Where are the impartial YouTube reviews?

thegummy

EricTheWeary said:

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. 

That is exactly it in a sentence.

A lot of people have this really weird thing where they see things they own as being unrealistically good. Sometimes even to the point of being defensive and taking offence to someone saying something negative about the product. I suppose it's the same mentality that makes people say thanks when someone compliments something they own even though they've played no part in it being good, they just bought it.

That's why threads like "what's the best pickup for blues", or any variable like that, are totally useless. Very few people will have actually compared a significant number of choices thoroughly enough to give a reasoned answer but loads of people will chime in and say the only one they happen to have. If they like it that is - and that's the other thing mentioned, if someone has a problem with a purchase they'll be more likely to report it.

Same reason reviews on Amazon etc. aren't very reliable when taken as a ratio of positive to negatives - if someone buys something and has a problem with it they're so much more likely to bother going online to complain about it whereas when most people buy something and are completely happy with it they just get on with it and use it and only a few will decide to review it positively online.

Re: the commercial videos where the company have sent free stuff to get a positive review on Youtube, there's sadly no real way to tell if that's the case on a particular video or if the reviewer has bought it themselves or borrowed it. The fewer subscribers the channel has the less likely it will be an infomercial but unless it's a proper small time channel, you still can never really tell.

I remember a while ago, before I realised how widespread adverts disguised as reviews were, I was watching a video and the guy brought up a piece of gear and made a point about how he wasn't given it by the company, he actually bought it. So I was like "oh so that means usually when you big up a piece of gear it's because you've been paid to?"

rossi

Seziertisch said:

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.

Tube amps have  a kapow (presence) factor when being played loud and  proud .It often doesnt come out in you bedroom.

NelsonP

rossi said:

Seziertisch said:

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.

Tube amps have  a kapow (presence) factor when being played loud and  proud .It often doesnt come out in you bedroom.

That Pedal Show just did an episode on that.

PS they have not paid me to say that, although I would take some freebies from them as compensation.

thegummy

rossi said:

Tube amps have  a kapow (presence) factor when being played loud and  proud .It often doesnt come out in you bedroom.

The annoying thing about being a bassist living in a normal semi-detached house is that I can hear all the tone of the instrument fine but it would be unreasonable to practice loud enough that you feel the notes pounding your chest and vibrating through your stomach like you do at a studio or a gig.

hotpickups

In many demo videos now they all seem to say the one thing that really irritates me... “This pedal is really organic”. Somewhere down the line someone coined that phrase (probably Dan of TPS) and now everyone says it but it means nothing imo

EricTheWeary

thegummy said:

EricTheWeary said:

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. 

That is exactly it in a sentence.

A lot of people have this really weird thing where they see things they own as being unrealistically good. Sometimes even to the point of being defensive and taking offence to someone saying something negative about the product. I suppose it's the same mentality that makes people say thanks when someone compliments something they own even though they've played no part in it being good, they just bought it.

That's why threads like "what's the best pickup for blues", or any variable like that, are totally useless. Very few people will have actually compared a significant number of choices thoroughly enough to give a reasoned answer but loads of people will chime in and say the only one they happen to have. If they like it that is - and that's the other thing mentioned, if someone has a problem with a purchase they'll be more likely to report it.

Same reason reviews on Amazon etc. aren't very reliable when taken as a ratio of positive to negatives - if someone buys something and has a problem with it they're so much more likely to bother going online to complain about it whereas when most people buy something and are completely happy with it they just get on with it and use it and only a few will decide to review it positively online.

Re: the commercial videos where the company have sent free stuff to get a positive review on Youtube, there's sadly no real way to tell if that's the case on a particular video or if the reviewer has bought it themselves or borrowed it. The fewer subscribers the channel has the less likely it will be an infomercial but unless it's a proper small time channel, you still can never really tell.

I remember a while ago, before I realised how widespread adverts disguised as reviews were, I was watching a video and the guy brought up a piece of gear and made a point about how he wasn't given it by the company, he actually bought it. So I was like "oh so that means usually when you big up a piece of gear it's because you've been paid to?"

I used to go on Tripadvisor, as soon as I got back from a meal I’d write a review. I went to a newish place in Birmingham that was pretty awful and gave it a one star review, there was only one other review on there very similar to my own. A few days later I had a look and there were about thirty one sentence five star reviews, obviously nonsense put on by the owner of the restaurant but they’d pushed the average right up. 

Any kind of user reviews I find helpful if they tell you stuff that the paid reviews don’t, their opinions on wether it’s any good or not so dependant on context and experience.