Pedal collection costs more than amp?

[BrickIsRed]

Do you think it's wrong to have a collection of pedals that costs more than the amp you're running them through?

[Jimbob Jones]

Well, I've spent more on pedals than amps, but what's on my board is probably worth a bit less than my amp at the moment.

I don't think there's anything wrong with spending more on one part of your rig than another; I recently spent about 150GPB on some decent new cabling for my whole rig (patch cables, instrument leads, power cords)

[grygrx]

I have a single pedal that costs more than my current amp. I love my current amp.

[varunkapahi]

are your effects worth more than your rig and/or basses?

[EskimoBassist]

Yeah that's me summed up. I could own an Ampeg stack if I'd stayed away from pedals, but no....

[billhilly66]

The obvious answer would be to buy a more expensive amp. Problem solved.

[asherthemachine]

i have an svt stack, and have still spent more on pedals. why would that be wrong? buy what you want, its your hard earned money.

[SlappyMcLardfat]

I sold my Mesa (guitar) combo to pay for my bass amp, so right now my pedals cost more than my guitar amp (Peavey Classic 30), but not my SVT stack! I'm trying to incorporate them into my bass playing, but I'm still going straight into the amp right now.

[bassteban]

Most-used rig: BA-210sp, traded an ABG for it, worth about $250
Pedal collection: Probably $900 into it, might get $400-500 if I sold it all
No problem.

[RickenBoogie]

I've spent more on pedals overall than any one single bass amp, but I have several amps, so it seems ok, I guess.

[beggar98]

Amp + Cab= EA Micro300 and Avatar 210 Neo. Probably about $800 total.

Pedals= XO Qtron+, Stereo Polyphase, Barge Comp, POG, BMS, Great Wall and Flipster. I guess around $1200.

Anyone have more invested in pedals than they do in basses?

[cowsgomoo]

I think it's irrelevant unless you're one of those people who can only view the world through a filter that puts a price tag on everything... like that scene in Fight Club where he looks across his apartment and sees the blurb from an Ikea catalog superimposed on top of it

seriously... assigning the priorities of your musical equipment acquisition based on the relative cost of the items? it doesn't matter what your equipment cost provided it sounds how you want it to sound...

[Pilgrim]

It's all a matter of your personal priorities and whether you have the income to support them. It also depends on whether you buy cheap or expensive pedals, and cheap or expensive amps and cabs.

[kevteop]

My amp was relatively cheap because I got sick of lugging huge heavy lumps of gear everywhere - hence no valve heads, no 8x10 fridges, etc. I don't miss all that at all.

Pedals are of course considerably lighter, and easier to move on if they don't work out, so I take a lot less convincing to buy them.

[Mark Olson]

The amp rig I'm using costs about $2200 new. My current pedalboard is worth, all told, over $1200, which is also about the value of my main bass.

But at any rate, the bottom line for me is, yes it's silly to run expensive pedals through a crappy sounding amp. If the amp sounds like butt, great effects will still come out sounding like butt. It's easy to blame the effects for a bad sound before your amp because a new effect is cheaper to buy than a new amp, but if you don't get a good amp you may always be disappointed with the pedals you buy. But if you've got a decent enough amp (and bass for that matter), why not go crazy on the pedals?

[cheapbasslovin]

Hahahahahahahaha. My effects are worth sooooo much more than my bass or amp.

I don't think either my bass or amp sounds bad, and my effects give me soooooo many more options for filling space in my band and on fun recordings I do than a more expensive bass or uber amp will do.

I'm rocking a SX fretless 5er jazz and a Genz Benz ML200. They sound good by themselves and I'm not short power in the gig I'm in, so effects gets alls my cash.

[fightthepower]

The Amp$VSPedal$ argument is really only applicable to styles of playing that only utilize dirt boxes and maybe reverb and trem.. unless you're into line6 combo amps with built in digital effects I guess..

[gm jack]

Over twice as much on pedals. However, I am heading to uni next year, and so my decent combo I am happy with is all that will be needed. I wouldn't be able to afford a really good amp or even be able to use it.

[kevteop]

Well even though my rig is quite small and cheap (Hartke LH500, Schroeder 1212L) it's still got a very well-defined sound and it's guitarist-frighteningly loud, so I don't feel I'm missing out on anything.

[Joe Gress]

I have invested more in pedals that any other thing. Except my upright.

I really want to get an new GK rig though.