How much does appearance affect your amp choice?

[Bigfoot414]

My rig (EBS Fafner + Ampeg HLF 410) sounds monsterous and sweet at the same time and lucky enough looks pretty nice as well

[bassfran]

Not at all. The only people that care are the other musicians in the crowd.

Now my threads- that's a different story altogether.

[Warwick Qc418]

There are enough good bass gear to have a rig that sounds good and look good. Manufacturer that make ugly stuff should step up. I especially love matching head and cab. I would never buy fender pro cabs but the neo pro look awesome.

[Pilgrim]

As long as it's not pink and dripping with snot, cosmetics don't matter. Spray it with black paint and call it good.

The head is basically a box with knobs...the cab is a box with a grille or cloth. Not much to worry about as far as looks.

[spiritbass]

Aesthetics are part of the package for me. I play in church exclusively any more so I don't want a ratty looking rig. Tone and reliability rate higher in my book than 'the look', though. Black isn't my favorite color, but so far, my Walkabout/ML-112 combination is the most satisfying rig that I've ever plugged into...

[C.Linton]

Aesthetics for a bass are fairly important to me, for an amp, not really.

[spaz21387]

looks dont matter to me. For most shows I run 2 2x15s and a carvin r600. For smaller shows I run a hartke lh500 and an swr goliath sr 6x10.

[mjac28]

Originally Posted by christw

I'm all about personality but good looks don't ever hurt.

Heyyyyyy Ohhhhhhhhh!!!

[IPYF]

I don't like the way Markbass cabs looks.
I detest the yellow cones and the big garish logo, and based on that I probably wouldn't ever have one without a good reason.

Judgemental? Yes.
Missing out on a great cab because I'm a knob? Definitely.

[will33]

Originally Posted by spiritbass

Aesthetics are part of the package for me. I play in church exclusively any more so I don't want a ratty looking rig. Tone and reliability rate higher in my book than 'the look', though. Black isn't my favorite color, but so far, my Walkabout/ML-112 combination is the most satisfying rig that I've ever plugged into...

God, more than any one of us, would appreciate the heart and soul of your rig and not so much it's outward appearance. I remember Him talking quite a bit about making joyful noises, but not so much talk about the vanity of the exterior....at least not in a positive fashion.


I kid....I kid....

I at least like to look nice/clean when going to a church, but would gladly welcome the "rattiest" among us into that same church.

Moral of the story...like it is with many things.......what's on the inside is what really matters.

[Kmonk]

In all honesty, I think the first thing that attracts us to anything is the appearance. This is true when we look at people and inanimate objects as well. We have to find gear visually appealing or most of us won't even try it. This is why so much research and money go into design and packaging. Having said that, I want gear that looks good and sounds good as well. We all have our own preferences but whether we like it or not, gigging is also a visual art. I don't care what other people think of my gear and you shouldn't either. I have always believed that we should play what we like not what other people think we should like.

[Mugre]

I care about as much as the color of the inside of my shoes. I like good design and ergonomics. Oddly enough if both of those are taken care of look tend to take of themselves.

[Jaco who?]

I don't care one way or the other about looks most of the time, and there is a certain coolness factor for getting a really fat tone and a perfectly appropriate groove going through a hideously ugly old Peavey head and cab. That being said, there is no way in hell I would pay almost $900 for one of those Orange bass terror 500 lunch box things.

[will33]

Originally Posted by Kmonk

In all honesty, I think the first thing that attracts us to anything is the appearance. This is true when we look at people and inanimate objects as well. We have to find gear visually appealing or most of us won't even try it. This is why so much research and money go into design and packaging. Having said that, I want gear that looks good and sounds good as well. We all have our own preferences but whether we like it or not, gigging is also a visual art. I don't care what other people think of my gear and you shouldn't either. I have always believed that we should play what we like not what other people think we should like.

There is truth in this, it's part of human nature......especially when it comes to the opposite sex.. Most folks willing to persue further stems from the fact they find them visually appealing first or they might not be so inclined to get to know them better.


Not sure how that translates to music gear though. Most of it is just basic black. That seems to be neutral or "expected" and deviations from it seem to provoke responses of "really like" or "really don't like". I personally am bored with everything being the same black color. Some companies idea of "going out in a limb" means including shades of grey or silver.......then there's Markbass and the neon green of Trace Elliot.

Tweed stuff is less common now but still has been done since the dawn of electric amplification as well.

[superdick2112]

I'll admit that last time I went shopping for an amp, I was attracted to the Phil Jones rig because of its looks - not because I thought it was a particularly good looking rig - I thought it was downright strange - but I bought it because of it's sound.
The 24x5" speaker array has a total cone area equal to a 6x10" setup, but it has more punch & low end than most 8x10" cabs I've played, with killer transient attack and crystal clear, natural sounding highs. One of the best musicial investments I've ever made...

[jumblemind]

Originally Posted by drpepper

So, question...is that your bass in your avatar/profile pic?

I think this is just a personal preference matter where yours is the only opinion that counts at the end of the day. Even if every other bass player on the planet had a different perspective, it would change that feeling you have.

Short answer: yes, it's my bass. My first bass, which i painted instead of throwing away, one of the few good decisions i made in my college days. But no, i don't gig with it.

My personal preference isn't the ultimate say on the matter. Every amp/cab is a compromise in some way, maybe looks are that compromise sometimes.

[Rodger Bryan]

IMO, it is reasonable to weigh this as a deciding factor. A performer should feel comfortable with the appearance of their rig so that it doesn't not occupy any thought processes during a show.

If the amp is getting the job done and isn't drawing attention, then I personally feel better. My head of choice is a MoMark which sports LED-backlit dividers between the modules. The look is different, but not glaring and obnoxious. It turns out to be a great feature for darker stages, so I got used to it. OTOH- When picking cabinets, I consciously excluded the yellow cones from contention because of appearances.

If you find the holy grail of tone in a fugly package, get some grill cloth to throw over it.

[will33]

I wonder how much more Markbass would sell if it wasn't yellow? I'll admit, I don't even give it a chance just because of that. The speakers mostly.

I did play a shared gig with a guy who had a 112 markbass combo. Thing sounded quite nice.....warm and clear. And, farther away from the stage, it didn't look all that obnoxious with the little thing sitting amongst all the other stuff up there. But I still won't get one.

[beans-on-toast]

It depends on the gig. Sometimes a contract can have a professional comportment clause which extends to presentation look and gear. Sometimes they want formal attire. It used to be common to wear a suit. It showed that you had respect for those paying to see you. BTW, black is easier to keep clean on the road.

So despite what you think of your gear, the people hiring you may require a more professional presentation. So how the gear looks is important (to me).

[lpdeluxe]

I'm not a kid, and I play with my contemporaries, and we don't give much thought to looks, with the qualification that an attractive instrument is a plus.

I mostly play a fiesta red Classic '50s P, and, to me, that's by far the ugliest color bass I've ever owned (and I include my school bus yellow '51 RI). This runs through a Mesa/Boogie Walkabout into a pair of Genz-Benz 10t cabinets. Are they pretty? You're joking, right?

I personally think most stage rigs look more like Frankenstein's laboratory after a hurricane than the macho display some players seem to think. My rig is ugly (as is my alternate rig, a G-B Shuttle 3.0-10t) but it's unobtrusive. I used to have a '63 Ampeg B15N, and nobody in this wide world knew what it was but me.

My favorite guitar amp, for a long time, was a little 15W Fender Blues Jr NOS. Was it a really good amp? Well, it was a MIM circuit-board construct -- but it had a tweed cover, and in the small venue gigs I played, it was adequate. And, if anyone noticed it, it looked good.

So, no, I don't really care about appearance. Yeah, if it's so ugly the audience goes outside to vomit, I guess that's important. But most of the people I play for are far more into seducing that chick or that guy and the band is just a backdrop. Let's get real.