Is downsizing a trend?

[Chankgeez]

i still love me a gated snare
XTC forever

[JereFuzz]

but I’m more picky these days and want Fender to reissue Sunns ...

I feel like Fender missed the boat with the Sunn reissue. The doom revival would have been a perfect time to hit the market with a Beta or Model T reissue, but no. They'll probably wait 8 years, release some stuff, sell for a bit, then wonder why we're not buying.

Yeah, seems like the simplist of market research would have them shooting those guys out; they could even outsource the manufacturing if they are at capacity ...

[JereFuzz]

Yeah pedals are cool or whatever and all but a fucking giant wall of amps is way cooler.

Yeah, something about the look/sound of a stack, or even half stack ... but a big box muff in front is legit

[worra]

During the last year I've been downsizing on pedals and upsizing on amps.

I used to have a PT3-sized board with around 15 pedals, including 2 Eventides, 1 same size as Eventide and a Moogerfooger.

Sold a lot of stuff and had a PT Metro 20 with 9/10 pedals on it.

Now I'm down to 7 pedals on a DIY plywood board. I'm hoping to cut it down even more. I also got a grab'n'go-board with 3 Boss-pedals: Modded ODB-3, RC-3 and RV-3.

In the amp department I'm now running two halfstacks. And that rocks!!

Me too ... more interested in amps than pedals ... but I’m more picky these days and want Fender to reissue Sunns ...

No joke? I couldn't tell from this whole last page basically being a giant spam page of your sig.

[jrfox92]

During the last year I've been downsizing on pedals and upsizing on amps.

I used to have a PT3-sized board with around 15 pedals, including 2 Eventides, 1 same size as Eventide and a Moogerfooger.

Sold a lot of stuff and had a PT Metro 20 with 9/10 pedals on it.

Now I'm down to 7 pedals on a DIY plywood board. I'm hoping to cut it down even more. I also got a grab'n'go-board with 3 Boss-pedals: Modded ODB-3, RC-3 and RV-3.

In the amp department I'm now running two halfstacks. And that rocks!!

Me too ... more interested in amps than pedals ... but I’m more picky these days and want Fender to reissue Sunns ...

No joke? I couldn't tell from this whole last page basically being a giant spam page of your sig.

Synths:

Arturia: Minibrute
Casio: CTK-6200
Novation: Mininova
Korg: MS-20, Volca FM
Make Noise: 0-Coast
Moog: Minitaur, Mother-32
Roland: JD-XI, JU-06
Yamaha: Reface DX

Amps

Orange Crush 120H
Orange Crush 60C
Peavey Bandit red stripe
Peavey Studio Pro red stripe
Peavey Express 112 silver stripe
Peavey Envoy
Quilter Mini 101
Carvin SX300H
Carvin X60B
Carvin V3
Carvin MB210
Fender Deluxe 85 (2x)
EHX 44 Mag
Yamaha G fifty 12
Fender Sidekick 35

[multi_s]

im more into stacking sigs than amps

Synths:

Arturia: Minibrute
Casio: CTK-6200
Novation: Mininova
Korg: MS-20, Volca FM
Make Noise: 0-Coast
Moog: Minitaur, Mother-32
Roland: JD-XI, JU-06
Yamaha: Reface DX

Amps

Orange Crush 120H
Orange Crush 60C
Peavey Bandit red stripe
Peavey Studio Pro red stripe
Peavey Express 112 silver stripe
Peavey Envoy
Quilter Mini 101
Carvin SX300H
Carvin X60B
Carvin V3
Carvin MB210
Fender Deluxe 85 (2x)
EHX 44 Mag
Yamaha G fifty 12
Fender Sidekick 35
JereFuzz

Synths:

Arturia: Minibrute
Casio: CTK-6200
Novation: Mininova
Korg: MS-20, Volca FM
Make Noise: 0-Coast
Moog: Minitaur, Mother-32
Roland: JD-XI, JU-06
Yamaha: Reface DX

Amps

Orange Crush 120H
Orange Crush 60C
Peavey Bandit red stripe
Peavey Studio Pro red stripe
Peavey Express 112 silver stripe
Peavey Envoy
Quilter Mini 101
Carvin SX300H
Carvin X60B
Carvin V3
Carvin MB210
Fender Deluxe 85 (2x)
EHX 44 Mag
Yamaha G fifty 12
Fender Sidekick 35
JereFuzz

Synths:

Arturia: Minibrute
Casio: CTK-6200
Novation: Mininova
Korg: MS-20, Volca FM
Make Noise: 0-Coast
Moog: Minitaur, Mother-32
Roland: JD-XI, JU-06
Yamaha: Reface DX

Amps

Orange Crush 120H
Orange Crush 60C
Peavey Bandit red stripe
Peavey Studio Pro red stripe
Peavey Express 112 silver stripe
Peavey Envoy
Quilter Mini 101
Carvin SX300H
Carvin X60B
Carvin V3
Carvin MB210
Fender Deluxe 85 (2x)
EHX 44 Mag
Yamaha G fifty 12
Fender Sidekick 35
JereFuzz

talk about diminishing returns of the internet. i think hes right , this whole thing is useless.

[Psyre]

i still love me a gated snare
XTC forever

[ognoy]

Thinking back, there was two reasons why I started downsizing:
#1 was that I had so much stuff on my board that I wasn't really playing the guitar. Just making weird sounds.
I had just bought a E&A Terverb, Bitquest and a Nemesis, and was rearranging this "perfect" board, and just said fuck it.
Sold a lot of stuff and kept what I could fit on a Metro 20. Felt really good. Bought amps for the profit I made selling the pedals.

#2 was that I was sick and tired of dragging a huge board around town.
I don't drive, so then I needed to bring my board I used this trolley, which worked fine, still use it if I have to bring an amp, but it was so liberating having a board I could just carry with one arm without feeling that arm got 5cm longer than the other.

The plywood-board I'm using now can fit in my backpack if I'm just bringing that board.
But I also got a Pelicase if I'm bringing the "side show": Boomerang III, volume pedal, board #2(running parallelle boards with one of my bands).

I still love pedals though. But I'm trying to get rid of the idea that my board must be able to do "everything".
I play a in a bunch of different bands and projects and what I should do is just change the board up if the gig needs something extra,
because at most gigs I could get by with just a Rat and a RV-3. And a wall of amps.

[JereFuzz]

During the last year I've been downsizing on pedals and upsizing on amps.

I used to have a PT3-sized board with around 15 pedals, including 2 Eventides, 1 same size as Eventide and a Moogerfooger.

Sold a lot of stuff and had a PT Metro 20 with 9/10 pedals on it.

Now I'm down to 7 pedals on a DIY plywood board. I'm hoping to cut it down even more. I also got a grab'n'go-board with 3 Boss-pedals: Modded ODB-3, RC-3 and RV-3.

In the amp department I'm now running two halfstacks. And that rocks!!

Me too ... more interested in amps than pedals ... but I’m more picky these days and want Fender to reissue Sunns ...

No joke? I couldn't tell from this whole last page basically being a giant spam page of your sig.

it is … interested in any of it?

[comesect2.0]

No.

[ThurberMingus]

Here are my hot takes on the subject and reasons why I’m downsizing:

1) Sonic Youth and mbv worship bands are always better and more important than the COUNTLESS dickhead blues/jam lawyers with their simple “Jimi-inspired rigs”. Don’t talk shit about people who are at least trying when there are ten fucking 9-5ers playing radio-rock cover sets for every try-hard college-aged shoegazer. Technically ability =/= musicianship and I’d rather see someone trying to copy a guitarist that actually contributed artistic content to the world than someone who worships fucking Stevie Ray Vaughan or Black Keys.

2) Eurorack/synthesizers (for me) have taken “experimental guitar music” and put it into a medium that is more interesting to play and can fill out a mix in the way that a giant pedalboard in the bedroom can. I don’t have to try and convey and execute abstract ideas to other people, and I don’t have to spend a ton of time multitracking and setting up a DAW. Making more ‘out there’ pedals superfluous.

3) I love pedals as much as the next guy, but at this point I realistically use pedals for bands and shows. I get drunk at shows and I like to dance and try to be entertaining. I also like making interesting sounds, but what I’ve learned is that it’s really hard to swap between three different preset banks, and shred, and try to bust a groove in the dark after a few cocktails. I don’t “shoegaze” much anymore, I fucking party and I need pedals to help me get there, but I can’t let them get in the way. Smaller boards with less switches help.

TL;DR: I’m drunk and Eurorack is better than pedals and blues revival fucking sucks

[Boxbie]

: P

[Boxbie]

My downsizing has been a result of cable fatigue. And power supply spaghetti.

20 years of pedalmania and I no longer have the stomach for that

Downsized means down to 5 or so pedals...

[PanicProne]

Tldr:
blablablablablablablabla. Nothing concrete. I like ILF. Can't keep up with the speed at which threads take off here though

Full version:
Cool to see so many replies and very invested ones (well not all of them) too, which to me says it's a subject people do reflect on, right?
As for my opening post, it wasn't meant to be judgemental, if anyone took it that way, but more of a, yeah, reflection. Personally I'm "downsizing" my gear collection but going the opposite route when it comes to the amount of stuff I use regularly. I deffo don't buy as much as I used to, which partly is down to buying way too much stuff some previous years and of course is related to money. Also, the oversaturation (in my opinion) of the market and increase of "gearporn" in social media etc has kinda brought me a slight sense of disgust over the materialistic lifestyle most people live.

And as someone stated, "trends are trending", but just wanted to see if other people were recognizing this or if it was just me. People are free to do what they wish, I've just been reflecting on the massive increase of everyone getting a looper and all the big strymons to do "ambient music"/volume swells (again, not judging, everyone likes and values different stuff) the past few years suddenly declining. Also, I don't know if you feel trends more in a "smaller" country like, Sweden.

[D.o.S.]

but I’m more picky these days and want Fender to reissue Sunns ...

I feel like Fender missed the boat with the Sunn reissue. The doom revival would have been a perfect time to hit the market with a Beta or Model T reissue, but no. They'll probably wait 8 years, release some stuff, sell for a bit, then wonder why we're not buying.

Who knew rereleasing the amps when the bands everyone is riding now were actually good would turn out to be a bad strategy.