Gear snobbery

[Beer$]

Consider this a PSA

You sure that's a good idea? Remember what happened last time?

[ItsaBass]

d00d! You used the wrong brand of duct tape! Don't you know that stuff is a tone suck???

LOL. Actually, it had duct tape on it for years, holding on the broken pick guard. I finally peeled it off and dissolved most of the residue. You can still see the marks from where it used to be. Poor bass looks ugly, but it is a good instrument. It has never failed to simply do its job and do it well.

The black tape that is on it now is gaffer tape, not duct tape, and it is actually a huge part of the reason this bass sounds as good as it does; it holds the felt mufflers in place. Huge tone benefit on every bass IMHO. Kills harmonics and other extraneous tones, and tames the "bleeding" of notes into each other. All my basses have mufflers of some kind, normally ear plugs wedged between the string and the adjustment screw of the saddle. But these ones had to be held on from the top, because of the two-saddle bridge design. Aftermarket muffler systems are out there, but they are quite expensive.

[Davidandrew]

I would never have the nerve to even tell a guitar that actually sucked they suck. Some people just don't get it and never will. The only people I will comment on is fellow band members or friends I will usually always comment on tone and how they can improve it but never about their gear. I am more into getting the most out of what you got.

My thing is when you see an amazing rig like a bogner or a bad cat or matchless on stage I am always think oh yeah im going to see something great right now and they dont even know how to set the damn thing up. I had a XXX/marshall stack when i played metal I loved it and our other guitar player had a mesa triple rec and did not know how to EQ the damn thing. We would play and people would come up to me after the show saying how amazing my rig was I finally stayed after one practice and set up the guys rig for him.

He was playing a mesa triple rec through a boss mt2 WTF!!! but he was a very good guitar player.

[richard parker]

Anyone who thinks expensive gear automatically means good tone is a complete fool and obviously knows nothing about playing guitar.

[mwalluk]

Anyone who thinks expensive gear automatically means good tone is a complete fool and obviously knows nothing about playing guitar.

Yes and No.

If you took a High End Taylor or Martin, did a one shot strum of an Asus chord and let it ring out. Then compared it by doing the same thing to a cheap acoustic guitar, the higher end guitar would sound more pleasant.

That being said, it expensive gear won't help someone who has crap technique, has no style and sounds like @$$ when they play.

[mwalluk]

I think it's more a misconception than anything else ala Peavey's are bad. Mesas are for NU Metal, etc. If you have disdain for a certain brand or style of music, it would come off as snobbery. I don't like said bands style, he plays said amp, therefore his tone is awful.

[Reload in 5]

The only people I will comment on is fellow band members or friends I will usually always comment on tone and how they can improve it but never about their gear. I am more into getting the most out of what you got.

Same thing here. I worked with some younger guys and the guitarist had a line 6 spider 30w. His sound always disappeared into the mix (he had loads of distortion and no mids). My only comments to him involved how he could play something better, and to turn down the distortion and up his mids some and he would sound better in the band setting.

My thing is when you see an amazing rig like a bogner or a bad cat or matchless on stage I am always think oh yeah im going to see something great right now and they dont even know how to set the damn thing up.

Anyone who thinks expensive gear automatically means good tone is a complete fool and obviously knows nothing about playing guitar.

Whats funny is sometimes I see expensive gear and immediately think "this is gonna suck"
Sometimes I see "cheap" gear being used (by a touring pro even if local) and always seem to be really interested, thinking they must really know their craft / they really know what they need to sound good.

[lpmarshall]

I've seen Nashville session guitar players tear it up through solid state backline amps. I've seen rich kids with Bogners and PRS guitars barely able to put a chord together.

We all like "tone", that is why we are on this forum. But you should be chasing the tone that inspires you, not others. What works for one person won't work for another.

As I mentioned earlier, unless you are Satriani/Vai/Malmsteen 99% of the crowd could give a rat's ass what you play through. If I go to show with 10 friends I'm the only one who even looks at what gear they are using.

[Davidandrew]

I am not a huge fan of the HRD series I have had one and I didnt think it sounding bad just a little to harsh for my taste but I have heard bands that use it and get a pretty distinct sound out of it. If silversun pickups can get a grammy nod with a sheraton and a hrd than Im not really concearned with what some random tells me about my setup.

[aleclee]

Aside from some starter-pack gear, I've yet to meet a piece of gear that I couldn't dial in a usable sound. I might not be able to get that tone in my head but good-enough clean or dirty sounds are rarely a problem.

A person's inability to dial in a giggable rig is just that: a person's inability. It says more of the individual than of the rig. They're either unwilling to take the time to do it or they lack the ability to manipulate the settings to get from the current sound to the sound they want.

[Wattage]

You sure that's a good idea? Remember what happened last time?

What's the worst that could happen?

[Beer$]

What's the worst that could happen?

Let's just say that when I lost the ENTIRE LOWER HALF OF MY BODY I stopped buying from Dr. Herman.



Oh not you too! No Clint! A thousand times no!

[some_dude]

I don't like to dump on people's gear and I generally feel bad if I inadvertently make them think less of theirs, but I've had people dump on their own gear while they point out how good mine is and how good it sounds. I usually try to downplay the importance of gear in an attempt to pump up their confidence, but I probably sound like a dude with a Ferrari full of cocaine and pornstars trying to say money doesn't by happiness.

[Davidandrew]

I don't like to dump on people's gear and I generally feel bad if I inadvertently make them think less of theirs, but I've had people dump on their own gear while they point out how good mine is and how good it sounds. I usually try to downplay the importance of gear in an attempt to pump up their confidence, but I probably sound like a dude with a Ferrari full of cocaine and pornstars trying to say money doesn't by happiness.

lol this is awesome

[sosomething]

Yes and No.

If you took a High End Taylor or Martin, did a one shot strum of an Asus chord and let it ring out. Then compared it by doing the same thing to a cheap acoustic guitar, the higher end guitar would sound more pleasant.

That being said, it expensive gear won't help someone who has crap technique, has no style and sounds like @$$ when they play.

Nah, you don't actually disagree with what Richard said at all.

Go back and reread what he actually said.

Yeah, you can get better results from better equipment more easily, but only if you know how to use it.

I think we all agree on that.

[King IzzO)))]

Aside from some starter-pack gear, I've yet to meet a piece of gear that I couldn't dial in a usable sound. I might not be able to get that tone in my head but good-enough clean or dirty sounds are rarely a problem.

QFT. They put those little knob thingy's on there for a reason.



I wonder what reaction my ghetto fab spray painted up Butcher and Kustom cabs would elicit from some ****** like that.

[LatsMcGee]

When my friend's band plays shows he always hides his triaxis behind his barely still together peavey cabs and his cheap old RGs.....people always compliment him on his tone and his clarity with low tunings and he tells them his amp is just as "****ty" as his cabs.....

[Red_Label]

A person's inability to dial in a giggable rig is just that: a person's inability. It says more of the individual than of the rig. They're either unwilling to take the time to do it or they lack the ability to manipulate the settings to get from the current sound to the sound they want.

Couldn't agree more. Some gear is crap. But the vast minority of gear out there -- at least gear that you actualy see sitting on a stage, plenty up to the task. That's why it exists. It all really rests on the ability of the player to dial-in a great tone and his fingers to make the tone sound good.

I've certainly had some great gear over the past several years, but the first 15+ years of my gigging music career, I mostly played on fairly cheap stuff. Fender Squire and Mexi strats, digital modeling amps, Dan-O pedals, etc. I made it work for me and honestly, though it wasn't as good-sounding as what I have now, it was plenty good for what I was doing.

I can't imagine going up to a guy at a gig (or anywhere else) and saying his gear (or playing) sucks. The ONLY way I'd ever imagine doing something like that is if the guy was being obnoxious and telling everyone else that their gear or playing sucked. Even then, I'd probably just smirk and remove myself from the vicinity.

I like the experience of owning "boutique" gear when I have it and even feel proud to own some of it at times. I'm certainly always happy to talk it up to others who may be looking at buying the same brand and want my input. But that's where it ends. It's just tools at the end of the day and the craftsman is where the MAGIC is. When I "downgraded" from my Bogner XTC to my Marshall DSL last winter, I thought to myself "good enough for Gary Moore and Iron Maiden, good enough for me!". I still have the DSL and for what it does, it still hangs with my recently purchased Engl just fine.

There are plenty of amps out there that I think are pretty crappy, that guys on this site worship. But that's only because those amps didn't work for me and my thing. Because I've heard other guys make them work for them just fine. So "crappy" is a pretty subjective adjective.

[zenmindbeginner]

In playing guitar or other musical instruments, ability plays such a huuuuge role in tone or sound output. You can overcome a piece of equipment's shortcomings with great technique pretty much every time. You can also process a signal to good effect if you know how to tweak and have a good set of ears.

That said, good equipment will usually yield better results.

My Canon 60D shoots great photos, but if I took the exact same photos with a Canon 5DMarkIII, you would notice an instant improvement in the photograph.

The visual difference between a point and shoot and a top of the line DSLR is quite staggering.

[Red_Label]

In playing guitar or other musical instruments, ability plays such a huuuuge role in tone or sound output. You can overcome a piece of equipment's shortcomings with great technique pretty much every time. You can also process a signal to good effect if you know how to tweak and have a good set of ears.

That said, good equipment will usually yield better results.

My Canon 60D shoots great photos, but if I took the exact same photos with a Canon 5DMarkIII, you would notice an instant improvement in the photograph.

The visual difference between a point and shoot and a top of the line DSLR is quite staggering.

I agree, to a point. But I sold my DSLR rig a couple of years ago because I found that I took better photographs with my "bridge camera" level P&S. I wasn't messing around with lens changes, external flash issues, etc. Just making the best out of my P&S and exploring the parameters and boundaries of what was possible with it. In fact, I was just about to break back into the DSLR game a few months ago (Canon, since my bro is a pro Canon shooter and I could use his glass), but I ended-up with another P&S (Canon SX40) because I just didn't want the expense and hassle of going DSLR again. Anyways... not arguing with you, just trying to illustrate that like with music gear, top of the line stuff is often wasted on those without the ability to really use it. I get some good, "artsy" shots now and then. But find that compared to others, I lack the true eye of a good/great photographer. I refer to myself as a "snapshot taker" or "picture taker".