is laziness and overall exhaustion from my day job; part of it is my wife (a business journalist) works from home at a table less than 15 feet away from the piano, so I can't play it while she is working. Of course, I can't bring myself to sell it, but it has become for all intents and purposes a piece of furniture.

 

I'm saving $$$ for my own place and do not yet have a SO, but I really want a real piano to play on and do not intend to relegate it to furniture.

[Markyboard]

Well, you are not going to believe this, but my Steinway L piano. I had always wanted a grand piano to replace the one I grew up with (and took lessons on) way back when, and when I finally moved into a house 2001 I bought the Steinway (50% down, 50% one year of payments) and played it often. We moved it to the new house 2005, but it has become used less and less as the years have gone by. Part of it is laziness and overall exhaustion from my day job; part of it is my wife (a business journalist) works from home at a table less than 15 feet away from the piano, so I can't play it while she is working. Of course, I can't bring myself to sell it, but it has become for all intents and purposes a piece of furniture. These days I play Pianoteq thru headphones, and guitar thru a Kemper Profiler, again thru headphones. When I can find the time and energy...

 

Guilty as charged.

 

You're not fooling us for one second Marshall. They may call it a model L (also)... but that's no Steinway

 

 

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/11/23/article-0-0EE9B04D00000578-946_634x483.jpg ]

[tucktronix]

1998 GMC Jimmy.. hands down!!

 

Bought it in 2001 and had a laundry list of problems stemming from the first year of ownership. First, it was issues with the AC, starter and battery.. all(except the battery) of which were covered under the remainder of the 40k mile warranty. Needless to say, that car was in and out of the shop for a variety of post-warranty problems. Had a rebuilt engine put in after 100k miles. I eventually ended up trading it in for a '07 Ford Ranger, which I currently own.

[NewImprov]

This was in Brooklyn, and I perfectly fit (what I later learned was) the profile for who they looked for: single dudes walking alone who don't look broke. I give them props for thoroughness: they had glossy color brochures and a pretty convincing backstory, and I was able to write off any doubts I had as THEIR lack of knowledge, not as the story itself. Anyway, as I remember it, I went home and put the speakers on Ebay, and they didn't sell, and I found others with the same brand name that hadn't sold, and started doing some research, and discovered: Crap. I'm a tool.

 

The White Van Speaker Scam is actually kind of an interesting story; I think the prevailing theory back then was that the Israeli government was involved somehow. I think there's a different theory now.

 

Anyway, months later we had a stoop sale. I just stuck a price on them and told anyone who asked that I'd bought them and never used them, which was true but incomplete, which I guess makes me complicit. At some point, someone bought them. Problem removed, tooldom remains.

 

The owner of a store I worked at in the early bought a pair of them, in the early '90's. I showed up for work one day, and he was totally excited about these amazing speakers he'd scored, and told me the whole story of how they were for theater install, and they'd loaded too many on the van and had to get rid of them, yadda, yadda. We hooked them up and they sounded....OK at best. But we used them for years on the in-store stereo.

 

About 5 years ago, a friend calls me, and he wants my opinion about some speakers he was about to buy. Same story. I was amazed that the scam was still going after all these years.

[cphollis]

Geez, where do you want me to begin? A lifetime of poor gear choices, but learning my lessons.

 

On the relationship side, been married 32 years to the same wonderful woman, all good. I'm one and done. Y'all should be so lucky.

 

Keyboard gear, not so much ...

 

Relatively recent follies include:

 

- a Bose L1 Model II that sounded the bomb in the showroom, but crumbled with live electric music.

 

- A pair of JBLs 3-ways that were awesome, but weren't logistically feasible, unless I had a separate pickup truck for them

 

- A Motion Sound KBD unit (the one with the spinning leslie top) that was completely obsoleted by modern sims. Still can't find someone who wants one.

 

- A Yamaha CP-5 that was heavy enough to throw my back out twice (bed rest, heavy meds) before I got wise.

 

- A Brodmann 175 grand piano that was decent in the showroom, but completely sucked in the real world. Hence my Bosendorfer. Doesn't suck.

 

And gawd knows how many other boards. CP-33. A Korg B3 clone that sucked. A Roland JC-120 that had one skill, and no other. We're not going to talk about my Roland KC amps, OK? Mixing boards that crapped out.

 

It's the life we live.

 

That being said, I think I finally have the gear thing figured out. For example, the Nords have worked out well, as has my amplification farm.

 

We'll see.

[RandyFF]

My first keyboard regret was around '88, bought a new Kawai K4 for $750. As inexperienced as I was with digital keyboards, even then I could tell the sounds were really shitty.

 

Buying the Motif XS7 is probably my biggest regret. I'd just received an inheritance, and payed close to full pop for it, knowing only that it was "the best", most capable workstation available (bought it just before the Korg M3 came out). Spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to "make it my own" by learning to use it, have favorites saved, etc. Was a bloody waste of time, realized I didn't even like the sounds that much for the most part. Realized after that how expensive my 'music education' was! Bought it for around $3,500, sold it less than 3 years later for $1,400! Ouch!

 

Then, I played a Steinway at a party, and was re-introduced to how amazing it felt to play a good piano. Had heard good things about Nord, and got me a good deal on a NS Classic. Night and day difference, pretty much loved almost all of the sounds, the user interface and the feel of the keybed.

 

My other regret was buying the SS V.3. I'm a sucker for what it was supposed to do, but I think I was never/rarely in situations it was made for. Playing it outside, in my bedroom, at very loud band practices, in none of those situations did the 3d effect really come off in a good way, seemed either awash with space or barely noticeable. I also came to realize it's not a very high fidelity speaker on its own, and careful placement, esp. in tighter quarters, is mandated because of the blaring side speaker. I finally came to the conclusion that others had better luck with it cause they were using it in spaces that were more appropriate.

 

My Roland Cube Street EX is another purchase well made. I've used it probably over a hundred times, and it still surprises me how good it sounds for what it is: a AA battery powered 50 watt amp with dual 8" woofers and a very able mixer that costs under $500 and weighs less than 20 pounds in a very schlepable form factor. People love how it makes their voice sound, almost universal praise for the modeling and fx for acoustic guitar, and surprise of surprises, for the outdoor jam sessions I go to, which can get noisy with all the drums, it does a decent job of amplifying my Stage Classic, with a surprising amount of bass.

 

One regret I have is NOT purchasing is the Korg M1. It would have been super expensive for me back in the late 80's, but that was the board that started it all as far as I'm concerned.

[dbran]

I've turned over many purchases that didn't work out -- they're just experiments and learning experiences, and you're out a little money and time, but that's the price of knowledge. The only things I've regretted buying are things that tie up too much money and are hard to throw back into the sea for minimal loss.

 

Enter the Hammond XK-1, which I bought from CL to put into a rehearsal space. This was actually the sequel to the XK-2, which I had played for many years and enjoyed, and I thought it would be a step up in quality. While the onboard Leslie sim was indeed much better as advertised, the rest of it was disappointing. I spent hours tweaking it, trying to match the warm tones from the XK-2 (which I kept for gigs), and not quite succeeding. The XK-1 just sounded "clinical" compared to the XK-2. Worse, the feel of the keybed was less organ-like and felt more like a generic synth action. But I went ahead and installed it thinking that, hey, this is the new thing, the more authentic recreation of a B3, and I will learn to love it because it's better.

 

So there it sat, week after week, taunting me at rehearsals with its almost-but-not-quite-there tone and action. This went on for years. I got good at playing it and living with its limitations, so it never seemed quite important enough to find the time or money to replace it. Every week, I would wish I had just found another XK-2 instead.

 

Finally unloaded it after that band broke up, and managed to break even, although even selling it was a problem, because the CL buyer turned out to be a major tool. Maybe they were made for each other.

 

Learned my lesson. Newer is not automatically better, and "more authentic" does not mean more playable!

 

Although I hear the XK-5 is quite nice...

 

 

[DanL]

I'm not sure I ever regretted a musical purchase. Some don't work out as you expect, but I never had a "I wish I never bought that" moment with any of my gear. Sometimes after using something for a while you realize it's not cutting it- like the SS3 I was using, which didn't have enough oomph for some of my projects, and the JBL 610 Eons I replaced it with, which are also proving to not have enough oomph. All good sounding gear but not the right gear for my situation.

[UnderGroundGr]

Nord stage classic 88. Awful keyboard action(my previous Yamaha S80 was far better...)

[OB Dave]

I'm pretty sure we've done this topic before, but screw it, I hated my Receptor so much I'll answer again: Muse Receptor. Brilliant concept, terrible execution. I'm glad I dumped mine while it still had 1/3 of its original value.

 

I was pretty disappointed with my Korg SG Rack, also. I had an SG-1D which I had for years. First instrument I ever bought new, and gigged with it for well over a decade. I think it only had 12 bit samples, but they really made the most of what they had to work with. I was hoping the SG Rack would be a nice step up. It wasn't.

 

I think other than those two, my purchases have all panned out in one way or another.

[DanL]

I'm pretty sure we've done this topic before, but screw it, I hated my Receptor so much I'll answer again: Muse Receptor. Brilliant concept, terrible execution. I'm glad I dumped mine while it still had 1/3 of its original value.

 

I was pretty disappointed with my Korg SG Rack, also. I had an SG-1D which I had for years. First instrument I ever bought new, and gigged with it for well over a decade. I think it only had 12 bit samples, but they really made the most of what they had to work with. I was hoping the SG Rack would be a nice step up. It wasn't.

 

I think other than those two, my purchases have all panned out in one way or another.

 

Ooh, I forgot about the Receptor. Yup, regret that one. Traded my S70XS and some cash for it. It worked great in the basement and every time I took it to rehearsal it gagged on me. I did 1 gig with it where I only used pianos and EP's triggered by my Hammond. I should have kept the S70XS.

[Synthaholic]

I just bought a Behringer ULM300USB wireless mic with the intent of using it strictly for people making wedding toasts, etc. What's attractive is the receiver is just a USB flash drive-type dongle to plug into my laptop, sharing the channel I use for break music. The bad part is the atrocious latency, like a slow echo. Supposedly they work better with the paired Behringer powered speakers, with the Ultralink USB port. I'm sending it back, so it's not too much of a regretful purchase. Oh well.

 

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/behringer-ulm300usb-2.4-ghz-handheld-digital-wireless-system-dual-mode-receiver

[Dr88s]

I'm pretty sure we've done this topic before, but screw it, I hated my Receptor so much I'll answer again: Muse Receptor. Brilliant concept, terrible execution. I'm glad I dumped mine while it still had 1/3 of its original value.

 

Seconded. I had such great hopes for my Receptor that never materialized. Now it's gathering dust in the basement.

[PianoManChuck]

Engagement ring and wedding ring for my 1st wife.

[Marzzz]

Well, you are not going to believe this, but my Steinway L piano.

I'm saving $$$ for my own place and do not yet have a SO, but I really want a real piano to play on and do not intend to relegate it to furniture.

It wasn't my intention either, believe me...but between my day job and working out daily, by the time i get home I am exhausted. On days I get home early, my wife is still working and I can't disturb her. Plus I need to be a little bit more disciplined...?