overrated gear :D

[BenoA]

Gear. All "gear" is over rated. Just plug in and play and make it happen.

"Overrated" to me is when I see folks buying gear in the hope of "nailing (put your favorite musician's name in here)'s tone... And I mostly buy used gear, so nothing gets "overrated", I let the first buyer take the big bite and then that's where I come in... I'm lucky I'm gigging quite often these days and the people coming to our gigs don't give a hoot about what kind of gear is on stage, they just wanna get entertained, have a blast and drink some beer while dancing with the ladies.

No offense to guys who can afford super high end gear and show up in a bar with a Diezel or Suhr but I don't see the point in doing so. This past weekend I gigged with a $200 Ibanez and my LP, 1st set with the Ibby and the 2nd set with my LP. No one gave a shit about what gear I was using. I play covers, I'm an entertainer, I'm nothing special, my job is to make ppl happy and keep them partying and buying beers.

Everything is over-rated. And everything is the "best" to someone. You could change the title of this thread to "What's the best gear you've ever owned?" and the answers wouldn't change. They'd just come from different people.

At the end of the day, everything comes down to one qualifier....."for me"
It's all about what works for you in a given context.
For me it all comes down to feel; that's a pretty personal thing.

Some of you guys need to get the Pricepoint out of your heads.
You can't call something overated just because it has a high pricetag and at the end of the day, this is all highly subjective.

If someone is willing to pay $4000 on an amp then so be it and you cannot blame the MFG for the asking price if people are willing to shell out the ca$h.

The last thing that I can say is that some of you guys take this shit way to personally. Who the hell cares if someone doesn't dig the same amp that you do? Seriously?
One mans overated amp is another mans Dream Rig. It's been that way for ages and will continue to be that way forever

~R~

I'm with all of the above.

I don't mind the price of the gear, as long as it makes you happy, put a smile on your face and makes you feel you play better.

I recently purchased my first "supposed-to-be-pro-guitar". It's nice, plays great but it still some wood with a 6$ pack of steel strings on it... And I'm still the crappy player behind it.

 

[Ventura]

We can also take this whole thing a step further and say LIFE is overrated, I mean it... You know like we're this miniscule little organism in this vast universe, and we're talking about car interiors and amplifier tubes while there's supernovas and event horizons happening in this infinite and expanding thing we call "space" and "time".

Just a spin on this whole thang, know what I mean??

Anyway - moving BACK to this realm, I will concur with a couple things... Hype and overrated has nothing to do with price; personal opinion and subjectivity is what drives a thread like this; we're not to be defending our positions, just offering our 2 cents; and ya, everything is overrated...just make it work and work with what ya got.

Peace!!
Mo

 

[killertone]

Bare knuckle painkiller pickup. I really hated it.

What did you hate about the Painkiller? Have you heard the Aftermath? supposedly it cleans up some of the "quirks" that the PK had...

I think the problem is that I have always been an EMG 81, 89, 0r 85 type of guy. I tried the Painkiller at the recommendation of a friend. He said it is the closest passive pickup to an 81. I tried it. Seemed way hot if I remember right but dull to me. Didn't have the bite I wanted in a certain frequency. I honestly have forget most of the specifics about what I didn't like about it. I really wanted to like it too in order to get off of the active bottle.

I usually dial my rigs to suit one guitar in particular(my main player) and make minor adjustments according to what EMG equipped guitar I am playing. I would like to try other BK products but honestly I am content with EMG.

My same friend said my rig sounds fantastic and he hates EMG's after using them in the past. He goes thru pickups like water. He revisited the EMG 81 and liked it but that really does not mean shit.


I am sure there are plenty of other pickups that would suit my needs but I am lazy.

See, I love my PK's and absolutely hate EMGs. Different strokes...

Hater! JK, it's cool. Just like you said, everyone has their thing.


On a side note........I LOVE my Herbert! I bought it used and scored big. $2200. I would not spend $4500 on an amp unless I had money coming out of my ass....which I don't.

That is a siiiiiiick effing deal on Herbert, man. Congrats on that!

if I say anyone is a hater I hope you (Killertone) know I am just kidding around. I am not personally invested in anyone's opinion of anything. I just like being a little sarcastic from time to time and I LOVE my VH4. I think its the best amp in the world. I dont own a Herbert but I am looking into it possibly....I have played one and for what it is I think its the best high gain amp next to the VH4 (of course). I had a herb with the gain pretty low, turned up REALLY loud and I was shaking some balls. It was a nice feeling. I am curious as what a NATAS sounds like in the room, but I need midi switching and really awesome FX loops, so Everytime I start to gas on other amps, I am reminded of their shortcomings in light of what Diezel offers...

Like I said, this seems like a thread thats about price and not about HYPE. overrated gear doesnt have to be expensive, its just gear that people talk ALOT about and it inflates the perception of what it should be, THEN when they get it, it doesnt live up to the expectations...
its like the time I banged this super hot maxim model girl...she looked like pure sex, but in the sack she was awkward and kind of a dead fish...the perception was more than the reality...

It's all good! I really try and be open minded about stuff, and I think I really was about the Herbert.

Also to touch on the point about price that you and Ralphie raised about price...I don't base my judgement on whether an amp costs a lot or not, I try to be specifically concerned with how it sounds. Personally, I don't mind dropping a ton of coin on an amp, I think in the vast majority of amp situations, you get what you pay for.

 

[rupe]

We can also take this whole thing a step further and say LIFE is overrated, I mean it... You know like we're this miniscule little organism in this vast universe, and we're talking about car interiors and amplifier tubes while there's supernovas and event horizons happening in this infinite and expanding thing we call "space" and "time".

Just a spin on this whole thang, know what I mean??

Peace!!
Mo

Hey Mo! Pass that this way, bro!

 

[Ventura]

We can also take this whole thing a step further and say LIFE is overrated, I mean it... You know like we're this miniscule little organism in this vast universe, and we're talking about car interiors and amplifier tubes while there's supernovas and event horizons happening in this infinite and expanding thing we call "space" and "time".

Just a spin on this whole thang, know what I mean??

Peace!!
Mo

Hey Mo! Pass that this way, bro!

Nothing to pass Braddah, this is ALL coming from a clean and sober headspace, going on to 5 years at that...!!

Not to say there's not some lingering damage

I'm a sick cat, I read tons of psychology, astrophysics, chaos theory, you know....the light stuff

Peace,
Mo (to all my RT'ers, when the mothership comes to take me away, you will all be sorely missed!!)

 

[rupe]

We can also take this whole thing a step further and say LIFE is overrated, I mean it... You know like we're this miniscule little organism in this vast universe, and we're talking about car interiors and amplifier tubes while there's supernovas and event horizons happening in this infinite and expanding thing we call "space" and "time".

Just a spin on this whole thang, know what I mean??

Peace!!
Mo

Hey Mo! Pass that this way, bro!

Nothing to pass Braddah, this is ALL coming from a clean and sober headspace, going on to 5 years at that...!!

Not to say there's not some lingering damage

I'm a sick cat, I read tons of psychology, astrophysics, chaos theory, you know....the light stuff

Peace,
Mo (to all my RT'ers, when the mothership comes to take me away, you will all be sorely missed!!)

 

[rsm]

Marshall, Mesa Boogie, Gibson and Fender.









j/k

I haven't tried any gear that I see as overrated, just stuff that works for me or doesn't, then if it is worth the price to me. If I haven't tried it myself, then I don't feel I'm in a position to comment. YMMV.

For me, with a few exceptions, if it isn't Rickenbacker, Vox, Epiphone (real, not the low end stuff) and Steinberger (real, New York, '80s) it doesn't do it for me.


Most overated piece of gear: yours. least: mine.

 

[Moshaholic]

alright everyone post what you think is the most overrated amp, guitar, effect, etc.

ITS A TRAP!!!

 

[skoora]

Of course it's about price. The whole reason something seems over-rated is because it's a financial leap to get it for most and you made the leap based on people giving it high ratings. A metal zone isn't over-rated. Everyone knows it's crap. But it's what kids can afford, especially used. How can something cheap be over-rated? If a $2 instrument cord sounds sub par or lasts 2 weeks, well it was $2. No-one feels cheated, just a feeling of I thought I might get away with it but I didn't.

Plus I haven't heard one product mentioned yet that doesn't cost serious coin compared to others in it's field.

 

[Ventura]

Of course it's about price. The whole reason something seems over-rated is because it's a financial leap to get it for most and you made the leap based on people giving it high ratings. A metal zone isn't over-rated. Everyone knows it's crap. But it's what kids can afford, especially used. How can something cheap be over-rated? If a $2 instrument cord sounds sub par or lasts 2 weeks, well it was $2. No-one feels cheated, just a feeling of I thought I might get away with it but I didn't.

Plus I haven't heard one product mentioned yet that doesn't cost serious coin compared to others in it's field.

Ruby Tubes.

There, I said it. And along with it JJ's and Groove Tube's can go for a long dance as well.

V.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

Some one already mentioned it but yeah; the boss metal zone.

Ten million units sold and counting responsible for ten million local metal bands sounding like utter feces!

 

[David_kessler]

Metal zone sounds great as a boost on the Crowbar records.

 

[kasperjensen]

BOSS are clever enough to catch guitarists coming into the market...

 

[leib10]

Of course it's about price. The whole reason something seems over-rated is because it's a financial leap to get it for most and you made the leap based on people giving it high ratings. A metal zone isn't over-rated. Everyone knows it's crap. But it's what kids can afford, especially used. How can something cheap be over-rated? If a $2 instrument cord sounds sub par or lasts 2 weeks, well it was $2. No-one feels cheated, just a feeling of I thought I might get away with it but I didn't.

Plus I haven't heard one product mentioned yet that doesn't cost serious coin compared to others in it's field.

I disagree. Not everyone knows it's crap, and it's because of those people that it's overrated among its users. Very few people on this board would condescend to owning and using one, but for the community where it is a major force (people who can't afford rigs worth thousands of dollars), it can certainly be overrated when there are better options for the same price out there.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

Metal zone sounds great as a boost on the Crowbar records.

I think cannibal corpse does well with metal zones as boosts also, I'm referring to the unit as the source of your high gain distortion, the truth is almost and distortion can be used before an amp set up as a useful boost. Think of it as a distortion pedal used as a pre distortion eq curve and output boost. I doubt either band is using much of the pedals actual transistor gain for dirt.

 

[leib10]

Metal zone sounds great as a boost on the Crowbar records.

I think cannibal corpse does well with metal zones as boosts also, I'm referring to the unit as the source of your high gain distortion, the truth is almost and distortion can be used before an amp set up as a useful boost. Think of it as a distortion pedal used as a pre distortion eq curve and output boost. I doubt either band is using much of the pedals actual transistor gain for dirt.

This is what I'm talking about. Most of the people I know use it for their main distortion into the clean channel of an amp.

 

[skoora]

Metal zone sounds great as a boost on the Crowbar records.

I think cannibal corpse does well with metal zones as boosts also, I'm referring to the unit as the source of your high gain distortion, the truth is almost and distortion can be used before an amp set up as a useful boost. Think of it as a distortion pedal used as a pre distortion eq curve and output boost. I doubt either band is using much of the pedals actual transistor gain for dirt.

This is what I'm talking about. Most of the people I know use it for their main distortion into the clean channel of an amp.

I worked guitar retail for over 5 years and only sold Metal zones to kids starting out. Just because something is used a lot doesn't mean it's over-rated.

Is Bugera over-rated? Crate? All low price amps that are all over the place but they're not over-rated. They just fill that niche of budget item that gets the job done.

 

[Mr. Willy]

Most modern high-gain amps.

I don't know if you are kidding, but I think this is totally true. There are so many great drive pedals out there that sound natural and have lots of harmonic breakup to them. The Fulltone OCD is one of those pedals that I am constantly in awe of. On the LP mode, at 18-watts, and with the gain just at 11:00 am, I can get the best crunch tones ever -- with super harmonic content throughout the breakup.

Rockbox is another great drive pedal. I rarely use my Roadster's gain channels anymore, aside from the Tweed drive on channel 1. Everything else is set to clean and dirty clean. I just add my pedals to further color the tone.

Totally serious. I don't understand the need for massive amounts of gain in some modern amps. The louder you crank an amp, the more likely you're gonna be to turn the gain down. There are some great modern amps out there that have a decent sound, but they lack dynamics imho. I'd rather have a rugged, hand-wired, one channel tube amp and manipulate the tone with my volume and tone on my guitar than an amp loaded with features that I'd never use. My tastes have changed as I've gotten older. I wouldn't have felt this way even 5 years ago.

 

[ericsabbath]

How can something cheap be over-rated?

AMT pedals
Orange Tiny Terror (actually, all Orange models are overrated, imo)
Warehouse speakers
Schecter guitars
anything "true bypass"
JJ tubes
Celestion Vintage 30
Suhr Aldrich pickup
attenuators for master volume high gain amps
PRS SE guitars
Eminence The Governor and The Wizard speakers
Vox wah
Digitech Bad Monkey
GFS pickups
Mesa Rectifier (well, they are cheap used in the US)
"ESP" LTD guitars
ISP Decimator
Shure SM57
Epiphone guitars

 

[leib10]

Metal zone sounds great as a boost on the Crowbar records.

I think cannibal corpse does well with metal zones as boosts also, I'm referring to the unit as the source of your high gain distortion, the truth is almost and distortion can be used before an amp set up as a useful boost. Think of it as a distortion pedal used as a pre distortion eq curve and output boost. I doubt either band is using much of the pedals actual transistor gain for dirt.

This is what I'm talking about. Most of the people I know use it for their main distortion into the clean channel of an amp.

I worked guitar retail for over 5 years and only sold Metal zones to kids starting out. Just because something is used a lot doesn't mean it's over-rated.

Is Bugera over-rated? Crate? All low price amps that are all over the place but they're not over-rated. They just fill that niche of budget item that gets the job done.

Hmm, maybe I'm not communicating clearly. What I mean is that among the users, the ones who are just starting out as you mentioned, this thing is held to be the end-all greatest piece of gear one can acquire. A lot of them say that their Metal Zones are better than a lot of high-end amps, which is obviously ridiculous. That's what I mean by the Metal Zone being overrated among some of its users who are ignorant about other, much better gear.