Where are the impartial YouTube reviews?

NelsonP

I saw a review of the positive grid spark today on YouTube. It was an honest review, from someone who had bought it themselves, rather than being sent one to review because the are a YouTuber.

The difference was stark. And the review was much more realistic and honest.

Conclusion: don't put too much faith in the majority of youtube reviews. I know, not exactly a surprise.

But who do you trust?

soma1975

Nobody. It's been utterly commoditised and co-opted as an advertising platform. Just listen to the noise they make and decide for yourself. 

EricTheWeary

None of them! 

Most of them rely on being sent stuff and when people have bought the gear themselves they tend to either gush or have an axe to grind. Indeed, many of the review channels have to have their videos pre-approved by the manufacturer before they can release them. 

I know that the In the Blues chap just buys stuff now but so far there hasn’t been a great deal of overlap between his interests and mine. 

yocky

I was wanting to ask exactly the same question.

It is amazing to be able to watch so much high (production) quality content dedicated to your particular obsession, but it's all clearly designed to make me hand over wads of cash on a regular basis so something genuinely honest/independent would be refreshing.

Edit : Having said that Elmo Karjalainen seems to buy stuff he reviews, and does trash what he doesn't like 

Whitecat

None. YouTube guitar culture makes me super angry at the best of times. 

I do like demos though - no reviews really, just playing. Pete Thorn, RJ Ronquillo and even Jack from Peach are very listenable and usually fairly solid in terms of giving you an idea of what it will really sound like (minus the talent, obvs). 

greejn

I think John Nathan Cordy is an exception to this. Plus you can learn how to be a great player....!

Philly_Q

I like The Trogly's Guitar Show on YouTube.

He's just a geeky enthusiastic guy who collects (mostly) Les Pauls, not a technical expert or an amazing player, but I enjoy his reviews.  He does get sent some stuff by manufacturers, but most of it he buys himself then sells on (his bank account must be very active!).

(Oddly enough, he reviewed the Spark earlier this year - and in this case it was sent to him by Positive Grid, so it's not a good example of his approach!  I think he said they asked him to edit the video because they weren't happy with the way he'd mic'd the amp up.)

horse

Scott Grove

mrkb

They are mostly infomercials - and paid for by the company. So it’s just a demo rather than a review. Anyone who uses YouTube for income will reliant on good will from the companies, so wont rock the boat.

stickyfiddle

As above, the big names provide demos, not reviews. For the most part you can watch them objectively and work out if a pedal or amp or guitar has the sounds and features you want from it. 

I would also suggest that there is hardly any objectively bad gear these days, so I find most things come down to a question of whether I like them (for stuff like drive pedals, and is highly subjective anyway) or whether they have a UI & control set that I can get on with (usually more important for delays and mods and multis)

JohnCordy

I did this one last week....

I will say that saying anything not gushingly positive about a product can invite both manufacturers and fanboys to tell you that you didn't read the manual and "just set the knobs where it sounds good"....

Nikc

Everyone has an axe to grind

I watched Trogly's video on the new Epiphone Les Pauls and he nearly put me off getting one - so glad I ignored him

Dan_Halen

soma1975 said:

Nobody. It's been utterly commoditised and co-opted as an advertising platform. Just listen to the noise they make and decide for yourself. 

This. 

Not sure why anyone needs a youtuber to tell them what’s what rather than make up their own minds. Listen to how it sounds, watch the features being demoed and just filter everything else out. Take what you want from the video, leave the rest. It’s all free information so use it like the great tool it is. 

Think people get way too hung up on this stuff.

soma1975

That said I enjoyed the recent TPS where they were struggling to big up JHS's new fuzzes that don't sound a patch on the alternatives they had on their board. 

JohnCordy

@Dan_Halen I think the thing is that often times the YouTube channels have greater access to gear...i.e. someone might ask about the Fractal Fm3 Vs the Helix or kemper, for most people trying out all three is an unlikely prospect?

pintspiller

People with a lot of subscribers get paid by YouTube. I don't know how much it is, but they say it's not much. It's obvious that they get free stuff, or paid to say nice things about stuff.

They obviously won't turn away stuff to review if it gives them content for their channel. Even if the manufacturer doesn't pay them it's still dough from YouTube.

Once you notice Glenn Cricket of Spectre Sound Studios isn't swearing and realise it's a review video it doesn't take much to realise he could be getting paid directly or indirectly by the distributor/manufacturer. Then there's the dozen or so YouTube celebs that go to Thomann every year.

It's hard to take YouTube reviews seriously unless the video and sound are rubbish to be honest. You kind of have to keep the BS-filter close to hand.

Dan_Halen

JohnCordy said:

@Dan_Halen I think the thing is that often times the YouTube channels have greater access to gear...i.e. someone might ask about the Fractal Fm3 Vs the Helix or kemper, for most people trying out all three is an unlikely prospect?

Don't get me wrong John - I'm not knocking it and personally find YouTube invaluable. The issue I was addressing was more with this *need* some people have for someone to tell them if something is good or not and for that opinion to also be demonstratably impartial. Given that good is so subjective anyway it's simply a waste of time.

The value is in what you say - here's the product(s), have a listen, hear my thoughts (if you want) and make your own minds up. The idea that if Rabea, for example, does a 'demo' it should be dismissed entirely because he's on the payroll seems bonkers - just have a listen to what it can do, check out the features and then stop there. It's still a useful resource. 

Your videos, by the way, are a great no-nonsense approach with some fantastic playing and I really enjoy them. Love your lessons and stuff for the Axe and Helix has been really useful.

7DyingTrees

Literally don't trust anything that says "review" on youtube anymore really. Normally I'll go looking for people who are just playing what they've got, or demos of a pedal by someone who owns it, or, I'll ask a mate if it's any good.

Not a single polished review is objective or really trustworthy.

I literally think youtube reviews are the new gear endorsements. And as with endorsements previously, a lot of artists liked free stuff, so would happily talk it up as being the best thing ever, regardl;ess of whether they actuially wanted a different brand.

Sad really.

JohnCordy

@Dan_Halen yeh fully get you!
 
It's something that I've struggled with myself to be honest, not that I'm at the stage where anyone is particularly offering me money to demo stuff, (except stuff that I'm not interested in), but I feel like the subscribers that I do have I have a loyalty to not just push the 10th tubescreamer that comes out that year at them?

Instead I'm trying to be guided by genuine interests (which tends to be in the modeling world), but hopefully either help people make decisions between units, or show some of the sounds that can be achieved (or not) with the units.

NelsonP

I would agree that John's channel and trogly are two of the most independent reviews out there and actually the most trustworthy/ helpful as a result.

As to listening to gear on other channels....pretty much everything reviewed on the usual suspects channels sounds great. But then they are great players, the recording equipment is top notch and I'm 'monitoring' it the same way via my headphones. I suspect that by the team I've listened to it on YouTube any real differences between the gear being reviewed are marginal.

So what I'm interested in is what others who have much broader experience of different gear think, but who aren't being given stuff for free.  This kind of advice is what used to be provided by shop assistants in the good old days. And it's increasingly difficult to find on YouTube.

Basically it seems to go like this:

YouTube endorser, in a short, to the point, well produced video, "This xyz thing is killer, sounds GREAT, I'm going to keep it as long as I can, no way am I sending it back".

Average Jo, in a long, rambly, crap video "I just bought this xyz thing and it's a bit shit really".

The alternative is to go and try stuff out in a real shop.

icu81b4

I recall a guy on YT who used to take every amp/foot pedal to bits and seemed to buy loads of high end stuff and have it around his house - always wore some outrageous t shirts, I can't remember his name though - I thought his reviews were 'interesting' - He made a few enemies with some manufactures.