Giving up on a brand?

[stankepanck]

perhaps a rabbit trail but-
+1

Im in both camps i guess. I know what I like but will use whatever is needed to get the job done. I also love to buy/sell/trade gear. It is a ton of fun for me. Listening to music was always a major part of my life. I absolutely love learning new things on guitar, bass, drums, etc. I think there is room for all of it in my life.

 

[Sid Fang]

This is going to piss-off Jimmy, but I gave up on Ampeg in the 1980s. I still played through Ampeg gear until after 2000, mind you, but only the vintage stuff (Blueline SVT, Whiteline B15) I already had.

 

[chuck norriss]

TB has all kinds of players and some invest a lot of research, money and feelings (word?) in creating the rig that reflects their personality and makes them feel good.
The other extreme could be both the less discriminating player or the person that consider all gear to be "just a tool" that could be replaced in an instant.

I do not have alot of (but def. some!) feelings invested in my gear, but I try to see "the whole picture" when buying gear; how do they advertise, design their products, who is endorsed, etc. If it seems "right", it is easier to accept minor flaws.
Now one of my "preferred suppliers" has deviated (technically, designwise, commercially etc) so far from my view that I feel a bit uncomfortable with it. Since some of that positive feeling is gone, I nowadays have less patience with the quirks I have accepted for quite some time before.

A source for GAS as good as anyone, I guess...

I gave up on Bugatti.

 

[AMJBASS]

Interesting thread. As someone who makes all of his income from playing music, I tend to seek out gear that I know is going to be reliable and sound great no matter what the gig. At this point I only own Fender basses as they suit the gigs that I am playing right now. I don't necessarily feel that they are the end all, and there are a ton of fantastic bass builders out there. They just work for me. For amplification I don't have an allegiance to any particular brand. There are some I stay away from for different reasons(reliability etc).

 

[Alexander]

I try to only play gear that is good across three dimensions - tone, quality\reliability and customer service.

The biggest reason for me to discount a brand has been tone. Not that the tone isn't good per se, but maybe just not for me. Played Thunderfunk amps for a good while and liked them, but ultimately felt they were too mid focused. I lusted after Warwick, but after owning a couple felt that I liked a more Fender-y tone as well. Hate the tone of SWR, could never really make GK work for me and tried TCE backline rigs that sounded ok, but like a photocopy of a true tube amp. Lots of people like these amps and are able to get tones out of them that I like - I just wasn't.

Once I run into reliability issues, as long as there is good CS that helps resolve the problems (for the long term), I'm ok. If they don't, they're gone. Especially if they are ***holes about it along the way...

 

[LiquidMidnight]

You are basically right about the player being the important thing; however, amp voicing, available tone controls, compressors etc play a big role for some people's sound. And I believe that "gear factor" gets gradually more important the further away from the "original", four string, "holding down the bottom", clean-ish, finger style you go.

This is less important with bass amplification, IMHO. A musical and usable tone stack is going to be more important than the baked-in tonality of the amp when it comes to getting a usable tone for any genre of music. An Eden, SVT, Sunn, or Aguilar can easily fit in at a rock gig, country gig, jazz gig, oldies gig, ska gig, or blues gig.

When it comes to guitar amps, this is a little bit different, because gain and sag are so integral to guitar sound. While I love the sound of a great Marshall or Vox, when it comes to a lot of heavier styles of music, I still think American-voiced amps (or other higher gain European amps like Diezels and Engls) totally outshine British-voiced amps all day long for that style of music. Likewise, a Line 6 Flextone is a cool pop rock amp, but it's probably not going to be the best blues rig.

 

[LiquidMidnight]

...but more on topic, there are some companies I really dig because their gear has a reputation for being good. I own four Carvin basses, and they're all killer pieces. But that really doesn't have anything to do with brand loyalty in the way people are loyal to sport teams or car companies.

Endorsements have never affected me any further than hipping me to certain gear existing. Frankly, I've always been weirded out by the people who buy the exact same gear that their heros use. When you're young and starting out, it's natural to be impressionable. But I'm talking about cats who have been playing for years. Everyone knows that one person who has the same exact guitar in the same exact finish with the same exact string gauge, playing through the same exact pedal board configuration and amp that their hero has.

 

[srxplayer]

Endorsers have never influenced me. Most endorsers are paid, get the gear for free or get substantial discounts on the gear. I have no problem with that. Good for them (sincerely) but it doesn't make me want to buy that gear unless that gear works for me. Even if I don't like the endorser I may like the gear. The company would have to have a known criminal endorser to make me not buy their products. Customer service and build quality go along way as well. Since no gear is perfect and immune to gremlins, how the company resolves any issue goes a long way towards loyalty with me.

 

[FFTT]

A have no loyalty to The Big Logos when I see them building pure crap. When they need to be embarrassed into compliance.

When they disrespect their legacy and rest on their laurels.

When they cut every possible corner using the cheapest possible components and unethical, sweatshop labor practices to appease the bean counters rather than building the best.

When you look under the hood and see builds no better than a Chinese toaster oven at a price point that has no justification.

When they offer heritage editions that prove they actually can build them right but they don't build every single one to those standards.