I can relate to this in many ways.
#1. In 1995-'96 I quit playing in bands/gigs (washed my hands of it) and started flying R/C airplanes.
I was a novice that wanted to "rip up the sky"! :lol:
I spent several thousand dollars on 7 different planes/radio systems.
My last one was a jet, but honestly, the Quikie 500 planes are the most fun.
I crashed them nearly as fast as I built them! :roll:
One plane cost over $2000 ! (I cried when that one crashed)
Eventually, I went back to playing guitar. (much less expensive!)
#2. An old ex-friend (crackhead, but a great player) went through a bunch of amps and guitars.
He was in search of that perfect tone.
(the never ending quest)
I bought several things from him at unreal prices, some I'm ashamed to admit.
He started out with an older JCM 800 head, single channel, 100w, 4x12' w/greenbacks. He used pedals for gain, delay, chorus and had a great tone.
Then (once he got a good paying job) it started. Before his crack habit kicked in, we use to be jammin' buddies (no jokes please). We never played in a band together, but he would come by to jam nearly every day. (I had a full room of band equipment and people stopped by to jam all the time)
He loved my Mesa/Boogie MkIII Simul-Class combo and swore that he had to get a Mesa.
He mail-ordered several Mesa amps (not a MkIII like mine) but returned them all (including 2 Rectum-fires that had broken tubes from shipping). He just wasn't happy.
Then we took a trip to the "big city" and he auditioned dozens of amps.
He came away with a Soldano Hot Rod 100+ head and matching cabinet.(a great amp!) I think he paid $2200 for it
Within 5 months, it was mine! ($1000) :twisted:
In all he bought/tried 24 different amps including a Soldano Caswell X99, a Mesa Tri-Axis, a slew of effects units including Chandler, Rocktron & Eventide. Then he went through all the pedalboards, stompboxes and multieffects boards (GT-8, GT-8, Digitech, etc).
Once the dust cleared, (and he lost his job due to crack) he had one amp (a Sunn T-50C) and a '95 LP Custom. He sold the Sunn to me (more like pawned it to me) and that's when I realized he had the crack problem.
He still owes me money, but the deals I got near the end were ridiculous.
I bought an SKB powered pedalboard 30 minutes after it came vis UPS. It was $150...he sold it to me for $100! (he said it was noisy) :lol: Lasted me 8 years.
He had a few friends (other crackheads) that would come to my house looking to sell their gear to buy crack. Once I got a Boss DD-5 for $20.
One guy sold his bass amp for $20. (it was a Crate)
I think back then, a rock of crack was $20.
The bass amp became a table. :roll: No one would buy it. Eventually, I threw it away.
P.S. I had to add that...because of my buddy's home life (girlfriend) he had to keep a lot of this stuff at my house so she'd never find out about how much he was spending on gear. So, all during this time, I got to play through this stuff (while he wasn't around). :twisted:
