Boutique Gear & Soft forums

[loldude333]

What to do? I really miss the days when ShredCow, edder and goose posted frequently about this new doodad and that new pedal. I lost interest in SOFT once the landslide of newbs came in. I've only recently returned and i have to say that the situation, while better, isn't anywhere close to the good ol' days. I remember the SOFTies were always friendly, there were always interesting threads to read and there were always funny stuff to discuss. Now everything just seems so mundane. Sigh.

 

[retseh]

superpotato: I find that the part about getting spoonfed is quite true. Its one thing to seek a second opinion on something, and its another if one doesn't actively seek to find out more through different means, beyond the post they posted on Soft.

For myself, the internet, and of course the search function, were and still are great places to get answers. I don't have much knowledge on pedals, but i try to see what goes through the buy/sell section, and search on them to see the difference prices they'd gone for and probably some reviews/comparisons by other people who have owned the pedals.

With regards to either boutique items or otherwise, maybe the question to ask is not whether I should care about them since I don't have the means to acquire them, but just poking our heads into such matters and discovering what a hugggggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeeeeeeee world this whole guitar-ing thing is.

I enjoy checking out buy/sell posts or discussions with boutique content. And I'll agree sadly that such activities on Soft are dying out. ;(

 

[naviros]

Once you get to know the people in S.O.F.T. like John and gang... All that's left is adding on FB, and buying straight... Hahaha...

Staunch supporter of the Om Labs Sahasrara btw =P (lent it to my friend, he's begging me to sell it to him, but I die also not selling... haha...)

I take this forum as a place to look for people who are coming up with new stuff, such as pedals or the like already... Singapore effect makers are awesome ^.^

 

[loldude333]

Yeahhh man Sahasrara FTW! You just reignited my GAS man.

 

[lazy3yed]

...
told myself that if i ever go back to purely single pedals, i'll at least get a tube amp head which i can carry around for gigs and jamming sessions...

You forgot the speakers and cabs. and then, there's the tubes. LOL... GAS! =)

 

[superpotato_30]

This i know for sure.. that many of the older members left because they were sick of typing the same things over and over again. To make matters worse, people were treating them like online encyclopedias.. No thanks or no gratitude for anything whatsoever. Just need help : ask. Got the info : disappear. Thats why i understand if some of the older members choose to leave or just use soft as a place for entertainment. For me, thats what it is. I've not been around as long as the 07 members and those who've joined earlier but i definitely can see a trend. I still remember everyday rushing to get home from school just to see what new gear or new talk is upon soft. Today i do so with much much less enthusiasm not even close to 50% of the rush which i used to feel. Oh well.

 

[retseh]

I visit the forums with much enthusiasm as before, its just that probably lesser time's spent since there're lesser (interesting) things to click on.

 

[glblues]

i've said it once and i'll say it again:

soft forums has been targetted towards the youth, even their events are youth-oriented. so the topics will always be of a certain level.
thats why people leave. after a while, when you grow up in age or musically, you yearn for something a little more intelligent, so many hop over to The Gear Page.
i've always felt that Soft should be organising their forums to target older musicians or other substantial sub-genres like chinese music or jazz or older music like 50s and 60s rock/pop.
partially to blame is also that more young people are the ones who are actively interested in music (they have the time) once they get families, jobs, etc etc, they lose interest naturally.

 

[lazy3yed]

In response to the new generation thingy, the problem with the new generation is that everyone expects to be spoonfed. They ask the same questions over and over again. Where to buy this how much is this and then the older guys will tell them to use google or check the search function. Then the newdoods will get pissed and start flaming with stuff like 'ask question only you reply liddat wtf is ur problem etc etc'.. if we dont even move past this stage then i guess its expected that the topics related to boutique gear/electronics and the like will not even be skimmed on the surface.

So true, indeed. It's getting ridonkulus. A lot of the stuff can be found on the internet, if they just used a little more effort.

What annoys me even more is when my replies mysteriously disappear. Haha...

 

[glblues]

I think it depends on the situation man. As much as I like my THD flexi-50's tone a lot, I haven't had the chance to gig with it in the 3 years it's been with me. The gigs I've been to just won't allow the use of it coz the bars we've played already have their own amps and the soundguys have already "tuned" themselves to those gear. What's helping my tone now in a very big way is my Cbread DLS. It's one piece of gear that makes sure I get a Marshall-y base tone with all the amps they provide us at the gigs(all of them are solid state). I just vary the gain by what I run into it. If i'll be using the current off the shelf stuff for my tone, I probably have to chain up 3-4 pedals in which their prices would be equivalent to 1-2 boutique pedals. If you notice, their prices now are not that far off from a medium-price boutique.

that's strange, edgie.
i bring my amps everywhere i gig and soundmen don't seem to mind. granted the THD flexi50 may be a little too loud for small bars if you insist on turning it up past 5.
i use mainly 15w amps with single 12s or 10s. the only luxury i have is my tweed 5e7 bandmaster with 3x10s which i bring out on important gigs but i play mainly clean and semi-clean and tweed amps don't have alot of clean headroom by nature anyway.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

Sorry, that's not true at all. When you actually play them you'll understand. Take a Line 6 M9 for example. On its own it'll probably sound lovely. Put it side by side a Skreddy Echo, or a DMM, then you'll hear the difference.

yes, i would love to have a chance to actually hear them side by side in person!! (but haven't gotten the chance, no money veh sad one..)

the earlier opinion was from a theoretical point of view only.. one along the lines of.. ..pluggins and softwares that are designed cleverly to put a digital signal through some carefully planned algorithms such that the end result would emulated the capacitors and chips found in analogue pedals.
i would think they could do it well for effects not involving complicated harmonic structures like overdrives and distortions. (especially EQ pedals and clean boosts. like, +++ dB without changing tone at all.. shouldn't a simple software do that with ease as compared to some $300+ or so analogue pedal?)

just a theory coming from one with no experience with boutiques. no in intention of flaming or attacking any beliefs, just a little curious to what the other side thinks.

 

[lazy3yed]

I guess for some like myself, we can't really justify spending that much money on gear any more. So we settle on a set of gears we are happy with and live with them for a while. Esp. when the playing is lagging behind. But the GAS is still there, just holding back.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

You forgot the speakers and cabs. and then, there's the tubes. LOL... GAS! =)

haha yeah true, hopefully jamming / gig place does have cabs that's suitable la, otherwise how to lug around personal 4×12's? my HDB floor got no lifts, wanna roll downstairs also cannot.. lol

GAS!!

 

[glblues]

yes, i would love to have a chance to actually hear them side by side in person!! (but haven't gotten the chance, no money veh sad one..)

the earlier opinion was from a theoretical point of view only.. one along the lines of.. ..pluggins and softwares that are designed cleverly to put a digital signal through some carefully planned algorithms such that the end result would emulated the capacitors and chips found in analogue pedals.
i would think they could do it well for effects not involving complicated harmonic structures like overdrives and distortions. (especially EQ pedals and clean boosts. like, +++ dB without changing tone at all.. shouldn't a simple software do that with ease as compared to some $300+ or so analogue pedal?)

just a theory coming from one with no experience with boutiques. no in intention of flaming or attacking any beliefs, just a little curious to what the other side thinks.

its getting to that stage. check out the axefx. the emulations of amps and effects are scarily close

 

[naviros]

haha yeah true, hopefully jamming / gig place does have cabs that's suitable la, otherwise how to lug around personal 4×12's? my HDB floor got no lifts, wanna roll downstairs also cannot.. lol

GAS!!

LOL!!! How you get it up there in the first place? Yeah, purpose of my amp is for great clean, mild overdrive. Pedals help to achieve my tone, and the tweak-ability is used to achieve that same tone with different amp / set-ups.

 

[the_insomniac]

I curb my GAS very easily, just by telling myself that i don't deserve a new guitar or a boutique guitar.. and its absolutely true! Professional musicians gig on epiphones and they can sound great. Until i move upwards in my income tax bracket, there's no way a bedroom player like me deserves a sadowsky archtop. GAS cured!

 

[penta-tonic]

i suppose everything will go through phases. im pretty sure this market is open. i mean, i look around a i see quite a fair bit of people loaded with nice gear. its just that more of that crowd probably has moved on to TGP and other sites. and im thinking this is due to whats been going on at soft lately. sadly nowadays people dont know how to voice an opinion without having to trod or shat on everyone else. and after a while it gets so tiring that people just stop posting cos we feel that its a waste of time. to those who still contribute, i salute u. for me i used to love this site. now id rather just head over to TGP where things are still fresh and opinions are still respected even if not agreed upon.

 

[penta-tonic]

I curb my GAS very easily, just by telling myself that i don't deserve a new guitar or a boutique guitar.. and its absolutely true! Professional musicians gig on epiphones and they can sound great. Until i move upwards in my income tax bracket, there's no way a bedroom player like me deserves a sadowsky archtop. GAS cured!

was just seeing this and im thinking to myself that its been ages since i actually gigged regularly. back then when i did i owed a prs ce24. now after ive kinda slowed down and stopped gigging, ive moved through 2 suhrs already. but ive never told myself that since im a bedroom player, i dont deserve this kinda gear. rather, id think to myself, firstly, its one life so might as well enjoy the very best with what u can afford while you can. secondly, who has the right to judge you one what u deserve, as long as u get pleasure out of your instrument whether on stage or in the bedroom, its worth it. =)

 

[Likui]

I find that Soft goes through phases...

There was period when there were lotsa actual playing exchanges than discussions involved among guitarists.. Softies like Dhalif, Sofyan, Chanmin, Satch, and the likes were constantly putting up tracks and stuff, even leading up to the very first online SOFT Jam...

Then there was a period when all the "pedal specialists" and "pedal enthusiast" guitarists will be postings regularly. Softies like Goose, Edder, Blueark, Ized, etc.. will be hoarding the forums in a good way talking about tone chasing with pedals, booteek or otherwise..

Rite now seems to be the age of softies asking for opinions. Like what dudelove mentioned, softies asking for "what distortion should i buy? what pickups should i get?" are sprouting up alot these days... This seems to be the new phase and I wonder what it will be next...

As for the booteek pedals thingy... I believe these softies have moved on to more playing (or other things) than spending time online in Soft I guess.. Especially now with booteek pedals being more accessible than before

you missed out the overated underated thing lol

 

[Cavett]

Can anyone differentiate a Danelectro Transparent Overdrive with a Paul C's Timmy in a gig setting??