Opinions and Credibility with regards to gear.

[guitarslinger]

I judge credibility by a combo of the following criteria:

1. grammar use and spelling
2. quality of gear
3. ability to play
4. tone in clips?
5. age of player (tonal peak is usually between 25-35. Older or younger = shitty tone.)

 

[timbo]

I judge credibility by a combo of the following criteria:

1. grammar use and spelling
2. quality of gear
3. ability to play
4. tone in clips?
5. age of player (tonal peak is usually between 25-35. Older or younger = shitty tone.)

Man, I'll be 40 in November with 32 years of playing.Not only will I be officially old, but now you got me thinkin about my tone and how much I'll really suck. Thanks!

 

[guitarslinger]

I judge credibility by a combo of the following criteria:

1. grammar use and spelling
2. quality of gear
3. ability to play
4. tone in clips?
5. age of player (tonal peak is usually between 25-35. Older or younger = shitty tone.)

Man, I'll be 40 in November with 32 years of playing.Not only will I be officially old, but now you got me thinkin about my tone and how much I'll really suck. Thanks!

Think about it. Legendary, great tones were acheived by 20-somethings many years ago who suck now at 45, 55, 65 etc.

 

[Vrad]

I don't believe anyone... I need to hear/play/own it for myself.
Sometimes for an extended period of time before I make up my mind...

But usually, clips give me some idea that the person knows what they're talking about.

 

[guitarslinger]

I don't believe anyone... I need to hear/play/own it for myself.

def. some truth to that.

I dislike SLO's even though everyone and their brother worships it.

I love the G12T75 even though everyone and their brother despises it.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

Do you find that people who have "owned" a lot of different gear (amps or guitars etc) to have a more valuable opinion than someone who has only "owned" a few things? I personally feel that there is a point when credibility is lost when someone buys and sells a lot of different things.

What do you think?

Generally but not always, sometimes the guys who blow through alot of gear only keep it for very short periods of time before flipping, so they don't have real in depth experience with it anyways...

Opinions are so biased by their very nature anyways (lol) that the longer I've been on the various forums the more I would rather hear/see it for myself before jumping to any conclusions...

 

[Vrad]

I don't believe anyone... I need to hear/play/own it for myself.

def. some truth to that.

I dislike SLO's even though everyone and their brother worships it.

I love the G12T75 even though everyone and their brother despises it.

Yeah. I can't tell you how many times I've heard guys using mediocre gear and achieve fantasatic almost pro-level recordings and how many times I've heard guys with fantastic gear record crap... LOL!
So how do you reconcile that?

 

[Subclavian]

good thread...

I consider a few things...

I normally look at the poster and his attitude on the board. This one has a tremendous amount of players I do respect. However, if the guy spends 99% of his posts in open jam or whatever talking trash I usually count him out.

I look at the experience of the player and his or her genre.

I also look at the quality of the person...yeah, it's one thing to clown around but there are some great dudes on the board...Take Bob Savage for example. He put out a great CD I personally really enjoy. Thump does his gigs and when they came out and gave approval of the plank cranker, I was in regardless of if it sucked or not. It takes a LONG time in my book to get the credibility. This forum has some great people (bob, chris, kage, petelaramee, etc) and some great players...that's why I hang out on THIS forum and nowhere else.


I will say though is that I don't really like the guys that try to flaunt their shit around. It seems like some dudes get their rocks off trying to impress people. It seems like sometimes a guy will go through 4 or 5 $2,000+ guitars in a month just to go "oooh, look what I have". You know what, I don't care.

Finally, I decide for myself what it is I want for MY tone. Sure, some dudes have similar tastes...but nobody else is me.

The purpose of this forum is to be a community and if I can ever help anybody I'm always willing to help out, but would hope that they would make their opinion instead of being influenced by mine.


sub

 

[defpearlpilot]

Do you find that people who have "owned" a lot of different gear (amps or guitars etc) to have a more valuable opinion than someone who has only "owned" a few things? I personally feel that there is a point when credibility is lost when someone buys and sells a lot of different things.

What do you think?

I fully agree with you. There are a few "respected" people who's opinions I couldn't care less about.

 

[mrp5150]

Tons of people on here do nothing but buy and sell gear, I don't think that makes their opinions any less valid at all. If someone has only owned or played a couple different things, then certainly they're not going to know as much as someone who has owned a ton of different amps or guitars. You also have to consider what kind of tones other people go for and what other gear they're using.

 

[mightyjoeyoungxnj]

In my opinion, it varies too much to really generalize. I judge one's opinion based on the way they present themselves, if I've heard their playing before, and if they don't go overboard when praising a certain piece of gear.

I do not agree that age is such a determining factor. I'm 23 and consider myself to have some damn tasty tone. It isn't hard when I'm playing through my cranked Super Reverb that sounds great with any variation of settings. Also, I've cruised HC since 2001 and have been a gear nut since my teens. I've had my share of amps (maybe not as many as some on here), have been in bands, gigged, and tweaked like crazy. Therefore, I think I have plenty of experience and am credible enough to give a fair opinion on tone.

I also love all different types of music, which I think is important to having an objective opinion on tone.

-Joe

 

[nbarts]

No one can tell you what gear you need. The best a person on the board can do for you is to draw a comparison to something else you've had experience before.

You can buy exactly the same rig & sound nothing like the other player & it doesn't necessarily mean that you suck. There are different techniques & ways of playing.

As for the credibility, in my experience higher post count means less credibility

 

[bill]

My grammer sucks and I'm 58 so I guess I better just kill myself. Just kidding. I can't agree with your thinking but I have seen many great guitarist peak and then just sorta suck when then get older so the age factor can be true but grammer? Give me a break.

 

[PeteLaramee]

I judge credibility by a combo of the following criteria:

1. grammar use and spelling
2. quality of gear
3. ability to play
4. tone in clips?
5. age of player (tonal peak is usually between 25-35. Older or younger = shitty tone.)

I agree, plus I add many other criteria.

FWIW - I've bought and sold a lot of gear because I think the only way I can truly try something is to test it out in the same room, guitar, cab, etc as all other amps I liked. By no means does that mean anyone should take my word for anything.

 

[Digital Jams]

I make suggestions if I have a strong feeling towards something but I am not near the level of others here ear wise. I just lean on others to get moving in the right direction. One of these days I will get 100% on a DI vs Speaker quiz

Most of the guys I ask for advice do not flip gear very often and do not own a wall of amps to stay on topic, they do average old fuck age though

 

[dstroud]

I don't think people lose "credibility" for buying and selling all the time. Some guys like just changing all the time. They like an amp for a while, then they're tired of hearing it, or they know that their current amp does and they want to know what the next amp does.

 

[Digital Jams]

I judge credibility by a combo of the following criteria:

5. age of player (tonal peak is usually between 25-35. Older or younger = shitty tone.)

I have to respecfully disagree with ya on this one Gene, IMO the best ears on this site are in their 40s or darn near 40.

Maybe you dont know the ages of people here

 

[Shiny_Surface]

I judge credibility by a combo of the following criteria:

5. age of player (tonal peak is usually between 25-35. Older or younger = shitty tone.)

I have to respecfully disagree with ya on this one Gene, IMO the best ears on this site are in their 40s or darn near 40.

Maybe you dont know the ages of people here

Maybe he does and that's why he gave that range

I'm out of the range, too old

 

[jkdsteve]

There are a lot of people on here that flip gear....but also have great chops and great tone...so that doesn't automatically invalidate the opinion for me.

I guess if they're good players and know what they like and don't bash other crap just because...I'll tend to respect that opinion.

 

[robb]

Buying, selling, and using guitars and amps is fun. I think it's at least 30% of being a guitar player. I remember the first pedal I bought and breaking that seal which would lead to thousands and thousands of dollars of gear rotating in and out of my rig.

As for tone.... Well it is so subjective. Which is why we are constantly asking for opinions. We are like girls asking our friends "do I look fat?"
I find that a lot of the clips I hear don't sound very good to my ears. But as Bob Savage reminded me on Saturday, recording guitar is form of art on it's own. The only way to truly judge live amp tone is to be in the same room with the amp.