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Does anyone else hate this forum?
- Thread starter mikefromchurch
- Start date
It's not just this site, it's a major shift of musical instruments into the consumer market.
Guitar Center is not staying afloat by selling to professionals.
Back in 1980, the only magazine for bassists (or guitarists for that matter) was Guitar Player who had some bass coverage. Musician's Friend began by just selling strings and inexpensive accessories by mail order. There were only a few vintage dealers in the USA (Gruhn, Red Bank Music)...in fact George Gruhn kickstarted the vintage market with his Rare Bird column in Guitar Player. A home studio meant you owned a tape deck and a mike...maybe you had coughed up $1000 for a Teac 3340 and were able to multitrack.
Today, Gibson and Fender are selling lifestyle accessories, not instruments. Everyone with a soldering iron is a boutique pedal or amp builder. Everyone who knows Fender date stamps are on the end of the neck is an expert on vintage gear. Macs come with Garageband installed and everyone is posting their recordings on Soundcloud.
It's great that amateur music making has become popular again. It's bad that it is bound up in consumerism. I drank the kool-aid like everyone else, buying gear beyond what I needed for gigs because I could afford it.
Guitar Center is not staying afloat by selling to professionals.
Back in 1980, the only magazine for bassists (or guitarists for that matter) was Guitar Player who had some bass coverage. Musician's Friend began by just selling strings and inexpensive accessories by mail order. There were only a few vintage dealers in the USA (Gruhn, Red Bank Music)...in fact George Gruhn kickstarted the vintage market with his Rare Bird column in Guitar Player. A home studio meant you owned a tape deck and a mike...maybe you had coughed up $1000 for a Teac 3340 and were able to multitrack.
Today, Gibson and Fender are selling lifestyle accessories, not instruments. Everyone with a soldering iron is a boutique pedal or amp builder. Everyone who knows Fender date stamps are on the end of the neck is an expert on vintage gear. Macs come with Garageband installed and everyone is posting their recordings on Soundcloud.
It's great that amateur music making has become popular again. It's bad that it is bound up in consumerism. I drank the kool-aid like everyone else, buying gear beyond what I needed for gigs because I could afford it.
Can I just buy one more. I can stop anytime I want to.
I'm an old guy who just started playing bass less than two years ago, and I'm already up to 12 basses. I don't see an end in sight...
Your linky didn't work for me...
There's also this;
Peter Gabriel - No Self Control
Proud to have gone from 9 basses, to my final 5 basses, this year. Hi, my name is Neal.....
What I've noticed is that the GC effect has created a huge market of barely used stuff at half off. Case in point: I bought an Ampeg cab off a guy that thought he could learn to play bass; hey it only has four strings right? I asked why he was selling it (55% new price) and he said he wanted to learn but after 45 minutes his hand hurt too much and he quit.
OT, yes since I joined, I went from one working bass, one tube head and one 15 to a living room combo amp, a D class, three cabs, old tube head, and 6 basses. One bass is a 1962 jazz I have $2600 into, and I restored the electronics to stock on my 1975 G3 at small cost of a couple hundred; before that is sat disassembled under the bed for about 15 years. I had butchered the pg up and installed some dimarzio a jazz pups in it and lost one original pup along the way. It was pure crazy to find a nos pup but I did.
I look at classified every day now. Fortunately I am in a position to be looking at investment grade items now. I want a forest if over valued old basses fir my wife to sell at profit when I shove off. Lol
OT, yes since I joined, I went from one working bass, one tube head and one 15 to a living room combo amp, a D class, three cabs, old tube head, and 6 basses. One bass is a 1962 jazz I have $2600 into, and I restored the electronics to stock on my 1975 G3 at small cost of a couple hundred; before that is sat disassembled under the bed for about 15 years. I had butchered the pg up and installed some dimarzio a jazz pups in it and lost one original pup along the way. It was pure crazy to find a nos pup but I did.
I look at classified every day now. Fortunately I am in a position to be looking at investment grade items now. I want a forest if over valued old basses fir my wife to sell at profit when I shove off. Lol
More making a point. Also...
It's a double edged sword. On one hand, before I came here I had a nice Genz Benz rig and 3 nice G&L basses - 4,5 and fretless 4. I NEEDED nothing else. Then I came here. I started seeing basses I didn't have locally as I live in the middle of nowhere. It started with selling my G&L's and getting Ken Smiths. The rest is history. It wasn't all bad as I did get to try all kinds of gear, and I did eventually end up with a bass that I think is the best I've played - Roscoe.
On the other hand, I'd have zero debt.
On the other hand, I'd have zero debt.
wintremute
mediocrity at its finest
- Oct 16, 2014
- 6,942
- 29,551
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Langstrom Carrot Farms
I think this was a good warning for me. I joined this forum just to see what other bassists had to say, and to see what they slung. It seems that every time I check the forum I also start shopping in the classifieds and other websites. I didn't really realize I was doing it, but yeah...I suddenly am planning on buying 3 basses. Time to check myself.
I've bought 4 MIA basses in the last 2 months thinking I was cutting back, WRONG! At some point in your life you just give in and get what you have always wanted. Kids are grown, it's my time and now I do what I want to do.
Go for it.
Go for it.
I was happy. I had a bass I liked. I also had an electric upright I could arco 3 chord slow songs if I had to. All was fine. Now I need to find a 1960's J, a fretless anything that mwahs nice, 13 diferent amp/cab combos for any situation, a nice FX setup I can use or not use depending on my situation, an acoustic 5 string, a custom so fancy no one even me can touch, I also need to find a $30 garage sale squire that sounds as good as your $3000 bass.
Honestly, I might pick up the old P-copy (that I hated) and push it through the house amp next week. Because I want it all. I want to play a bass that does nothing but what my fingers say. Then play something a 2 week amateur could make sing. I don't hate this site, but I find myself wanting more and more the more I see!!!!
It's the price you pay for becoming more informed about new gear choices. It all comes with the territory. Much of becoming a better musician is about developing one's knowledge and skills. But a certain amount of it will always be about discovering new gear that makes it easier to develop one's musical voice. It's up to you to set the limits and apply some self discipline.
We all go through it. I'm not saying that it's easy...
MM
This just in. I just bought another amp in the last 5 mins.
Yeah it gets us all. Here's what I did to help myself not be stupid. I can afford lots of gear. But I mainly play fill-in gigs and church these days. Owning $35K is gear seems silly to me. So I now have a one in one out policy. Oh, I still buy, sell and swap all the time. But I maintain a selection of three basses and two main rigs (with some odds and ends here and there).
Right now I am seriously contemplating a bass build early next year. So, one of my really nice and very much liked basses will have to go.
I have a vintage Ampeg V4 rig I am thinking of trading or selling soon just because I want to try something different. That thing sounds amazing, but curiosity keeps pulling at me.
Those deals might not work out even money wise. That much I'm not worried about. But at least I'm not just creating a pile of bass gear I can't possibly use.
Embrace the hate! Use it to make you stronger!
(Nah. Seriously. Relax and have fun swapping stuff around. As long as you aren't married to any of your gear it won't hurt to let anything go.)
Right now I am seriously contemplating a bass build early next year. So, one of my really nice and very much liked basses will have to go.
I have a vintage Ampeg V4 rig I am thinking of trading or selling soon just because I want to try something different. That thing sounds amazing, but curiosity keeps pulling at me.
Those deals might not work out even money wise. That much I'm not worried about. But at least I'm not just creating a pile of bass gear I can't possibly use.
Embrace the hate! Use it to make you stronger!
(Nah. Seriously. Relax and have fun swapping stuff around. As long as you aren't married to any of your gear it won't hurt to let anything go.)
Well after being here I went from 1 bass - 6 but pretty sure I have all my basses covered for any sound I want..well maybe a stingray but not likely...and a Fender VI,,,and a Squier Short Scale Jaguar
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I'm in the same boat, have the money to afford anything I want and don't have a problem buying it. I too traded or sold 5 to get the 4 I now have. We do need a 12 step program because I don't see this going away.
I get what the OP is saying, but I wouldn't say that I "hate" TalkBass for giving me gas. I've certainly learned about a lot of new gear that I never would have found out about any other way since bass players are terribly under-serviced in the retail space. I've made most of my recent buying decisions based on information I've found here on TalkBass, but I wouldn't say that I've purchased anything I wouldn't have normally bought anyway. My purchasing habits run a little contrary to general consensus anyway, so I'm not going to be convinced that P basses with flat wounds are awesome, that I must own a fretless jazz, or that I need at least 3 fuzz pedals by conversations in TB.
The only case of spontaneous GAS I've had is when I saw the Dunwich Amps Volt Thrower. I love HP Lovecraft and I love Bolt Thrower, so from a marketing perspective I'm the perfect buyer for this pedal, but after researching it for a week I figured out I can't use it for anything.
The only case of spontaneous GAS I've had is when I saw the Dunwich Amps Volt Thrower. I love HP Lovecraft and I love Bolt Thrower, so from a marketing perspective I'm the perfect buyer for this pedal, but after researching it for a week I figured out I can't use it for anything.
