SUMMER GEAR RAMPAGE!! - Part 2 (Live cab, Redeye, laptop, misc. studio)

[Metaltastic]

Hey dudes, time for installment #2 in my summer gear rampage. This time, I didn't get any specific thing that was overly expensive, but rather caught up on a lot of smaller things that I was long overdue on getting (oh, and a laptop, but my parents were kind enough to pay for that in reward for me getting my paid internship this summer and cuz my current laptop had its screen hanging by one hinge and its DVD drive kaputt, shitty Compaq ). So without further ado, here's a pic of my current desk:

In the pic are my new Redeye ($225 from Vintageking), my Mackie Onyx Satellie ($160 BRAND NEW from ebay), and my Rain Recording Livebook ($1900, but not my money ). The Onyx is fucking awesome; I'm planning on getting a Fireface 400 at the end of the summer, but I got the Onyx to tide me over until then, because $160 even just for a pair of Onyx preamps is still a killer deal, and the Satellite module can be exactly that. Plus, it runs totally smoothly; I had heard about people having driver issues, but I've had no problems so far! Oh, and I got REAPER, which fucking rules, I love it! I've found my new DAW.

The Livebook kicks ass too; I went for it over a Macbook Pro mainly because I have no use for OSX, and Rain optimizes XP from the get-go to be as system-resource friendly as possible. Plus, they're a much smaller company, and offer support for ANYTHING audio related, and gave me a free upgrade to a 2.5 GHZ Core 2 Duo Penryn Processor (along with the included 7200 RPM 16 MB cache 80 GB HDD and 2 gigs of RAM). And finally, while I've not used a Pro to notice whether this is the case or not, this thing is absolutely INAUDIBLE. Holy shit, you have to hear it to believe how quiet this puppy is, even on startup. I love it. And that PC Express card was included and has a TI chipset, and I'm gonna get a right-angle FW cable to remedy the poking this current one gives my mouse-hand.

And now the next batch, down in my Dad's studio/our "rec room" of sorts (this is while I'm home, I'll be able to fit it all in my bedroom in my apartment next year, which I can't wait for):

In the pic are my new Mesa vertical half-back 2x12 ($128 via ebay, local pickup, I got so lucky with that, and it has V30s!), my EMU X-board ($160, still in box cuz I won't have room for it until I move), my Audix i5 ($100), and a nifty stand for my JSX ($40, I already had the amp )

The Mesa cab is only gonna be for live playing, I plan on getting a traditional 4x12 as well for recording purposes later this summer. But I still wanted to try out my new stuff, so in this thread I posted a clip of what all this stuff sounds like together, and I'm pretty happy with it!

So the total is:

- Mackie Onyx Satellite - $160 on ebay (new in box)
- Little Labs Redeye - $225 from Vintageking
- Mesa halfback 2x12 - $128
- Audix i5 - $100
- E-MU Xboard 49 - $160
- Nifty amp stand - $40

Total: $813

Rock on guys!

 

[Metal Overload]

Ha!

Im just waiting for a new cab to arrive, and now saving for another thing, but i still don´t know if a new guitar (this time will be a a strat) or save a little more and buy a 6505.

That mesa cab looks awesome, and dude, $128??? what a price!!

 

[Metaltastic]

Thanks man! Yeah, I had really wanted that exact cab because of it's sorta hybrid nature, giving the projection of a closed back bottom (even if it is ported on the front) and the fullness of an open back top (at the expense of tightness, which, however, I don't need as much for playing live, its main purpose), and I found a guy on ebay about an hour from me who set the starting bid at .99 - so I ramped it up, and no one wanted to take it any higher! It's in great shape, the only problem is the front two casters fall out, but hey, that's a relatively cheap fix when I feel like it

And dude - you're actually choosing between a 6505...and a strat? I think you can guess where my vote will go!

 

[Metal Overload]

mmm the 6505??

Haha yea, well, me too and probably it will be my buy at the end, i want the strat to play in my covers band, because im doing it with my hellraiser with emg´s, and need more the sound of a strat/single coil, however the schecter is doing it nice, if i buy the strat will be a cheap used one.

How´s the Hafler??, are you using it with the POD?

 

[Wolfeman]

New monitors and you'll be rockin!

 

[gorath23]

I approve of all the gear purchases! Oh and I hate you: $128 for a Mesa 2x12, bah! Let me know how you like the i5, I'm thinking of picking one up soon.

 

[Metaltastic]

Overload, you definitely guessed right However, I can see why having the Strat sound would be useful if your playing in a kind of band that requires it - I'd just go for one from your home country (MIM hooray!) and swap the pickups. And yeah, the Hafler and Pod (along with that cab, now) are my live rig, and they work great, except that the Hafler makes these pops when you turn it on that cause the speakers to excurse like crazy for a few seconds, which freaks me out. Once it's on it's fine, but I'm probably gonna make a quick video of it happening and post it here to see if the techies can tell me if I'm hurting my speakers.

Wolfe, yeah, monitors are DEFINITELY on my list before summer's end, believe me! Probably gonna go for a Blue Sky EXO set for my casual listening set (that'll still be good enough to use as monitors when I wanna check my mixes on a sub) and a pair of Yamaha MSP5 Studios for my "tell it like it is" pair. And Gorath, the clip I recorded in the thread I mentioned above was with the i5; not the greatest sound, I admit (because of the cab, mostly), but I really liked it; a less nasal 57, so definitely useful, especially as a second mic along with a 57. I'd totally go for it!