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Are You A Brand Loyalist?

#103
Currently, I guess... Since 2012, I've owned purely Fender basses. Right now, I have four of them and nothing else.
However, my mind is not so faithful. Soon, I will own a five-string, fretless, semi-hollow Ibanez.
Very different from my four, solid, fretted four-stringed current collection.
 
#104
I am not a loyalist, but I do tend to favor instruments that I own, if that makes any sense. I would never not play or buy a bass because it doesn't say Squier, Fender or Brubaker on it. But when I see another player with the same model / color / style of bass that I play, I think they must be good. And people who play basses that I used to like but don't anymore, well of course they suck... :smug:
 
#105
When it comes to basses I'm a Warwick man. That's not to say I won't buy other brands as I own a Spector also and I want to buy a Dingwall in the future. But Warwicks feel and sound best to me personally. As for amps, once I bought my first Mesa (a Big Block 750) I can't go back. The D800 was added to the collection last year and those two are my main gigging amps. Although I did buy the new Darkglass amp recently and that may become a contender!

Moral of the story...keep buying awesome gear even if you feel one particular brand is best for you :D
 
#108
I want to amend my response -

I would have brand loyalty if someone paid me to do so. That is, is <insert company name here> wanted to pay me to play / talk-up their amps or basses, I would, provided that I actually *liked* them (Are you listening, Mr. Bergantino?!?) - but otherwise - no. I actually was approached, many years ago, by a Yamaha guy at a demo gig at a store (here I was backing up a big Yamaha name) and he wanted me to consider playing / endorsing Yamaha basses. At the time, I worked and taught at this store (which clearly sold Yamaha gear) and I just did not like it. Their basses were okay but their amps were awful. I was young and not so bright, so instead of a least hearing him out, I said "Nope - I play what I like - period". Now that I'm older, I'd at least hear his pitch and, should I find it wanting, say something a bit more polite - but I still wouldn't go for it. If you don't like a company's gear, why would you play it unless the REALLY paid you to do so?
 
#109
Some things yes, some things no.
I've had a mish mash of amps and cabs. I've had two different Mesa Boogie heads, but more because of availability than brand.
At one point I had 3 Lakland basses, but now I'm down to one.
I'm loyal to DR strings because I keep coming back to them no matter hoe far I wander.
The most loyal I am is to Dunwich Amps pedals. I have 3 right now and have to resist getting more.
 
#110
5544 said:
I brought home a new bass cabinet yesterday and when putting it into it's new place, I realized my musical area is starting to look like Noah's Ark.

2x Lakland Basses
2x Fender Guitars
2x EBS bass amps
2x HoTone 5 watt amps
2x HoTone cabinets

I don't buy items because of the name tag, just how they feel or sound.
Click to expand...
I like different brands for different reasons. I think ESP probably has the best value, but I've also owned four musicians and I'm on my 5th German Warwick at the moment. I've had a love hate thing for warwicks. I do love my thumb NT6. I hate the amount of upkeep that had to go into the four 5 strings I had, but the previously owner already took care of pretty much everything with my 6 string. With the warwick 5 strings the necks never seemed as stable as some of the maple neck basses I've owned. I felt like I was constantly having to mess with the truss rod and setup to keep the action where I like. Some of them settled down over time, some got sold before that point. I think that's probably not as big of an issue with the 6 string because there's more lumbar in the neck. It's a more solid feeling instrument. I also had to swap the factory jacks on all 4 of the 5-string warwicks within the first year. Which I think is ridiculous for them to use cheap parts that fail on such expensive instruments. And I had an MEC pre go out but on my 6 all the electronics have been swapped out for Delano's and an Audere 4 band.

Amp wise I'm not particularly loyal. I didn't even use an amp when recording our newest album. But I am a fan of nicer eminence speakers as opposed to the "custom" eminence speakers that are made for amp manufactures so they can trim cost and increase profits. I've only owned one crown power amp no complaints but no need to go out and buy more. One of the pieces of gear I've owned forever and still use is my sans amp RBI, I'd buy another one if something happened to mine. I like furman power.

Pedal wise I'm a big fan of Darkglass electronics. I have the alpha/omega and the duality and used the b7k ultra before getting the A/O. Darkglass just makes great pedals. I don't think anyone could honestly say they don't like Darkglass, you may prefer one type of dirt over another like was the case with the b7k ultra and A/O for me, but even though I sold my b7k ultra I still think it's a great pedal. I just prefer smaller pedalboards and didn't care to have 4 different levels of dirt between three DG pedals and the RBI. But outside of Darkglass I haven't been very loyal as far as pedals go. I have two tc pedals at the moment (flashback x4 and tuner) use the tuner in the studio but use my shure glxd to tune at shows.
 
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#111
Not a loyalist, but can definitely understand what brands have the quality and feel I'm looking for in my price range. At this point if I see an Ibanez I like I will more than likely try it because of my great experiences with their instruments. Not saying I wouldn't buy anything else. If I had a bunch of extra cash I would have all sorts of different basses.
 
#115
At a typical big wedding gig I'll have gear by Godin, Kala, Ernie Ball, TC electronics, Roland, Bose, Pioneer, Shure, and Sennheiser. At home and other gigs, Yamaha, Schack, Takamine, Guild, Fender (not a fan of FMIC but still buy used), Ibanez, Island Ukulele, Keli'i ukulele, Bag End, Genz Benz, GK, Radial, A Designs, BSX and Kay, So no, not super loyal :)

I do stick by brands that work for me and give them the first crack when I need to replace something, but often I'm looking for something that sounds different than what I already have.
 
#118
Ibanez basses x3
Epiphone bass
Peavey Fretless
Hartke amps x2
Hartke cabs x2
effects: TC Electronics,Zoom, Digitech, Line 6, Korg tuner
Martin acoustic
Dunlop picks if needed.
*I like working man's gear. I can afford more expensive gear, but cannot justify it being a weekend warrior.
 
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