So, my wife is being generous :-) and is letting me go on a $250 shopping spree for something new to add to my list of gear. I've visited Guitar Center, and all of the online stores, and there is way too much to decide on - so I thought I'd see what everyone else would do with $250.

So far, my front runner is an Axiom25 or an 8 channel mixer for demo recording around the house.

Feel free to add your suggestions (and links too)!

 

Hope everyone is doing well!

ChrisJohnson 

oh wow. well, i guess it depends what you're looking to do. I got one of those Line 6 Gearbox things ($70) and I LOVE using it for writing/demoing. has great electric sounds. Gearbox+Garageband+an M-Audio midi keyboard, and I've got the only demo rig I need. well, except I did just buy an AT4050 mic.

If I personally had $250, I'd probably have to spend it on a Line 6 MM4 though. I got spoiled on a friends pedal board, and now can't go back to my modulation-less board. poor thing. I also wouldn't mind having a bass around the house. I think those cost more than $250 generally, though. Heck, I actually need to FIX my pedalboard and make it not fall apart at shows. This is turning into a random rambling by me. I apologize. I just really have the itch to buy new gear. 

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"Some men can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."

Would love to make a suggestion....but don't know what you already have! Give us a rundown and I'll throw out opinions...everyone knows how full of them I am!

I'm a worship leader who leads on a volunteer basis - so I don't have that much gear. I've been looking into getting new toys to help with recording some demos. I'm up for any suggestions. Maybe something to play with on Ableton 7 or garageband?

Does "not that much gear" a recording interface of any type?

The way I record now is with my MacBook -> ProTools or Garageband via an M-Audio Mbox. It's only two inputs, one for my guitar, and one for the vocals.

It's a start...so since you've got that covered....

 

I think I'd recommend you go to ebay and pick up a used m-audio keyboard. The new ones are nice, but if you're wanting it for demo purposes then I'd stick to the basics afforded by one of the older used ones. I bet you could pick up a good one for $100. With the other $150 I'd get ....ummmmm....I need to think about it some more. 

what kind of mic's do you have? you could pick up a Rode NT1-a for $200. I used to have one (stolen), and I really enjoyed it for a variety of uses. vocals, acoustics, electrics, room....But if you aren't so much caring about the "sound" of these demos, and are more looking at getting a "tool" of sorts, I've always wanted Stylus, because I'm terrible at coming up with drum loops. and Garagebands are limited.

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"Some men can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."

I'm actually using SM58's - and they do just fine for what I'm looking at doing. Hopefully, I'll be able to send this out as a 'preview', and get funding for a studio project sometime this summer.

I thought about getting stylus, and I might go with something like that as well.

Also, I dropped by Guitar Center to look at the Axiom - and they felt so cheap & fragile. Even a few of the knobs and sliders were broken - so are these really worth picking up? They won't go out on the road too much, but I don't want to pick this up if it's going to break that easily.

I'd recommend BFD instead of Stylus for demo'ing ideas. Much more useful and "real world"

good to know. man. all this talk of new toys make ME want a new toy. I need a pair of condensers actually. and i actually need to fix my freaking monitor. it conveniently stopped working two weeks after the warrantee expired. ca-ching.

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"Some men can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."