Gear snobbery and stereotypes

[schecterplayer]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

He could turn out to be an awesome musician. Cheap gear just means you either can't afford or can't justify pro gear. If you aren't playing gigs semi-regularly or jamming at high volume it's pretty reasonable to invest in a nice guitar and a modeling unit as opposed to an expensive amp. I play with a lot of other college students and while being good musicians they seldom have nice amps because of money, space (try storing a marshall stack in a dorm room) or just not wanting to ship a heavy amp to school with them. Since I live in town and have a few amps and friends with gear it's easy enough to come up with an extra amp for a live show. If the music is good, you'll find a way to make it.

 

[Ball&Chain]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

Do guitarists typically do a "my amp is louder than your amp" kind of thing? I would think the idea is to mix in your volume with what the rest of the band is doing. If a solid state amp can keep up with that much, does it really matter how much louder it can get in respect to another amp?

 

[xxxplorer]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

I have 2 old Randall RG80es amps and for my style of music, they can be pretty hard to beat honestly. Cheap, reliable and no maintenence. I love my JCM800 a little more, but truth be told I use the Randalls way more because of gigging levels and convenience lately. The clean tone is pretty nice on mine too I must say.

My bass player plays a crate combo bass amp with a really cheap bass and I swear doesn't even tune... but he shows up, plays and it sounds great when he does. I don't worry about other people's gear at the level we perform.

If we got 'big' and amps were really part of the stage set, then it'd be different.

 

[mwalluk]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

Do guitarists typically do a "my amp is louder than your amp" kind of thing? I would think the idea is to mix in your volume with what the rest of the band is doing. If a solid state amp can keep up with that much, does it really matter how much louder it can get in respect to another amp?

Oddly enough, some guitarist do. I personally like to mesh and have a balanced mix. That said, playing with a drummer, you need to turn up. My amp is plenty loud on 3-4, dont really go much past that. When I played with another band who's guitarist had a solid state, when I was on 4 (very loud drummer) he had his just about dimmed. needless to say, it got lost in the mix.

 

[sosomething]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

I started out using solid state amps like most other people and was never loud enough or had enough power to push the tones I was after at practice or stage volume with a band until I got my first tube amp.

Which, shamefully, was only about 9 years ago.

The day I did was the same day the other guitar player I was jamming with (who had some crummy Crate head, IIRC) completely disappeared from the mix. And not because I could turn up too loud and drown him out. But because his amp just could not compete sonically. I'm not enough of an audio guy to know why, but even at the same perceived volume, my tone just gobbled his up.

When you get a cheap SS next to a nice tube amp, it sounds like there's one guy in the room playing guitar and another guy in the room turning up the volume on some TV show of a guy playing the guitar.

 

[ericmeyer4]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

Give the guy a chance. Maybe he hasn't gigged in a while, isn't sure what type of sound he will need in this new band, or if it will even last. I wouldn't want to invest in a new amp until it was needed. Can't really fault a guy for that.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

 

[Hellion]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

I guess I have a bit of a problem with anyone just writing off a musician simply because they play through a certain type of amp. In the end, isn't it really all just about what SOUNDS good? I've owned all kinds of amps and I've gotten rid of all kinds of amps, and it never boiled down to tube or solid state. I just couldn't get them to sound good for ME. Jeff Baxter, when he was doing studio musician work, was asked about the extent to which gear actually matters. His reply was, "Not much. Sorry, guys, it's a poor workman that blames his tools. Sometimes I like to take my 'silly' equipment to a session just to mix it up a little." I've gotten some amazing tones out of solid state amps and I've gotten some really crappy ones as well, and vice versa with regards to tube amps. Your tone lies in your head and your hands.

 

[jimman]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

I plan on jamming with him regardless.

He said he played gigs with that amp, I'm just worried it may not fit the overall sound I'm trying to achieve, nor do I know how much it will mesh with my tone.

Regardless, first thing first is actually jamming with the guy.

In terms of the band I'm in now, things aren't progressing. We been together for over 4 years now. There's no ambition, let alone initiative. I've wrote the basis for all of our originals minus 2. That becomes exhausting and overbearing. No one wants to go out and book the shows, i've booked about 90% of them. Lately, band practice has turned into hanging out. The singer wants to do a more pop orientated thing. He's always been flakey but wants a completely differ style and not willing to work with us. Will not learn any covers except a effing pop song (ala bieber). Not putting any effort into this. The bass player hardly shows up, maybe showed up a dozen times over the past 6 months, then on some songs doesn't real put effort rather goes through the motions. The other guitarist comes stoned, then throws back 10 beers. Has 3 ideas that he had for about a year now, keeps throwing em out, but can't finish the god damn song. The drummer is average, nothing special, really no complaints. Actually plan on bringing him with me to jam with the guitarist that ive been talking to.

I cant help but laugh at your current band situation, because that describes my old band so accurately its scary.

 

[richard parker]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

S/S amps can produce some good sounds but I spend a lot of time in the 'crunch zone' (think Won't Get Fooled Again) and this is the area in which S/S amps don't generally do very well. A cheap valve amp like a Peavey Classic 30 with a decent o/d pedal through the clean channel will wipe the floor with any budget s/s amp particularly at gig levels when the tubes are kicking a bit. For home playing I rarely plug in but when I do I'm happy with my Microcube. I've heard the larger Cubes at gigs and they sounded awful.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

3rd, if you're going invest on guitars (gibson) why not invest in your amp?!?!?! If you are just using pedals for your sound (like he is) why not a midrange Fender? Hot Rod Deville? Get em used around $300-400 range.

I think we here on the SD forum understand much better than normal people that the amp has as much if not more to do with sounding good as the guitar. But what this guy is doing is normal. Guitars are sexier.

And even we here, hands up, who can really say that the proportion of money that went into the amps is in good relation with the guitars?

Gig-wise the major problem is reliability. Cheap and reliable is OK. But a gig can be much more demanding than practice. It might require more power. if a solid state power section clips and kills the speakers, or if it dies from overheating or popping capacitors, then what? In the mid-2000 there were huge amount of bad capacitors coming out of Asia, affecting all kinds of cheap gear including famously Dell mainboards.

 

[mwalluk]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

I guess I have a bit of a problem with anyone just writing off a musician simply because they play through a certain type of amp. In the end, isn't it really all just about what SOUNDS good? I've owned all kinds of amps and I've gotten rid of all kinds of amps, and it never boiled down to tube or solid state. I just couldn't get them to sound good for ME. Jeff Baxter, when he was doing studio musician work, was asked about the extent to which gear actually matters. His reply was, "Not much. Sorry, guys, it's a poor workman that blames his tools. Sometimes I like to take my 'silly' equipment to a session just to mix it up a little." I've gotten some amazing tones out of solid state amps and I've gotten some really crappy ones as well, and vice versa with regards to tube amps. Your tone lies in your head and your hands.

I'm not writing him off. However, my hopes and excitement has been lowered.

 

[Archer_of_Fish]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

Do guitarists typically do a "my amp is louder than your amp" kind of thing? I would think the idea is to mix in your volume with what the rest of the band is doing. If a solid state amp can keep up with that much, does it really matter how much louder it can get in respect to another amp?

We had a guy show up and decide to play "My amp is louder"

after 20 or 25 mins of him being a wank the bassist turned the guys amp off and we asked him to leave.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

I'm not writing him off. However, my hopes and excitement has been lowered.

I decided not to write anyone off until they have played with the group. The 3 best tones I have heard in my life (not from famous artists I've seen like Jeff Beck, Robin Trower, etc) were from

1. a beat up crate solid state 1x12 cab and a peavey pa system,

2. A stock Hot Rod Deluxe (talked to the guy afterwards)

and

3. A Yamaha DG Modeler.

I'm not saying this stuff is better than anything else. I'm not saying that this stuff will sound better than a Fuchs, Bogner, or Two Rock... but some of the best tones I have ever heard live came from the amps above.

I got chills when I heard the guy playing through the Yamaha.

 

[IM4Tone]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

mwalluk,
Your post gives me the impression that you are an egotistical, maniacal control freak! And if I were this other guy, I'd have no interest in hooking up with you. I do hope that impression is incorrect!

 

[sosomething]

mwalluk,
Your post gives me the impression that you are an egotistical, maniacal control freak! And if I were this other guy, I'd have no interest in hooking up with you. I do hope that impression is incorrect!

You could always go back and read his other posts to help form an impression, new guy.

 

[MojoMonster]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

If he's good enough, his gear won't matter.

The issue becomes, if his current gear won't cut it, is he able to invest in getting "better" gear?

 

[IM4Tone]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

You could always go back and read his other posts to help form an impression, new guy.

I could, but the topic is this post and it's resultant impression regardless of others.

 

[sosomething]

I could, but the topic is this post and it's resultant impression regardless of others.

To you, I guess.

 

[drpietrzak]

Re: Gear snobbery and stereotypes

I have used nearly everything at some point in the last 40 years. I sounds bad with all of it ... or can make nearly anything work to make music. It is not the gear that has the music ... unless it is an MP3 player of a jukebox.