Nearly all my music gear was bought used, at about that level of discount. People buy interesting gear, and never get around to tackling the learning curve, and eventually sell it off super cheap.
If you can be patient, and watch for the exact right gear at the exact right price, and you are focused on performance more than gourmet brand names, you can build a nice home recording studio for super cheap. It took me about two years, but all my gear, and all my instruments, probably didn’t cost more than about $1500-2000 total, and most of it is brand new, or nearly so.
Facebook marketplace, eBay, pawn shops. You just have to be patient, and wait for the right deal. It won’t take long, musicians are notorious for buying gear that they never, or barely, use. They are also notorious for needing money, and dumping their old gear.
BTW, pawn shops used to be great for buying guitars and other musical instruments, but that’s passed. Now they put the good stuff on eBay, and the stuff in the stores is the junk that nobody would bite on. OTOH, you can still find good deals on other gear like recorders, interfaces, microphones, etc. I got a nice Focusrite Scarlett interface at a pawn shop for about $20, and it looked brand-new. I’ve used it every day, and never had a problem.
I just got a Boss BR-600 digital recorder, which has a built in drum machine, and a LOT of guitar pedal and amp effects, including a bass simulator that makes my guitar sound like a bass. It even has a pair of condenser mics built in. So I can literally record as if I’m an entire band. It’s also really thin, and smaller than a laptop, so it will fit in the pocket of my gig bag. It looked brand-new, and it only cost me $56, with the case, and the original price was $399. It’s so ridiculously cool, and it’s become my new favorite piece of gear, other than my guitars.
Now I can lay down a drum track, play a rhythm guitar part along to it, add a bass line, mix it all down to single stereo track, put it on a loop, and play some screaming lead guitar over it for as long as I want. What a blast!
Haha, there’s not much I wouldn’t buy at a 95% discount.
Nearly all my music gear was bought used, at about that level of discount. People buy interesting gear, and never get around to tackling the learning curve, and eventually sell it off super cheap.
If you can be patient, and watch for the exact right gear at the exact right price, and you are focused on performance more than gourmet brand names, you can build a nice home recording studio for super cheap. It took me about two years, but all my gear, and all my instruments, probably didn’t cost more than about $1500-2000 total, and most of it is brand new, or nearly so.
I once got a 2k camera + gear + extra (Sigma!) lenses for three fiddy. No Loch Ness monsters involved tho.
What online sites are good for this?
Facebook marketplace, eBay, pawn shops. You just have to be patient, and wait for the right deal. It won’t take long, musicians are notorious for buying gear that they never, or barely, use. They are also notorious for needing money, and dumping their old gear.
BTW, pawn shops used to be great for buying guitars and other musical instruments, but that’s passed. Now they put the good stuff on eBay, and the stuff in the stores is the junk that nobody would bite on. OTOH, you can still find good deals on other gear like recorders, interfaces, microphones, etc. I got a nice Focusrite Scarlett interface at a pawn shop for about $20, and it looked brand-new. I’ve used it every day, and never had a problem.
I just got a Boss BR-600 digital recorder, which has a built in drum machine, and a LOT of guitar pedal and amp effects, including a bass simulator that makes my guitar sound like a bass. It even has a pair of condenser mics built in. So I can literally record as if I’m an entire band. It’s also really thin, and smaller than a laptop, so it will fit in the pocket of my gig bag. It looked brand-new, and it only cost me $56, with the case, and the original price was $399. It’s so ridiculously cool, and it’s become my new favorite piece of gear, other than my guitars.
Now I can lay down a drum track, play a rhythm guitar part along to it, add a bass line, mix it all down to single stereo track, put it on a loop, and play some screaming lead guitar over it for as long as I want. What a blast!