Nice is relative. Could be a guitar, could be drums, an amp, synth, etc.

We didnt have a lot of money when I was a kid, so I made do with a used Squier Bullet Strat for the first two years of playing. It was an awful guitar, wouldn't stay in tune, the neck was far from good, but it was what I had. My folks saw that I was sticking with something and said they would help me get a new guitar and would match me what I could save. So I spent the summer mowing lawns and working at a bowling alley a couple hours after school. Saved up enough with my folks help to get a used MIJ Fender Strat with a fancy red paint job (I loved Strats early on). It felt lightyears beyond the Squier, like a real instrument. I quickly got better as a player as it didnt feel like I was fighting the guitar all the time. I loved that guitar and still judge all other Strats by that one. It only lasted a year or so in my possession as a buddy's dad REALLY loved Strats and took a real shine to my guitar and wound up trading his 63 Fender Musicmaster for it.

80's Gibson SG. There was a music pawn shop downtown with layaway. I worked my after school job at Circuit City selling answering machines for months making payments. It came with me to my first band practice with the first great drummer I ever played with. There's something of the synergy of really finding myself in my later teen years wrapped up in that guitar. I hate the fuckwad who stole it.

Circa 2003, the local-ish SamAsh had a silverburst Gibson Les Paul Custom hanging on the wall and I thought it looked cool as fuck. Instead of giving my family a realistic xmas wish-list that year I said I only wanted that guitar. My logic being no way in hell would I get it, and I'd just be surprised by whatever they did get me. Xmas morning, not a lot of gifts for me, then they bring it out. They fucking got it and I cannot fucking believe it to this day. Still feel guilty about it. Prior to that I had a Harmony and a few low-tier Ibanezez. It's not always in heavy rotation, but I fucking love that guitar and it's got playwear to prove it. Around the same time I blew my savings on a Crate BV300H, wich paired nicely with the Marshall 1960A cab my drummer's other band abandoned/I claimed. Big step up all around that year. I let the amp go a few years back 'cause it was just unweildy, still have the cab and the LP though. I'll be burried with that guitar.

I built a pair of Gyraf G9 preamps in 2006. Up to that point, I had been using the built-in pres on a little 2-channel M-Audio USB interface for everything.

I think the first "real" bass amp I bought, after using shitty Crates and boring '90s Fender BXR heads for years, was a '66 Ampeg B-15. Got that in 2008, I think. It was kind of a last-minute ebay auction decision that I was surprised I won.

The Ric 4003 I bought a few years ago feels like the first nice instrument I've ever owned. Everything else I owned prior to that was either old and beat-up already, or mid-tier, or home-built, so they didn't exude "niceness."

I too started on shitty cheap Strat copies. Every day after school I'd lust after a black SG Special in the AMS catalog (no store in town carried it). $700 seemed like so much money, but I saved up for months and months. It finally arrived on the day of the Oklahoma City bombing.

Loved that guitar, but after maybe 2 years the bridge pickup crapped out. The local shop cobbled it back together, but it was never quite the same so I sold it on consignment. If only I had known more about aftermarket pickups and DIY repair then. That said, after 10 years of seeing every fucking screamo band play SGs I sort of fell out of love with them eventually.

Bach Stradivarius trumpet. I unfortunately did not treat it well through high school and college. To this day, it is being held together with hose clamps. Still sounds pretty good, though.

It's a little difficult to answer because I'm not sure one bit as part of a drum kit answers the question but here goes anyway

Drums: I started out of the gate with a full set of 63 Ludwigs for $200, they weren't in great shape (and I still want to do a full restoration on it at some point) but I used to run into the guy who sold 'em to me and tease him a little bit because he wanted a new set of Pearls instead of the hand-me-down Ludwigs because power toms. First upgrade was that Zildjian z-series ride - thickest cymbal ever made JFC. Still have and love the drums and that cymbal.

Guitar: First actual nice guitar I got was a LP studio. These are oft-maligned but I think the whole "good ones/bad ones" is maybe more applicable. This one was one of the good ones. Amp-wise, I bought my friend's Carvin X-100B. Still have the head, not the cab. It's absolutely great as I will tout its awesomeness at every possible opportunity.

Bass: Got a nice USA made G&L SB-2 as my first real instrument. Still have this too. Some chucklefuck (*sigh* me) stripped the truss rod nut on it at one point and had to get replaced.
For the amp, the first bass rig I had (and still have) is a Sunn Concert Bass. Great amp but not quite enough for playing in a loud punk band. Replaced it with a GK 2000RB that FM Barndog as now I believe.

"Nice" is a really relative thing, but my deal was this: I started playing drums on a $75 drum kit called "Dixie" which was a 60's Asian luan piece of junk that probably began life as an ok kit but lost its bottom hoops was was just a mess. But I played that thing every day and lo and behold a year or so later my dad took my to Portland Percussion and got me a wine red Pearl Export kit. It was totally unexpected and absolutely 600 bucks my folks didn't have. Laugh at the lowly Pearl Export all you want but that kit tuned up just fine, all the hardware worked, and I played it in my first band (in two battle of the bands and twice at this dive bar called Geno's!). I felt like a fucking rock star with those. Later I'd get rid of them and eventually got the 60s Gretsch kit I'll take to my grave, but those Pearls were the most meaningful gear I ever got.

Yeah, drums are so friggin expensive (especially for a teen) it's understandable. FM yardbarf's recent post of Sonor history reminded me of the Sonic Plus kit I saved up and ordered one piece at a time. I felt like a DHAK once I got them, though in retrospect those are Yamaha-grade birch drums with goofy plastic hardware bits that were just asking for trouble (and sure enough..). But they sounded good enough to me to play for another 13 years!

I started out mastering on Event 2020s, as horrible as that sounds, worked on those for years. Somehow I was able to do ok work on those and I started getting more biz. At some point I was like ok, I can't in good conscience take people's money, even if they're happy with the work, I need something better.

Looked around at lots of stuff, ended up getting the B+W 805s I still use now, not really planning on changing them. Those + stereo subs = ain't broke.

I got them at a hifi store in Boston. Went in with a cdr of favorites. Salesguy sets up the speakers for me, sits me down to listen, I hand him the cdr and say "track 1 please!"

Track 1 was "Ghosts" from 1000 Hurts.

It comes on and sounds completely fucking glorious, I'm grinning ear to ear, so much better than how I'm used to hearing it.

I turn and look at the salesguy, who has a very confused, ashen look on his face. He says "is this something that was professionally recorded?"