How much does appearance affect your amp choice? - Page 5

alexlocurto · #81 01-15-2013, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CL400Peavey

I let my ears judge.

That said, if you are "not feeling your amp" for what ever reason it will effect your playing.

This.

I never felt my first amp could handle a low B string, so I never played that string confidently.

As far as appearance goes, I'd say it matters at least a little. I'd hate to go on stage with an Orange amp, for instance....

Monkey · #82 01-16-2013, 10:24 AM

I love the sound of my LittleMark LMIII, but don't like how it looks at all. I couldn't care less, though. It fits my tonal needs perfectly, is small and light, and sounds great through my fEARful 12/6.

I must care at least a little about appearance, since I had my fEARful made with a burgundy-painted baffle.

Itzayana · #83 01-16-2013, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nortonrider

I don't think I would ever own a MarkBass primarily because of the way they look.
That black and yellow is Fugly!

+ 1000

Yeah, what were they thinking? Yellow is one thing, but that particular yellow is alarming.
Oh well, Italian right?

jnewmark · #84 01-16-2013, 10:35 AM

I don't think I could ever own a Orange amp. They look like grade school lunch buckets.

Gearhead17 · #85 01-16-2013, 11:49 AM

Sound is supreme to me. Color is not even an issue. Pink amp heads? If they sound good, why not? More girls will inquire! More girls at shows means the men will not be far behind....

The shallow opinions on what color the amp is and how you will not play it PURELY because of that, just terrible. The color of your stage rig will not make people leave the room. If it did, then every Markbass rig would scare everyone away from our shows. When did the bass player's rig become the center of attention?

Half serious and half funny here....

The only thing that would bother me and certain audiences - satanic symbols, half naked women and so on painted on the amp head or speaker cabs. That would draw attention to itself everywhere you played. Unless you want that attention.... I personally would not own gear like that.

Munjibunga · #86 01-16-2013, 11:51 AM

No Markbass for me.

jumblemind · #87 01-16-2013, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gearhead17

Sound is supreme to me. Color is not even an issue. Pink amp heads? If they sound good, why not? More girls will inquire! More girls at shows means the men will not be far behind....

The shallow opinions on what color the amp is and how you will not play it PURELY because of that, just terrible. The color of your stage rig will not make people leave the room. If it did, then every Markbass rig would scare everyone away from our shows. When did the bass player's rig become the center of attention?

Half serious and half funny here....

90% of any audience would hardly know there's a difference between a bass guitar and regular guitar. I don't necessarily think of color opinions as shallow, at least not any more than someone who insists on a fEARful cabinet or an all-tube amp because they think sound is the most important factor. How many people have been scared off because the bass didn't have true tube tone, or because they couldn't detect clarity across the full spectrum in the cabinet's reproduced tones?

BAce · #88 01-16-2013, 08:08 PM

I think it's important to be comfortable in your own skin. If having a good looking rig makes you feel good and play well, then pretty rig it is. Also, I want others to know that I take my music seriously enough to show up with a nice rig. That includes my bandmates, the owners of a venue I'm playing at and their patrons, and above all, myself. Could I play a gig with an Affinity Series bass and a Behringer combo? Sure could. Would it sound good? Well, to 90% of the people, sure it would. Would I be happy about it? Not really. I guess that's one of the reasons I play an American Standard Jazz most of the time and that my biggest bass rig includes an Alembic pre and a QSC power amp. The job we have as performing musicians isn't just about the music, it's about the show, the presentation if you will. Oh, and I'd never show up for a band audition with the afforementioned Affinity and Behry. Who's gonna be impressed with that? Now don't take that as a knock to the Affinity Series and Behringer, they have their place in this world, just two brands that came to mind. They must have a place, tons of each are sold, LOL
In the end, it's really fortunate for all of us that the pretty stuff also sounds great

That being said, my gear is always clean and presentable, even if some of it isn't pretty or "top shelf".

meatwad · #89 01-16-2013, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zachoff

If my SVT were pink with polka dots I'd still use it.

I knew a guy who painted all the Ampeg badges on his rig pink. Nasty..

I prefer the head and cabs to match.

For example -

I hate larger/taller cabinets on top of smaller/shorter cabinets.

I hate heads that are wider than the cabinets.

I would say appearance actually matters a lot to me. More than I realized.

**bassboysam** · #90 01-16-2013, 08:28 PM

In order of priority for live performances:

1. Volume, rig has to be loud enough for everyone to hear.

2. Appearance, a rack full of digital gear and lots of blue and green LEDs just doesn't look the part for our band nor would a 210 SWR combo.

3. Tone. lets not deny it, generally speaking no one other than yourself and maybe another bass player is going to notice how awesome your bass tone is.

JimmyM · #91 01-17-2013, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassboysam

In order of priority for live performances:

1. Volume, rig has to be loud enough for everyone to hear.

2. Appearance, a rack full of digital gear and lots of blue and green LEDs just doesn't look the part for our band nor would a 210 SWR combo.

3. Tone. lets not deny it, generally speaking no one other than yourself and maybe another bass player is going to notice how awesome your bass tone is.

Sorry, can't do lowest common denominators on my gigs. They may not be able to tell a Fender from a hole in the ground, but they know when it sucks. I don't know...maybe some of you really do play for nobody but dopes, but I've always found my audiences thoughout my life by and large pretty intelligent, and more than a few are really into quality audio. And they make comments about the mix to us. That said, you should be able to get a good sound out of anything you plug into.

**bassboysam** · #92 01-17-2013, 01:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Sorry, can't do lowest common denominators on my gigs. They may not be able to tell a Fender from a hole in the ground, but they know when it sucks. I don't know...maybe some of you really do play for nobody but dopes, but I've always found my audiences thoughout my life by and large pretty intelligent, and more than a few are really into quality audio. And they make comments about the mix to us. That said, you should be able to get a good sound out of anything you plug into.

Exactly, you should be able to get an ok sound out of anything. the difference between your ok sound and your "perfect" tone is lost on the average listener. the only people that ever comment about my tone are other musicians or the wife.

Sparty · #93 01-17-2013, 03:26 AM

I be more vain on how I look and perform on stage rather than what my rig looks like. Most punters want to be entertained by the musicians, I very rarely see birds dribbling over how sexy my rig looks. Then again I very rarely see birds dribbling over how sexy I look.
To me beauty is only skin deep its how your rig performs that makes you feel good & confident.. Not how it looks

Misty Mountain · #94 01-17-2013, 09:23 AM

Looks definitely have their place. As much as I like the Peavey IPR 1600, I just can't get over the silver-ish face and bright blue LEDs - at least for my bass rig.. Don't mind them sitting in the PA rack, though.

JFOC · #95 01-17-2013, 09:32 AM

Looks definitely played a part in which amps I picked.

Limited edition LMII looks way better than the 'normal', although I still dislike the bro outline...

My Trace V6 is covered in real tweed with a flamed redwood faceplate, as soon as I saw it I had immediate GAS pains. Luckily it didn't inflate the price & had a tone to match.

garak7 · #96 01-17-2013, 10:24 AM

Not much, in my case:

Jack · #97 01-17-2013, 11:16 AM

I like to think I don't really care, and my cabs are pretty ugly it has to be said. Then again, if there were two identical pieces of gear and one was pretty and one was ugly I suppose I'd take the pretty one.

Cody Stanley · #98 01-17-2013, 11:42 AM

Hartke Hydrive cabinets, most badass looking bass cabs out there. I wish they made the Kilo (my amp) with a wooden rack sleeve like Mesa does with their bass amps, but I could easily make one or buy one.

Matt Novosedlik · #99 01-17-2013, 11:58 AM

I'm on the fence I do think that looks make you feel a certain way if you hate the amp
s looks your too in to the image of your rig, but when your sound is comprimised in any way you generally will go with sound, I play on an 81 Yamaha B100 115 I consider it pretty out dated and clunky also ugly, but I love the tone from it, if it sounded horrible it would have never come home with me, but also if I had more choice from where I got it and found a more compact amp I would have gone with that instead as long as the tone was comparable! So I think looks do matter in how you feel for sure but sometimes the sound is what takes over in the end as it should be all that counts lol!

BogeyBass · #**100** 01-17-2013, 12:10 PM

Looks matter.

I really like matching rigs too. I have done it, everybody has done it.And used a mismatched head and cab.

But i really dislike mismatched gear, and heads that hang over cabinets.

Just like our clothes and cars they can represent our personality and show your mentality or dedication. Especially with drummers. I can just look at the kit and the way they set it up, how good they are. Sometimes holds true with most bass players and the appearance of their rig.