What are the most false assumptions about gear (musical gear, not Richard Gere).
My pick: that vintage Fenders and Gibsons are better than contemporary models.
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What are the most false assumptions about gear (musical gear, not Richard Gere).
My pick: that vintage Fenders and Gibsons are better than contemporary models.
god, where do i start? i mean, seriously?
i'm gonna start with "bass amps need horns/tweeters".
That parts-o-casters can't possibly be as good as authentic brand-name guitars.
How much time do you have? :laughing: I'll start with
1)Tubes = good tone.
2)Class A means it sounds "better" than whatever you have...or that Class A means the whole amp really is Class A. (talking about advertisements here)
3)Nitro sounds better than poly. If it does to your ears, you're either imagining it, or the only one at your show (or in your living room)that notices. YMMV! :smile:
nitro? biggest myth ever. good one colin!
......That you simply must have a 200-watt 8 x 12 mega-stack on stage to credibly "rock out" and impress any zit-popping gear hounds in the audience.
Rosewood sounds "darker".
more expensive is always better........
EDITED to add....
Cheaper is always garbage
Buying exactly what your guitar hero plays will make you sound exactly like Him/Her.
Guitar magazines never do biased reviews of gear - especially when the product being reviewed is advertised on the next page.
With age comes natural talent, you have to work at it right Brothers!!!
That Fender Custom Shop guitars are worth the $$$.....and yes I've owned 3 of them.
Psssht. I spent too much times pursuing that one when I was young.
In fairness, some are in fact amazing. They just aren't ALL amazing.
The one that bugs me the most is : More strings equals more likelihood of being a wanker (bass players mainly here)
I lost one gig for bringing a five-string to the audition. I lost another for only having four-strings. People! Pick a prejudice so I'll know how to compensate for it.
+1
But from a marketing perspective the word nitro sounds cooler than poly.
Then again, nitro-cellulose lacquer sounds just as geeky and medicinal as polyurethane.
Hook the consumer with a buzzword and the ball's rolling.
Next thing you know wood is breathing.
Bigger gage strings = better tone..
NOS tubes sound better..
Don nails it for me. The number one false assumption about solid-bpdy electric guitars... you can predict their sound based on the materials spec'ed.
Hell, man, you can't even do that with an acoustic!
Of, course, the OP's "vintage" call is a good one, too.
And FrankJohnson's post calls to mind a phrase I have never actually used online (at least, not directed at anyone in particular), but have been tempted to SO many times: "Nice checkbook. Let's hear you play."
(1) A good speaker must be "broken in".
(2) Noiseless pickups have no soul.
:appl:
I would think that we'd all know by now that it's what you put THROUGH the pickups that gives the sound its soul...
And here's my own contribution:
Great tone, touch, technique MAKES a track worth listening to...
Some of the filthiest, nastiest, lo-fi - or even downright out-of-tune - sounds have sat very nicely in the mix of a good song. Sometimes your boutique Bad Cat/Carr/Trainwreck/Dumble tone to die for is not what is called for.
This is often one of those things where people haven't tried an item in a long time, they didn't like it, and the technology has advanced. Though I prefer true single coil pickups, I've played some newer noiseless pickups and they were very good!
It's also a matter of people simply repeating what they've heard about on the internet and have never tried in person.
Being the owner of a MESA/Boogie amp, I hear those types of comments fairly often.
Which brings up another one-
MESA/Boogie amps are only for knob tweakers!
Amen. Trying to sound like a hardened vet who has heard it all is Your Number One Source Of Widely-Known-To-Be-True Misinformation. A close Number Two: guys who work in guitar stores.
"Yeah, that Tele there has a nice warm "pop," 'cause it's made of ash, but the maple board brightens it up, and it would sound really nice with some Lollars... gotta rip those noiseless/active pups out of there, 'cause they sound so "sterile"...."
I have challenged dozen of guitar players to inform me which frequencies I should cut or boost to make a guitar sound "sterile," but haven't received an answer yet.
Turn up the gain to get that soaring lead you hear on the recording..:wtf
"These speakers are British-voiced."
+1!
And add to that the corollary: "That 60-cycle hum is part of the sound -- a Strat/Tele doesn't sound as good without it."
(I actually saw that one here first, from a former member.)
I became so convinced the Vintage Noiseless pups on my Fender Strat didn't sound enough like single coils, I bought a set of GFS 60s Repros to put in my Squier Strat so I'd have one Strat that "really sounded like a Strat." I even sent the set back for a replacement when I found out it had an RWRP middle; I wanted no noise canceling in any position, dammit, because noise canceling = loss of mojo.
That's what I learned from the Intarwebs, anyhow.
Funny thing, though: The Squier sounds very good to me, but the Fender does, too -- and it looks, feels, plays, and sustains much better than the Squier. So the Squier sits in my bedroom closet, where it's been for probably more than a year now.
And recently I had a major revelation: I got a new Ibanez AS73 and played it pretty much exclusively for more than a month. When I finally picked the Fender back up, I noticed that it sounded *very* "Stratty" to me. Noise canceling aside, it delivers plenty of Strat goodness, to my ears. And the lack of a 60Hz buzz doesn't seem to hurt my sound. :D
Granted, you could argue that "Of course it sounds Stratty in comparison to a semi-hollow with humbuckers -- but it doesn't sound like a real Strat." I don't buy it, though. My Strat sounds like a Strat to me.
Which makes me suspicious of certain other statements from the anti-noise-canceling camp. Like "Shielding your guitar steals your tone."
eli, it seems that actual audio trumps the Intrawebs when it comes to noiseless/active shootouts. On this forum, I've read several times words to the effect that "active pickups suck, although Jim seems to get a nice 'Stratty' sound from his."
Yeah, exactly. Your sound seems to kill the "active pickups suck" thing -- and refin through his J-Station slays the "amp modelers suck" thing.
But hearing isn't always believing. If you hear something that challenges a cherished myth, you can always label it "the exception that proves the rule." :smile:
I second that NOS tubes are a crock. I generally only change tubes if they blow or become problematic.
What, you mean you can't hear the funny accent and the occasional "tally ho!" exclamations? :laughing:
"Telecasters are too twangy for everything except country".
My reply when someone said this on another (non-guitar) forum:
I missed a few out, but I think I got the point across. :DQuote:
Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton, Bruce Springsteen, Joe Strummer, Bob Dylan, Albert Collins, Steve Cropper, Johnny Greenwood, George Harrison, Jimmy Page, Muddy Waters, Johnny Lang and Andy Summers would all like to have a word with you.
Oh, and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top collects Fender Esquires (single-pickup "student model" varient of the Telecaster).
And I think I see Keith Richards shaking his head in disapproval too. :D
Pyramid strings give the true Beatles sound.
My Deluxe Reverb can keep up with the other guitarists Marshall half-stack.
Need and bases.
As in, you need a _____, a ______, a ______ and so on, to cover all the bases.
It can be fun to have 'em, but...
A Pyramid 12 string set DID get me very close...but then I don't have George's talent! LOL
And for the record...Chuck (OSA's) DRRI has wiped the stage with my Marshall half-stack AND a pair of Pathfinder mini-stacks at the same time...left 'em bleeding and whining like little sissy girls that fell off their bikes. ;-)
on the bottom end, you need to at least biamp your rig. triamp is WAY better...:bh
I'll have to respectfully disagree with that. In a really good amp with good speakers (and in amps that are less great too) the difference between tubes, even between individual tubes, can be quite apparent.
In my tweed Bassman, for instance, the difference between Tung Sols and Sylvania output tubes is marked.
Tommy.
I humbly disagree with noiseless pickups sound like single coil pickups, they do lack shimmer and depth which to me are sterile. Now I just own some Dimarzios so I don't know about other brands. And stings sound bigger if they are bigger. I use elevens and they stay in tune better have better tone and never break. It may be me but a lot of guys that have been playing for a while agree with my statements too.
Certain strings add sustain.