What cheap gear were you surprised by?

[Gmork]

couple days ago i saw a kustom quad200hd head and no name 4x12 cab
used for $200. i read some decent reviews. many think it lacks the gain for metal.
any i mainly wanted the cab.this guy with a wife and kids was
moving and just wanted it gone. i went and tried it out and it all seemed good. talked
him down to $150. got it home through a maxon
OD9 infront and gave it a bit of volume. and its actually sounds pretty
good! big punchy low end, grindy mids kind of fizzy highs (not nessassarily a
bad thing for some people) i was really impressed. i paid $50 for the old 4x12 cab and $100
for the amp. not perfect but i figured for $100 its amazing!. im going to try to sell it for
$150-$200 put that towards the isp stealth. oh! and the
cab was a big of a bust. its all carpeted and ripped up, the wood underneath is a bit messed up.
i opened it up to find weber sig series 25w, so the guy was running the 200w amp through
a 100w cab lol.
at low volumes it works fine i guess. so im gonna swap new speakers in
and re tolex it. sorry this is so long. just wanted to share my story. do
you think i got a deal? what cheap gear were you surprised by?

 

[thraxil]

I picked up a Behringer Bass V-Amp Pro on a whim for $50. Fiddled around a bit and stumbled on the meanest, nastiest sounding grinding bass tone I've ever heard. It's a fairly normal overdriven bass tone with just a tiny bit of sub-octave blended in. Something about the way it actually doesn't track very well works out wonderfully and the result is this huge, crushing, building destroying sound. I've spent hours trying to recreate it on my Axe-Fx and come close, but no cigar.

I would also add that the whole line of Danelectro Cool Cat pedals has impressed me. Great sound, good construction, and ridiculously cheap.

 

[Spinedriver]

I have a Dano Cool Cat Transparent OD and I agree that it sounds pretty decent. The only down side is that the input and power supply jacks are right there with the control knobs, so once everything is plugged in it can be tough to make adjustments. However, if you're a "set it & leave it" kind of person, it's all kosher.

 

[spilla]

My Ashton GA100FX. Most people wouldnt even bother with it being an Ashton combo but this thing is brutal!

 

[Fryderyczek]

Once I found a Flextone 2x12 for about 150 Euro.
Also found a Randall RH50H and a 1x12 witha v30 and a couple of effects for 250USD

 

[EarlWellington]

Got a RG7321 and RG320 for $500 together ($AU) with Blackhawks and EMGS respectively, as well as upgraded planetwave tuners. I think the upgrades alone were worth more than the guitars combined. Had the RG7321 for a few years and had someone offer $400 for it

 

[VBCheeseGrater]

2 low priced items i have right now that impress me...

1. Behringer Ultra G Direct box - Cab sim is plenty good and worked great when i tried it at a gig. This is my back up in case my power amp dies so i don't have to add pod cab sims to my patches - just plug into this box with usual patches and go.

2. Hafler T3 tube preamp - I picked this up for $200 which seems to be the going rate. Has MIDI switching and the dirt channels are killer for my needs. I use Channel B , sometimes boosted from the pod's screamer, and it's super chunky and tight when boosted or more classic sounding unboosted. I use channel C for leads which sounds nice and fat with the bass up. Last night the sound guy had my stage volume loud from the get go, and i was loving my tone all gig. Best $200 i've spent in awhile.

 

[fogcutter]

I bought one of those Indonesian Ibby RG331s, because I had a hankering for a fixed-bridge six and it was cheap. The thing is great! I haven't done a NGD for it because I'm still in the process of stoking it all out, but I gotta admit, I am impressed.

Rad look (yellow finish, black hardware) too. Like the Bruce Lee unitard. And I have no remorse about digging into it for mods. I'll do some pics at some point.

 

[ambler3]

I had one similar, the 100w Kustom. Got it with a fender frontman 4x12 and it didn't sound bad. Alright cleans and plenty of bass!for the price I paid it wasn't bad. Sure, if I spent another £150 I could have got a pretty nice tube amp setup, but it did the job. still, sold it while ago and now running a 6505 & V30 2x12. It wasn't perfect, but a hell of a lot better than my Spider IV i started with :haha:

Other thing i'm impressed by is my Jackson JS22-7. Dirt cheap (£170 when i brought it) and the construction is very good for the price. and the pickups are reasonably balanced unlike most ibby pups.

 

[Blitzie]

Fish N Chips EQ pedal. I got it for $10. I threw it in a drawer and forgot about it. I was having trouble getting some sounds with my Mesa and remembered I had the EQ sitting around. Threw it in the loop and BAM. Everything I wanted to add or take out was right there. Works perfectly.

 

[mnemonic]

A few years back I got a Line6 TonePort DI Gold for $100 since musiciansfriend was clearing them out (discontinued I think). All Line 6 models from the time as well as fully loaded PodFarm, $100. Just the model packs for the XT's cost more than that. Quite the deal, I used that thing for years, until I got an axe fx.

I also got my Marshall Valvestate 8080 combo for £75, and its a great amp for older metal and thrash. I like to pretend I'm Chuck Schuldiner when I play through it. I just want to get a closed back cab to run it through now.

 

[MattThePenguin]

Those Line 6 spiders make for awesome practice amps! You can pick them up used for under $100

 

[oniduder]

your mom!

no really good question

probably some of those mooer pedals?

idk

 

[Gmork]

did i mention i got the kustom quad200hd and 4x12 cab for $150 CANADIAN!

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

I've been happily using an Ibanez LF7 for the last month or two since I picked it up for $40 cheap, ugly, crappy sounding pedal that does the best lo-fi/radio sound you've ever heard.

 

[Promit]

A basic MIC Schecter 6er. Plays wonderfully for less than three hundred.

 

[Sephael]

My MXR Noise Clamp. Works great for what noise suppression, and I love that I can set it so when I turn it off everything in the loop is out of my signal chain.

 

[fogcutter]

I've got another one for this thread - have you guys tried the Peterson iStrobosoft app? I think this might very well be the best tuner I've ever used. Somehow, the strobe display just helps me get super-accurate. Takes a little getting used to, but I can see why those old rack mount mechanical ones became so legendary. IMO, this thing is a steal for ten bucks!

(Here it is in action, adjusting intonation on the aforementioned RG331.)

 

[Señor Voorhees]

My friend gave me an Ibanez Mikro bass of some sort. They're under $200 new, and I got it for free. The build quality is remarkable, and it has a decent tone to it. I was very much surprised by it.

 

[cereal_guy]

I picked up an LTD Ex-50 (cheapest model I believe) completely stock that after a quick setup is a really solid guitar.