Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

[sosomething]

I was listening to a friend's solo album today - an album on which he used a Mesa Tremoverb as his primary amp - and was found myself really enjoying the tones he was getting. This in itself isn't uncommon, I really like the sound of those amps

EXCEPT When I'm playing through them.

I'm like this with traditional Strats, too. I love the tones other people get, but I've never thought I sounded as good using one myself. I don't know if it's a feel thing or an expectations thing, but Recto amps and Strats are like my achilles heel. Great-sounding products in the hands of others. Utter dog poop in mine.

This ever happen to you?? Stuff you love the sound of that you just can't enjoy using yourself?

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

Acoustic guitars... dead serious... Love to hear people play them but between the ergonomics and the adjustment in play styles needed i just get frustrated and plug my electric in...

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

Harmonica & Slide. I love country blues, but man oh man, I cannot play either.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

i feel the same way about the tremoverb, most mesa's actually. a buddy used a tremoverb and i always loved his tone. id plug into it and i couldnt get away fast enough.

gibsons are the big one for me. ive had les pauls, sgs, 335s, good ones, bad ones, cheap ones, custom shops, heavy, light, and on and on and on. just cant get along with them the way i do a fender type guitar. i do like firebirds but its still no where near as comfy as a strat or tele.

most of my guitar heros used les pauls or at least a gibson but ill be dammed if i can get one to work as well for me

 

[El Supremo]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

Some of it has probably got to do with the feel one's used to.
Other times it's a mismatch of an element in the equation for me.

So far, I haven't had any luck with A2 pickups although I like how other people make them sound. Could be the guitars I installed them in though.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

Stuff you love the sound of that you just can't enjoy using yourself?

Basically sums up Alnico II's for me lol Trying to think, same thing for PRS and Schecter guitars.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

So far, I haven't had any luck with A2 pickups although I like how other people make them sound. Could be the guitars I installed them in though.

That makes two of us! The only pickups I use have either Alnico Vs or Ceramics in them.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

Strats.

 

[Mr Wolf]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

Slide

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

Slide

That's another one of mine, love rock slide guitar playing!

 

[jeremy]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

it just takes practice

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

I nearly always enjoy hearing a phaser used. The sound is so ethereal and almost never seems out of place, but I don't like the sound of it when I try to use one. My Small Tone is hiding in the pedal pile.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

I don't like the sound of any neck pickups.

 

[Aasinsilta]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

Wah pedal, well sometimes I hate hearing it too but I've never really dug it when I used one at all. Maybe I'll give my old Vox a whirl in a little while.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

I don't like the sound of any neck pickups.

Have you tried a Screamin Demon in the Neck position? I just tried it and absolutely love it!

 

[greekdude]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

Heavy weight non-strats, non-super-strats, love to listen to, hate to play.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

Wah pedal, well sometimes I hate hearing it too but I've never really dug it when I used one at all. Maybe I'll give my old Vox a whirl in a little while.

FYI - It may be the Vox. Mine felt like it got lost in the mix, and like it was too bright with not enough "wah". In my case the Crybaby felt like it has a more vocal sweep that cuts through distortion better. So if pulling out the Vox fails to excite, maybe try a different wah pedal.

 

[Maggot]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

Dreadnaught acoustics, high-output humbuckers, analog delay, Twin Reverb.

As a master of fact, the jury's still out on whether I like to play humbuckers at all.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

Anything electric without at least 22 frets. Other people play them well, but I need at least 22 frets on a guitar, or else it's an immediate no.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Gear you like to hear but hate to use?

7 string, 8 string, baritone, extended frets, fanned frets, Earvana nuts, 3/4 scale.......no use for any of it. I'm sure I've enjoyed music using some of it though.

Compressor pedals. I suppose I've heard plenty of clean tones that utilized them, but I hate plugging into them and hearing the dynamic range squashed.

Floyd Rose trems. I learned to use them very well back in the day, but now I hate picking up any guitar that has one. They seem gimmicky, and my right hand hybrid picking style makes them flutter. Now that I think about it, I don't even like hearing other people's whammy tricks anymore. To me, they make a guitar player sound cheesy and dated......like a keyboard player using one of those keyboards with a strap. :laugh2:

Mesa Rectifiers. They sound alright when Limp Bizkit, Nickelback, Linkin Park etc. use them, but I don't like the feel under my fingers or the way they re-EQ my guitar's natural sound.

Modeling amps like Axe-FX, Valvetronix, Eleven Rack. I know they can sound good on tape, and many players make good use of them, but they bore me after a few minutes of fiddling with them. Then, I plug into a great tube amp, and I'm back home.