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what does the term "Pro Gear" mean to you?

#22
It would be unusual to find pro level gear on Craig's list - unless it's hype.

If some establishment is going to hire you. You sign a contract. You have to show up, and meet some quality level of musicianship and meet sound quality and volume levels the venue expects from you, and hopefully wrote on the contract.

You need gear you can trust to meet these requirements. You need to be able to trust the manufacturer that it's going to perform and a level they measure it to perform at. You will not find in any manufacturers warranty that they have any liability for any loss if the gear doesn't perform.

If you were strictly a pro musician, and going to go to a bank or investor and take out a loan to buy gear. They bank in all honestly ask what you're going to buy and make sure it meets standards that would let you earn enough money to pay them back. Banks do this for other industries. And they do it for high profile touring groups.
 
#23
When a band says "pro gear", it means that they've usually had issues with someone in the past who had poor gear.
I've played with a fair number of bands who have either had poor sounding PA systems or a band member who had crappy gear. Either way, the lousy equipment cost the band in either time or reputation.
A player with old and faltering wires coming from his rack eats us precious minutes on stage when setting up.
A poor PA system often gets complaints from audience members for sounding distorted.
The band suffers either way.
 
#24
I would think that especially in this context, "pro gear" is stuff you can practice and gig with with this band. For instance, I joined a band with 2 guitarists with half-stacks and a loud fast drummer, so I would have thought "pro" means its powerful enough and the right combination/setup of equipment to get your desired sound. I entered in with a Peavey 300 combo amp, it did the trick but the big 15" wasnt dynamic enough for my ears through those guitars, and to achieve enough volume I was clipping out hardcore. I upgraded to a beefier amp that had the tone and low-end I needed for the band, and considered that to be "pro".

As for the bass, my opinion was always that if your amp sounds money, the bass is just the taste of the musician...for instance my old starter Ibanez GSR200 would have done the trick as well, just not as well as my Soundgear SR506 ;)
 
#26
I don't have any real 'pro-gear' at the moment since my current gig allows me to plug straight into a PA (I just wanted to clarify that up front) but I think Dave Ramsey says it best...see my signature line below. What several of you have said already is that your tone should be good and you should be able to provide the sound that your band is looking for. There are plenty of ways to do that without breaking the bank.
 
#30
funkythumb said:
+1 How many times have I heard someone say "Yea the Fodera sounded good but when he pulled out the vintage Fender, it kicked ass!"
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i've heard it (or similar) quite a few times. once i even heard it said to me. and you know what? the guy who said it to me was right. a fender does work better for what i do.
 
#31
agomes said:
I have a decent bass, (Schecter, neck thru, EMGhz) and a Peavey Mark III thru fender 410 and SWR SOB 15", and I am a bit hesitant on responding to these "Must Have Pro Gear" adds. Are these guys just looking for something powerful enough to fit in the mix, or are they looking for tricked out ricks thru orange and mesa stacks?
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Well, that's going to depend on the particular guys, isn't it? :hmm:

If these are kids we're talking about, mostly likely they're trying to weed out players with 100-watt combo amps and "$99 Special" bass guitars.

On the other hand, if you're dealing with a mature, pro-level band, they could just be gear snobs - in which case almost nothing short of that Orange or Mesa stack will satisfy them.

MM
 
#33
funkythumb said:
When a band says "pro gear", it means that they've usually had issues with someone in the past who had poor gear.
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Bingo...thats it exactly.....at least it is with me. One of my bands was recently hiring a new drummer and we used the term "pro gear" in the ad for precisely this reason. The old drummer's kit was entry level (even though his playing was not) but that kit used to fall apart....things would just go wrong with it....and far too much time was being wasted because of it. Its bad enough in rehearsal but its down right disasterous when performing.
 
#34
ga_edwards said:
The term 'professional' would infer equipment with which one could make a living from, so to me that would mean gear that is well maintained/setup well, is dependable, reliable and consistently sounds great in every setting. Brand and cost has little bearing. Well, cost does to a certain extent - more expensive gear tends to be better built, ergo more reliable. But almost any bass or amp can be fettled to perform better.

As to where the line is - when something is deemed as being pro, that's up to you. If you feel you can gig weekly in all genres with just one bass and one amp without fear of failure, consistently great tone and not struggling to be heard, then I would say it's pro. If you don't trust your gear to handle the rigours of session playing and need a backup of everything, inc backup backups, then maybe it's not pro. (yes I know pros carry backups, but that's not my point)

Sadly however, if you were to make a living from playing bass, you would arguable have more success getting jobs with mainstream, high quality branded equipment such as Fender, Lakland, Ampeg, Trace Elliot etc rather than budget or even mega-expensive boutique.
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Exactly! Pro- Professional simple. You earn money at a profession plane and simple. A pro athlete does not mean a great athlete, its just an athlete who is PAID to compete. It's a generally assumption that you wouldn't pay someone who was not good, but as a Bears fan, look no further than the quarterbacks such as....ya pick anyone :)

The short answer is YOU. YOU make the gear pro if you make money with it. If someone wants to pay you because they love the sound you and your rumble 15 make and you can pay your bills, than you are a pro, and so is the gear you use.

Marketing is on a cataclysmic mission to not stop until it has destroyed all intelligence with emotion and perception.

My advice to you, ignore every BRAND and ignore EVERY white sheet tech spec you find published by the same people who have an interest in selling you something. Music is emotional, it works because of science, but you do not need to understand the science to appreciate it or even be great at it.

Listen to as much as you want to invest your time into. Whatever sounds the best to you, is all that matters.

Once you have a specific model in mind, check that specific models reliability record. Reliability is all I would concern myself with if the sound is what you like. If you love the sound of a $200 head and cab, but it fails and is in need of repair once a month, well that's not professional that's a liability. I don't know of many brands on this planet that don't have at least one bad product out there. They were made by humans, and even the best of the species still make mistakes.
 
#36
Unfortunately your gear says something about you even before you play. I was once judged as a player before I was heard because the equipment I owned, (still do). I was using old Acoustic 370 and they had never heard of it, and didn't want to give me the time of day. I have more up to date stuff now, but I was new on the scene and that was the way it was. I have proven myself as a player and have the equipment to do the shows I get. My old 370 with cabinet is still my baby, but I don’t get to use it much. I was told by one of those people from back then that they didn't know I could play.
 
#37
As stated before solid gear that's reliable is 'PRO'
That said the rig I'd expect to see if you're playing in a Wedding band is a hell of a lot different than what I'd expect for Grindcore, or Punk etc.
But at the end of the day 'PRO' also means you've got your act together, are there on time, enthusiastic, prepared, have transportation, when the band says we're at location X at time Y they've no concern whether you'll be there or not, the game is to see who gets there first, etc etc etc. And believe me all of the above is far more important to me than your gear. Gear you can get, the other 'intangibles are either present or you're wasting my time

:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
#38
I just saw a guy at a block party last weekend who was an old cat but did NOT sound like one, he had a crappy attitude to boot when I tried to talk to him about his gear. He was Playing a Hartke Stack of 2 410's with an SWR Mo Mark head and a Ken Smith bass but his tone was like a solo tone and didn't fit at all and it just sounded horrible and all with gear that probly costed more than my car. Pro gear is what you make of it.
 
#39
Time Consumer said:
I just saw a guy at a block party last weekend who was an old cat but did NOT sound like one, he had a crappy attitude to boot when I tried to talk to him about his gear. He was Playing a Hartke Stack of 2 410's with an SWR Mo Mark head and a Ken Smith bass but his tone was like a solo tone and didn't fit at all and it just sounded horrible and all with gear that probly costed more than my car. Pro gear is what you make of it.
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that is just your personal appreciation of that guy's sound...

PRO GEAR means that you have the required equipment to play the gig that you are applying to.
 

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