Ever write off an entire brand?

[BarfanyShart]

I love the look of Gibson basses, but don't generally like the way they play or sound. They also tend to release models that have features and setups that I'm not interested. I figure one day I'll make a custom fretless shortscale bass that looks exactly like a 90's transparent amber Les Paul Deluxe Bass, and i will be satisfied.

 

[IamGroot]

Lots of TBers swear by Ibanez. My first 5string was an overpriced Ibanez dog bought when I was a newb. I loaned it a month later to a private school .....twenty years ago.

No way I would get close to a Ibanez now

 

[JimmyM]

I've had pretty good luck with MXR pedals myself. I don't like them all, but I like some, and I never have bought a pedal in my life simply because it exists, or any gear for that matter. I do research, I go out and play the gear when I can, and as a result I rarely get burned. Once in a great while it happens, but not very often. Far be it for me to tell you what to like or how to spend your money, but if you buy indiscriminately, then hey...

 

[bikeplate]

Yes. Wrote off a brand of bass and all related products they offer

 

[Dincrest]

Are we talking just effects brands, or anything goes?

I like to think I'm a reasonably logical person, but I still avoid/sour on brands for what are probably superficial reasons. I think we all do. I know people who prefer shopping at Lowe's rather than Home Depot because they feel like Home Depot's orange color scheme feels more claustrophobic than the blue color scheme in Lowe's stores.

Anyway, here's mine. I have a Brand X PA I bought 15-16 years ago and I love it. I have a Brand X bass I bought from a fellow TBer in the classifieds and I love it. However, I refuse to buy Brand Q (which is a rename of Brand X) gear now because I think Brand Q's current leader person is a disrespectful, condescending, grade-A [expletive deleted]. It's true I only know what I've seen in multimedia, but personal impressions count for me and I would not feel "right" using a Brand Q piece of gear when my impression of Brand Q point-person is negative.

Like I said... the reason I wouldn't buy Brand Q gear now may seem nonsensically petty and superficial to many folks. But, hey, at least I admit my own superficiality.

 

[Loudart]

Ever have this happen?

*rant compete*

Yep . I was in Clearwater Fl at the time the Michael Kelly headquarters was there. I was hawking down nut for a headless bass. They had a dragonfly bass on the wall. Mind you, this is the national headquarters and where you expect things to be adjusted to the best show it off point. The action would be like playing power lines awful. I wont give you two seconds to look at another Michael Kelly. If that is the near flagship they can keep all those.

 

[FronTowardEnemy]

I bought a DOD FX62 bass stereo chorus pedal in 95. It sounded terrible and was unusable.

Never touched DOD until last year when I found a NIB Milk Box compressor. That’s a great pedal.

 

[eban3]

I wrote off Rickenbacker years ago , the worst customer service, some guy named Jeff acted like he was doing me a favor by even speaking to me about a major repair

 

[Watchootognbout]

Musicvox.

 

[swink]

I like the principle that every big brand has at least one product that makes them stand out, that has made them big. It doesn't become a problem until the brand starts tarnishing on that name and pushing the biggest misfits down our throats.
That's the point where marketing and economics take over, and things deteriorate...
But to brand an entire brand, and banish it. Nah

 

[jmattbassplaya]

I am always happy to be proven wrong. I remember when Squires used to be real dogs until the VMs and CVs hit the market. Then Squires became affordable workhorses that a person could proudly gig as they were well built, sounded good, and held up well over time.

However, certain brands are still on my naughty lift. EHX, for whatever reason, have never sounded good in my setups. It’s more likely a ‘me’ problem, but I can’t use them. Similarly, GHS strings have never lasted long on any bass I’ve owned, and Gibson basses do nothing for me in terms of feel or sound.

As for MXR, I love them. They are, along with Boss, the standard. Their sounds are classic, their construction is solid, they’re fairly priced, and they just work. I’ve never had issues with them and I’m happy to use them.

 

[RabidMusic]

There is one company, which I shall not name, that makes a habit of buying other companies and then shuting them down. They have destroyed some of my favorite music companies. I refuse to buy anything from them.

 

[BurtMacklinFBI]

Written off, not really I don't think. I have ratcheted back my interest a LOT in one pedal company which shall not be named (not one with a presence on TB) because they were kind of rude to me, but it wasn't anything I'd totally write them off for.

 

[Bonafide]

Yes. We are all in this business/industry together. We all make the market esist. My loyalty is to kindness, mutual respect of customer, company and planet. Above all else, genuine customer service. Any company being of service while they take care of themselves and their employees gets my patience. I will be the most back bendiest customer if I know the company is sincere.

 

[Ric5]

This might come off as a rant or get labeled as "1st world problems", but I recently bought a pedal from a very respected, high-volume maker. I'm not "naming names", but I'm disappointed. Literally every pedal I've bought from them is posted on Reverb the same day as trying them. Most pedals I give a period of "getting to know each other", but every one of their pedals gets a "nope!" almost immediately.

Ever have this happen?

*rant compete*

There are certain brands I never buy

 

[MDBass]

This might come off as a rant or get labeled as "1st world problems", but I recently bought a pedal from a very respected, high-volume maker. I'm not "naming names", but I'm disappointed. Literally every pedal I've bought from them is posted on Reverb the same day as trying them. Most pedals I give a period of "getting to know each other", but every one of their pedals gets a "nope!" almost immediately.

Ever have this happen?

*rant compete*

Yep.

Monster cables: Their quality control was so poor that two brand new cables I purchased didn’t work at all, and they use metric measurements for their plugs so eventually they break your output jacks.

Behringer: Both a powered mixer and a combo amp released the magic smoke when running at normal operating volumes. That, and all of their designs are outright copies of other manufacturers work: just made to a cheaper standard.

Aguilar: Their TH heads were dramatically underpowered, didn’t realize that was the case before comparing one head to head with a GK class D micro, and I didn’t care for the voicing of their DB cabs at all: once they stopped making the GS line, it was time to move on.

 

[frankie5string]

After using Line 6 stuff in the early 2000s, I swore off of them until the Helix system came out and Yamaha took them over. Now I'm looking at one as a serious contender for an all-in-one to feed my power amp rig.

 

[ac100X]

I'm old school......Pedal effects?.....on Bass?

 

[lomo]

Yup. Numerous times. Sometimes based on a bad experience.......sometimes just because of the name.....like the bass maker Status......I actually find the basses interesting, but I find the name so pretentious I would never play a bass with "Status" written on the headstock, period, full stop.

 

[JW56789]

Eden. Did lots of homework and due diligence, THOUGHT I knew what I was getting, and my
ownership experience was utterly the worst, I may have well taken a few grand and threw it out the window driving down I65, at least it would have been over with all at once. It's been long enough ago now I can talk about it without the red mist pegging the needle.