Coming to terms with gear vs reality

[flannel cat]

well first off congrats on your sons arrival,,second if your gear is bought and paid for why get rid of it? unless you need the finances,,id just keep it,,,because those munchkins grow up way to fast,and when they are living their life,,your gonna have that gear for when you resume gigging,,and you wont have to shell out the bucks to re,gear.,,,,all the best to you and the family.

 

[forndog1]

Right now you have a bigger priority in life so if your rig is bought and paid for and you don’t need the financial help why sell it’s not hurting anything having it so if you want to sell it that’s on you but then ask yourself this, will I be able to afford buying another rig this nice in 10-15 years or should I just set it aside and Just get myself a nice practice amp to jam on at home, if you have more life changes in the next few years then you might want to sell it off so someone else can enjoy it and you can just jam away with the smaller amp and enjoy your family.
FWIW I’m keeping my eyes and ears open on the Spark amp for jamming at home. I have severe nerve damage in both hands due to a fused and plated neck which is making it harder and harder to play as time goes on so I have been downgrading the last few years myself due to health not family.

 

[kesslari]

First - good on ya for putting family first and thinking things through.
My story - when my second kid was born I hadn't been playing much bass (family stuff) for a few years and money was tight.
I sold my Tobias - that Mike had made for me (sized the neck to my hands!) in his Hollywood shop. Money was tight and I thought that it should go to someone who would play it at a higher level that I would.
One of the few decisions in my life that I would do differently. We could have gotten by without selling the bass, and it was indeed a keeper.
I figure someone out there is happy - I've watched several different classifieds (ebay, here, reverb) for years without seeing it come up.

 

[naetog]

I was in a similar situation within the past few years: playing out regularly with a great band for years, moving, stagnating for a while (musically and otherwise), having a kid, then waiting a few years until the fog clears to find another band situation.

It was close to 8 years until it all came back around for me. 5 moves, 3 counties, 1 kid, and I've recently just passed the one year mark with my band.

All I can recommend is keep playing when you can, even if it's by yourself or a random jam. Keep looking, and put yourself out there.

It's REALLY hard with a tiny human around, but getting back into a regular musical expression was exactly what I needed.

Good luck to you sir!

 

[Bassdirty]

... such equipment wouldn't need to be new, or big. It would just need to be adequate. As a reminder, if any gig is big enough to need a large amp, there will probably *[edit- SHOULD] be PA support. You only really need something big enough for you and your bandmates to hear yourself on stage.....

Very Good points.

Selling equipment and then repurchasing later will almost always cost more money than just keeping what you have...…. would selling it for $4-5-600 really put you ahead very much, especially considering that the sales money would be gone in a month, but that amp will be available for years?

More great points good sir.

And given the OP's history with giving in to GAS over the years, he'd most likely break down and buy another rig after a while of not having a gig worthy rig. Am I right, or close? At least if you have the gig rig in the corner, you cant justify goin out to spend money on another "next big thing".


T$

 

[Bassdirty]

Family comes first ... It will likely only amount to a few payments against your debt anyway, and then it will be gone for a long time During which you'll be fighting GAS for a modest practice rig, and eventually you'll be throwing away good money on a modest home rig, after taking a bath on the great gear you just bought & then sold.

Continually buying and selling is where you lose money, ESPECIALLY when you buy new. You've got the cream of the crop there. If you can afford to keep, do so and enjoy it. It will still work when your kids are older and you can start gigging again. Whether you're gigging right now is secondary. You may get a call for a one-time gig or jam out of the blue, and it would be nice to be able to do it with that great gear.

Free advice, and worth every penny

Had to reply to this, cuz I can only like it once.
Yes, OBVIOUSLY if you need food for your family, then sell it. so My post about keeping it is "if you can". (I thought that was obvious anyway, but reading some of these posts..well.. maybe it wasn't. If you sell it because you HAVE to, that's when you lose the most money. So if you don't "have to" then don't.


YMMV

T$

 

[Omega Monkey]

Before reading through the rest of the thread which could take forever, financially you would be fine if you stopped buying brand new gear, then impulsively selling it for no real reason. If you think it's conceivable you'll have to sell relatively expensive gear at any time within about 10 years from purchase, you should be buying used.

Once you're buying used, you stop taking huge hits on depreciation every time you do this cycle of acquisition and selling off. You're basically doing the worst possible thing. I can't imagine how many 100s of dollars you must've lost on the SVT rig. How long did you even have it and how much did you even use it in that time?

To me, I would stop the bleeding first and not sell any more gear that you bought brand new, unless you need to do that to literally put food on the table. If anything, go get the old Ampeg combo and sell that, which should at least cover a grocery trip or 2. As soon as you sell the Mesa stuff, you make the depreciation real and permanent. That money is just gone, you don't get it back. If you keep that stuff, it's still worth what you put into it, because you have it to use.