ShortScale.org

Hi all,

Are there any sounds, techniques, practises or even gear types that you have just an irrational aversion to? It's weird, it's like not even snobbish but I literally can't stand the thought of doing or "having" to do these things:

1. "Boost" an already overdriven amp to get the gain level you need.
I know loads of guys do this, metallers mainly - taking something like a JCM800 2203 and throwing a metal zone in front of the crunchy amp. Fuck knows why but this bothers the hell out of me - it's noisy, mushy, undefined... just buy an amp with a decent gain level? I know this is me being weird.

2. Using FX loops
Two more leads and an extra load of crap to care about (+4dB/-10dB - FX mix, serial, parallel). Argh. I just plug my FX into the front of the amp and I always have. I had a brief dalliance plugging my GE-7 EQ into the loop of my DSL401 when I had it for a bass boost but it drove me nuts, two more leads - I wanted to leave the epdal on the amp which then meant barries for one pedal. FUCK.

3. Wireless systems
Eurgh. This is a weird one. I've seen people using them on stages where you're basically in each others pockets. FFS. And wandering around the room on soundcheck does not justify it. Mental. I would never use one even if I was on a stadium stage.

4. Chorus on all clean sounds
Again this is a metal thing mostly but what the fuck is the deal with having a chorus pedal in the loop and always on the clean channel. Fuck a duck.

I have loads more, I'm well neurotic.

lol. most of those i agree with. i fucking hate those stupid punk songs where all the chords are downstroked really fast so anyone who plays them pulls a stupid "I'M CONCENTRATING REALLY HARD" face.

I hate people who won't touch anything but 'Boutique' stuff ''I just got this fuzz pedal, it's the exact same thing as a Fuzzface, but it cost nearly £300. And it has Keeley's name on it...''

I might get hate for this, but I fucking hate Strats too.

I forgot Keeley and his ilk:

5. Shyster "Modders" charging 2x the original Pedal price for some resistor swaps.
Shameless cunts the lot of them - promising 808 specs (it is two sodding resistor changes), transparent gain, bass boost - all snakeoil bollocks. The only one I like is Brian Wampler of IndyGuitarist who actually tells you how to mod pedals yourself for free. A good soul in a world of twats.

People who describe things as having loads of 'Tone', it's a noun not an adjective. I want to know what the tonal qualities are, not that it has them.

Tape disguising the name of effects.

I actually do the dirt pedal into a crunchy amp thing. I dont do it because the amp cant get the required level of dirt, I just dont like the sound of it when it does. I generally set the pedal so that when its on its roughly the same level as dirt I would want if i was going with just the amp, or the pedal into a clean amp, but I sometimes have an extra dirt pedal with that too. When I did it, I used a sansamp as the extra one, and you have shite loads of eq range on it, so I used it to make a really bassy fuzz with all 3 on. Plus, it gave me a few options (amp only, rat + amp, sansamp + amp, or all 3) without having to tweak mid-song.

I'm sure my list for this would be very long, I'll do a couple though.

3 saddle teles
git tae fuck ya bastard. If Leo had started with 6, and then done 3 to save money, everyone would use 6.

Cloth wiring (especially the re-wiring of things with cloth)
Just use high enough quality wire and forget about it. It does look nice, but its inside the guitar so what does it matter.

Actually I'm doing the thread wrong, those are just my disliking particular gear snob attitudes, but then I've never properly investigated either so I suppose they are a little irrational.

Behringer
Ive used some of their gear (recording stuff) that was shite, and some alright, but I wont even consider their guitar stuff. I've never tried one of their pedals or guitars, but I dont ever intend on bothering.

I agree on the wireless thing, but I think that its mostly because its chumps who use it, rather than a problem with the actual gear.

15 year old kids who have all the gear they want, and the parents who act as roadies for them because they have too much to cart around on a bus.

(probably just jealous that I didn't have it at their age)

Fender Stratocasters

I have an irrational fear of strats. I just can't stand them. I hate the way they sound and play, but mostly i hate them because they're so common and so *average* - they're good for all styles but dont excel in any of them. Also cosmetically they look soo boring.

hm..not really gear related but bands with two guitarists that play exactly the same thing.

bands with big egos (because they're twenty years older than you and think they're better) pushing your gear off the stage because they play after you, especially when they're playing a korean gretsch thru a fender deville, poor guitar..and 70% of their set are covers..but just bands with big egos showing no respect for other people's gear (yes, i am talking about a recent gig)

drummers with a double bass pedal that overdo it when they can't even keep in time with a simple double bass part, but think it's cool to ruin a performance with a wave of double bass

soundguys messing with your amp and forcing you to use their bahringer di box just because you're the bass player so you don't deserve a mic'ed cab.. oh the hassle !

guitarists with a boutique amp head on top of a bahringer or hartke cab and vice versa...balance ?

bands with musicians that keep on noodling inbetween songs

musicians who don't know you shouldn't plug or unplug a cable when your amp is ON

Peavey - very irrational because I actually like their gear. There's just something about the look, the logo,
that I can't deal with. Years ago I got a classic 30, and the first thing I did was take the badge off!

+1 on wireless, though I do gigs now and then where it's a necessity.

Guitar "relicing" - I just don't get it. I mean, I get it, I just don't dig it.

Flamed maple.
I just don't get it.

Roller nuts or some graphite saddles.
I believe aesthetics are important on guitars. Roller nuts are hideous. Big black super slidey saddles may be functional, but they're not really necessary, are they?

Capacitor snobbery.
This isn't because Icey insists on it, it's because I don't understand why the big fat orange caps cost more than all the others. I've never been in a situation where I've thought "Ooh, that guy's got orange caps. Beautiful!", so I'm probably just biased.

The Gibson SG.
I've never played a good one. The fretboard is always flat. The neck is barely touching the body. They don't stay still when you stand up. They look ugly. They sound boring. Sorry anyone who likes them, they've just never been for me.

"Metal Distortion" guitar pedals.
Why? What's the point? They might as well take out the 1-9 settings, anyone stupid enough to buy a pedal with the word "metal" on it regarding the tone is clearly never going to use anything but the maximum settings.

Except the mids. Mids always on zero.

hm. i like a lot of the things people said they dislike. meh.

anyway, i hate:

peavey i know, i know. there are some true peavey believers around here, but really. . . what the fuck does a peavey sound like? i guess some of my aversion comes from the fact that when i was just starting to get into electric guitar many moons ago, the local shop where i lived refused to carry anything by anybody but peavey and fernandez and a bunch of other (what i consider to be) knock-offs.

fucktard center it doesn't stop me from going there altogether, but guitar center is like the antithesis of the place i listed in the above paragraph. they dumb everything down so much, you'd think the only guitars in the world are strats, teles, les pauls, and ibanez. the one in hollywood is *better*, but the prices are a bit outta line. between sales people that know nothing and who won't budge on getting you a great deal, fuck those guys.

gibson necks i'm not talking about the scale because my toronado is gibson scale, and it rocks. i'm talking about the overall chunkiness of the width. i haven't played one yet that felt natural to me.

guitar synths yes, i'm sure *you* heard this guy or played one once that was amazing. i say no, you didn't. he didn't. guitar synth is for mullets who find themselves board after learning yngwie's entire catalog. that's what you get for wasting your time on something that nobody will ever care about ever again. shoulda just learned to write.

full stacks in small venues i can understand bi-amping and all that, but get a GD pair of 2x12's, k? unless you're rocking a huge stage in front of 1,000 people or more, you're just taking up too much sonic and physical space. srsly, fuck off.



i'll come up with some banditudes i don't like. maybe i'll start a new thread for that.

I really like the look of the LSR roller nut.

This is basically a hate-thread isn't it?

ElCapitan wrote:This is basically a hate-thread isn't it?

Yeah, it makes us feel better about the things we really like.

i finally figured out the "boost" thing.
i post at a metal recording forum as well and they all use tubescreamers to help "tighten up" the bass frequencies rather than actually trying to get more gain. but having a clean boost for just lead parts is good too.

i also hate using effects loops. I always experiement with them, but they're almost always not worth it.

chorus fucking sucks.

Everything made by Carvin.

Chico Malo wrote:Everything made by Carvin.

Even thier Amps?