most over-rated gear

[glassjaw_jc]

over rated? handmade USA guitars.

couldn't agree more. +1 on this

but that won't stop me from wanting one  

[glassjaw_jc]

Para sakin RAT... ewan ko sobrang dami may gusto, pero ang muddy kaya nya and walang clarity, medyo ngongo eh... based on experience

Baka sira? I owned 2 and they're very responsive to your playing, rolls off nicely with your volume, can go clean to distortion and everything in between. I love the texture of the tone too. Tone knob set at center, transparent enough.

[maniacally_cool]

hmmmm.....ano ba?   strat?   hehehehe. #-o

[Phil]

DS-1 Keeley Ultra mod.

...doesn't mean if it works for Steve...it will work for you.

i have to disagree. that was one of the best pedals i've ever had. and if i could find another one at the price i originally bought it for. i'd get it in a heartbeat.

overrated? hmmm

USA strats...
Diezel...
TS-9...
PRS guitars made in the new factory
certain marshalls
certain fenders

...time to go home...will add more later.

I think nasa user. I just didn't like how it sound with my setup.....plus full price when I bought it..brand new....sakit sa wallet....even when I tried stratman's keely ds-1...I still didn't like it...I like his fulltone better...so far the best od pedal for me is the tube driver.

[SDMF]

ts9 ? mas na tripan ko pa yung digitech bad monkey... opinion ko lang..

+1 din ako dito. hehehe!  tinatamad pako magpaliwanag.

[pallas]

mesa boogie, never found one that i liked

[deltaslim]

+1 on MIA fenders.

also, i think a lot, and prolly, most boutique pedals and amps are over-rated.  there are some real gems tho.  i prefer more innovative designs w/ more features, options, and sounds para bang for the buck and all that.

as for overpriced, heck, even mass produced pedals like Boss and Ibanez are overpriced kung bibilhin mo locally!  otherwise, they're not over-rated and overpriced, IMO.

[manilacoke3]

BOSS stomps & multiFXs. hehe. compare mo nmn sa mga naglalabasang alternatives db? (Boston, Behringer)

[R0B1EP061]

Stratman1,

Have you tried the Herbert?  How long has it been with you...

I believe there are more overrated NON boutique gear than there are overrated boutique gear.

The only reason some people think there are more overrated boutique gear is because most of the time they can only afford one or two.  People tend to lick their wounds because thats all they can afford so most of the time they have to console themselves with what they own.  As far as I am concerned, if your whole chain is made of the best gear in the world -- unfortunately most of them are expensive -- it is a magical experience.  Based on the track record of the so called boutique gear I have been hearing, its a 80% success rate.  By the way, if you dont hear it 8 out of 10 times for boutique stuff, the other parts of your signal chain is surely below the 8 out of 10 times good sounding benchmark.

By the way, I am loosely defining boutique gear as expensive -- waymore so than what people would pay for commercially available accepted brands with endorsements.

There you go. Thats what makes them sssoooooo overrated...I have heard a lot of production gear that would put boutique gear to shame...or maybe even out of business. On another note, there are some boutique equiptment that is really worth buying; maybe a certain pedal or an amp or what not. Aside from the name, exclusivity and the fact that you didnt get it at a regular music chain just gives you more bragging rights.

People are not ranting about how boutique gears are overratted because they couldnt afford it; its just that sometimes THEY ARE!  I would agree with you on the fact that there are a boatload of NON boutique gears that are reallly overrated themselves. On the otherhand paying for something 3x as much when you can get something at par or even better is just plain idiotic.

Bottom line is, whatever works for someone may not really work out for another one. period.

[abyssinianson]

mesa boogie, never found one that i liked

they are quite temperamental. i feel the same way about Fenders and Marshalls. For me, the best sounding Fender amps are the Vibro King, the Twin, and the Deville 2x10s. Their prices have been pretty consistent and they do what they do - they sound clean. Mesa's are different because they are like Marshall's in some ways, and Fenders in others so, to really get a good Boogie, you can't escape trying every single one you can get your hands on. Lord knows, I tried everything Boogie made at the time I bought mine and I ended up going with 3 discontinued models because I thought they sounded like "that" sound in my head.

[oasgomez-is-banned]

Rob,

So,  what boutique gear have you tested over a protracted amount of time?

[oasgomez-is-banned]

Abyss,

I really like the channel 1 Lead of the Quad Preamp, walang woofy sound at sobrang bagay sa strat...

[stratman1]

DS-1 Keeley Ultra mod.

...doesn't mean if it works for Steve...it will work for you.

i have to disagree. that was one of the best pedals i've ever had. and if i could find another one at the price i originally bought it for. i'd get it in a heartbeat.

overrated? hmmm

USA strats...
Diezel...
TS-9...
PRS guitars made in the new factory
certain marshalls
certain fenders

...time to go home...will add more later.

I think nasa user. I just didn't like how it sound with my setup.....plus full price when I bought it..brand new....sakit sa wallet....even when I tried stratman's keely ds-1...I still didn't like it...I like his fulltone better...so far the best od pedal for me is the tube driver.

I like both my DS-1 and Fulltone Fulldrive. 2 different beast htat's why I like em' hehe.

[R0B1EP061]

Rob,

So,  what boutique gear have you tested over a protracted amount of time?

well; my stepfather owned a big sound company/recording studio/sound reinforcement company based in orange county. we provide sound reinforcement for concerts and what not.  Him and his partners put me in charge of buying gear; amps, guitars, recording preamps; whatever i thought was worth a try; they think its worth a try. I guess they thought i was "hip" enough to know whats in.

as far as amps;

ive had bogners (ectasy, shiva) boogies (first prod. recti series down to mark series, mavericks, heartbreakers etc. etc.) marshalls (plexi's, jcms etc etc) dr. z , matchless, crates, orange, barons, laneys, victorias, blues saraceno's own amp that his dad built for him, slash's sh1t...yada yada yada.

ive messed with hebert's and vh4's too..not my piece of cake...and guess where i found it? at guitar center; USA's biggest music chain store.

its really funny when i had this audition with some band and i was using markflos LANEY VH...the guy after me who had a herbert with him begged me to use marks Laney. he thought, mark's amp was "ballsy"..i wouldnt know, i dont own a herbert. i did anyways (peace mark!).


guitars? well there's a sh1tload of them, but by far the biggest and dumbest move i made was to order and buy an abyss guitar. i think we shelled $7000.00 for a guitar that was really made well, but such a liability to play. you dont want to damage that freakin "last supper" inlay. i got more to list here but what am i proving?

oh yeah, i had these gear when i was 19. thats just how we roll.

[glassjaw_jc]

I always wished that I get that kind of job.

[deltaslim]

I always wished that I get that kind of job.

Sawa ka na sa gusot mayaman barong, JC?  Di ka na papable nyan. Ahahahaaay!  

Ano balita, bro?  Nood ka naman sa Fri, Blues-Rock night sa Magnet.

[glassjaw_jc]

I always wished that I get that kind of job.

Sawa ka na sa gusot mayaman barong, JC?  Di ka na papable nyan. Ahahahaaay!  

Ano balita, bro?  Nood ka naman sa Fri, Blues-Rock night sa Magnet.

di naman ehehe

Pasensya na sobrang busy lately, even missed the last 2 gigs. Di ko pa nagawa assignment ko.

Galing mo talaga tumi-ming, maluwag sched ko this week! sige, kita tayo sa magnet!

[Deadwing]

TS-9...

I've owned two TS-9's in my 15 years of playing.  No complaints from me. It must be a tone thing.  

I'll have to give a +1 on MIA Fenders though.  I own a MIM and that bugger's still hadn't failed me ever.

[jack in a vox]

ROB.. sapol!

another piece of over rated crap:  those re-issued hand wired amps.

[Phil]

Rob,

So,  what boutique gear have you tested over a protracted amount of time?

well; my stepfather owned a big sound company/recording studio/sound reinforcement company based in orange county. we provide sound reinforcement for concerts and what not.  Him and his partners put me in charge of buying gear; amps, guitars, recording preamps; whatever i thought was worth a try; they think its worth a try. I guess they thought i was "hip" enough to know whats in.

as far as amps;

ive had bogners (ectasy, shiva) boogies (first prod. recti series down to mark series, mavericks, heartbreakers etc. etc.) marshalls (plexi's, jcms etc etc) dr. z , matchless, crates, orange, barons, laneys, victorias, blues saraceno's own amp that his dad built for him, slash's sh1t...yada yada yada.

ive messed with hebert's and vh4's too..not my piece of cake...and guess where i found it? at guitar center; USA's biggest music chain store.

its really funny when i had this audition with some band and i was using markflos LANEY VH...the guy after me who had a herbert with him begged me to use marks Laney. he thought, mark's amp was "ballsy"..i wouldnt know, i dont own a herbert. i did anyways (peace mark!).


guitars? well there's a sh1tload of them, but by far the biggest and dumbest move i made was to order and buy an abyss guitar. i think we shelled $7000.00 for a guitar that was really made well, but such a liability to play. you dont want to damage that freakin "last supper" inlay. i got more to list here but what am i proving?

oh yeah, i had these gear when i was 19. thats just how we roll.

...so you are THE MAN to ask about gear.....testing next EB
RK tele me pre.

THANK GOD YOU FOUND THIS SITE...AND THANK THE POWERS OF THE INTERNET....AND THANK Markflo ( I bet he introduced you to this site..)

[farseer]

Sir farseer,
What do you think about taylor acoustics all in all? I like some of them just like I like some Martin's. I played some of their high and middle tier guitars but was disappointed that there wasn't as big of a "wow" factor like I anticipated.

However, one such expectation was met when I played the Martin Eric Clapton for the first time. Man, is that guitar sweet! I think the EC Martin handles fingerpicking friendli-ness is its best asset......but at a cost of 3k....uggggh.

I have a 9 series taylor na nasa 3k range din- but comparing it w/ a martin om28v w/c has the same price more or less... mapapakamot ka ng ulo

Though i like the mid priced 5 and 6 series taylor, di pa rin sila uubra sa martin, collings w/ the same value.... If you havent tested a lot of acoustics- parang ang ganda ng taylor, balanced kasi, clear, excellent finish... but i havent found a taylor w/ the mojo factor yet

 

Sa martin basta 18 series pataas usually ok na.... lalo na pag vintage specs and golden era specs

[eders19]

parker fly! (actually, i wish they'd make them cheaper so that i could afford them! hehehe!   )

seriosuly, most guitars that are more expensive just because it's an artist series, yet  when you play them,  don't show any/much  difference from their   standard versions in terms of sound.

[namida]

+1 on certain us made guitars
TS-9

[BAMF]

no offense to others that are using this pedal .... a BOSS MT2...bought it, tweaked it (a lot)...i never got what i wanted to hear from it...maybe its just me...hehe    

I agree. But when I found the mods and applied it to the MT2, the thin and 2D sound of the Metalzone was replaced by a testosterone-charged, aggressive and exploding 3-dimensional sound.

Yeah that's a shameless plug, or not. It's just that I feel real excited every time a Metal Zone comes my way for modding because the change is very dramatic. Much more so than say a Tubescreamer (which can be made to sound very sweet) or a DS-1 (although I have pretty good mods for that).

[spilledmilk]

hate to admit it...pero na-loko din ako sa ds-1 na yan.

talagang sinigurado ko pa na ang makuha ko ay yung MIJ na 1980's na DS-1...pero i was disappointed. I still keep it for the so-called "prestige ahahahahaha!!

actually i use it now as some sort of an "additional" gain source pag gusto ko na ng sobrang gulo ang tunog...at pag-gusto ko talaga  ng magulong-magulo...another 'overrated (overrated ba?)" pedal...the cs-1.

bad monkey = malibog na monkey
bad monkey + ds-1 = nagangagat na monkey
bad monkey + ds-1 + cs-1 = may rabies yung bad monkey

another one is the metalzone....pero at least medyo mas-useful sa ds-1. parang kulang pa sa Eq department ang metalzone. kulang sa bass.