[7rojo7]

I think one can get just as lost not wanting to use gear as one could wanting to use only certain gear. In the end there's only the Shadow and he's not telling anyone.
I try to cover myself pretty well first with mics. (Brauner, Schoeps, Coles, RCA, DPA) then with pres (Millennia) and after with some convertors (Prism Dream) if I can't get close with these I have some other gadgets around that will help me in special situations (KIK, Bass, Vocals) Most of these other gadgets have a mic pre built in to them similar to what I normally use. I bought them for these special situations where the combination of instrument> placement> mic won't work alone, especially if the space is not appropriate for the above stated combination. help. If I can't get there like this I'll start looking inside at the vapor boxes, and some of them work pretty good too.
In fact it's the listening that makes me look for these alteratives, I'll move a mic before I touch a knob but when I run out of places to move the mic and I can dip 300Hz 6dB I'm happy I can do it and not spend the next year of my life trying to convince a drummer to retune his kik and hold up a session. Bleed vs proximity effect, bleed wins. I hate pickups on Contrabass but I've learned how to make them sound good or I'm stuck with too much drum room (I have a box for this too). It's this or put a tent over the bassist. I saw Charlie Haydn was travelling around with plexiglass a few years ago, worked pretty well. He has a Schoertler bug and a DI. If you have these opportunities to use Architecture instead of gear so much the better, if not, use the boxes and let the music flow. That's the important part.