Thomas Craymer

As a psychedelic/shoegaze musician based in Hungary, this guitar was among the best (and cheapest) purchases I've ever made! It's a vintage guitar from early '70s Czechoslovakia, and is a sort of cross between a telecaster and a jazzmaster/jaguar (having the form, pickups, and simple switch plate system resembling the telecaster, and the bridge with a tremolo system resembling the jazzmaster/jaguar, so at least in my opinion, is the best of both worlds). The sound resembles that of a telecaster, is extremely clear (even when distorted), and just as versatile as a tele (more so in fact, because of the tremolo system). For a guitar that was almost 50 years old when I purchased it, it was kept in amazing condition by the previous owner, and keeps in tune better than some of my newer guitars, while having an extremely comfortable tremolo system too. It's now become my go-to electric guitar!

I've been using this guitar for many years now, and it's just as good as when I bought it! It was my first acoustic that I bought for myself (I started on my mother's old acoustic, but wanted to get one of my own). The first thing that hit me is the comfort! Having a smaller body than a regular sized dreadnought, it is extremely comfortable to play. The sound is very distinct, thanks to the mahogany body, it has a rather warm and mellow sound. Also it's a real looker, the dark brown mahogany grain with the satin finish looks amazing, and the merbau fretboard has a nice warm colour to it too. It's perfect for both gigs and recording, and I got it at a very cheap price, will likely keep this guitar for life and never replace it as it's the perfect acoustic for me!

A true veteran in my gear, I've had this guitar since my teens. It was my second electric (my first was a cheap strat), and a huge improvement! The flamed amber maple top looks amazing, the pickups have a warm creamy feel to them, the sustain is relatively long, this guitar is very versatile for playing both clean, mellow style, as well as heavier distorted/fuzz, and sounds great on both! I'd highly recommend it!

I bought this strat with the intention to play microtonal music, which includes Middle Eastern and North African style music, as well as being a tool for experimentation. Additionally, I did not have a Strat at the time I bought this, so the classic Strat sound was a bonus. Although these guitars are not commercially available from any major guitar brand, I looked up about these and was lucky enough to find a luthier who creates and sells them. Although it is my most expensive guitar, and took a long time to ship (the luthier was based in Canada), it was well worth the money and wait. The guitar itself is pretty much hand-made, and is similar to a regular Strat but with the microtonal neck, and you can feel the quality when playing it. This guitar was perfectly set up out of the box, has that classic strat sound, and the intonation was perfect, even with almost double the amount of frets. Definitely would recommend to anyone going microtonal!

Initially I had a dreadnought size 12-string, but sometimes found that one difficult to play, it was massive compared with most of my other guitars! So I decided to go for a smaller, folk-sized 12-string, for more comfort while playing. This guitar stood out to me as the perfect candidate! It was well within my budget, and met my requirements of being a folk sized 12-string. As well as that, the finish looks wonderful! Very vintage look to it, but fresh at the same time, much more interesting than the natural light brown spruce on my previous one. So I pulled the trigger and went for it! It even exceeded my expectations! As well as looking great and being comfortable to play, the sound is also amazing. Where some 12-strings will be very loud and bright sounding (sometimes too much so in fact), this one has a more warm and mellow sound, almost as if it is slightly muted, but still keeps that jangly sound that 12-strings are known for, just with more warmth. Can highly recommend it, both for beginners on 12 string, and more experienced players too!

Recently bought this bass second hand locally, as I already had the 6-string Jolana Iris, and was aware that a bass version existed, so wanted to get that, as I was so satisfied with the guitar version. I wasn't able to find an Iris in good condition going locally, but someone was selling a Vikomt, which is the same as the Iris, but with only a neck pickup, no bridge pickup. Not a problem for me, from the reviews the neck sounded much better than the bridge anyway. I was pretty lucky with the one I found. Often Jolanas being sold are in quite poor condition (and can have electronics issues and/or flaws in the finish). The one I bought was in perfect condition: the pickup and electronics worked just like new, no additional noise from them (as I had with a previous Jolana bass), the bright red finish was flawless, and everything from the bridge to the tuners was in amazing working condition, like brand new. The guy who sold it to me also did a full setup, which was very kind. Now for the playing experience: it's very comfortable to play, being short scale, and is not too heavy, at the same time there's no neck dive or anything. Considering it only has one single coil neck pickup, the sound is extremely versatile: roll the tone knob all the way down for something resembling a classic P-bass tone, roll it all the way up and you get a very bright funky sound with a lot of bite (I usually keep it in the middle). It also cuts through the mix better than any other bass I have ever owned. So I'd definitely suggest going for these, if you want a vintage bass, a piece of history, that isn't too expensive, and you can find one in good condition!

I had been looking at this bass for a while, as I really love the sound of Höfner-style violin basses but did not own one yet, and seeing a fretless one, at such a cheap price, I just had to go for it. This instrument did not disappoint! The instrument is very well made down to every detail (finish, binding, etc.). Additionally, the pickups and strings themselves are even of great quality, and you can easily get that classic thumping tone heard on so many Beatles albums without any modding, as well as having the freedom a fretless instrument provides (such as sliding and playing microtonal). The short scale also makes playing fretless much easier than on a long scale fretless bass. If you have the treble high enough, you'll get the classic fretless "mwah" sound, so you have the best of both worlds! Perhaps the only downside is that the E string can get muddy sometimes, but this is a common issue with hollow or acoustic basses and easily fixed with the right eq. (Update: I have fixed this issue with adjusting the EQ) I'd easily recommend this instrument to anyone, especially if they want that classic Höfner-style violin bass tone, as well as experimenting with fretless playing.

I snatched this pedal up on Black Friday, mostly for the reverb effects it has, especially the more unusual effects such as reverse reverb and shimmer reverb. This pedal has many different effects, countless combinations of effects, as well as the ability to save up to 50 presets! I've been having fun trying some of these out, both presets that are inbuilt into the pedal, as well as creating my own. I still haven't had time to try out all the functions the pedal offers, but will certainly get round to it! As my main genres are psychedelic rock and shoegaze, this pedal is perfect for my sound, which focuses very much on delay and reverb effects. It also saves me ever having to buy another delay, reverb, modulation, or eq pedal, in fact I can sell a few of my older pedals and save space on my pedalboard (as well as saving myself some cash) with this one! I haven't yet tried hooking it up to the computer and browsing any of the other effects that can be downloaded (most of which I believe are drive effects and amp sims), but will do, however for now there is no need to until I've tried out the various stock effects. Also I'm still curious about the stereo capability, which will certainly enhance the reverb and delay effects. Best 100 EUR ever spent on a pedal!

I bought this pedal for making ambient guitar swelling and swirling, this pedal does the job perfectly! It's simple to operate, just rock the foot pedal back and forth and hear the volume swell and decrease. Works best combined with reverb and/or delay. Also, it doesn't need a power supply, saving power on your pedalboard.

This was actually the first pedal I bought, back when I was a teen, I was quite intrigued by that '60s wah sound and just needed to get one. Over a decade later, it remains one of my main pedals, the sound is as great as when I got it, it's durable and I believe these pedals last forever. Also as pedals go they're not that expensive, especially considering the fact it's a classic pedal that the best have used!

Interesting story behind this pedal for me: I don't exactly remember the story behind how I got it, but it was a gift and goes back to when I started playing on electric. However, as I'd usually use the built-in drive/distortion on whatever amp or DAW I used in those days, this pedal rarely got any use, and was just collecting dust for several years. However, one day while cleaning out and selling some of my old gear, I found this pedal and decided to try it out, just out of curiousity. It sounded as good as new, and far better than I ever remember it sounding when I first got it! (Granted, I have then since upgraded both my guitar and amp, so the pedal's true potential could be seen). It can go anywhere from being a boost pedal with a light drive, to being quite a heavy distortion pedal, and everything in between, without draining any of the guitar's natural tone and character. By far the best od/drive I've ever used, can't believe I neglected it all those years!

I originally bought the Joyo infinite sustainer, as I wanted to be able to create artificial feedback effects on the guitar while recording with headphones at home. This does that, and way more! It works with a magnet that can vibrate a single string at a time, and has two settings: one is purely a sustain function (that will sustain the note, this can be used for making very subtle feedback sounds), the other is a distorted sustain function (with this you can get the more squealing guitar feedback!) As well as a feedback, it can be used for all sorts of effects such as theremin like sounds and the like. It's also great for experimentation, as the sound varies according to the location of the device in relation to the pickups, and it is pretty much random! All in all, I'd highly recommend getting one of these, for creating artificial feedback (if you're home recording), as well as experimentation!

I bought this amp a while back in order to be able to play small acoustic sets, as it's not always possible to plug in my amp anywhere, so the fact that this amp is battery-operated really helps, and was the reason I bought it. It was fairly cheap, and really high quality for the price! It's a great looking amp, and the sound is very clean, both for acoustic and electric guitars (note: not for bass, I tried this once, but for 6 string guitars it is perfect). The fact it has two inputs (one for a mic and one for a guitar) is an added bonus. Not only do I use it for small acoustic sets where there's nowhere to plug in, but also sometimes use it as a practice amp, it's so light and easy to take with me if I'm practicing at a friend's place. Naturally as it is such a small amp, it won't be heard next to a drumset or something, but great if you want to jam along with a friend or two at their place using small practice amps. Even at home I occasionally use it, if I want to get a really clean sound from my electric while practicing. Definitely recommend it, if you're doing small gigs here and there and it's not always possible to plug in... and at this price point, you can't go wrong!

I originally bought one of these for a friend, but was so captivated by it, and also the fact it was on a huge discount, that I got one for myself too! It's a great quality instrument as ukeleles go, very comfortable to play, stays in tune well, and doesn't hurt your wallet too much, I'd highly recommend getting one! Note: If you're taking it as luggage in your suitcase on the plane, be sure to buy a hard case! I've brought acoustic ukes in soft cases before, tucked between my clothes and they were fine, but when I brought it over for my friend, the electronics compartment got damaged... I was able to fix it somewhat into a playable condition, but it'll never look the same with the huge crack around the battery container... so it's definitely worth getting a hard case if you'll be travelling with it, it's much more delicate than your average uke, especially around the electronics

This is my second interface (my first being a Roland VS-20), and a vast improvement! I actually received it as a gift, so was never planning to buy it, but am so glad to have one, it's vastly improved both the quality and quantity of my recordings, as I'll explain. First thing that struck me is the bright red metal casing, and how compact it is. It has two jack inputs (making it easy to record eg. vocals and guitar at the same time for a demo, or record in stereo), as well as two MIDI inputs (I've never needed to use these though, as my MIDI keyboard works with a USB, but could be useful). It's very easy to adjust the settings on the interface (eg. recording and playback volumes, switching on/off Phantom power supply, etc.). The DAWs included are Ableton Lite and Pro-Tools (I personally prefer Ableton, as I will explain). I found that my output musically became better quality, due to the good recording quality of the interface itself, as well as the numerous plugins/vsts available (ranging from the most simple ones such as compression or EQ, to more complex stuff like MIDI instruments and stereo delays, etc.). The quantity also vastly increased due to the fact that this interface and DAW have also made mixing and mastering so much easier. All in all, I'd highly recommend it for any musician who records at home, rather than paying every time to record at a studio!

It's a very subtle difference, but you notice it after recording: this box eliminates most of the unwanted hum! This is especially useful for parts of the song where the guitar or bass drops out (especially if you're using a guitar or bass that has single coil pickups or a coil split function). I'm going to use this on all of my recordings from now on. At this price, it's definitely worth it for any home-recording musician!

I previously had a Bigsby on my Les Paul, but it added way too much weight to the guitar (which was already quite heavy), as well as not being that comfortable or versatile to use (in comparison with, say, a Jazzmaster style trem). I had installed the Bigsby using a Vibramate adapter, meaning I'd made no permanent mods to the guitar, so when I heard about the Duesenberg Les Trem, and its reviews, I had to go for it! Firstly (and importantly, if you have a heavier guitar like a Les Paul), it is very lightweight, and adds almost no extra weight to the guitar, while still retaining high quality. Secondly, you have several options: you can buy them with a Bigsby-style arm, or a Jazzmaster-style arm (I went for the Jazzmaster style), which can be adjusted to your liking and comfort. Thirdly, it is much easier to string up than a Bigsby, and not just that, but also stays in tune far better! And finally, it works out far cheaper than a Bigsby, and you don't need any additional items (such as a Vibramate), it can be installed easily with no drilling etc. If you have a Les Paul (or any guitar with a tune-o-matic bridge), and want a whammy bar, definitely go for one of these!

I've put these humbuckers in my Cort Les Paul. The reason why was because the stock pickups could sometimes get muddy, and I wanted to have a coil-split option too, while keeping the clean Alnico ii tone (but without the occasional muddiness), so these pickups were perfect! I installed them easily using a solderless harness, they were a perfect fit. The Les Paul sounded better than ever, much cleaner sound, and the option to coil split too, making the guitar extremely versatile! The pickups not only sound but look great too (the Les Paul itself is amber, but I changed most of the hardware to black, so the black pickups fit perfectly aesthetically too). Not to mention, they are far cheaper than any of the big brands (Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio) but just as great in quality! I would highly recommend them for any guitar with humbuckers!

Bought this capo as it was the cheapest one available that would also fit my 12-string. At this cheap price point, it's worth much more! It is very easy to put on and take off your guitar in between songs, while being just long enough to fit a 12-string acoustic too. And the bottle opener and bridge pin pullers are just an added bonus!

This was my first bass, I got it as a birthday gift from a second hand store, and played this monster for around 10 years! It's a very versatile bass, you can play anything from classic or psychedelic rock to punk or metal, it sounds great in any context! It's also easily customizable, and easy to find replacement pickguards, control plates, etc. As well as sounding great clean, it sounds amazing run through effects like fuzz, especially with the right strings! I have since sold the bass (the reason being that I switched to playing short scale more often as my bass lines became more complex, and I needed the money), but this bass will always have a place in my heart!

Several years back, I was looking to get an acoustic fretless bass. Preferably with 5 strings, as not only did I want to explore the world of fretless, but also extended range, so it was a real venture into the unknown, buying this bass. It was a fraction of the price of any other fretless acoustic, and had that 5th string as well, so it was perfect as a starter instrument venturing into fretless and extended range! And it's certainly a looker, one of the most beautiful and flawless guitars I've ever owned! I eventually did sell it, as it was really massive and took up a lot of space in my apartment. I found short scale to be better for my needs (especially on a fretless), and barely used the 5th string, so eventually replaced it with something smaller. Still, it was a great introduction to fretless bass, which has become an important component in my music now!

This was the first electric guitar I got, and a great beginner guitar at a cheap price! Mine had the classic SSS pickup configuration, and it was a great strat for building up my skills on electric, as well as experimenting with different pedals, sounds, whammy bar, etc.! Perhaps the only "downside", if any, is that the sound could be tinny (this was especially noticeable when I upgraded with my second electric), but it's still great as a beginner guitar, and has potential of being great in general with the right mods! I have since sold the guitar, though it would have made a great modding platform too!

Inspired by bands such as Big Star and Amon Düül ii, I was looking at buying a 12 string guitar at an affordable price (not an easy thing to find). It was my first Harley Benton guitar, I was amazed by the high quality and great sound for such a low price! I have listed the pros and cons below. PROS: - Classic 12 string sound, sounds amazing both plugged and unplugged - Nice glossy finish, beautiful instrument - Lightweight and still has a solid feel to it - Action level is perfect CONS: - Strings break easily, especially the high G which broke the first time I played it. Would suggest thicker strings especially for the high G (the stock strings are 0.008, but 0.009 for the G should be fine) - Large distance between paired strings near the saddle (can be fixed once you re-string) - Plastic bridge pins are terrible quality and difficult to pull out the first time. I replaced them with ebony ones eventually, which was needed. Overall, I'm very satisfied with this instrument, I'd highly recommend it for anyone looking for a budget 12 string!

The bass was perfectly set up straight out of the box. Despite only having one humbucker, it is capable of a range of tones, and can fit into any musical context. And the bright red colour is very striking! The short scale and slim neck make it extremely easy to play anything from walking bass to heavier or more aggressive bass riffs, as well as making it much easier to store (it fits quite comfortably in my strat's gigbag). I would certainly recommend this bass for any bass player, beginner or expert!

A real relic from the '60s, retains its amazing vintage sound and is one of my favourites to play! Though it did require a fair amount of setup. The original paint had come off when I bought mine second hand, though the previous owner had kept all the basic functions such as the wiring, hardware, and tuners in good condition. I had mine re-finished, painted in gloss black for more of a rock aesthetic, and fitted it with flatwound strings. Also, it was fairly quiet, even with my amp at a high volume, as the pickups are quite low output. This was easily fixed by bringing the pickups closer to the strings. After setting it up, I ended up with an amazing, versatile monster of a bass! Its 8 way selector switch allows a variety of different tones, and it can growl just as well as any modern J or P bass, while keeping its vintage tone. It's also pretty lightweight, being semi-hollow, but still has no neck dive. Although it looks long scale (in length, it's as long as any long scale bass, probably due to the large headstock), it's actually short scale, making it easier to play, while having quite a chunky neck. As well as everything else, it is a real looker, and definitely one I'd be proud to show off at any gig (especially after the new paint job). Definitely among my favourite basses, if not my favourite. Though I will say: for those buying one, be prepared that you need to be fairly competent in doing setups, and may need to take it to a luthier, to get it to a well playable level.

I sold my previous acoustic bass and bought this one second hand, with the intention to save space in my apartment, as the previous one was massive. This one is roughly the same size as a regular 6-string acoustic guitar, as well as having a similar scale. The sound, however, is actually louder than the previous large one I had! This bass is great for any setting, whether it's at home or for small acoustic live sets. It's small and compact, but at the same time retains the sound of the larger full scale acoustic basses, as well as being extremely easy to store and transport. The short guitar-like scale length also makes it very easy to play and glide up and down the neck with ease, allowing you to play even very complex basslines with ease. I highly recommend this bass to anyone, beginner or professional!

I bought this bass amp second hand, as a replacement/upgrade for my previous one (a 20 watt Harley Benton bass amp). As this one is only 15 watts, and the speaker is the same size (8 inch), I was worried this one may not be as loud as my previous amp, however, quite the opposite is true! This small amp is extremely loud, and can be used both for home practice as well as small gigs too! As well as being loud, the tone itself remains perfect whatever volume you're playing at. The amp itself is quite versatile, as you have several different modes: it can be used as a simple amp without any effects, but also has a "classic/vintage" setting (which adds some gain and seems to emulate a tube amp), and a "modern" setting (which has a built-in compressor). Love this amp, both for practicing, as well as recording, in fact I use it for both bass and guitar, it can bring out the best in any instrument!

Amazing amp for practicing at home! The sound is actually fairly loud considering its size, and has multiple different settings, including crunch and distortion, as well as some simple chorus, flanger, delay and reverb effects. (Sadly, as I got mine second hand, the "insane" setting is not working so I can't comment on that, but everything else is in working order). The sound quality is pretty good, I'd use this amp for recording too. But yeah, a great and cheap amp for practicing at home, or even some smaller jam sessions!

This pedal can add a whole other dimension to your sound, without sucking any tone! It's a pretty versatile tremolo pedal too, naturally you can control the time and depth, as well as having two modes: one which makes a more wavy sound, while the other makes more of a helicopter-like sound. Overall it's been a great addition to my collection, and is a must for everyone into unusual guitar sounds and effects!

At the time when I bought this pedal, my songs were relatively clean on the whole (in fact, most of my releases up till then had been acoustic), I did want fuzz for some of the heavier parts of a new album I was recording but didn't want to spend too much on a pedal I didn't think I was going to use so much, so this pedal seemed a good deal. When I tried it out, I was surprised at how heavy and fuzzy it was, as well as being versatile, it could go anywhere from a subtle and almost clean fuzz, to a complete dirt packed fuzz, and the sound quality would be amazing either way. It also seems to have some kind of inbuilt compression as well as the fuzz, and easily cuts through any mix regardless of what instrument it's being used with (it sounds great on bass and keyboards as well as guitar!) It's become one of the core aspects of my guitar and bass sound on heavier songs, over the years I've been using this pedal more and more as my songs get heavier, and it's aging well!

Originally I bought this pedal for the sitar simulator effect, and wasn't expecting to use any of the other effects on it much. Also, as it was multi-effect and a discontinued pedal, it was difficult to find one at a cheap price. However, as well as using the sitar effect, it has also become my main drive and distortion pedal! The effects are very raw, and do a lot for my sound, especially combined with a fuzz pedal. It's also very easy to use, with only four knobs, much easier than any other sitar pedal I've seen. I'd highly recommend this pedal for all the effects it has to offer, truly a unique pedal!

A noise reducer is a must for pretty much any guitarist using single coils. This one is cheap, simple to use, and does its job perfectly!

For me it's quite important to have a whammy bar on all my electric guitars, and had to have one on my Les Paul too. However, Bigsbys tend to be rather expensive, so I opted for the cheaper counterpart, the Bigsby B500. This tool, the Vibramate V500, allows you to install the Bigsby B500 with ease onto any Les Paul, SG, or similar guitar with a tune-o-matic bridge, without drilling any holes! Even better, not only is it cheaper to get this and a B500, but it comes in black too, which is exactly what I was looking for!

When I left my parents' place, I needed a keyboard for my own place, preferably one that had MIDI too (this was my first MIDI keyboard, was curious to try it), but can be used both with and without MIDI. Also, I was originally thinking a full 88-key size, but needed something light and easy to store, so went with 61 keys. This keyboard was the perfect one for me to get, it works both with and without MIDI, is very light, portable, and fits easily in my cupboard when I'm not using it! It's also very easy to use the MIDI, simply plug it into your computer with a USB cable, it seems to be compatible with pretty much any DAW. It was also extremely cheap, at under 100 EUR! The only two downsides are: there isn't touch sensitivity, as with a regular piano. As someone who's been playing piano for years, this was quite a limitation. Also, it's not possible to plug in a sustain pedal, which also acted as a limitation, there is a sustain option of course, but it's not quite the same as a pedal that you can use while playing. However, at this cheap price, and also the fact I'm sacrificing these aspects of a real piano to have MIDI instead, it's definitely a good deal, and would recommend it as a cheap portable MIDI keyboard!