Hey all

I know that some of you are gear heads like me, so I thought it would be fun if everyone posted what gear they use to record

Guitar
Electric - Ibanez RG2570EX
Acoustic - Yamaha FG730S
Strings - Elixir Nanoweb Light / Elixir Nanoweb Phosphour Bronze Custom Light
Amp - Laney TF320 2x12" 120w
Effects - Boss GT-8 Guitar Effects Processor

Recording
Mics - Audio Technica AT4040 condensor / Shure SM-57 dynamic
Preamp - ART Studio V3 tube mic pre
Outboard - BBE MaxCom dual compressor with sonic maximiser
PC - Creative X-Fi Platinum

Additional Gear
M-Audio Prokeys88 MIDI keyboard controller
Too many cables
Assorted world percussion

Damn when I look at it it's like $5-6000 I've spent over the years... not including the rest of my PC n stuff O.o

Well, i dont record exactly...  but this is what i use:

AMD Athlon 1700+

M-Audio Fastrack Pro audio interface

M-Audio Oxygen V2 midi keyboard

Yamaha HS50M studio monitors

Fl Studio 7 XXl producer version

Acid 4.0 (i hate anything after version 4)

VSTs:

Absynth 4
FM8
Albino
Imposcar
Kontakt 2
Pro 53
and lots of others...  (cant give away all my secrets, you know)

Guitars:
Gretsch G6040MCSS Synchromatic Cutaway, Filter'Tron
Squire Stratocaster
Some fender acoustic-electric
A samik classical

Other instruments:
Shakers
Tambourine
A tabla from the 80's
A sitar from 1978 maybe---this has an ivory bridge.  Back in the days before ivory wasn't a big deal in India.

Recording:
Behringer 3/5 Channel mixer
Some behringer mic
Nady metal mesh pop filter
Behringer UCA2000 (?) audio interface

Misc:
Cables---XLR and 3/8"
Danelectro Fab Chorus and Fab Overdrive.
Laptop
FL Studio
Adobe Audition
Various VST plugins (Amplitube 2 and Jimi Hendrix are my guitar-specific ones)
D'ddarrio EXP light-medium strings

I think that's about it.  If I don't count the instrumnets, there's barely $200 of stuff.  My Gretsch is a $3000 guitar, the fender is ~$700, the squire is ~$200 and the Samick was about ~$200.  I have no idea how much the table and sitar cost.  I'd estimate the tabla is worth nothing, and the sitar worth a few thousand dollars.

I recently bought a Digitech Jamman looper pedal, but Musician's Friend sent me a defective piece. They also forgot to ship me a guitar, which I got refunded.  I left all my guitars, the sitar and tabla at home in Dubai.  I only have the Gretsch here.  I want to buy a cheap acoustic-electric to throw around; I'm looking at a $200 Epiphone which may one.

I've never been a huge believer in multi-effects processors.  I like the Gt-8, but it doesn't have a USB out, which, in a board that expensive is inexcusable in my book.  I also find a few of the overdrive settings on the GT-8 a little tinny for my tastes. I'll probably buy the Digitech GNX4, which has the Jamman built-in.  USB-out, good effects etc.

Are the nanowebs worth the incredible amount of money they cost?  I've heard both good and bad, but I'd like to hear a detailed opinion.

Oh, and great idea for a thread, btw.

Mine :

Mixer: MXB1002
Pre Amps: Focusrite and Art

EQ's : Rane and DBX

Compressors: DBX 160  and Behringer dual autocom

Audio Interfaces : 2 Motu Mark Of The Unicorn  2408's
plust the 424 sound card and the 324 soundcard (Motu)

Outboard effects: Roland SRV 330 and Alesis Quadraverb

Drum Machines: Alesis sr16 and Yamaha DT Express with drum kit

Monitors: JBL 4208's

Mics: Several sure sm 57 , 2 sm58's, Avlex large format condenser, AT 4047,

pc and mac computers

Software:  nuendo3, cubase LE and SX3, FL7 with some plug ins, digital performer 5.1 and several earlier versions.I had several other pc recording stuff like audacity and cool edit but I got rid of em and decided to just concentrate on the cubase stuff and digital performer for now.

I have a rack of other gear in the other room but I can't remember what all is in the Rack.
Guitar gear:

Several Ibanez guitars, Fender strat, Silvercreek acoustic, Ibanez acoustic, Esteves classical, and a Jackson that I can use.

Amps: 2 old Randall amps, plus I can run through a ADA preamp with tc electronic g system in the loop all midi controlled


Amp simulators : pod xt and pod pro 2,

Misc pedals like: Ibanez ts9 tube screamer, and one of my favorites is the
expandora box , boss dd2 delays, and roctron talkbox , several a/b boxes.

Speakers 2 very old marshall cabs with 25 watt celestion greenbacks , 1 1/12 with 25 watt greenbacks and a 2/12 with 25 watt greenbacks. (can you tell that I love the sound of these old celestion speaker?)

That is most of the gear at my home studio..some of the gear is used at both places.

I won't bother to list the stuff at the band facility

Guitars
Ozark parlour with Neo D sound hole pickup
Zen 70's Japanese copy of martin
Squier Tele custom P90
Takamine acoustic bass
Yamaha classical C80
Amp
Roland Acoustic amp
Vox valvetronix 30

Effects
Digitec RP100

Interface
Line6 UX1

recorder
Zoom didital 4 track

Mic
Sure pm 48
behringer C3

preamp
behringer tube ultra gain 200

Okay, this is what we record with... keeping in mind we are a band.

Microphones... Since we record live, we got a few...

2 x wireless Shure SM86 beta
2 x Shure SM58
1 x Sennheiser E825S
1 x "sound of heaven" dynamic mic - doesn't 'really' sound like heaven

We should really invest in a drum mic kit, then we really we would only need 2 or 3 mics since we are using most of these just for drums and they are vocal microphones not really for drums.

Recording

16 Track Roland VS-1680
18 channel Etek analog mixer
Fostex X-24 4 track cassette recorder
7 x TDK SA-60 cassette tapes (hard to find = cost a fair bit)

Haven't really used the tapes since we got the digital 16 track, but it's still nice, shame its only 4 track.

Guitar Effects - Korg ToneWorks AX10G

Live sound

Peavey Bass preamp into 300W x 2 power amp into 300W speaker and 500W subwoofer.

Samick Power Mixer 8 channel... 150W x 2

Going into 2 x 18" EV 800watt speakers.

couple of mic stands, 7 or 8 guitar leads, about the same amount of mic leads.. a lot of wire converters 

Guitars:
Fender Telecaster Nashville with added strat pickup
Gibson Epiphone (not a great guitar sadly)
Marina acoustic steel string... HAS ANYONE HEARD OF THIS GUITAR? - it is an excellent guitar, quite expensive... it's just a shame we know next to nothing about it other than us knowing that nobody has ever heard it...

No fancy pants sound cards or interfaces as yet, doesnt really seem necessary... just plug the 16 track Roland into the line in on the sound card and press play on the recorder and record on the computer... is this a  bad way of doing it? yeah.. we have no idea...

there is no bad way if it works and does the job you want it to do.

OK here goes trying to reply to all

Avi: Hi that gretsch sounds realy nice and I expect you could get some really interesting sounds out of that sitar!

The GT-8 I was initially unimpressed with, until I played with it. The distortion sounds 'tinny' when the output is set to stack/cab, because the unit presumes that the bass will kick through from the amp and speakers. When recording via direct line out, or at lower volumes, I use the 'line/phones' output setting which gives a completely different sound. Perhaps when you tried it they hadn't set it up correctly?

The key reason I got the GT-8 is because of all the amp/mic simulator options it has, the wid range of reknowned boss sounds it has (particularly nice delay/reverb) and great distortion if you tweak it right. Also, I don't want/need a USB out as I record direct from the SP/DIF digital out into my X-Fi in 24bit/96khz quality. The tone on my recent 'rock ballad' track (the one questing for a female singer) used distortion from direct out from this box.

I also got it because it seemed decidedly more roadworthy than the Digitech, and even more so than the Line6 Pod XT Live. The GT-8 really is a beast if you intend to use it live! So if you want USB connectivity then I'd personally choose the Pod XT Live over the digitech? The Pod XT Live sounds awesome.

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As for strings, the Nanowebs are amazing. I've used pretty much all the strings that are popular over here (from Ernie Balls to Martin to Dean Marley to GHS) and my main strings for years were D'addarios. However I have really acidic hands, and the coating on the Elixir Nanoweb keep them sounding good much much longer than any others. Also the phosphour bronze acoustic strings sound much nicer and brighter on my guitar than the regular nanoweb, much like new martin strings, but they keep that tone for much longer! That for me justifies the cost.

Bear in mind that the polyweb series actually feel different to normal strings - the nanowebs are coated but are designed to feel like regular strings. If you stick a set of the phosphour bronze on an acoustic (i use Custom Light guage) you won't be dissapointed!

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gtr1960: wow sounds like you have a nice collection there. I hear some great things about the AT4047 on vocals; I was quite tempted but the AT4040 is more in my price range right now!!
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Vincent: You have all the basics down, I'm sure you can get a great clean sound out of even a squier tele with that vox amp. I do know however that the cheaper pickups on that guitar (personal experience) squeal like a pig in a larger amp with heavy distortion, so the 30w seems like a good amp for that. For your rig if you want a distorted sound I'd recommend going for a decent distortion pedal such as Boss DS-1 or Ibanez Tubescreamer.

Also, unfortunately, there is no such thing as a good, rock-bottom-cheap condenser. Tempting as it may be, you'd have been better spending that money on a Shure SM-57, but personally I would save up the extra $150 and get a Studio Projects C1. Still cheap for a condenser, but much better than the Behringer. And yes the ART preamps are great for the price, the Studio MP is dirt cheap, the ART Studio V3 which I have is a little more but gives more sound control.


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Chill: yes I'd agree, if you can mix just fine on the outboard gear and just use the computer for mastering than that is fine. the only thing I don't particularly love about the big (roland/yamaha etc) outboard digitial multitrack recorders is the lack of control, eg for VST compressors/EQ/reverb in cubase. I'd personally sync the timeclock via MIDI (if the unit supports it) and then record the channels separately into cubase for final mixdown.

Still there is nothing like mixing 'hands on' in hardware rather than software!

Amen!  I miss when I had free reign over the delicious recording studio ($200,000 worth of equipment) my high school had.

About the multi-effects processors: When it comes down to it, the GT8, Line6 and GNX4 are the big three. I am probably going to fork down for the GNX4 because of the recording capabilities (great on board recording interface), the great doubling as a USB audio interface, audio inputs, built-in JamMan loop station, and the reasonable sounds.

Boss' delay/reverb is phenomenal.  I still maintain that the distortion sounds tinny, but beauty is in the ear of the beholder, right?  I'll give you that you had great tone in the ballad you posted, however.  Overall though, the GT8 does have the best effects of the three.  For sure.  It's what Boss does.

The Line6 is at the bottom of the barrel as far as I am concerned.  The effects aren't good enough to overthrow the Boss, and the recording features aren't good enough to overthrow the GNX4.  I've heard all that changes when you use those special guitars, but that seems too gimmicky for me.

I had an old amp modeler a while back, which I ditched because I hated the interface.  My question is how you set up when you are live.  I've found that unless you are using a very nice amp, the tone of your sound is going to get killed coming through the amp.  What do you guys do, plug directly into a PA?

There's some seriously impressive stuff listed up here.  I'm with Vincent in the feeling seriously low-tech... but hey, it works for me (and until a couple of years ago, I'd got rid of all my stuff but a cheap acoustic!

So my gear is:

Guitars
Jasmine acoustic
Variax 600
Peavey T60

Guitar FX
Line6 Pod XTL

Amps
Peavey 30W practise amp
120W active monitor (the box MA 120 MkII - sold at www.thomann.de - this is used as a monitor or a guitar amp!)

Drum Machine
Alesis SR16

Mics
1 x Shure SM58
1 x Shure 588SA
3 x Behringer XM1800s (these are really cheap... £25.00 for 3!)

Other bits
Hernal's flute (old, they don't make them any more)
Hohner blues harps (C, D, E, and A)

PA
Mixer - Behringer Xenyx 1222FX
Speakers - 2 x Behringer B212A active speakers

Recording
Mostly straight through the Pod XTL direct to the soundcard of my PC
Soundcard is an M-Audio Audiophile 2496
PC Software is Cubase SX3; Audacity; FL5

OK, that'll do.  My brain is starting to fry with the though of all the money I've spent over the last couple of years!!!

And Jim comes in with the Variax+PodXT combo.  That's where the sweetness of the box comes out, but I don't want to invest in another guitar.

And Jim, you get some beautiful recordings, so you definitely shouldn't feel low-tech.

Dell Celerion 2.2ghz
$3 web mic
Guitars:
electric
 Fender Strat
 Hondo II Les Paul copy from 74
 noname P-bass copy
 Oscar Schmidt semi-hollow 335 copy
 60's Guyatone Jaguar copy
acoustic
 Rogue Dread A/E cutaway with D'addario 80/20 custom strings
 Breedlove 12 string with whatever came on it, I haven't changed em yet.. I know I know...
 Epiphone MM-50 Mandolin
 Rogue B-130 5 string Banjo w/resonator
 30's Gibson 5 string Open Back Banjo made for Sears/Roebuck owned by my Great Grandfather.
 Rogue Roundneck Spider Resonator
 Rogue A style 5 string Mandolin
 40's Stella Parlor Blues Guitar
 
 Also have Accordion,Autoharp,Bagpipes, misc shakers and tambourine, Penny Whistles, Ocarinas,Flutes, a trumpet, harmonicas, bodhran etc etc etc
software
 Cool Edit Pro, Audacity, FL Studio, CubaseSX, but all I use is Cool Edit now... and sometimes Audacity

        JimK

This is kinda of a rundown on the toastedgoats practice place recording gear.

Bass guitar: ibanez  of somekind

I have several ibanes and fenders

Randall amps and ada preamps plus other rack gear and pedals

new DW drumkit for JOE

Allen and Heath live console of somekind
Alesis recording console

interfaces: motu 896's 2 of em

computer: mac intell quad

Software: DP 5.1 and audio desk

outboard gear:
compressors: dbx compressors, berhinger compressor and a couple of alesis compressors
EQ: dbx, rane

some kinda vocals effects unit and a couple of preamps too
mics: quite a few..shure, AT, AKG audex ,

monitors: JBL self eq'in

ect. ect.

recording is mostly about the perfomance though and not the gear.. great gear only works great in the hands of someone who knows what to do with it.

Hey dave how is the AT4040 and ART tube pre I'm thinking about getting them

Guitars

    * Acoustic Guitar - Taylor 110e
    * Electric Guitar - Ibanez GSA
    * Classical Guitar - Yamaha

Recording

    * Microphone - AKG Perception 100 Condensor
    * Preamp - None yet
    * Software - Audacity

Electric Extras

    * Amp - Some crappy behringer practice amp, as well as a big piece amp and speaker set from JBL
    * Pedals - DS1 distortion from BOSS & Big Muff Overdrive