barnesjd":18do2v4x said:
This is actually a point I was getting ready to make until I read your comment. Even if a new piece of gear doesn't sound discernibly different to anyone who hears it, if I'm playing more comfortably and confidently because I like the tone/feel/responsiveness, then ultimately it's worth it.
Just don't get wrapped around the axle wasting all of your time with losers that hang out on forums like rig-talk. 
I know that was meant tongue-in-cheek... but having been a long-time member of several other guitar gear related forums... I gotta say that the experience and skill of the majority of active Rig-Talkers seems to far exceed that of many posters on many other gear-related forums. I think that a lot of the guys here have similar backgrounds (many of us cut our teeth on guitar in the 80s when it was cool to work your ass off woodshedding). I've been on other forums where you'd have cork-sniffers with huge, expensive collections of guitars and amps and was shocked at times when I'd finally see/hear a clip of some of these guys... at just how amateur (I'm being VERY generous by using that term) they were as players. I don't see much of that at all here.
Anyways... again, I know that you were likely just using some self-deprecating humor there. Just wanted to say that I actually respect the average Rig-Talker's opinion on gear more than on other forums I've actively participated on. And not just in terms of their chops, but also because most seem to know great tone and how to get it. This place seems to be mostly a cut-above the other forums I've been on (TGP, Duncan forums, Marshall forum, The Acoustic Guitar Forum, the old PRS forum, the Fender forum, etc, etc)
Btw... I do see a little cork-sniffery here be a few devotees of the more expensive brands like Diezel, Friedman, etc. But it's only a touch and having been guilty of thinking that the boutique gear that I've been through (Bogner, VHT, Engl, etc) was "the good stuff" and "lesser" brands were "crap" myself in the past... it's just the nature of the beast. I will say that many of these Rig-Talk cork-sniffers were pretty bitchin players when I've seen their clips. Seriously, my opinion is that many of the posters here are/were working pro/semi-pros who don't suck. Hell... we've got some GREAT and well known players who've posted here in the past, like Pete Thorn and Andy Wood. And I know there are others around here who shred and who are playing for big crowds too. Like any forum, there's a lot of BS and stuff that I'm outgrowing... but this is still my preferred music board for sure.
