Between myself and
Mr_Sikaudio , we have been through quite a few items of music gear in a continuing quest for tone.
In an effort to be as informative as possible, we will strive to be as descriptive as we can in our reviews. We're not experts, but we're not deaf and it takes more than a brand name to convince us of a worthy product, and a brand name alone carries no tone.
I am sure that I am not alone when I say that I have been disappointed many times over, you know how it goes, read a whole bunch of great reviews, notable quotes and recommendations from the pros that have earned your respect through the magic of their music, you buy the product, plug it in.......and then realise that you have more tone in your flatulence.
I know, logic dictates that you try the product first, but there are two things to consider here:
1. We can't all be traipsing around from store to store looking for product to test, most of us have bills to pay....etc.
2. If you're buying a guitar, you need to hear it with
your amp and vice versa, if you're looking at just about anything else, ideally, you need your whole rig.
Obviously, limited to the confines of this forum, we are limited in how much we can help you in regard to choosing a product. After all, when you've read it all, it's just a bunch of words. That is why you need to try a product for yourself using your own gear...........failing that, read about it here.
Of course your opinions are welcomed, just try to be descriptive, if you tell me the particular model Gibson Les Paul you just forked out $5000 sounds kickass, how the hell should I know what you mean? I can't hear it from here, so tell me about the thumping lows, the rich mids and the singing highs, describe to me how it differs in tone from your Fender Stratocaster through your Diezel amp, tell me the manner in which it compliments your Marshall JCM900.
We have discussed the possibility of hanging sound clips in here, but there are a couple of issues with that, firstly, anything you listen to here (or anywhere on the internet for that matter) will not sound any good through a couple of crappy little PC speakers, and any clips posted by users might be of a sub standard recording quality, thus colouring or tainting the true tone. While I'm on this subject, we strongly recommend that before you pass judgement on any audio that you hear on the internet,
use a decent set of headphones or speakers. eg:
sennheiser or
Mackie Audio Monitors The opportunity has passed for us to record certain items, but we will be sure to record our toys in the future before we sell them, unlike I did with the disappointing Line 6
Pod Pro . I had read around the time of purchase, that Meshuggah used the Line 6
Pod Pro live, and for recording, how Meshuggah managed to get such a crushing tone with it is beyond me, must have eq'd the hell out of it. Although I would rather believe that other sources stating they used the Line 6 Vetta are true. I don't care what anybody says, the Pod Pro and the Vetta
are not the same amp.
Many a time I would tweak my Line 6
Pod Pro until I got a sound which seemed to my liking, then my old mate would go 'chuggah-chugg' through his JMP-1 EL34 Dual Monobloc 50/50 rig......it's all about reference point, the
Pod Pro sounded ok until I had something to compare it to. Incidentally, to further drive home my point, or rather my anti Pod Pro rant, with the exception of our pre amps, our rigs were identical, pre amp to EL34 Dual Monobloc 50/50 to Marshall 1960A cab (stock), the difference between the pre amps was like chalk and cheese, although I will admit, the
Pod Pro had some very nice cleans.
I know that my rant wasn't very descriptive tone wise, but it was too long ago for me to remember the particulars, all I remember is the sting of disappointment.
We look forward to sharing our experiences and opinions on a lot of equipment, and reading about yours.
JP
