5 Tips on How to Buy the Right Gear

First of all, leave it to me to miss an editing mistake at about 3 minutes in... sorry about that! I should know better to try to edit videos when I'm super busy with work and also exhausted. Just ignore that text that comes up on screen... lol
Okay, this is a bit different than what I normally do, but In this video, I'm sharing 5 invaluable tips to guide you in making the right choices when it comes to purchasing music gear. I've made so many mistakes over the years with my gear purchases, so I want to share what I learned. I hope you like the video!
👉 Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
01:22 - Tip 1: Newer doesn't mean better
03:01 - Tip 2: The priciest gear isn't necessarily the best gear
04:47 - Tip 3: Do your research
06:23 - Tip 4: Consider how the gear interfaces with your creative process
11:12 - Tip 5: Consider how you will actually use your gear
13:53 - Wrap up
🔗 Links Mentioned:
[ / thatpedalshow
📌 Connect with me:
KZbin: / aaronrusch
Instagram: bit.ly/3ldyhuG
---| ABOUT ME
Hi everyone, I’m Aaron. I’m the lead guitarist and composer in All Fires For Love. I love writing music and geeking out about guitar pedals. I’m still quite new at releasing content on KZbin, but I’m really excited about the channel. Thanks so much for watching… I hope you enjoy the videos.

[@ogmakefirefiregood]

I live 30 minutes from Sweetwater Music. I always spend time researching gear before I impulse buy. I play contemporary worship music at church. The Boss GX100 has been the best piece of gear I have ever purchased. $600 new, and it sounds great. I bought a QC, and ended up returning it. The Boss units amp models sounds just as good but with less amp options. I have the Eventide H90 also. It does everything else I could ever need. As well as free up some dsp on the GX100. Stay blessed.

[@AaronRusch]

Living close to Sweetwater must be great for trying out gear! It sounds like you've got your gear dialed in nicely, which is awesome. Those H90s look really cool, although I'm still intimidated :) Thanks for watching!

[@ArtOfShredYT]

All great tips, Aaron! The only thing I might refute a little is that it's so easy to resell gear nowadays that it's difficult to make a "wrong" choice. It's also why buying on sale (or used) is the way to go. Sure you might lose a little money on a pedal but I consider it a rental cost.

[@AaronRusch]

I agree! Personally, it has taken me a bit of time in the past to realize I'd bought the wrong thing, but the ease of selling used gear really makes it easy to undo a mistake. Thanks for watching!

[@z3r0cool55]

The 5th one is really important and not discussed enough.

[@johnduval482]

Brilliant assessment!. . .you and i are on the same page. I can’t handle menu driven FX boxes and is the main reason i will never have anything like the 2 new Meris pedals. I can’t stand tweaking, it pulls me down too many rabbit holes and in the end hardly any music comes out of it. I’ve been leery of the TimeLine for the same reason. I can only handle one level of tweakness as it were LOL. .which is why i’s sticking with my first generation of Meris: Mercury 7/Polymoon & Hedra. The deepest machine i have is the Microcosm which I’ve had for two years and i never ever fails to inspire and make my ears smile. So far my only possible mistake has been the Volante but I’m still working on it. btw . . for gonzo fun try a Vongon Polyphrase. Honorable mention for.scrambling your brains goes to my Boomerang III. Unintuitive to say the least. I’d go for a TC Ditto 4 but i’m skeptical of the build quality. Great video Aaron! Thank you very much.

[@AaronRusch]

Thank you for watching! I'm not giving up on the LVX, I'm trying to just dive in and get it memorized. I will say the TimeLine is very straight-forward, in my opinion, although I sometimes still feel overwhelmed with all the things it can do. I have been eyeballing those Vongon pedals for a while now, they look very very cool! I will say this about the Ditto x4... I've had it for about 4 or 5 years now... and the software did kind of crash on me once, and scared the crap out of me-but then it started working again, and has been rock-solid since. Those pedals are finicky about their power supplies (or so I have read), so I try to only use the included one. Sorry for the delayed response, and thank you for the feedback and the insight! :)

[@ThePedalboardOrchestra]

Very good video Aaron 👍👍 👏👏 I loved it so much to listen to you. 🙌 It reminds me parts of my own journey with gear. I'm not really a guitar player, never really learned it, started too late in my life. About tip 4 I had a similar experience. I sold many pedals to get an Axe Fx II XL+ and was so excited about the sound and all the features. But soon I got annoyed by having to program everything on the screen/computer and sold it again. I finally realized, that I am a pedal player who loves to turn and twist the knobs real time. This is just for my personal preference of making ambient noise at home. About tip 5: if you get a 5K heavy relic Fender master built guitar you don't have to worry about any scratches. 😂🤣

[@AaronRusch]

Thank you Helmut! Hehe, that's a great point about that Fender! Yeah, we are very similar, that Axe FX story sounds exactly like what I experienced :) It's so interesting to me, because I know people who are completely opposite and prefer the multi-fx units and make great music with them.

[@runners0000]

Never thought about it before but I would agree 100% on the elCapistan. As always great vid.

[@AaronRusch]

Thank you for watching!

[@CirilZupan]

I am writing and producing for our band and buying gear is something I really need advice for. This video certantly helped and there is also some things I came across as well and maybe it helps someone else out: - I figured out that for me, if cheaper gear is good enough for the level we're at, it should be good enough to buy it. We can always sell it and buy better when we'll have a bigger budget. However, I am currently selling a MIDI keyboard, because I didn't figure it out and am now on a lookout for a hardware synthesizer. Also, if a cheap analog delay works for me, I try not to stress about more expensive analog delay units, since I can't afford it and can always borrow it for the studio. I do think it doesn't matter that much for a live performance. - They say buy nice or buy twice and that can be true, however. There is too much ov everything in my opinion, so I am trying to buy as much used gear as possible and am turning my head towards B-stock gear as well. - We have a band with a good number of members and I always have to think about the context. Like you pointed out in the 5th tip, somethings get lost in the live mix. I still haven't figured out this one yet though. Also, I really love JHS KZbin channel as they always show us more affordable gear and are trying to beatdown the "expensive is better" concept. That being said, maybe you can help me out! I would like to get my hands on a micro looper device for the "Warren Ellis" inspired loops. I am comparing Red Panda's Tensor, Chase Biss' Mood MKII and Montreal Assembly's Count to 5. I know they are different devices in the different price ranges as well but I can't figure out which one I should go with. I cannot test them and I don't have the budget to afford them all.

[@AaronRusch]

Thank you for all the insight and the comments! I am a HUGE fan of Warren Ellis, so I hope I can answer this question in a good way :) I don't have the Tensor, because I have been waiting for Red Panda to release a MkII... and I know that the instant I order a Tensor, they will announce a MKII... so I'm stuck in Tensor limbo! I think both the Count to Five and the Mood will get you into the sound territory you are looking for. That's a very hard choice, and since both pedals fall into my personal "must-have" category, I'm struggling to recommend one. I think the Ct5 offers a bit more control, and the sounds it spits out are more raw than the Mood, and therefore easier to manipulate further down the chain without turning them into a mush. The Mood is a bit more chaotic (and has more features), and I personally think the true strength and magic in the Mood is its inherent chaos-you don't really know what it is going to give you, but it's really easy to get something very cool and interesting out of it. You can't go wrong with either, but I think I'd lean a bit towards the Ct5 with the 0.963 firmware. I hope that helps!

[@CirilZupan]

​@@AaronRuschthank you or you answer. After doing more research and you opinion, I believe I will go with Montreal Assembly. I only have to wait for them to have a new stock. I am really looking forward to it. I hope you get your hands on Tensor one day, I think you could put it in great use! Maybe you could ask them directly what's going on with the new version! I am also very happy to meet a fellow Warren Ellis fan!

[@longline]

Research, bookmark, wait, cool down, set a budget, revisit research, and record your monthly spend. Accountability is everything. With clear data you might choose to spend more this month, and pull back the next 3 months. Keeping a conscious relationship between means and priorities has had an impact on how I view and revisit my research on the 2nd or 3rd pass. Do the qualities I first liked still stand up to scrutiny? Given my budget? Given my spend? Only by holding all of the metrics in relation to each other have I made sustainable decisions, and found peace with my choice to not buy the thing. Yet.

[@AaronRusch]

Hehe, I know! Let's see if I can follow my own advice even once!

[@DreamArtScientists]

Good tips!

[@AaronRusch]

Thank you for watching!!

[@13aphomet]

I feel like expensive reverbs are def better. Not always.. But the cheap ones always seem to suck.

[@AaronRusch]

I do agree there are fewer good reverbs on the cheap side than other types of effects. I do like the RV-6 as a cheaper reverb pedal. Thanks for watching!

[@iosifkalpaktsoglou2045]

The rv2 can be found cheaper than the rv6 and is by far better. The original " granular " reverb.

[@aaronroche7769]

Hello Aaron I'm not sure if you are the same person, BUT I ended up getting a hold of a CD here the band's name was HERE WE BURN and the album's name is FALL released in 1995 and it says that Aaron Rush isthe guitarist is this you? if so what happened to the band?

[@AaronRusch]

Wow, what a trip-yes, that is my old band! There's many reasons we broke up, it was a mixture of many events. I'm sure you've noticed the audio quality of that CD is a bit underwhelming, to say the least- I actually think that album is what started the process that broke us up. I'm still in touch with the other band members, so we don't hate each other-well, they may hate me, but I don't hate them :) The bass player is in a band called Vague Lanes that is quite good and worth checking out!

[@tonyrapa-tonyrapa]

I'd add one more tip: do you really need it? Because quite often we're drawn to to gear because of slick advertising and YT demos and reviews.

[@AaronRusch]

I couldn't agree more. And quite frankly, I am TERRIBLE at following this tip :)