Is anyone image conscious about their rig?

[mike costelow]

It's always fun to see what other players are using , If a fellow bass player sounds great, their rig looks cool in my opinion! I like to see players pulling great tone out of configurations that are different,it is interesting to me! I love the sound and look of big ampegs but to me ampegs are the harley davidson's of bass amps and I generally go in another direction from what is popular, It's just in my nature!

 

[JimmyM]

...says the dude with a precision in his avatar pic

 

[alembicguy]

I was just thinking to myself how out of the ordinary a P bass is?????

 

[mike costelow]

p bass is my backup g&l is primary bass,got a good deal on the pbass,couldnt pass it up!... great bass! i'd even buy an ampeg,if the price was right.

 

[videomagician]

tell me this ain't mojo, my friend:

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ok, i've cleaned it up a little since then...new grillcloth, new knobs, but the tolex is the same and always will be. why? well duh!

Wow... That should have its own shrine.

 

[JimmyM]

Wow... That should have its own shrine.

lol! you'd want it taken away if you knew how i treat it. but when i got it, it looked like that, so i haven't done any worse to it since then

 

[mr_goodbomb]

Yup. I play an Ampeg SVT CL despite the SVT 2 Pro being cheaper and easier to travel with. It just looks better, and in a band with mostly vintage-looking gear, a rackmount would stand out and look stupid. I also put patterned cowboy fabric (basically red bandanna material) over the modern-looking grill clothe.

 

[FletcherML]

Nice rig. I like the that Bass.

That's 110% too sick! So rad

 

[bass.monger]

i wouldnt care. the less i have to lug around the better. i have a fairly small amp, but it doesnt bother me. it puts out a pretty good sound. its enuff to shake my first floor of the house, so im good

 

[4001]

I'll use the amps that I want and if somebody dosen't like it they can fuh-k off.

 

[Sammy_L_D]

If I were more image conscience, it'd have nothing to do with the size...that's called overcompensating.

That said, if an amp just looks sweet or badass, I'm in. I have an old Magnatone Imperial that has golden coloured tolex and a golden coloured display. It's just sick.

That's just a bonus however. I really don't care in the end.

 

[atomicman96]

I do pay attention to cosmetics. I want to like the way my amp and bass looks. For example, I love the two ports on the sides of my GK RBH 4x10. I'm sure no one else cares, but I love them. I would not, however, have bought the cab if it didn't sound great.

There is a lot of gear out there. You can get stuff that looks good and sounds great.

 

[Lambic]

Does this count as being image conscious?

All made in 2009, btw.

 

[Scotte_4U]

I agree 100% with jimmy My ampeg rig is the **** and I don't mind hauling it around.

 

[mikeddd]

My current rig is generally met by other musicians with looks and comments of derision. I usually hear some kind of comment about 'oh, are those some kind of home made speaker cabs?' complete with a sarcastic look.I have no branding on the cabs at all.

Oh man, does that EVER bother me too! You just want to tell those people "You may be a fellow musician. You may play better than I do. But you're a narrow-minded idiot!"

There's a diff b/t "a musician" and a "tinkerer musician with an open mind." Many of us here on TB fall into the latter category, thankfully. A lot of folks can't afford or arent' sponsored so they can have the best of whatever the retail market has to offer. Some folks CAN afford and choose to buy wisely. If a 2x10 combo or single 12 cab w/a lightweight head does it for you, then you're golden in my book.

Relatedly, if you can build (or have it built) a fEARful (or two) that sound better, handle more power, have better freq response, are lighter, etc than say an 8x10 Ampeg (just for example) then those are FACTS. I'd love to try an experiment where I put a smaller, killer cab inside an empty 8x10 fridge cab. Play all night, get great compliments on my rockin' vintage 8x10...then rip the grill cloth off and just walk away. Hah! That would rock!

Notice I'm not bashing those who love whatever gear they're running. I'm bashing those who bash "homemade" cabs/amps/whatever. People forget that at one point ALL great gear was homemade by the founding fathers of all the companies.

 

[cnltb]

I played a show recently where i had a discussion with another bassist about... well... gear (duh!).

He was a 110% Ampeg guy. If it didn't have tubes... fughettabout it. Actually... that's how he presented himself at first.

After talking a while longer and he realized i'm no gear snob at all we began discussing 'the Ampeg tone'. I ended up mentioning the MarkBass LMII+VT Bass trick. It turns out, he not only knows it, but he has that set up that he uses at his practice space.

After talking a bit longer, i asked if he ever uses that rig for shows. His response; never! He doesn't like the image that a small head gives off. He likes the visual appeal of the Ampeg w/matching 8x10. We talked some more, and played our sets, and it was an all-in-all good night.

Now, i have seen this sentiment with cabs a few times. Dudes would haul monsterous ammounts of cabs just because of the image. But i honestly haven't encountered this in regards to heads... especially regarding a dislike for the newer smaller heads...

But it got me thinking:

Does anyone else not use certain pieces of gear because of the image they put forth?
Does anyone use sup-par gear because it puts forth a 'better' image than other pieces of gear?
Does anyone really care about what gear the bassist uses besides other bassists?
Is this sentiment a cross-genre thing, or only in certain genres?

I personally do not care about image.
There is certain manufacturers products that I'd rather not use simply because I don't like them in terms of performance. Image has nothing to do with it.
Same with instruments.

 

[mongo2]

tell me this ain't mojo, my friend:

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stencils + spray paint = instant mojo.

 

[jnewmark]

I draw the line at grey ratfur.

 

[esa372]

Does this count as being image conscious?

Nah, you don't have Fender straps.

Hey! Isn't that Entwistle's old rig?

 

[EdHunter]

As long a sit says "MARSHALL" on it, no problemo...