The effects of forums on gear

[fiveightandten]

I've been playing in bands in some capacity since before the internet was around for normal household use. I started playing guitar actively in bands back in the late 90's and i've watched some of the forums such as Harmony Central, The Gear Page, and Plexi Palace come into their own and grown in huge numbers.

For some reason, today, I was thinking about the profound impact these forums have had on the entire music industry. Before forums, guitar players were only really sharing opinions about gear in person. You'd only hear an amp if you owned it, knew someone who owned it, or saw a band who used it live. Amp makers could advertise in Guitar Player, or get well known act to use their gear. But without forums, the internet didn't provide the vast canvas for information to spread like it does now.

Currently, many amp makers and other vendors have accounts on forums. They use the feedback to improve products and develop new products. They spread information about their products, as others do. Some of the younger guys may not realize how big this is without seeing it unfold from its infancy. But it's huge.

The same thing with eBay. eBay *completely* changed the market for gear, new and used.

Also, i've watched things go from simple text....to being able to post sound clips, then finally HD videos on youtube to embed into threads so people can hear sound clips of gear and see it on video. I recently posted one. Andy H (rightfully so) pointed out that it's not the same as hearing things in person. Well, he's right. But look at how far we've come. When I started playing guitar, I had no idea what an Orange amp was. Now, I can go online, get all the info I want about them, read options and ask questions on the forums, and watch videos of them on youtube with different guitars in every scenario imaginable. It's crazy!

Discuss.

-Nick

[OU818]

Yeah, I guess.

[jason41224]

spot on.

you'll find that the gear selection varies from forum to forum, particularly with pedals. you can see this on the orange forum especially--your typical user has a clean boost, a muff-type fuzz, a wah, and usually not much else. on TGP, you'd be hard pressed to find a board without one or several delays and at least 3 or 4 different overdrives.

i do think it's a good thing. though i did hear about Orange the old fashioned way. i came into contact with a few bands that played them and i was impressed, and admittedly, the looks did me in further

[msmith4432]

Very true, not the same as playing it yourself but the things you learn around here sure do help.

[a.hun]

Don't like the internet. Bring back good ol' steam powered analogue FM radio.

Nah, kidding about the first bit. (Not so much the second though!)

I think things are able to happen much faster, news spreads fast, which also kind of holds quality manufacturers to account.

Say a manufacturer brings out a new range but say one in 30 of the units fail in the first couple of months from similar causes. Well in days of old the only people who would have known would be the unlucky individuals, the bigger dealers and the company itself which was getting lots of warranty returns. If they were smart and dealt with each customer well and sorted the core problem as soon as they caught wind of it then the impact on sales and reputation would probably be tiny. And everyone knows that new models often have start up bugs.

Now through forums the company and dealers may not even be the first to hear of problems. Delighted new users turning into frustrated head sctratchers often look for quick help on forums first. Of course that doesn't mean you get an accurate picture of reliability on forums - you just don't. (Could be one in 30 or one in 300, you have no way of knowing!) But you can at least get an idea of which problems (if any) are tending to crop up. Years ago here for example we used to see lots of valve failures in new or nearly new Orange amps. Often new amps were arriving DOA. It happened enough (and got mentioned often enough!) that Orange changed from using cheap valves to using much better quality ones. And now such early valve failure problems are much rarer here - the valves are robust enough to usually survive the pre-owner shipping and handling and a couple of years good thrashing too. (Used to have to tell people here all the time that their amps were probably fine, it was just the valves which were failing which is different. All they knew was their shiny new amp had stopped working...)

Also I think it is fair to say there were a few initial hiccups with a certain high powered lightweight bass amp.
http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=42148" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
That seems to have been down to FET (a type of transistor) failures in some early batches. Could be there were bad FETs supplied, or might be that they weren't handled right pre installation (they are very sensitive to damage from static electricity so need careful handling before they are in circuit!) Whatever the exact cause it is nice to see that Orange grabbed that one by the scruff of the neck pretty fast. Haven't noticed any new BT problems here in a while.

I dare say that many manufacturers also steal some ideas from user forums, eg what the customer is missing from their gear or their gear line up. Free polls from existing customers. But I reckon the really individualistic ones such as Orange or especially many of the smaller specialist gear companies tend to go their own sweet way as far as new model ideas are concerned. Which is okay in my book - I like companies with some character in their products which you don't often get if designing by committee. Sometimes popular opinion is way over-rated!

Tell you one thing forums haven't cured. Still seeing bogus 'Class A' claims everywhere, from manufacturers and the guitar press alike. It is such a great marketing term it would be such a shame to let truth get in the way...


Andy.

[Jondog]

http://youtu.be/YozC8yFrZKI

[bclaire]

Thanks to forums, we have access to information that we never had before - or can get access to with much less effort.

I think you're right in that manufacturers look at the needs of users and can adapt their products to what they want.

GREAT manufacturers anticipate what users will love and/or need and produce products that we didn't KNOW we needed. Orange, to me, falls into that category.

[Les Paul Lover]

The greatest impact of these forums is GAS.
All these fantastic guitars and amps and pedals I read about makes me, to a degree, want to buy them.....

Sooooooo much gear, so little time and money!!!!!


I'm reasonnably happy with what I've got though, and consider myself very lucky to have it all.

[hitgar]

The greatest impact of these forums is GAS.
All these fantastic guitars and amps and pedals I read about makes me, to a degree, want to buy them.....

Sooooooo much gear, so little time and money!!!!!


I'm reasonnably happy with what I've got though, and consider myself very lucky to have it all.

+1
I use to just watch what my favorite bands were playing and even tried bringing in magazine clippings and such to the store to see if they knew what pedals and amps were in the pictures. Now I can search forums and other sites to find out as well as get bombarded with a host of other options to try out. I like to support local shops when buying gear, but when searching for it most online stores have youtube sites with tons of reviews and sound clips. I don't think it works well for me to be overwhelmed instead of just making what I have available my own.

[Mrjones2004x]

Marshall amp designers don't listen to nothing on there forum. They always bitch about new product having missing things theyve been crying out for for ages.

They asked for a dsl 15 with loop and 4 channels like the bigger ones and the 40 watter. They got a 15 with 2 channels most people don't use and missed out the crunch and normal lead channel and went for clean and ultra lead. No fx loop killed this amp for many user straight out the door.

I like my dsl 15 but hey I've had 15 amps in 3 years

One guy who listens is Steve the designer of the vintage modern. He's on the vm forum all the time responding to questions and queries. Maybe the rest of the guys should take note cos he'll be off one day with his reputation.

Orange listen for sure.
Jackson charvel forum has so many complaints so they never listen its funny.

[ECWeagles]

Really interesting point above about certain forums having certain gear taste. Over at TGP you can't read an overdrive pedal thread without about 20 people recommending Timmys. Can't recall in the last 10 years whether I've ever known anyone on this forum ever owning one.

Well, I do now.

[ECWeagles]

Really interesting point above about certain forums having certain gear taste. Over at TGP you can't read an overdrive pedal thread without about 20 people recommending Timmys. Can't recall in the last 10 years whether I've ever known anyone on this forum ever owning one.

Well, I do now.

[OU818]

The Bloody Gear Page and it's obsession with bloody 'transparent boosts and overdrivers'.

If I wanted a pedal to sound like my amp, I wouldn't need a pedal, as my amp already sounds like itself.

[everdrone]

forumz breed GAS!!!


I had horrible tone 15 years ago, and got a new amp and new pickups but still could not stop it. Also, I never thought I would be able to record my own music. Forums changed that for the better, its just that they plague me with the GAS attackz...

[Eddie Famine]

Really interesting point above about certain forums having certain gear taste. Over at TGP you can't read an overdrive pedal thread without about 20 people recommending Timmys. Can't recall in the last 10 years whether I've ever known anyone on this forum ever owning one.

+1 and Klon's. Never heard, or heard of one except on the TGP. Such is the stuff corksniffing is made.