If you’ve been playing music long enough, you’ve probably experienced the hardship of losing gear you love. Whether sold to pay bills, swapped in an ill-advised gear trade, or stolen, lost gear leaves a painful memory for many musicians. Today, zZounds staffers are looking back at the gear they miss dearly, from tonally supreme amps to vintage synths. Check out their stories below, and if you’ve lost gear you’d love to have back, let us know about it in the comments section!
Gallien-Krueger 800RB
In my early years of being a bass player in a band, I was never satisfied with the gear I had. So, while not making much money, I’d always sell basses and amps off and buy the next “thing” that caught my ear. In 2000, one of my bands inked a record deal with Elektra and got a pretty size-able equipment fund. I bought a ridiculously priced German bass by a private builder named “Andy Shack” (which I sold on eBay for so much less than I paid), two Hughes and Kettner BassBase 410 Pro Series cabinets (which I still play to this day) and a Hughes and Kettner BassBase 600 Bass head (which I eventually sold to a reggae band). 
The Hughes and Kettner BassBase 600 Bass head was actually pretty great, so when I eventually ran out of money on tour, I sold my older Gallien-Krueger 800RB Bass Head to a buddy to help pay my rent. To this day, I always tell my friend Jim J who still has the GK 800RB that he must sell it back to me if he ever decides to get rid of it. The main things I loved about that 800RB were A. the simplicity, B. the volume (even only being 300 watts) and C. the compact size and durability of it. I’ve probably sold 10-12 basses and 6-8 amps over the last 20+ years but that GK 800RB is definitely the one that got away.
– Jason, Marketplace Manager, Website Merchandiser
Verellen Skyhammer
Roland Juno 60
ESP LTD Viper 256P
When I moved to Illinois, I was leaving for a week and a half to record my band’s album, and with that and moving all in the same month I was very strapped for cash. I was only doing vocals for the band I was in at the time, so I didn’t absolutely need my guitar, which was an ESP LTD Viper 256p, with P90s in it. I had bought the guitar for an extremely good deal when I was around 12-13 and had just begun playing. I bought the guitar because the guitarist from one of my favorite bands at the time, Gideon, used the same guitar. I’m pretty sure Music Go Round only gave me like $180-$190 for it, so I definitely took a loss on it, especially due to the sentimental value it had with me. That guitar sounded HUGE with those P90s and I wish LTD either still made them or had a similar model, because I would repurchase something like that in a heartbeat.
– Zachary, Customer Service Representative
Orange Tiny Terror
When I was in high school, I bought my first real tube amp — an Orange Tiny Terror — and played a ton of shows with it with my first band. After playing through it during some formative years, I was finally understanding the love of tube amps and why they have always been preferred by all my heroes growing up. A few years later, I was starting to get into effects and was also interested having a little more control over the EQ section of the amp. My prayers were answered when the OR15 was released.
Orange Tiny Terror
With a three band EQ and effects loop onboard, it was the perfect amp for me at the time. I ended up selling the Tiny Terror just to find out that Orange was discontinuing the amplifier a few weeks later. They went up in price for a brief time on the used market, but have settled back to about what I got for mine. At the time when I was selling the Tiny Terror just to buy another Orange amp, it was a good decision, but the Tiny Terror was such a simple amp that sounded great that had a direct influence on how I went about playing guitar.
– Patrick W, zZounds Gear Expert, Blogger
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