Forum members with top spec gear

capo4th

Great sounds ! 

Teetonetal

The only reason i gig and teach is to have a gear fund. All my gear pays for itself. I have a live rig that doesnt change much and everything else is for fun at home. I go through a lot of pedals because new sounds are fun and lots if pedals are dissappointingly similiar so get moved along pretty quickly. Buying 2nd hand also means my costs balance in the main

thomasross20

mgaw said:

thomasross20 said:

If anybody seriously thinks you can't play great guitar through low priced gear, I'd venture to say they're a bit thick. All this tone chasing stuff is bollocks to me. I'd take skill any day. I'd say I'm average with some great guitars but I don't pretend to be a fountain of knowledge, and I've had the balls to put videos and clips online.

dont think anyone really thinks you cant play great guitar on low priced gear @thomasross20.. just going to sound better with better gear,  as for chasing tone being a load of bollocks thats just a nonsense IMO....pick any instrument you like, are you seriously suggesting that a desire to get a wonderful sound isn't a major ambition of every musician?

All those instrument makers over the centuries must have been barking up the wrong tree in their quest for a better playing and more toneful violin. piano.oboe, drum. cello, guitar etc etc etc

I'd like an ok sound but hand on heart, it's not THE most important thing for me at all. 
In fact it's very low down the list. I can't emphasise that enough - it should all be about playing, learning the musical language, playing with others, gigging, writing music, transcribing etc etc. Tone-chasing to me is putting all that off.

mgaw

Barney said:

mgaw said:

Barney said:

Great idea ...this is from a couple of weeks back ...its my Overwater guitar through a shitty roland cube.. the overwater is similar quality to say a PRS 

nifty chops but what a shitty tone:)

Haha....i agree..lol...its all the amp.. guitar sounds great through right amp ..heres one from a while ago ...its my RDA Dumble clone and gibson R7...all the the different stages pf gain are by usining the guitar volume

you just illustrated perfectly the argument for great gear perfectly:)

mgaw

thomasross20 said:

mgaw said:

thomasross20 said:

If anybody seriously thinks you can't play great guitar through low priced gear, I'd venture to say they're a bit thick. All this tone chasing stuff is bollocks to me. I'd take skill any day. I'd say I'm average with some great guitars but I don't pretend to be a fountain of knowledge, and I've had the balls to put videos and clips online.

dont think anyone really thinks you cant play great guitar on low priced gear @thomasross20.. just going to sound better with better gear,  as for chasing tone being a load of bollocks thats just a nonsense IMO....pick any instrument you like, are you seriously suggesting that a desire to get a wonderful sound isn't a major ambition of every musician?

All those instrument makers over the centuries must have been barking up the wrong tree in their quest for a better playing and more toneful violin. piano.oboe, drum. cello, guitar etc etc etc

I'd like an ok sound but hand on heart, it's not THE most important thing for me at all. 
In fact it's very low down the list. I can't emphasise that enough - it should all be about playing, learning the musical language, playing with others, gigging, writing music, transcribing etc etc. Tone-chasing to me is putting all that off.

a very good point indeed, if we all followed your path we would all be way better players

thomasross20

I don't have a sarcasm button... lol...

Teetonetal

Tone chasing is a separate thing though, that's about always thinking the next piece of gear will suddenly open the door to a magical wonderful sound that is the sound in your head and better than the last. I kept help but feel this always leads to disappointment and dissatisfaction eventually with both your playing and your gear.

But buying nice gear is not just about that.

I love gear, I buy it because I'm interested in it and it's a large part of my hobby. Pedals in particular can be the gateway to hours of fun laying down a loop and twisting knobs.... pedals can merge the guitar and the synthesizer need in me.

But any gear without being able to play well enough to create what you want to create would be a nightmare. My level of ability is high enough to allow me to play and create the kind of music that I like. 

This hobby is great we have playing, recording, writing, gigging and gear to enjoy and everyone can follow the path that makes them happy. 

thomasross20

Gotta admit I never use pedals at home. I actually tinker around with sounds very little. It's largely about technical exercises, songs etc. I'm glad I'm not a tone chaser but clearly everybody's different, and that's fine!

octatonic

mgaw said:

thomasross20 said:

mgaw said:

thomasross20 said:

If anybody seriously thinks you can't play great guitar through low priced gear, I'd venture to say they're a bit thick. All this tone chasing stuff is bollocks to me. I'd take skill any day. I'd say I'm average with some great guitars but I don't pretend to be a fountain of knowledge, and I've had the balls to put videos and clips online.

dont think anyone really thinks you cant play great guitar on low priced gear @thomasross20.. just going to sound better with better gear,  as for chasing tone being a load of bollocks thats just a nonsense IMO....pick any instrument you like, are you seriously suggesting that a desire to get a wonderful sound isn't a major ambition of every musician?

All those instrument makers over the centuries must have been barking up the wrong tree in their quest for a better playing and more toneful violin. piano.oboe, drum. cello, guitar etc etc etc

I'd like an ok sound but hand on heart, it's not THE most important thing for me at all. 
In fact it's very low down the list. I can't emphasise that enough - it should all be about playing, learning the musical language, playing with others, gigging, writing music, transcribing etc etc. Tone-chasing to me is putting all that off.

a very good point indeed, if we all followed your path we would all be way better players

It is just down to how people divide their time.
If you are spending almost all of your time on your gear and virtually none on your playing then you won't progress nearly as much as if you did the reverse. 

I didn't invent any of this stuff- I just learned in a way that was taught to me by a bunch of different professional musicians- some I paid to have tuition with, some I got from books, some I observed when working together.

If people want to progress then there are a few things you can do that enable this- most of all it is being consistent with practice and being effective with practice.
Endless widdling and going over the same stuff that you already know won't get you there.

Teetonetal

thomasross20 said:

Gotta admit I never use pedals at home. I actually tinker around with sounds very little. It's largely about technical exercises, songs etc. I'm glad I'm not a tone chaser but clearly everybody's different, and that's fine!

This is the thing, I'm not a tone chaser either. Buying gear does not equal chasing tone. I love playing with pedals. Freeze + whammy + wet is hours of ambient modulated fun.

Technique is a good thing, to get the most out of a guitar you need to be good enough to play and create the things you want to play and create but really, technique for technique's sake is just as pointless as chasing tone - it has to get you somewhere to be worthwhile.

(but who is to say what is worthwhile or not...)

Megii

mgaw said:

Barney said:

mgaw said:

Barney said:

Great idea ...this is from a couple of weeks back ...its my Overwater guitar through a shitty roland cube.. the overwater is similar quality to say a PRS 

nifty chops but what a shitty tone:)

Haha....i agree..lol...its all the amp.. guitar sounds great through right amp ..heres one from a while ago ...its my RDA Dumble clone and gibson R7...all the the different stages pf gain are by usining the guitar volume

you just illustrated perfectly the argument for great gear perfectly:)

I can hear the difference of course, but to be fair, they are also different types of tone used in the clips. I'd be interested to here how what the Roland would sound like if used to get as close as possible to the type of tone in the RDA Dumble clip, including the reverb/effects. I doubt it would be as good, but all the same.

Drew_TNBD

octatonic said:
Endless widdling and going over the same stuff that you already know won't get you there.

It's worked for me!

p90fool

Drew_TNBD said:

octatonic said:
Endless widdling and going over the same stuff that you already know won't get you there.

It's worked for me!

Me too! There's gold in them five notes!

Drew_TNBD

p90fool said:

Drew_TNBD said:

octatonic said:
Endless widdling and going over the same stuff that you already know won't get you there.

It's worked for me!

Me too! There's gold in them five notes!

In all seriousness, guitarists are rarely the most important element of a band. Doesn't matter how shit hot your shredding is @thomasross20, if your drummer can't play to a click and if your bass can't keep time and if your singer sings out of tune and has horrible tone, then your band is going to suck.

richardhomer

p90fool said:
Me too! There's gold in them five notes!

Another fusion player in our midst....

p90fool

Drew_TNBD said:

p90fool said:

Drew_TNBD said:

octatonic said:
Endless widdling and going over the same stuff that you already know won't get you there.

It's worked for me!

Me too! There's gold in them five notes!

In all seriousness, guitarists are rarely the most important element of a band. Doesn't matter how shit hot your shredding is @thomasross20, if your drummer can't play to a click and if your bass can't keep time and if your singer sings out of tune and has horrible tone, then your band is going to suck.

Exactly. I play three short solos in our three-hour set, plus a few notable intros and a few other little breaks, but it's only the nerdy student and the guy with the leather floppy hat/grey ponytail combo at the bar who give a shit. 

The upside is I can drive the band along like a runaway train and jump around like a twat. 
 

Rocker

I don't see why anyone should feel that they have to justify owning decent gear. Neither should they feel obliged to post videos of themselves playing said gear. If they want to, fine, go ahead. Anyone hoping to decide on a purchase decision based on a video is deluded. If you are going to spend serious cash on a high spec guitar or amp, it is imperative that you go to the shop/dealer and try it out first. How else will you know if the piece of kit is 'for' you. A video cannot help in this regard.

guitarfishbay

Drew_TNBD said:

In all seriousness, guitarists are rarely the most important element of a band. Doesn't matter how shit hot your shredding is @thomasross20, if your drummer can't play to a click and if your bass can't keep time and if your singer sings out of tune and has horrible tone, then your band is going to suck.

Absolutely this.

RE: gear demos... good gear demos take a fair bit of work, unless you're literally going to noodle into the equipment and call it quits.  YouTube is already full of demos like that so I don't see what could be added.  Anything informative and well recorded takes time to do and you can't please everyone (and sometimes you get next to no feedback despite putting in a lot of work).  

Unless there's something specific that doesn't already exist then I don't really see what the point in trying to do a good tone demo is.  @Drew_TNBD has been doing some good Helix vs Strymon demos recently and AFAIA he's one of the first to do something like that in depth.  Looking at my gear nearly all of it has been done to death on YouTube already, and in many cases by people much better at demoing than myself

thomasross20

Yeah but I've no control over drummer and bassist and singer. I've control over my playing and that's what I'll focus on. 

thomasross20

I'd never use that as an excuse to be a sub standard player - every element is as important.

Fyi I'm not into shredding, that's a by-product of solid and confident technique, which is what I'm aiming for after all these years. Damn