Where are the impartial YouTube reviews?

EricTheWeary

soma1975 said:

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. 

TPS have in the past engaged with those who bombarded their YouTube comments with hate for JHS so they are aware that not everyone likes Josh and, in general, because they aren’t paid to promote stuff their views on products aren’t always glowing - rarely if ever outright critical but certainly quite meh about some products. I seem to remember they had the Vertex ( hmm, well, yes) Steel String on one of their Tuesday shows and could hardly work out if it was on or off. And there is stuff that they won’t touch because it isn’t their thing. 

I’m not saying that they are some beacon of critical truth but they do allow you to at least read between the lines a bit. 

JerkMoans

In Andy We Trust \m/

JohnCordy

@icu81b4 was it Tony McKenzie?

NelsonP

EricTheWeary said:
And there is stuff that they won’t touch because it isn’t their thing. 

Yes. I've only ever seen Mick and Dan review one modeller which was a Kemper.

Custom shop strat, matchless amp, £2k pedal board = yep.
Line 6 hx stomp vs iridium vs amplifire 6 = nope.

icu81b4

JohnCordy said:

@icu81b4 was it Tony McKenzie?

Ah yes - That's the chap. 

mburekenge

I had a big guitar related Youtune and social media purge recently. There is just so much crap out there. It was annoying me. 

kentuckyklira

I find it hard to go by youtube reviews. Just had a look at Guitarist Magazine´s Hughes & Kettner Coreblade review. By the noise that guy produced I would never have got one. Plus, he does the review with some exotic Schecter guitar. I´d expect a review like that to be done with a guiter like a Les Paul Standard because everybody knows how those are supposed to sound.

not_the_dj

horse said:

Scott Grove

Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

RaymondLin

Click on a review, skip to playing, listen to the noise.  Like the noise? Good.  Don't like the noise? don't buy it.

Whitecat

horse said:

Scott Grove

I thought he rage-quit the internet?

kentuckyklira

RaymondLin said:

Click on a review, skip to playing, listen to the noise.  Like the noise? Good.  Don't like the noise? don't buy it.

Not even that works. For example, I love my Corblade amp but think it sounds horrible in most youtube reviews/demos.

HAL9000

Another, I think, related issue is that many YouTubers get the guitar/amp/pedal out of the box, have a quick strum, and then create and post a video.

There’s been plenty of gear I’ve gushed over when I’ve just bought it. It’s often not until several months, or even years, later that I’m really aware of why I should never have bought it in the first place. I don’t believe anybody can do an honest review on anything that they haven’t owned for a decent length of time.

Lodious

I don't have a problem with any of it TBH, it's free and optional to watch Youtube. It's not hard to work out the context for a review. I struggle to see how people can get really pissed off at something which has been (in general) massively informative, free and has a comments section so people can call out misinformation.

Seziertisch

The issue with doing a youtube review of any product is that there are so many variables that can effect the quality of the results beyond the product itself

At one end of the spectrum are reviews of stuff where the reviewer is using the mic on their phone or camera and they are in the room with a reasonably loud amp and the sound quality is so bad you can't actually say either way whether what the thing being reviewed is good or bad.

On an increasing scale towards the other end of the spectrum are various qualities of "proper" recording setups varying from a SM57 stuck on the grill of a cab or in some cases quite complex studio style set ups with multiple mics etc. The first variable with these is the engineering skills of the the person doing the video, the second is the recording space being used, and the third are the variables created by the other gear used both in the guitar signal chain and the recording chain. I remember when TPS changed over to using a Univeral Audio interface, I immediately thought, wow, seems to sound really good today and then discovered that they had changed interface.

As regards those reviewers reluctant to compare tube amps to modellers, depending on the variables I mentioned above, a modeller will potentially sound better than a recorded tube amp. Otherwise, the thing that a tube amp offers over a modeller is playing feel, there is a bounce/responsiveness that modellers don't have. However, this "feel" is not something that a recording is going to be able to communicate, and therein lies the problem.

SPECTRUM001

Like anyone, I have found reviews to be both helpful, and entirely deceptive. I have a Vox Av15 amp, which I certainly gave a go having listened to a couple of YT demos. Actually the AV30 is much better, however has a permanent noise floor hiss that is quite irritating for home use (I tried out a couple from PMT, both with the same issue - so I guess it is a manufacturing prob). Why Chappers couldn’t just say in his demo is beyond me - as it was a really noticeable problem (unless I was just unlucky !!).

I quite like Rob Jones at the Meat Manifesto. Definitely offset centric, and no bells and whistles - just plays guitars so you can hear their sound.

Overall however, really great players will manage to make anything sound good, so not necessarily a good guide. Wasn’t that Jon Spencer’s point in the Blues Explosion - great songs raucously wrung through any gear he could find ?

UnclePsychosis

NelsonP said:

EricTheWeary said:
And there is stuff that they won’t touch because it isn’t their thing. 

Yes. I've only ever seen Mick and Dan review one modeller which was a Kemper.

Custom shop strat, matchless amp, £2k pedal board = yep.
Line 6 hx stomp vs iridium vs amplifire 6 = nope.

I seem to remember them doinga Shoegaze (?) episode that was just embarassing. 

monquixote

I think the reason there aren't any decent guitar reviews is because of something we don't really want to face up to which is broadly speaking it's all the bloody same.

What Pete Thorn, Ola, Mike Hermans, PGS Andy, etc shows you is that if you can play well and know a thing or two about production then there is virtually no gear on the market that you can't get a decent sound out of.

For the last 20 years there is hardly any really shit gear out there with the possible exception of some of the high end Gibsons with terrible QC from a few years back.

I've been watching the reviews of American Original Fenders. Guitarist chose the Jag as the pick of the litter whereas Lee Anderton really obviously hated it. It tells you nothing informative unless you can get the thing in your hands.

If you'd handed it to Danish Pete he could have recorded a demo that made you think it's amazing, but the same is true of anything you gave him.

The only thing that is relevant and does shine through on line is workflow. The quality of sound between the Helix and the Amplifire is splitting hairs, but one is a joy and the other make me want to jump out of a window.

chrisj1602

I generally like YouTube demos and reviews and few like you can take what you want out of them.

I watched loads of HX Stomp videos before I bought one. I didn’t care for the many praise and worship presets on a lot of the demos but it still let me see how the unit worked and that I could use it in the way I wanted.

UnclePsychosis

monquixote said:

I think the reason there aren't any decent guitar reviews is because of something we don't really want to face up to which is broadly speaking it's all the bloody same.

What Pete Thorn, Ola, Mike Hermans, PGS Andy, etc shows you is that if you can play well and know a thing or two about production then there is virtually no gear on the market that you can't get a decent sound out of.

This. So much this. 

RaymondLin

kentuckyklira said:

RaymondLin said:

Click on a review, skip to playing, listen to the noise.  Like the noise? Good.  Don't like the noise? don't buy it.

Not even that works. For example, I love my Corblade amp but think it sounds horrible in most youtube reviews/demos.

Or buying a Lazy J, there are no real proper Demos of it really.  I think TPS did "what's my gear" but it's not your usual amp reviews.  All the other videos online are bedroom players filming it on their phone or something.

I still bought one.