How accurate are your opinions on gear?

[Lozz196]

I`ve had many different basses, amps, and speaker cabs. Sold them all. Does that make them bad, no. Just not right for me - or make that right for me at the time. I`m sure many of those sales will come back and haunt me. I`m yet to play any bass/amp/cab that I couldn`t get a workable sound from, and am happy to chip in with my views on the actual sounds of the items, rather than whether those sounds are the ones I want.

And I still don`t get the "woolly Ashdown" comments. Yes I`ve heard some people make very indistinct woolly sounds from them, but I`ve also heard some really clear precise sounds from them too. I think both camps adjusted the eq to their preference.

Edited May 26, 2014 by Lozz196

[Bassman Steve]

I probably have fairly strong opinions on stuff. I do try to make sure I state it's only an opinion and would never claim to know everything about sound etc. The opinions that I do have are drawn from a lot of years of playing so I'm at least comfortable with them as far as they affect me.

Are they accurate? For me, definitely yes but I would expect that to be true for pretty much everyone.

Probably more about how you express disagreement. If you imply someone's an idiot for having a different view then you tend to look the idiot yourself.

[lojo]

You have to be vary carefull seeking opinions on the internet, including on here, but you learn to gauge things and which members are inline with you or have technical knowledge etc.

Often with gear we are just seeking a few to back up a decision we are ultimately going to make anyway I believe .

Just my opinions at this present moment of course

[Cat Burrito]

But it must be true if someone is saying it on the Internet though, right?

[merlin]

I would not trust my opinion cant even work my own gear,

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Prosebass' timestamp='1401105999' post='2460048']
Ed Friedland is GOD!
[/quote]

No he's not. He's simply another bass reviewer.

For me his demos are of little use since I have heard him play two models of bass bass guitar that I have also owned and sounds that each of us get from them have been completely different.

[discreet]

I like Parmesan, Roquefort, Camembert, Pecorino, Extra-Mature Cheddar and Pancetta.
[size=4]HA-HA! *Points and laughs* The last one isn't even a cheese! Thhppp!! [/size]

As has been said, one can really only make comments about gear that one has owned or used... listening to people playing basses or auditioning amps under certain conditions is of limited value, as any given bass or amp is going to sound like you playing it... when it's you playing it... probably under quite different conditions. [size=4]Which is why one man's killer rig is another man's expensive mistake.[/size]

[discreet]

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1401100863' post='2459968']...Someone states that a certain rig that they had in the '70s was the perfect tone, a tone that no other rig to this day can equal. That was 40 years ago - the person is very different, their hearing is probably different. Perhaps those 'glory days' bring back all sorts of happy memories of youth, groupies etc. and their memory has filtered out all the crap stuff. Could their memory have sweetened up the tone of that rig over time?[/quote]

There's certainly something in that. But the SVT CL/810 I used twenty years ago is still the best bass 'tone' I've ever heard (however you want to quantify that) and while it's true that gear has come a very long way since then, I used the self same rig at an audition a year or two back, and there it was - still that same killer tone from a USA Ampeg rig and a Fender P bass. It hadn't changed!

Only dull practicalities and logistics prevent me from buying that rig and being done with the whole sorry 'tone-quest' thing forever!
[size=4]And another thing - as far as 'glory days' are concerned I'd like to think mine are still to come! Excelsior![/size]

Edited May 28, 2014 by discreet

[Bigwan]

They're all YMMV those opinion things...

Having said that, I won't even venture an opinion typically, unless I have 1st hand experience of X vs Y, preferably X experienced in close succession to Y at that. There are a few pieces of gear I sing the praises of to anyone who will listen (notably preferring an Orange Terror over a Genz Streamliner and an Ibanez ATK over a Stingray, Lakland being the most comfy 5 string neck I've played, Squier SQ and CV basses being awesome) but it's just my experience.

[marlborored]

Opinions are funny things, the general consensus from the people I tend to be around is that Peavey are sh*t and should be avoided like the plague and anything more pricey such as Ampeg or Trace Elliot gear is automatically amazing. My mate has a peavey guitar amp though and considering how cheap it was it doesn't sound half bad, is that an example of the general opinion about peavey being wrong or is it that particular amp being an exception to the rule that most peaveys really are sh*te?
(I also played through a very expensive Trace Elliot combo the other week, I was expecting to be blown away but I couldn't get a useable tone out of it, it just sounded so weak? So maybe I have a dodgy set of ears)

Edited May 29, 2014 by marlborored

[neepheid]

[quote name='marlborored' timestamp='1401353382' post='2462639']
Opinions are funny things, the general consensus from the people I tend to be around is that Peavey are sh*t and should be avoided like the plague and anything more pricey such as Ampeg or Trace Elliot gear is automatically amazing. My mate has a peavey guitar amp though and considering how cheap it was it doesn't sound half bad, is that an example of the general opinion about peavey being wrong or is it that particular amp being an exception to the rule that most peaveys really are sh*te?
(I also played through a very expensive Trace Elliot combo the other week, I was expecting to be blown away but I couldn't get a useable tone out of it, it just sounded so weak? So maybe I have a dodgy set of ears)
[/quote]

I wonder how many of these people who are telling you that Peavey stuff is rubbish have actually tried it. Ask 'em why Peavey stuff is crap and watch them struggle to provide anything conclusive

Make up your own mind, carry salt with you at all times for when you need a pinch. Bottom line is - if you like it then it's good. All the other examples of that product might be crap, but that's pretty irrelevant when you have a good one sitting right there.

[CamdenRob]

To be honest it's not peoples opinions that are the issue.. everyone has different tastes with regards to what sounds good and what doesn't and different criteria for what makes a good product better than a bad one.

I do see people being very over sensitive though... when someone disagrees with said opinions on what gear is the best, getting all uptight and defensive, typing out lenghtly replies as if the other party is suddenly going to realise the error of their ways and start liking the same stuff you do.

I absolutely couldn't give a toss what anyone here thinks of my gear / playing... I find others opinions on stuff interesting, that's why I'm here talking about basses, but there is no chance that anyone is going to influence me to go against what I like.

Edited May 29, 2014 by CamdenRob

[krysh]

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1401354183' post='2462655']
I wonder how many of these people who are telling you that Peavey stuff is rubbish have actually tried it. Ask 'em why Peavey stuff is crap and watch them struggle to provide anything conclusive
...
[/quote]

within the last 32 years I played almost every stuff that is available and I didn't find peavey more crap than any other brand. in fact most of ther stuff is really great. I like the tnt combos and had a peavey deuce 2x12" guitar combo with valve power amp that I should have kept because it really had a great clean sound. the only thing I never liked is their logo, it looks so cheaply designed.

all this gear discussion is a bit weird, because if you can play well you can sound well on almost everything.

[discreet]

[quote name='krysh' timestamp='1401355603' post='2462673']
...all this gear discussion is a bit weird, because if you can play well you can sound well on almost everything.
[/quote]

Aye, there's the rub.
How much of the time (and money) spent on GAS and the epic 'tone-quest' would be better spent learning to play?

PS: I've always found Peavey gear to be totally bulletproof, if a little heavy.

Edited May 29, 2014 by discreet

[ead]

According to Mrs ead I am always wrong, therefore my opinions should be ignored or ridiculed.

[discreet]

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1401366548' post='2462832']
According to Mrs ead I am always wrong, therefore my opinions should be ignored or ridiculed.
[/quote]

Tell me about it. The current mrs discreet is American, so not only am[i] I[/i] wrong, but everyone else is, too. Except for her dad.

[karlfer]

The bit of opinion I always love is all Mexican Fenders are crap.
As neepheid pointed to, nobody has played one thousandth of Fender Mexico's output, so therefore any opinion is based on an infinitesimal test base.
FWIW pretty much every Mex Fender I've tried have been good to excellent, but that is just my experience.

People who put out STATEMENTS based on a tiny bit of experience should be visited in the small hours and have a pint of maggots put down their Y fronts.

[discreet]

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1401437021' post='2463517']
People who put out STATEMENTS based on a tiny bit of experience should be visited in the small hours and have a pint of maggots put down their Y fronts.
[/quote]

I'd like to state that I've never had maggots put down my Y-fronts but I'm sure that I'd like it.

[karlfer]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1401437483' post='2463522']
I'd like to state that I've never had maggots put down my Y-fronts but I'm sure that I'd like it.
[/quote]

I'm sure they would get on with the worm*

* statements referring to members genitalia are simply an opinion with no basis in research.
** especially MIM genitalia.

[discreet]

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1401438591' post='2463533']
** especially MIM genitalia.
[/quote]

Are you implying my meat and two veg are Mexican..?

[karlfer]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1401439133' post='2463537']
Are you implying my meat and two veg are Mexican..?
[/quote]

Well your comments are frequently spicy

[discreet]

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1401440003' post='2463555']
Well your comments are frequently spicy
[/quote]

I will have Montezuma's revenge!!

[karlfer]

Don't mention Montezuma Brown
I think I did, but got away with it.

[discreet]

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1401444868' post='2463634']
Don't mention Montezuma Brown I think I did, but got away with it.
[/quote]

Just as long as you don't say 'Rickenbacker'. D'OH!!

[karlfer]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1401444964' post='2463636']
Just as long as you don't say 'Rickenbacker'. D'OH!!
[/quote]