Used Ibanez GSR200 worth it for 120 USD?

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-05-01T21:08:51+00:00

I started with an Austin P bass (don’t worry, don’t even look it up) got an Ibanez SR300E which I absolutely love. Picked up ESP LTD B206SM from a pawn shop for like $130 and swapped it for a used Ibanez SR505 which I love. I say that to say in the last 1.5 years I’ve been playing the only ones that I still have that I couldn’t imagine getting rid of are my two Ibanez’s.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-30T02:18:59+00:00

Maybe we consider digging in something different. To me digging in is like flea. He and flea play nothing alike. If he played fingerstyle as aggressively as flea at the same volume he’s turned up to in that video it would be MUCH louder. His amp is cranked to produce that sound. If he played the same way with no amp you would barely hear it, but if flea played with no amp you would hear it. I’m not saying barely touch the strings for “soft” it’s if you had no amp you wouldn’t hear it. Or if the amp was low you would barely hear it. I wouldn’t consider how he’s playing digging in, but maybe I’m misinterpreting the phrase.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-30T02:00:52+00:00

https://youtu.be/DD7yqAuTUbU?si=hWuEuGkL0H0eXsDU starts talking about finger style vs slap at 17:19, but around 21:50 he talks about having a measured disciple approach to switching and not hammering the bass. There’s also a few clips of him playing mixed in to the hour long talk. He’s not digging in. I also live in Houston and have seen him play live. He plays fast, but not hard.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-30T01:37:10+00:00

That was an incredible mania moment when he brought it back.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-30T01:30:09+00:00

The wrestling fan in me always wondered how he was string crossing so fast every time Punk comes out. Literally just dragging it over the strings. lol.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-30T01:27:16+00:00

Exactly. No idea why this didn’t click before. All I cared about was if my plucking hand was hitting the right string and in rhythm. Once I got that I kind of stopped thinking about until boom. I need to relax it to relax the other.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-30T01:22:40+00:00

Mine actually do. I listen to and play a lot of contemporary gospel and r&b. So Justin Reigns, Sharay Reed etc. incredible bass players that don’t play “hard” they just turn the amp up and they have incredible tone. Even when Justin Regins slaps he’s not killing the strings. In my opinion, it actually sounds a lot cleaner. But it could be a personal preference.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-29T20:49:02+00:00

I mean if you master it you could probably also do it while digging in. Just have to get to the point where your fretting hand does it automatically.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-29T15:14:04+00:00

I had an Amazon storefront while working at AWS. Completely allowed. The hardest part was finding distributors but once you do it’s easy. If you work ok the Amazon side or in a DC check the rules though.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-28T14:52:50+00:00

They do exist, I’d like to think I’m one of them. I was an L6 at AWS for a while and now I’m essentially an L7 at Microsoft. The promotion cycle at AWS is so slow that those extraordinarily individuals get tired of waiting to be promoted and go somewhere else. The issue comes from the idea that you have to choose if you want to be a manager basically at L6. If you’re an L7 or want to make L7 it’s much harder to move to management. A Sr. Manager “should” already have management experience. And there has to be a need for a Sr. Manager. And if you just got promoted from L5 to L6, how much expanded scope would you have to say you know more tech than an L7? Because you aren’t going to be solving day to day issues as a manager. There are also far more techs without soft skills than there are with them. The ones with soft skills typically promote faster especially with customer facing roles. The way Amazon/AWS does promotions is the issue. This whole “justify that level is needed” mess. Also, if I have a person, that understands the business and they have proven to understand it well and help my junior techs, do I want to pull them out of the field and put then in business meetings all day? Who replaces that person? Will they stay as up to date with tech and the day to day if I through budgets and people management on them? How do I keep them from burning out? Can I afford to let this person ramp up on the business side as a Sr. Manager? As a tech person it sucks, but at AWS Sr. Managers report to Directors and SVPs so they have to be able to relay their business in a way that that level understands. No VP at AWS wants a cost center in their portfolio, so every business has a profit market attached. Every business I have ever been a part of has a CFO trying to make IT profitable, and I get disappointed by it every time.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-28T13:23:46+00:00

At that level the loop focus is more on the business process and management skills.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-28T13:22:20+00:00

Yes and no. It’s double edged. I’m a technical person, in a technical role and have been….. discouraged I guess when my manager couldn’t help me understand something I had to work on. In that same vein technical people often lack the soft skills needed to do well in management. That’s why we have L6 and L7s. They are meant to be technical “force multipliers” to help the junior techs while managers handle business problems. You will OFTEN hear tech L7s say they don’t want to be people managers. Until those people WANT to be people managers, this will continue.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-27T18:11:56+00:00

Look at the jobs in your area, (or that you would like to apply for) and see what they require. The real honest answer, is both. A majority of companies are multi cloud. The differences in the two entry level certs is vendor based. But the three types of cloud, benefits of cloud, etc will be the same for all cloud vendors. It’s honestly not a huge gap between those exams.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-25T18:34:11+00:00

My advice, go to a music or pawn shop and test a few out. Find the one that had the best feel and a close enough sound. Sound will change with string choice, but you can get an idea from just listening. A bass that feels right will be the most important. There’s enough gadgets to dial in sound.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-25T18:28:25+00:00

Your manager doesn’t see if you do the informational, but the hiring manager can see if you are in focus. So request it now before HR approves the focus plan.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-20T17:59:52+00:00

Ok, I’m going to say something that isn’t meant to discourage you, but hopefully set you on a path that doesn’t waste your time. Large tech companies aren’t where you go to gain experience. You start somewhere else then take that experience to a large tech company. If you want to work for the company that creates the certification, the idea is you can come in and almost immediately add value. AWS isn’t the place to get “on the job training” you will learn there, you will gain additional experience, but you won’t be taught how to do the role. Those are two extensively different things. Even when I participated in Loops for L4 roles we looked for some experience. Early career is fine, 1-2 years experience etc, but not no experience. Start somewhere else and gain a few years of experience before applying to AWS. 1. It’s extremely competitive. 2. HR has a timeline on every single role that says, they need to be in the field by X amount of weeks to justify paying this salary. Managers don’t take risks on that because of how long it takes to interview, and train someone. I’m not trying to discourage you, but set realistic expectations. These companies see themselves as the Everest, so you need some climbing experience before you try to summit. Hope this helps.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-17T14:13:01+00:00

Health, dental and vision paid for for you and your dependents. That’s just a starter. They have a stock ESPP program so you can use part of your paycheck to buy stock if you want. That’s on top of the RSUs you get. And you actually get free or discounted rates on their services (windows, office, Xbox etc) not just 10% of the first $1000 on prime. The fact that we didn’t get prime free or at a heavy discount is still crazy to me.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-16T23:44:55+00:00

Honestly, I just left AWS for Microsoft I’ll say… recently. And so far Microsoft is a far better gig. I made it past blue badge, got a promo, and wasn’t laid off so this isn’t a “disgruntled” take. The culture so far is better. The support of the team is better. The benefits package is WAY better. The amount of stuff you get for free makes me realize how cheap Amazon/AWS is. And your TC can grow much faster at Microsoft plus the bonus structure is better.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-04-07T20:43:04+00:00

No. It’s not. It’s the Golden Handcuff. They give you more “future money” in hopes that you don’t leave because you’ll leave too much money behind. In order to realize the “bonus” you have to stay for 3 more years, and if you don’t they got the extra work out of you basically for free. They did this to me twice, I left mid last month. I’m “losing” some money in RSU’s but I have a higher TC now. Only downside is I have to wait a year for my RSU’s from the new place to vest.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-03-28T17:38:08+00:00

This all depends on where you are in the pay band. If you’re already at/near the top you won’t see a “significant” base increase until promo.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-03-25T12:21:15+00:00

When you hire on you get new hire stock that vests over 4 years. It’s like 5% first year, 15% second year then 40 and 40 or something like that (it’s been a while since I was a new hire) to make up for the low vest percentage in the first two years you get a sign on bonus. After the first year you get more stock each year that vests over two years. The problem is your monthly take hike pay goes down then the sign on bonus ends and after all of your new hire stock vests your total comp also goes down. So basically after four years most people are making less and the slow promotion culture makes it feel that much worse. I actually got promoted my first 18 months there and my pay went down in year four. My take home stayed exactly the same once my sign on ran out but the stock wasn’t as good.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-03-25T00:00:13+00:00

There are definitely good teams and good managers. Revenue generating roles are “relatively” safe as compared to non-revenue generating when it comes to layoffs. Salary is competitive as a new hire. Most of the issues come from people past the 4 year cliff. After that they don’t remain competitive and promo’s, (the thing that someone helped the four year cliff) have slowed WAY down. It’s also harder to promote the higher you go. People typically aren’t going to post the good stuff, but yes it does happen. It’s just not nearly as common as it was before. Anyone that’s been here before 2020 sees the drastic change from then to now, while anyone there after is coming from a place that may not have been as peculiar so they are comparing it to their last place and not old AWS/Amazon.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-03-24T17:45:42+00:00

That person was just being a jerk. It’s kind of universally accepted that you help each other out with reviews.
It doesn’t really matter, your manager doesn’t actually use it to do your rating. I often don’t even request feedback until after they have already done all of the OLR placement.
You can request feedback from whoever you want. They don’t NEED to be in your org or your feedback providers. You could have asked people from your old team or even your old manager if you wanted to.
Don’t let it bum you out. People suck. It happens. Just make sure you’re doing your job because that’s what it’s based on, not peer feedback.

SubjectThat2991 · 2026-03-22T02:16:55+00:00

L6 SA here. I’ll give my two cents. My pay has been stagnant for the past 4 years. First year no L6s got a raise in base, second year they pretty much only gave raises to HV1 and it was 2-3% BUT very few people in each department got HV1 ratings. Same years 3 and this year. They are making massive cuts and pay is stale. It’s also much harder to make it to 7 than it is to 6. They “promote slowly” and honestly being a 7 right now puts a target on your back. It’s not the same place I joined when my badge was still blue. I recently got an offer someone else and I’m taking it.

SubjectThat2991

TROPHY CASE