trends in gear..all you lemmings

[arctopus]

over the past few years this forum has basically become an overblown gear classifieds site with little to none intelligent discussions anymore (were there even any) and nothing but people wanting to be spoonfed with information easily available on google, and help as to what gear OTHER people think they should buy,what underwear to wear etc.

when did this trendy gear buying phase start start? someone inititally raves about a product and the horde of lemmings follow suit,buy it up and dump it for sale once the initial excitement wears off..i see so many blackheart amps in the buy/sell forum for one example.

does everyone need a giant pedalboard packed with X amount of booteek efx when they're running it into a little vox/marshall combo 90% of the time? kids buying all manner of ring modulating EQ buttplugs and 20 guitars when they can't even play 1 properly?

for the all the equipment going around..drums/efx/amps blah blah..why do so many local acts still sound so generic (sound,not music wise)? are the people splashing out money on top dollar amps etc actually gigging with them?

i feel there is so little identity nowadays..ask a guitarist what he uses, most of the time you get generic answers..whatever seems to be popular at the time.

discuss [50 marks]

im not bitter,not a purist nor do i have an inflated ego and its not my way or the highway, just a personal opinion.

 

[keithC]

i listen, i like.. i pay 1k, no problem no regrets

 

[j_m_s]

why cant people buy expensive amps and not gig with them?

MANY of us here are hobbyists and i don't see nothing wrong with spending big money on gear. If you can afford it. Go ahead. if you can't, save?

I have a sizable board with several boutique pedals and i run it into a combo. What's the problem with that? Do i need to match my pedal board with a Bad cat or dumble head?

NO. I don't.

well, if kids can afford 20 guitars, why not? It doesn't affect you right? Does it?

 

[ungauged]

Some are collectors, some are players. However they decide to spend their money on whatever gear be it 100 booteek effects and not use 50 of them is really up to them. Singaporeans always complain no money but look at this forum and the amount of expensive gear on it. Sometimes it really is hard to stop the G.A.S. Btw, smaller amps sound better if you don't intend to play on a stage in front of hundreds of people but that's beside the point.

Anyway it's a music forum so questions be it already available on the net might prefer someone who's actually played it before or might even own it. Reviews or answers that can be found online might sometimes not be 100% correct. And softies are a really helpful bunch of people that bother to help, some even let you test their gear. No harm done rite?

I think local music sounds quite good. Generic maybe, but can you blame them as most of them aren't full time musicians. Those that are, are usually cover bands? I would blame only ourselves for not being as creative and crazy as our other counterparts and of course the fact that we were all born to be bankers, lawyers, doctors but never a musician. Honestly, listen to Electrico (an example), their studio album is great even though I don't fancy their music. Put them in a western country that appreciates it, they wouldn't just be just "Electrico"(said with little appreciation) but ELECTRICO(said with enthusiasm)!

 

[Blodstyre]

Asking for opinions and advice is not wrong, better to hear from other ppl's experience. But of cos, for me, i'll try to stay away from bootek stuff if i can get it cheaper from another product but at times, brand name do satiate the ego. I also take every opinion with a pinch of salt. and like keithC said, I risten, I rikes and can compliment my pedal board, i buy.

As for buying countless of guitars and gear, wats wrong in that? so wat if they can't play the guitar? just as long as they can afford it, it's not everyone else's business. They gotch money, buy lorh...not your money mah...unless u jealous that they can afford that gibson and you cant....hurr hurr hurr...i know i used to get jealous when i see ppl with enough guitars to build Noah's Ark....




~meh~

 

[Whitestrat]

i feel there is so little identity nowadays..ask a guitarist what he uses, most of the time you get generic answers..whatever seems to be popular at the time.

I find it strange that a guitarist's identity should be connected to the gear he/she uses... Should the identity have to do with the playing?

Just curious... What do you use?

 

[sleepykitty]

Half of my board can be considered booteek. I run them through a 15 watt combo. I'm planning to get a head and a 112 cab, just because I can. I don't gig. I don't have a band. I play for my own satisfaction. Guitars are just a hobby to me because I know you can't go anywhere with music here.

 

[keithC]

hehe i still get jealous with ppl having guitars enough to build an ark. jealous. but i'll never question their identity or wadever, they are just richer than me.

whitestrat: i dunchh rikes MIC. wont fork out 1k for them.

 

[theblueark]

I'm not too sure about many years ago, but 2-3 years back, the forum had many intelligent discussions from members like thor, edo, shredcow, goose, edder, pantheon, myself, etc.

Unfortunately the way the forum is run dissuades intelligent discussions and rewards stupidity and spam. Hence, if you look back over time, the members who once posted long articles and detailed discussions slowly sunk into inane banter and fought stupidity with stupidity. Myself I now skim over posts and only on occasion when I'm feeling particularly good and if the poster seems sincere, provide longer responses.

Some of us have discussed in private over kopi laughter about what happened over time.

We could discuss this, but I'm fairly convinced any intelligent discussion on what caused the degeneration will be overwhelmed and rewarded by posts of flaming hatred.

I'd summarise 3 reasons I feel most strongly contribute:
1. "My 2 cents"
2. "It works for me"
3. "We have stock"

My personal annoyance, for which I will never reply:
1. TaLkInG lIkE tHis
2. 0r tokking lyk dis lol
3. or unnecessary punctuation!!!!!!!??
4. OR EVEN ALL CAPS
5. Andany othe r lazyness in typi ng proeprlyand grammer without proper

 

[arctopus]

I'd summarise 3 reasons I feel most strongly contribute:
1. "My 2 cents"
2. "It works for me"
3. "We have stock"

nice one,im in complete agreement with your post.

i think the "million pedals/guitars/amps" part of my post wasn't related to the main point i was trying to get at and may have mislead some, my bad. theres absolutely nothing wrong with spending your own money on gear whether you're playing out or not.

i was more trying to drive at the point that so many today seem to use the forum (and all its advice/trends/whatever) as gospel when it comes to buying stuff..time after time i have seen people raving about this pedal,this amp, but a few months later the same items spring up for sale,and onwards to the next big thing.

of course this doesn't just apply to this forum, HCAF and many others are probably even more guilty..

whitestrat..i think aspects of a musician's identity are definately connected to the gear they use. i dont think hendrix would quite sound the same through an ibanez-blackheart combo, or steve albini if he recorded with his PT HD rig

 

[kym]

Hey, I will try to type properly in proper english.

What I feel is that Soft has grown in numbers exponentially since it first started. As more netizens join, there will be more ads, more questions and posts. It is about probability: if there is more posts, chances of encountering a stupid of unintelligent post will also be higher, no?

Personally, you cannot expect everyone on Soft to ask intelligent questions. Soft is an open forum, not exclusively for veteran players only. Some members are less experienced hence they need more guidance and answers. Once in a while, they asked some stupid or rhetoric questions, but should we discourage others to ask questions because of this?

Back in the good old days, Soft might have been a forum for elitists, but over the years, it gained popularity with newer and younger progressive players, who are less experienced, so now the ratio of elites to non-elites favors more to the non-elites. In that case, the probability of seeing a stupid question or post will be higher, no?

Anyway, my point is: Soft is not only for the elites, it is for everyone. Once it might comprised of elites only, but times have changed, membership has grown. So, what to do? Accept it as fact, boycott Soft, or block the so-called less experienced players?

Anyway, just out of curiosity. Why is it that you claim the way that Soft forum runs dissuades intelligent questions and rewards stupidity and spam?

Personally, I feel the TS should ask the above question to start an intelligent question rather than ranting about how Soft degenerates.

 

[darf]

Really?

I've always had the impression that the majority here are schooling kids who are still saving up for their 1st/2nd guitar
Just that most folks don't want to spend the time/money to try out the various available goods, and just ask what is most popular / well-liked around.

As for asking stupid questions, pay a visit to ultimate guitar or stompsg
There are many buddings players who might be too overwhelmed with the amount of information online, so they ask where think would be the appropriate place to do so.

Singaporean forums still have a long way to go when it comes to having more intelligent discussions (this is in comparison with all the forums that i've come across - you may consider this an over generalisation). Threads with potential usually up degenerating into pointless arguments over irrelevant matters or even worse - into spam posts. Fortunately, i rarely come across these on soft.

As for the "bedroom gig guitarists" label, i believe that discussion has been held at tgp as well. At the end of the day, it's just respect for what the other player wants to do with their money. After all we perceive tone differently, and it's up to the players to decide how much they want to spend. If you ask me, i'm ALL for players buying more guitars/amps/efx. This allows me to haul off more gear at 2nd hand prices!

 

[edder]

hai. prease buy my pedaless>>>>/////<<<<<<

we has stocks/////

>>>all your moneys are berongs to us???\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

:mrgreen:

 

[Arsony]

Several issues were brought up

1) SOFT has degenerated into bla bla bla......

Well Kym has a valid point. I mean it's after all an open forum and ANYONE can join. So you have a microcosm here and hence you have a bit of everyone. Generally I notice there are a lot of nice netizens here and of course as in all communities, a few black sheeps. I think if we want to live within a community we have to accept this diversity.

We cant have everyone be like who we are right? I mean within a certain acceptable social standard, everyone is free to behave the way they want in here. Now this may not go down well with very mainstream-get with the system-toe the line kind of people we have in this country that is so used to live within certain expectations. When identity line is blurred like in web communities where people are virtually faceless, there is some form of liberation to behave out of this normal strict circle eg. ask stupid questions without feeling ashamed. Hence you get all kinds who behave and talk so differently. Again I stress that in our society where we don't even know our next door neighbours well, some of these untoward behaviour may be considered some form of intrusion.

So simple, if you cannot accept/tolerate differences then dont be in any community. Cos no man is an island...

2) Buying stuff like nobody's business.......

Well, I have no right to determine what anybody should do with their money, I mean whatever that floats your boat man!

But I do realize why this kind of buying behaviour come about.....

a) We are a few million people crammed into one small space
b) There is nothing much to do in Singapore except...
c) Desperately finding ways to earn money.. and then...
d) Desperately finding ways to spend it.
e) We are so preoccupied with everything material because it's the only way we feel that we can elevate our social stature...

Totally sad I must say....

3) Local musician no identity... gears are usually the same ....bla blabla

Well you know, I'll tell you what my uni professor advised me when I asked him what field I should specialise in...

He said.... Son, there are three things , 3 A's to guide you into choosing your field of work...

A- Attitude (Cos since every job is gonna be routine, you might as well enjoy it rite? Having good attitude helps then. So you gotta like what you do)

A- Aptitude (You might as well do something you're good at right ? So you can excel and progress fast)

A- Availability (Means marketability. Can you earn from what you do? Is there a ready market for you?)

So here I am trying to be a GuitarGod of some sorts right? Okay... first A settled, I love guitars. Second A....well.....if we all practise hard enough and long enough we can right? But heck ....where got time...like Malmsteen like that.... practise for hours everyday since age of 5 if im not mistaken. Do we Singaporeans have that kind of time? (please refer to point 2c and 2d above) And last A....... aiyo.... we're still colonised la in terms of mentality. West is always good . Like mentioned above, in the US Electrico will be ELECTRICO. To us, anything local is substandard. So how to make money..... ? No money how to attract talent. That is why we all just study and earn money.... and then buy gear! haha...... hence guitaring will be at most a hobby for the majority of us.

As to guitarist losing identity.... well....err.....most identity has been taken what ?! I mean not say you can choose something new and unproven in the market and say that it's your thang you know? Of course if you're an accomplished guitarist, u would choose from the big brands right ? cos they sound better and yes , they got money to pay you for endorsements!

And of course a guitarist's signature sound comes partly from their instruments. If not, why the heck are people buying up gears that their idols are using? Partly to sound like them right?!

My 2 million dollar worth ....(nowadays 2 cents where got value? Can buy anything meh?)

Arsony

 

[EugeneSmasher]

Every guitarist, great as he/she is now, was a noob at one point. Sometimes, finding specs online cannot be too trustworthy, but if we ask for advice on SOFT, is there anything wrong with that? Then what, leave a noob to his/her fate and let 'em end up with some shitty guitar that would discourage them from continuing?

To be honest, I find this a real insult to me and a lot of people here who discovered the beauty of making our own music at an early age. There's nothing wrong with starting early. If you can afford a piece of gear and like it more than anything else, why the bloody hell not? Just because someone's still a 'schoolkid' means he/she ought to be stuck with a kapok guitar?

 

[Arsony]

Every guitarist, great as he/she is now, was a noob at one point. Sometimes, finding specs online cannot be too trustworthy, but if we ask for advice on SOFT, is there anything wrong with that? Then what, leave a noob to his/her fate and let 'em end up with some shitty guitar that would discourage them from continuing?

To be honest, I find this a real insult to me and a lot of people here who discovered the beauty of making our own music at an early age. There's nothing wrong with starting early. If you can afford a piece of gear and like it more than anything else, why the bloody hell not? Just because someone's still a 'schoolkid' means he/she ought to be stuck with a kapok guitar?

Oh ya.. i forgot one thing... Dear TS, just a thougtht... if I have children I would rather spend or they spend on guitar gears and make sure they excel in what they do rather than let them spend on other things I do not know about ok!

Arsony

 

[ShredCow]

I'm an oldie member.

And frankly.

There have been threads/discussions about this before.

I used to feel very strongly about them.

Now?

I just smile and move on to find something else to do/contribute to.

I'm not saying its wrong to post this, to try to change things... I'm saying - it doesn't work. Period. It DOES NOT work. Not this way.

The way to go? I believe is to work on home ground, with your friends, with those who ask you about gtr stuff regularly, who talk to you regularly.

I've got msn contacts who still correspond with me with regards to gear and playing and etc etc - I'm glad to help. Best of all? They ENGAGE me in thoughtful conversation.

SOFT has its over governance and "traditions". Let those who wish to move out of it - move.




Oh abt originality? Hehe. Just WACK and shred like a demon - you'll be worshipped.

 

[ShredCow]

Every guitarist, great as he/she is now, was a noob at one point. Sometimes, finding specs online cannot be too trustworthy, but if we ask for advice on SOFT, is there anything wrong with that? Then what, leave a noob to his/her fate and let 'em end up with some shitty guitar that would discourage them from continuing?

To be honest, I find this a real insult to me and a lot of people here who discovered the beauty of making our own music at an early age. There's nothing wrong with starting early. If you can afford a piece of gear and like it more than anything else, why the bloody hell not? Just because someone's still a 'schoolkid' means he/she ought to be stuck with a kapok guitar?

I don't think this was the threadstarter's point.

 

[Whitestrat]

whitestrat..i think aspects of a musician's identity are definately connected to the gear they use. i dont think hendrix would quite sound the same through an ibanez-blackheart combo, or steve albini if he recorded with his PT HD rig

I think Hendrix would still have sounded like Hendrix despite of what he played, because we wouldn't know otherwise. He would probably still play Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock that year, and would still dazzle us by burning his guitar (whatever make it was) at the Montreal Pop Festival, regardless of how he would sound, and still be Jimi Hendrix. He made the strat not sound like a strat, and that's what people loved him for. He injected his soul into his instrument, regardless of what it was.

Besides, Hendrix was given his first strat by the Isley Brothers when they asked him to join them, and said he needed a decent guitar. He actually asked for a White Strat (no pun intended), simply because strats at that time were the rage and he loved the way the strat sounded. So, he was still a follower and an innovator of sorts.

 

[EugeneSmasher]

To be honest I don't understand much of the TS's rant. I can only gather that he's upset about young guitarists having good gear, and more obviously, young guitarists posting here asking for advise and/or help.