I've made a few rack gear purchases recently that I'll pick up from a holding company on the other side of the Canada / USA border, because it's close by, and is cheaper to ship large packages that way than it is to ship them from the USA directly to Canada.
The stuff that's incoming is:
Korg DTR-1 tuner
Digitech DHP-55 effects processor
TC Electronic 1140 EQ / preamp
The Korg DTR-1 is in just about like-new condition, and I got it for $60 USD, before shipping. I want a really nice condition one for my home studio rack, because the one in my rack is a bit scuffed, and, well, presentation / psychological value.
There was a listing of a like-new DTR-1 on eBay a month or two ago, and I bit on it, but not high enough to get it. It ended up going for around $40 to someone who got a great buy. The one I just bought was listed as good condition, but the photos look about as good as the like-new one that I missed, and $60 is still a good price on one of these. Somebody had curiously been trying to sell a broken one on Reverb for $90 about a month ago (which definitely isn't worth it).
Here's the one I've just bought:
The Digitech DHP 55 I've bought looks like it's in pretty good condition, from the one photo of it in the eBay listing. It has v1.04 firmware, and the seller said that they haven't used it in a long time because, as their eBay listing picture shows, they have other, more comprehensive and expensive effects processors and harmonizers. I bought it for a $150 buy-it-now price as soon as it showed up, because I'd let multiple decent condition DHP-55s pass by several months ago, and then there were no DHP-55s showing up for 2 - 3 months, and I didn't want to play the wait-around game anymore.
A few months ago, there was a good condition one on Reverb that the seller said had only been used in their non-smoking studio, and that one went for $160 CND (great price). I wanted to buy it, but there was also a Digitech Valve FX listed for sale at that time, which I also wanted, and I didn't know which of the two devices to go for first, hoping that the other might still be available whenever I'd next have the money for it. I ended up going for the Valve FX, and I'm very glad that I did, not only because I haven't seen another one of those for sale since, but also because the LCD on the one I got has been upgraded to the newer, green version (the original blue one fades over time), and it also has the latest firmware. I got the rarest, and best Valve FX possible, and haven't seen another for sale since then. So, I think I made the right call.
The seller of the DHP-55 I've just bought only wrote in their eBay listing that the device has normal rack wear for its age, but is fully functional. The only image they uploaded of the unit before I bought it doesn't show a very close up view of the device, but it looks like it's in pretty good condition.
I also bought a TC Electronic 1140 off a Nashville, TN Craigslist posting, for $175 + $25 shipping. I think that's a good deal. I've thought about getting a parametric EQ for years, but not really understood whether I'd be better served with a graphic EQ or a parametric EQ. But I always read high praise for the vintage TC Electronic EQs of any kind.
I originally bought a TC 1128 EQ for cheap from some production company's old gear selloff eBay listing a long time ago. I think it cost around $115. But the unit I received has the older blue display, and it's 98% or so faded, so using the device is very difficult. Very fortunately, I found somebody selling their last official TC 1128 LCD upgrade kit on a sound equipment forum, and I was able to buy it from them for maybe $80 - $100. I bought it a long time ago, but I haven't installed it yet because the instruction are pretty in-depth, and I don't feel confident doing it, just yet. I almost had a service centre install it for me, but they gave it back to me because the alan screws holding the faceplate to the chassis are stripped, and they said it's their policy to not risk being responsible for damaging a device while trying to get stripped screws out. I have since got the screws out myself, by cutting a slit in the screw-heads with a grinder, allowing me to use a flathead screw-driver to get them out. But now, the service centre, Backline in Vancouver, has closed their amp repair department, and I have to find another option to get this LCD upgrade kit installed.
Once I have the 1128 fixed up, I'm guessing I might stick the TC Electronic 1140 ahead of my Valve FX, JMP-1, ADA MP-1 guitar preamps, and the TC Electronic 1128 after my other preamps.
There was just recently a TC 1140 going on eBay that was actually selling from the city I live in, and was originally listed pretty cheap, at $225 CND ($166 USD). I messaged the seller to see if we could do a local sale for $240 CND, but the seller wanted to see how the eBay auction would play out, and it ended up going to somebody for $305 CND ($226 USD). Once it did, I jumped on the Nashville Craigslist listing for $175 USD, which I had already contacted the seller to possibly buy, before the local eBay TC 1140 listing showed up.
This post hasn't addressed if I finally have my Stratocaster back from the luthier I made the deal with, or whether my Strategy 500 power amp has now been recapped. Well, the state of those things is that, no, the luthier has not completed work on my guitar (but has told me it should be this week, with me telling him I won't be able to pick it up for a month, when I'll have money to pay for an Earvana nut installation I've asked him to do while he has the guitar), and instead of installing new capacitors into my power amp, the repair shop closed down and asked me to pick my amp up from them.
That repair shop is the same repair shop I mentioned while talking about the TC Electronic 1128 EQ in an above paragraph. I had equipment sitting at their place for over half a year, and instead of getting any work done on my gear, they closed their amp department (after being open for, I think, 28 or so years) and asked me to pick up my equipment that is now still in the same condition as when I brought it to them. I guess that's one way of getting out of work.
Because of my new purchases, I no longer have money to use to have those things fixed right away, but they're on the now much-reduced list of upcoming expenses needed to bring my rack amp setup into its full glory.
C~ Soundscapes
