My G.A.S. is cured

that's Gear Acquisition Syndrome for the unitiated. It's a phenomenon shared by most musicians, especially guitar players. It describes the seemly unquenchable thirst to obtain more equipment so you can achieve the magic "tone" that you are after from your equipment. The tone could be anything from clean to distorted or even more literal like the tone of famous player on a certain song. Although GAS isn't only about getting a tone you don't have. It could be because there's something aesthetically or functionally advantageous in a piece of equipment. In some cases it may be because you just want the same guitar that one of your heroes played.

I won't deny that I will buy more gear in the future, but for all practical purposes, any tone that I can't achieve is going to be related to my failings as a player or tweaker of my own equipment. Now that I have two Line 6 modeling guitars to go along with Guitar Rig modeling software, I have the ability to mimic a warehouse (literally) of different guitars, amps, processors, etc. I know it's going to require months if not years to get a decent handle on how to make it all work well.  So, the result is that my GAS should be cured for at least two or three weeks anyway :). 

Editorial Note (1 June 2010) - predicting the future was not one of my strong suits, at least in the GAS department...

Update on 2013-03-13 11:09 by Darren Hightower

I can endorse the June 2010 update by saying there will never be a cure for G.A.S.  It can only be subdued temporarily...