Everybody needs gear to do what they love. Every geek needs toys. Here’s a quick summary and reviews of what I use.

Computing

I have a laptop as my main machine, it’s a Dell Inspiron E1505. Upgraded hard drive to 240Gb, runs Sidux, other than that nothing special about it.

I have two desktop machines, one is an IBM ThinkCentre, one is a homemade job.

My primary machine is the homebuilt, it’s a shiny silver no-name case with lots of lighting bling. It’s got an AMD Semperon 2.0Ghz thats mildly warmed over to about 2.2Ghz. It’s got a gig of Kingston RAM, and HP DVD-RW. It’s my storage beast with two 120Gb internal IDE drives and a 320Gb Western Digital.

It runs Sidux, all my machines do.

I haven’t the slightest idea of the specs of the IBM, beyond that it’s pretty quick and I run Windows XP for audio stuff. It has a M-Audio Delta 1010LT , and I really want to get the M-Audio Pro Tools to try out. Currently I work in Ableton Live, but I prefer Cubase ;) I also love Propellerhead Reason, even if I’m not that good with it.

Musical

My second biggest hobby is music, primarily guitar. I love recording and the hardware aspect of musical instruments. I also have a bit of a “pretty” guitar addiction, but I’ve curbed it lately.

I have four electrics, two acoustics and lots of miscellaneous gear.

The first electric is my favorite, an Ibanez SZ which is a dark shade of blue, they don’t make them anymore, but that link is about right, just wrong color/wood.

Second is my ESP/LTD M-200FM in the see-thru black cherry finish. It’s got much hotter pickups than the Ibanez and a Floyd Rose trem for swoops :)

Third is my Ibanez Iceman (IC400) in brown sunburst. Very pretty guitar, but the neck is a little bigger than most, and the weight is poorly balanced. Also the pickups are very bass biased, so it’s more of a rhythm guitar. Still a lot of fun though.

For acoustic guitars I have my very first guitar, a Jasmine beginner guitar. It’s not expensive, but with a good set of strings it sounds great. Plus as first guitar it holds a special place with me. The other is a laminated Hohner I got at a garage sale for $20. Not an awful guitar, but not a good one either. The upside is that since the lamination is old it’s quite loud.
For amps I have a Behringer V-Tone GMX212, which is an awesome amp. I’ll admit I’m a bit of a Behringer fanboy, but only because they have great stuff and greap amp-sims for cheap. That amp is built like a rock, it’s not going anywhere if I have anything to say about it.

My other amp is a Johnson Reptone 15. It’s small but mighty. Great tone for such a lower-end amp. Got that at a garage sale too. Remember Johnson green-carpeted amplifier = great.

I’ve also got a nice Behringer mixer, a super-fun ukulele, a beginner violin I never play and a nice USB/MIDI keyboard from M-Audio. My most recent add was a pair of condenser mic’s from MXL. I bought a package with a big vocal mic and a shotgun instrument mic, MXL 990 and 991 I believe. Good mics, they really make a difference compared to a Shure PG48 :)

Page Updated 2008-03-02