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Recognizing a GAS Trap

Dr. Cheese

Dr. Cheese

Supporting Member
Mar 3, 2004
57,328
120,672
Metro St. Louis
#1


I saw this video Sunday before I started working on a new online course and recording final grades for a recently finished course. I watched it a few minutes and had pretty bad GAS. I was looking at Reverb, and the whole nine yards. After getting all titillated, I had a flash of reason. This is just a mid priced active Jazz with a two octave neck, and the man demoing it is an excellent player. This is definitely a case of needing Mel Bay but searching eBay.

It is also a case of getting sucked in by algorithms after clicking on some Ken Smith Burner videos. I am serious about being more self aware about my easily aroused GAS.
 
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#4
Self awareness is always a major plus. It allows us to make informed decisions and not just follow impulses (that part of our brains are really good at justifying).
Moments before opening this thread I noticed myself about to open the effects forum to see if someone had posted about a particular DI. Now I have a great DI on my amp, engineers I've recorded for love it. I do not need another DI.
And my own realization was "oh, I've been feeling dissatisfied with the amount that I'm gigging and the number of calls I'm getting, and that's when I start browsing gear". Right. No need to buy something I don't need.
 
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#6
kesslari said:
Self awareness is always a major plus. It allows us to make informed decisions and not just follow impulses (that part of our brains are really good at justifying).
Moments before opening this thread I noticed myself about to open the effects forum to see if someone had posted about a particular DI. Now I have a great DI on my amp, engineers I've recorded for love it. I do not need another DI.
And my own realization was "oh, I've been feeling dissatisfied with the amount that I'm gigging and the number of calls I'm getting, and that's when I start browsing gear". Right. No need to buy something I don't need.
Click to expand...

Self awareness and the ability to say hey, what I have sounds amazing and works and everyone loves it. Get off TB and Reverb you idiot. I have 2 Roscoe basses. One is a "P with flats" and the other is a "modern 5 with rounds" so really, for an amateur bass player who plays at church and in a mildly busy cover band, I'm covered.
My DI/IEM rig is and ST-300 tuner, an Empress Bass Compressor and a REDDI. I have a Yamaha MODX6 for synth work. My "rig" is a Genzler MG350/112T-V combo amp. Great for jazz quartet gigs, singer/songwriter stuff, things like that. I may find "different" gear, but I'm not going to find much "better" gear.
 
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#12
Dr. Cheese said:


I saw this video Sunday before I started working on a new online course and recording final grades for a recently finished course. I watched it a few minutes and had pretty bad GAS. I was looking at Reverb, and the whole nine yards. After getting all titillated, I had a flash of reason. This is just a mid priced active Jazz with a two octave neck, and the man demoing it is an excellent player. This is definitely a case of needing Mel Bay but searching eBay.

It is also a case of getting sucked in by algorithms after clicking on some Ken Smith Burner videos. I am serious about being more self aware about my easily aroused GAS.
Click to expand...


I've watched a ton of Danny's demo videos in the past, and they ALWAYS give me GAS. That guy could play a 2x4 with a rubber band attached and I'd be captivated.

It IS essentially a mid-priced Jazz I suppose, but in a sea of Jazz Basses it stands out to me as something fresh if nothing else.
 
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#13
skyline_01 said:
I've watched a ton of Danny's demo videos in the past, and they ALWAYS give me GAS. That guy could play a 2x4 with a rubber band attached and I'd be captivated.

It IS essentially a mid-priced Jazz I suppose, but in a sea of Jazz Basses it stands out to me as something fresh if nothing else.
Click to expand...
It is a Ken Smith too. Ken Smith has made a number of very nice JJ basses over the years, but because of Hadrien Feraud, the prices of the old budget Burners are starting to go through the roof.
 
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#14
I picked up the electric guitar last winter. I have a decent $500 guitar and a $140 practice amp. There’s a whole world of guitar gear that I could be wanting to buy, but its amazing how little I want any of it. I just want to play.

In the meantime, this past year I bought a good amount of bass gear that I really didn’t need. I came to the conclusion that it was my plateau (on bass) that really drove the desire. I’m about as good as I could ever hope/want to be (for my current playing goals) and I was kind of spinning wheels in the practice room. Learning a new skill (guitar) was my liberation from GAS.

at least, for now…
;)
 
#15
Dr. Cheese said:
It is a Ken Smith too. Ken Smith has made a number of very nice JJ basses over the years, but because of Hadrien Feraud, the prices of the old budget Burners are starting to go through the roof.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was immediately recognizable as a KS body - my point was that if I was looking for a Jazz-type tone, and they were of similar price, I'd probably go for the KS over the Jazz just bc it's different.

And yeah, that friggin' Hadrien Feraud... ;):laugh::roflmao:
 
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#16
Dr. Cheese said:
At this point, I have given up on beating my GAS. I just want to make rational decisions, the same way I eat until I am sick, hit on cute co-workers, or drive 130mph on my bike at rush hour.
Click to expand...
:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

I don't have any cute co-workers at the moment, but I make no comment about any of the things that may or may not have happened once or twice and may or may not be on your list.
 
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#18
I love your phrase “needing Mel Bay but searching eBay.” Kinda smarts though. Hits a little close to home.

I just got a guitarrón for my birthday, something I’ve wished to find for a long time, and suddenly all my electric bass paraphernalia GAS has moved WAY into the background. The guitarrón, in effect, holds me by the head, smashing me face-first repeatedly into a cinder block, while reminding me in a pleasant speaking voice that gear shopping is now null and void because my abilities are so abysmal that no additional gear will help at this point. I have to do the work.

There’s not a whole lot of guitarrón on YouTube, but what I have seen sure looks easy compared to what it actually feels like. For instance:

 
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#20
mexicanyella said:
I love your phrase “needing Mel Bay but searching eBay.” Kinda smarts though. Hits a little close to home.

I just got a guitarrón for my birthday, something I’ve wished to find for a long time, and suddenly all my electric bass paraphernalia GAS has moved WAY into the background. The guitarrón, in effect, holds me by the head, smashing me face-first repeatedly into a cinder block, while reminding me in a pleasant speaking voice that gear shopping is now null and void because my abilities are so abysmal that no additional gear will help at this point. I have to do the work.

There’s not a whole lot of guitarrón on YouTube, but what I have seen sure looks easy compared to what it actually feels like. For instance:

Click to expand...


Nice, I was not expecting the English lyrics!
 

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