i've had a few people ask if my OLP was a real Stingray. when i said no, no one seemed to care. guess that's a good sign, or maybe they were just lining up to rob me...
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The gear snob in the audience
- Thread starter mcnach
- Start date
john turner
You don't want to do that. Trust me.
I am usually just curious or comlimentary when I'm talking to people about gear, and if someone asks me about mine I usually talk their heads off until they want to tell me to shut up.
I wouldn't say I'm a gear snob in the least, but I would say I do expect more from a bassist when I see him playing A+ gear. I would like to say you could hand me any bass for any gig and if it's properly set up I will rock the **** out of it. I believe any decent bassist should be possibly to find a usable tone in nearly any bass.
I wouldn't say I'm a gear snob in the least, but I would say I do expect more from a bassist when I see him playing A+ gear. I would like to say you could hand me any bass for any gig and if it's properly set up I will rock the **** out of it. I believe any decent bassist should be possibly to find a usable tone in nearly any bass.
That's about the way I am, too...
I don't care how much it costs, if I get the sound I want out of it, and can play it well, what more could I ask for?
I played this gig at a local bar once and I brought my trusty OLP MM2, a stingray clone. I had put a Seymour Duncan pickup and a 3-band preamp in it and it was (still is!) a sweet bass that sounded huge.
I do own a MM Stingray (2-band EQ version) and the OLP doesn't feel a million miles different and sounds great. But some people would just look at the headstock and say "bah, a copy".
So I play in thsi place, and afterwards I'm hanging out for a while and this guy comes to me, he compliments me on my playing and sound (always nice) and goes on to say that of course, a Stingray is the best bass blah blah blah. He continues this monologue about Stingrays while I listen and nod politely just waiting for him to go and let me keep talking to my friends. Then he says that of course I have good taste, a real Stingray, because so many other peple would play a copy and it's nothing like a Stingray even if it looks like one, and continues this rant against Stingray clones... So I just listen, smile and let him talk.
When he finished, I tell him "actually, I was playing an OLP tonight".
His face! I wish I could have taken a picture. After he said mine sounded so good, he couldn't now say that it was a bad bass. Gotcha!
He didn't say anything else, just gave me a weird look and walked away.
I loved it.
I love my Stingray, but I also have two OLPs that are *fantastic* (with some not too expensive upgrades).
I hate gear snobs.
That happened when I used my Nash Jazz Bass at a rehearsal....the guy a Fender purist...said there nothing like the sound of a vintage jazz bass....old Fenders are second to none ...blah blah blah...
Then I told him it was a Nash Reic... and I also told it was too late because he already liked it. Too funny...
A friend of mine was playing guitar in a duo with keyboard generated backing tracks, many years ago (cracking guitarist actually).
Pissed bloke was heckling all night accusing him of miming and all the sound were coming out of the pedals on the floor that he keeps standing on. In the end, my mate got so annoyed that he gave his guitar to the bloke, told him to stamp on a few pedal and see if it plays a tune. To which the guy just started complaining that he must have turned them off! 'See those red lights? That means they're on!'.
Regardless, the bloke kept whingeing that he wasn't really playing even in the face of absolute defeat until he was swiftly ejected by the bouncers.
Pissed bloke was heckling all night accusing him of miming and all the sound were coming out of the pedals on the floor that he keeps standing on. In the end, my mate got so annoyed that he gave his guitar to the bloke, told him to stamp on a few pedal and see if it plays a tune. To which the guy just started complaining that he must have turned them off! 'See those red lights? That means they're on!'.
Regardless, the bloke kept whingeing that he wasn't really playing even in the face of absolute defeat until he was swiftly ejected by the bouncers.
GOD that is priceless..THANK YOU!!I had a weirdo supposedly very experienced bass player (he gave me the normal "I did session work for 20 years, played with Jesus, Mary, and Moses, etc etc etc), come up to me at a bar and wanted to see my calluses. He said they were a little soft (on my pick fingers). I'm like... "what??? I'll show you soft!"
Then after we played the first set, he told me that he "digs in more than I do," and wished that I had a 4-string bass that he could show me with...but then proceeded to say that I "dance across the strings," which was supposed to be a compliment (I took it as one, anyway).
And I took solace in the fact that he wasn't currently playing, and that that was my 3rd gig that week...
Thanks again Jimmy.
The number of times I've turned up to a gig with my LMII and single 1x12 to looks of astonishment and bewilderment. Just the looks on their faces says 'what the heck is that? that won't be loud enough!.
They soon change their minds when I plug in and play a packed bar gig on 1/4 volume and keeping up with a loud drummer.
I've had similar reactions to my fenderish looking Attitude that has YAMAHA emblazoned in big letters across the headstock. I think many people still associate Yamaha with home keyboards. Again, they soon change their tune when they hear it.
People are so quick to judge by looks alone.
They soon change their minds when I plug in and play a packed bar gig on 1/4 volume and keeping up with a loud drummer.
I've had similar reactions to my fenderish looking Attitude that has YAMAHA emblazoned in big letters across the headstock. I think many people still associate Yamaha with home keyboards. Again, they soon change their tune when they hear it.
People are so quick to judge by looks alone.
every gig i played i used to get crap for bringing my work horses
squier jazz and a japanese p-bass i fixed up
its NEVER from anyone over the age of 35
its always from medeocore bass players (aged 16-34)
we played a gig where a band in there 40s were playing and they loved my p-bass saying i had done a great job fixing it up and i reall knew how to make the most of a bass i got for £45
Ha! Is that a Westfield logo I spot on the P-bass?
I salute you, wise one!
I have a Westfield Jazz I bought for £50 (£40 + 10 delivery, eBay thing). It's really very nice! I just did a minor set up on it and it sounds great, I really love those pickups, whatever they are. It's one of my favourite basses, alongside my trusty OLP(s), a Warwick Corvette and a MM Stingray. Actually it's probably the second most played, after my main OLP.
I get that sometimes, too. It's not a large board, but it's got a few lights so they notice it and... 3 overdrive pedals (which I barely use, but I use all three of those sounds at some point)
I'm not a gear snob at all. In fact, I am most impressed when I see someone using "crappy" gear and sounding awesome...
What if the gear snob is in your band? The guy that puts himself into massive credit card debt by buying nine or ten PRS Douchecasters in various colors playing through his JCM 900 half-stack and twelve stompboxes which produces a tone resembling bees getting gangraped by rattlesnakes who tells you your Fender bass is crap because you bought it used for $ 200.00 almost two decades ago? Yeah, I'm not in that band anymore.
