Tell me about gear snobbery/prejudice in your present band

[Stinsok]

I didn't want to hijack the vindication thread. Recently, I took an CIJ Charvel to practice. Most of you know that this bass will sound at least "X" amount decent. The drummer uses shooting ear muff while we practice. After we stopped he said "you know, that bass sounds kinda distorted." ***? I said anything is goind to sound dull and distorted while you are wearing those things.

At the next practice I had a Fender. It really didn't sound that much different than the Charvel. He said "that sounds a lot better than that Charvel or Hondo or whatever it was."

That pointy headstock really makes a difference in tone!

[Gard]

Originally Posted by Stinsok

That pointy headstock really makes a difference in tone!

Interesting, I will make sure that the next instrument we design, we keep that in mind during the beta testing phase...

[Kenny Allyn]

You hear about these stories all the time

Never personally had anything like that happen though.

...

[madbassplaya]

drummer's hit things with sticks. i take what they say with a grain of salt usually.

everytime i get a new bass, it's my drummers new favorite. "man, that thing sounds good!! you definitely need to hang on to that one!"

[bassybill]

Definitely prejudice rather than snobbery for this story...

Our keyboard player (and occasionally the guitarist) will sometimes comment about the rig I bring to some gigs. "Why do you need to bring so much gear?"

Most gigs I take a MB 210 combo, but when I take the 115 extension for louder gigs, that's when I get asked the question. The other night I played a gig where the 115 would have been handy, but I was feeling lazy so just took the combo. During the soundcheck, the keys player says "I can't hear the bass too well". Well, that's why I need the extension cab, ain't it?!

Luckily, when I cranked the 210 he could hear it just fine. But a 210 ain't ever going to sound like a 210 + 115. I know that. You know that. Why does he assume that he knows better?

[xgator4u]

Because he is a KEYTARD ?

[derrico1]

Originally Posted by bassybill

Why does he assume that he knows better?

Malcolm Gladwell has a few things to say about that ("Cocksure." current issue of the New Yorker):

Several years ago, a team headed by the psychologist Mark Fenton-O’Creevy created a computer program that mimicked the ups and downs of an index like the Dow, and recruited, as subjects, members of a highly paid profession. As the line moved across the screen, Fenton-O’Creevy asked his subjects to press a series of buttons, which, they were told, might or might not affect the course of the line. At the end of the session, they were asked to rate their effectiveness in moving the line upward. The buttons had no effect at all on the line. But many of the players were convinced that their manipulation of the buttons made the index go up and up. The world these people inhabited was competitive and stressful and complex. They had been given every reason to be confident in their own judgments. If they sat down next to you, with a tape recorder, it wouldn’t take much for them to believe that they had you in the palm of their hand. They were traders at an investment bank.

In essence, as we gain experience and success, we tend to overestimate our judgments. (Just as the average driver labors under the impression that he or she is a better-than-average driver.)

[bassybill]

Yes, that definitely rings true. It's all about having an inflated idea of the validity of your own opinion. I guess we're all guilty of that at times.

Our guitarist is even more dreadful in that respect.

[Snakeman1066]

Its funny....

caution long story

last year i really wanted a new toy....My wife and i walked into our Local Mom and Pop music store....now keep in mind she really knows nothing about amps, basses, pick-up configs etc, The owner is also a bass player and favors an old super heavy alembic and SWR amps over all his other gear.

as i'm looking at his stock my wife points out a Traben Array Obsession with a Flame maple top....her remark was something like oooh i like this one its pretty!... also she never encourages me to spend more money...

I tell her that i had been looking at a few of their models on line, but thought they were a wee bit cheesy and gimmicky....

the owner comes out from behing the counter and says, "you know i thought the same thing until I played one a the NAMM show."

so i picked it up examined it turned it over in my hands and eventually plugged it into an ampeg SVT 4 head which was plugged into Vic Wootens old Ampeg Cabs, then SWR, The Marshall, Then Crate, Peavey, Hartke, Genz Benz....

wow! it felt good, sounded good, and had a butt load of appointments for the price tag (just a hair over $500.00)....but i resisted....because of the way it looked.....but after 5 return visits to the store, guess what i bought?

now flash forward six months....I came across a super sweet deal on a 1980 Rickenbacker 4003 and buy it....it had a few electronic problems which i had fixed by the tech at the same store (a Ric Player) got it home plugged it in and man what a let down.....

At practice a few days later the guitard was stoked to see i had a Ric....until about halfway through practice he says, "I'm not crazy about the sound of that thing...will you switch back to the Traben?"

drummer pipes up and says yeah your ugly one sounds better...you should see the looks i get....when we set up....until we are done palying...whole different attitude

this past weekend every band that played with us commented on my great dark tone...

(Traben Bass, RBI, RPM to two Hartke Amps, (i split my signal) into a 4 x 10 and a 1 x 15 that i designed and built myself..Eminence drivers)

go figure

and you want gear....

i take two basses, two heads, two cabs, two pre-amps, and a pedal board with 9 pedals on it...

when other bands watch us set up you would be suprised how many bassists ask me why i use and have so many pedals...lol

my babies



here she is in an action shot!



edit: I'm sure there was a point in here someplace....oh yeah always wanted a Ric based on the looks and the rep...and i laughed at the Traben based on looks and rep.....but after playing both I much prefer my Traben

[Armbruster]

^ epic story.

[nortonrider]

Originally Posted by Snakeman1066

Its funny....


drummer pipes up and says yeah your ugly one sounds better...

[Chipsonfire]

Maybe because I'm still young, but I think that looks pretty sweet

[Audiophage]

Sometimes when I don't have my earplugs on me and I'll use drummer headphones in band practices. I've noticed that some will resonate with certain frequencies to the point where I can't hear anything outside of them very well. It could be that the harmonic voicing of your Traben vs. your Fender makes that much of a difference.

You might want to try hearing yourself though those headphones before you come to any conclusions.

[Snakeman1066]

"Maybe because I'm still young, but I think that looks pretty sweet"

It seems younger players tend to dig the bridge on these things, where a lot of older playes can't seem to get past them....I have gotten used to it for the most part until i mange to bloody my pinky playing up where the neck meets the body on the G string....

"Sometimes when I don't have my earplugs on me and I'll use drummer headphones in band practices. I've noticed that some will resonate with certain frequencies to the point where I can't hear anything outside of them very well. It could be that the harmonic voicing of your Traben vs. your Fender makes that much of a difference.

You might want to try hearing yourself though those headphones before you come to any conclusions."

I'm lost where did a Fender get thrown into the mix....

the Traben does active and passive both, and has a three band pre-amp....i can dial a nice fat bottom or i can imitate Geddy's old tone (Think Working Man) with no pronlems....the Ric on the other hand sounds wondeful highly distorted but a bit thin and it has no where close the sustain that my Traben does and i end up having to re-eq my whole rig to get a decent clean sound out of the Ric....we have done several blind hearing tests with people we know and everybody who has heard them both pics the Traben over the Ric.

Fender? Don't even get me started.....highly prejudiced against to say the least

[Audiophage]

I got your post confused with the OP's. Speaking of hijacking.

[totallybacan]

In a rock, alternative-rock style band. My guitarist refuses to accept that I didn't pick ampeg and fender because I don't like the sound. He feels EVERYONE likes that sound. But not just any ampeg. Of course, an original SVT through a vintage 810. Sure, like I want to carry that around everywhere, especially for my jazz band.

When I told him I hadn't replaced my flatwounds in a few months, he said "That's why they sound sh*tty and bad." Those were the best jazz strings I've gotten to play to date and they just started getting the best tone

Sadly the D string broke after a freak accident and all I had that night was a pair of DD Nickels.

[pigsonthewing]

The guitarist said to me
"Why do you have a Mexican-Made Fender, they suck"
...like his $400 Ibanez is such a work of art

[NWB]

Hmmm. The guys in my band only say great things about my gear. The drummer loves my fretless bass with a spalted maple top. I play hard driving rock, (mostly) with a fretless bass, and my bandmates are very happy with that.

[SpamBot]

I'm more snobby about my guitarist's gear than he is of mine. $300 bass, $300 amp......... $1600 of pedals. ***

[xikbastard]

Originally Posted by pigsonthewing

The guitarist said to me
"Why do you have a Mexican-Made Fender, they suck"
...like his $400 Ibanez is such a work of art

+1

epic!!