Being a muso snob

thisisguitar

I went to see some bands on Saturday. There were three on the bill, the first was alright, second were good, but the headliners turned out to be pretty awful. 

I looked down at the guitarists pedalboard in the first song and saw a boss bcb, with 5 boss pedals and a boss wah, and straight away I looked down on him. Which I felt a little bad about. 

Anyone else find themselves making judgments based on gear?

dafuzz

Kind of. I'm less judgemental of a player's ability if s/he has cheap gear. If I see top end stuff I expect the performance to be flawless

richardhomer

No. Quite the reverse actually. I've seen plenty of talented people make fantastic music out of very modest gear.

I played in a band which backed Arlen Roth in the mid-80s. He used an ESP Tele and Strat, both of which had horrendous set-ups.

He borrowed a cheap analogue delay (some real plasticky 80s brand - possibly an Arion - I can't remember).

The guy sounded fantastic....

Beyond a certain point, I really do believe it's all in the fingers.

underdog

Bloody cwmavon boy you are mind I'd probably not notice much past what guitar they used, and even then it'd depend on how much I'd drunk.

breakstuff

Anyone looking at my gear would probably think I'm a phenomenal player.


Sadly they'd be staggeringly wrong.

ICBM

Totally the reverse.

I'm more likely to see a bunch of Boss pedals and think the player is someone who doesn't care about hype and nonsense, values reliability, and gets his tone from his fingers.

Strat_a_tat_tat

No.... glad to say I've never judged anyone by the kind of kit they've got.... good or bad.

wayneirie

Think it's quite interesting to see the amount of "cheap" pedals on the rig rundowns. If it does what I want it to do without adding loads of noise, plays reasonably well with everything else, and is fairly simple to use. I couldn't care less about the name on it.

jd0272

With a belly full of Beam I probs wouldn't be able tell anyhoo. Fell asleep twice through Velvet Revolver gigs. Tsk. 

Fuzzdog

I'm an utter reverse snob when it comes to watching bands - if the guitarist has a battered old Squier, a few Boss pedals and some obscure ratty old amp, I'm pretty sure he's going to be good, or at least interesting.

If someone is there with several expensive guitars, a pedalboard full of exotic wizardry and a boutique amp or two, my brain has already decided that they're going to be at best tolerable, and more than likely pretty dull and/or bad.

I'm probably right 90% of the time. 

guitarfishbay

Ability to buy expensive gear and ability to use it well are not linked.

wave100

Line 6 amps do it for me (sorry if that offends any line6users out there)

EricTheWeary

guitarfishbay said:

Ability to buy expensive gear and ability to use it well are not linked.

wisdom awarded

Fuzzdog

wave100 said:

Line 6 amps do it for me (sorry if that offends any line6users out there)

I must confess that used to instantly put me off, until I went to see a band with a guitarist who had some seriously great tones.  Couldn't make out what amp he was using, looked like some sort of homebrew jobbie sat on top of his 2x12" cab.

The head was a rehoused Flextone II, of all things. :-O

VimFuego

I used to be really good at buying expensive gear. Sadly those days are behind me.

thisisguitar

This guy was pretty nondescript btw, irrespective of gear. I've seen some great players using basic gear too, and some people with all the gear and no idea. I know it's all about the playing, but I still sometime find myself doing it sometimes.

Last time I saw a guy playing with a line 6 spider I thought they'd suck before I'd heard a note. I was right, most underrehearsed painful experience in a while. People still applauded plenty though… which is why I rarely take anything from compliments after our shows, although I'm always happy if they would take the time to tell me, and am really happy if they've enjoyed the show :-)

monquixote

Nah, never look down on people for gear. 

I went to a pub in the beer garden where they had some jazz on and the guitar sound was superb. I went in to have a look and it was a 15 year old kid with a Pacifica 112 into a Peavey Bandit!

harpo

Did you slap him? I think I would have

ICBM

monquixote said:

I went to a pub in the beer garden where they had some jazz on and the guitar sound was superb. I went in to have a look and it was a 15 year old kid with a Pacifica 112 into a Peavey Bandit!

Two fantastic bits of kit which you can buy together for less than a TGP-approved overdrive pedal...

Fretwired

wave100 said:

Line 6 amps do it for me (sorry if that offends any line6users out there)

If Line 6 amps do it for you then why would that offend any Line 6 users.

Fretwired

I tend not to look at gear these days as it's hard to buy rubbish. There's an excellent vid I posted in the fx section with Steve Vai who shows you how to get his exotic tone with 5 or 6 off the shelf Boss pedals. Tells you all you need to know. Expensive gear does not a great guitarist make.