I love to nerd out on guitars. (No, really, Jon? We couldn’t tell.)
I spend a lot of time learning about the industry, guitars, and gear, but the honest reality is I have a very limited budget. That means most of the cool gear I see out there will remain out of my reach — but thankfully, not quite all of it.
Over the years, I’ve amassed a decent collection of mostly low- and mid-priced gear. And it turns out you can still find quality at this level.
Here are my five favorite pieces of quality, low-cost gear that I’ve found. My hope is that this list gets your creative juices flowing and on the hunt for yourself.
My TC Electronic looper pedal
Arguably the most useful tool in my arsenal is my looper pedal. I’ve written about this before, but the gist of it is it’s a great tool that helps me practice and grow as a musician.
If you don’t know, a looper is basically a device that automatically plays back whatever you record with it on infinite repeat. I have one of the most basic loopers out there, the Ditto by TC Electronic. But with just one button and one knob, it does everything I need it do to.
It allows me to practice soloing by laying down a chord progression. It allows me to practice my composition skills by giving me a platform to create songs with multiple parts on the fly. It even helps me work on playing in time.
It’s a great practice tool, especially when you are by yourself, and if I were a better player, I could do some amazing live stuff, like this:
My Epiphone SG Pro
As of July 2022, I have a new favorite guitar: my Epiphone SG Pro.
I’d actually never owned an SG before, but the more I play it, the more I like it. It’s lightweight, and while it does suffer from neck dive (like most SGs), it’s not terrible and it doesn’t affect me while playing. It also has a Slim Taper neck, which is basically a very skinny D shape, and I find it to be very comfortable to play.
And it just has the “mojo,” you know? I feel like I can play everything better on that guitar.
I love it so much, in fact, that I’m thinking about how I might get my hands on a Gibson version. And for a guy who sticks to the ~$500 range when buying instruments, I think that’s saying something.
Plus, I get to pretend I’m Angus Young (minus the schoolboy outfit) whenever I pick it up. (Hey, I might be in my 40s, but I still try to be a kid at heart.)
My Joyo wireless transmitter system
This is the newest entrant on my list of favorite gear, but it’s already a game-changer.
For my entire musical life, I’ve used a cable. For most of that time, it was the only option. Only touring bands used a wireless setup; there simply was no option for a wireless signal chain for the at-home player.
And then a year or two ago, I noticed a few people at church using Xvive wireless transmitters to run their signal from their guitar to their pedalboard. This was a new thing to me, so I decided to investigate.
That’s when I learned that Xvive is very proud of their product — the set of dongles was close to $150! That was way above my comfort level for an optional product like this.
But about a month ago, I decided to check out a cheaper alternative. I spent ~$35 on a transmitter system from Joyo. It works great, and it is amazing. I never realized how tethered I was to a certain spot — how my cable was in effect a ten-foot leash.
As soon as I started going wireless, I felt a sense of freedom. I can now go wherever I want. I can move my feet and legs freely without tripping on a cord. I can sit on the couch and play at home or walk off the stage at practice to go get my phone if I need to, and there’s no cumbersome cable holding me back.
I’m never going back!
My Shubb capos
Capos are a wonderful tool (and most definitely not a crutch as some players think), but the traditional spring-tensioned ones have a common problem: They tend to pull your guitar sharp when in use. This is due to the spring being overly strong.
Shubb fixed this problem by using a different method. Their capos are more like a clamp with a screw that allows you to adjust the tension to just the right amount. And it’s not a one-and-done thing; you can change the tension based on the individual guitar you are using.
I have several, including a partial capo, and they are wonderful. My Kysers are long gone — good riddance!
My Ibanez Mikro bass
I’m a guitar player through and through. But I have the occasional need for a bass guitar.
Enter the Ibanez Mikro bass guitar.
The beauty of this bass is it is a super short-scale model at just 28.6″. This makes it very comfortable for guitarists like me. There’s no having to stretch for miles to get to different notes. (Seriously, I don’t know how bass players do it.) It just feels like you’re playing the guitar, but the sound coming out is a bass.
I have one for a few reasons. The primary reason is so I can lay down simple bass lines when recording. But I also just like to play the bass every once in a while. There’s just something about the bass line on “I Can’t Tell You Why” that I love.
(Additionally, I’m the self-proclaimed emergency secondary backup bass player at my church — someday I should let the worship pastor know — so as the Boy Scouts say, be prepared!)
The best part? They retail for $200. How can you go wrong?
These are the five pieces of gear that would probably make my “deserted island” list — the things I wouldn’t want to live without. They bring that extra level of enjoyment to playing the guitar, and best of all, they don’t break the bank.
So what about you? What are your must-have pieces of gear? I’d love for you to share them with us in the comments so we can all learn and be inspired together.
Leave a Reply