Who are you advertising for?

[J.Paul]

I look around at our (current) live stage and all the companies have their logos prominently displayed (except for a few that I have taped and blacked out)...I'm not even counting stuff that on pedalboard (just what would be visible to an audience looking from a chest high front row)... It's just gawdy, kind of like the car dealer that puts their business on the back of your car for you to advertise for years after the car has left the lot...(not that anyone cares or that we are any kind of influence).This is just from memory but I'm sure I'll add to the list at a later date :

 

Marshall

Pearl

Sabian

On Stage Stands

Wedgie

Sennheiser

Line6 (blacked out)

Pedaltrain (blacked out)

Warmoth

Aquafina

Converse

Furman

 

Howz about you????

[GuitarPlayerFL]

...logos prominently displayed (except for a few that I have taped and blacked out)

 

Behringer?

 

 

(In the future I will be using a small Behringer mixer to submix my guitar synth and modeler for small gigs. I don't care who knows it's Behringer. It works and sounds fine.)

 

Otherwise, I wouldn't bother with covering up names. That should only matter if you're a well known touring artist. Coving up logos is pretty silly for a cover band. If I use a piece of equipment, it's because I like it and hope other musicians notice exactly what I'm using.

 

I recently saw the local shred guitar king play with his band. He has columns in national magazines and demos at NAMM. He has an SG style guitar....I'm 99% sure it was an Epiphone.....and he had the name taped over. Your average guitarist is going to know it's not a Gibson....so what? I wouldn't care if he played an Epiphone. It sounded fine.

[tlbonehead]

Gibson

Peavey

Raven

Hamer

First Act

Washburn

Samick

Fender

Vox

Mesa

Blackstar

Epiphone

Crate

Proel

Mackie

QSC

Danelectro

Morley

Artec

Sabine

Soundtech

Soundcraft

ART

Coffin

Radial Tonebone

Samson

 

That's the main ones

[J.Paul]

Behringer? (In the future I will be using a small Behringer mixer to submix my guitar synth and modeler for small gigs. I don't care who knows it's Behringer. It works and sounds fine.) Otherwise, I wouldn't bother with covering up names. That should only matter if you're a well known touring artist. Coving up logos is pretty silly for a cover band. If I use a piece of equipment, it's because I like it and hope other musicians notice exactly what I'm using. I recently saw the local shred guitar king play with his band. He has columns in national magazines and demos at NAMM. He has an SG style guitar....I'm 99% sure it was an Epiphone.....and he had the name taped over. Your average guitarist is going to know it's not a Gibson....so what? I wouldn't care if he played an Epiphone. It sounded fine.

 

lol@ Behringer, yeah man~ whatever works.

 

my concern isn't the one or two pieces of gear

it's the 20 or 30 pieces that all have glaring logos

 

I equate it to the cable news show that have all the tickers on the bottom and so much crap and info going on all over the screen other than the main story. This doesn't bother anyone else here? Only me?

[Zephyrside]

Orange

Acetone

Stamps

Boss

Digitech

Roland

Line 6

[Blackbird 13]

Offhand?

 

Broke By Sunday (drum head and banner)

Vox (guitar amp)

Fender (guitar)

Hartke (bass amp)

DiPinto (guitar)

Behringer (MIDI controller and light controller)

.. plus whatever logos are on the drums themselves, and BOSS, being most of my pedalboard is BOSS stuff... as well as whatever the sound company for the night is using.

[J.Paul]

Good responses.

 

In fairness, I should disclose that my band members think I'm ridiculous for this

[tim_7string]

I guess I'm the exact opposite regarding this line of thinking. It always bothered me to see artists putting black tape over the logos on their amps, as if you couldn't figure it out by the shape and color!

 

I proudly display my logos on my equipment and let people say what they want. I don't try to pretend that my Tele is an American Fender. It's a cheapo Squier Affinity and it sounds (and plays) just fine. In fact, it stayed in tune better than the "real" Telecaster I was trying out from the music store some months back!

 

Gear-watching is something I enjoy. It's actually part of the fun for me when I go and check out other bands. It's interesting to see what is in their rigs, especially when they get a great sound from them.

[tlbonehead]

I guess I'm the exact opposite regarding this line of thinking. It always bothered me to see artists putting black tape over the logos on their amps, as if you couldn't figure it out by the shape and color! I proudly display my logos on my equipment and let people say what they want. I don't try to pretend that my Tele is an American Fender. It's a cheapo Squier Affinity and it sounds (and plays) just fine. In fact, it stayed in tune better than the "real" Telecaster I was trying out from the music store some months back! Gear-watching is something I enjoy. It's actually part of the fun for me when I go and check out other bands. It's interesting to see what is in their rigs, especially when they get a great sound from them.

well, I nelieve it is to keep their endorsement deals.

[Nobody Told Me]

Following this line of reasoning to an extreme, would you refuse to play a gig at the PepsiDome? Or the Chrysler Arena. How about the Mitsubishi Pavillion?

 

Unless you're on the proverbial desert island, I don't think it's possible to escape from the sight or influence of advertising.

[mineame]

Me Personally?

Toadworks

Ibanez

Yamaha

 

Band

Shure

Peavey

Roland

 

Allen & Heath

 

We may have QSC in our future too.

[dk123123dk]

Lots of Peavey for sure! And I HATE their logo!

 

Guitar amp

Guitar

Keyboard Amp

Bass head

PA head

Floor Monitors, all Peavey.

 

Other brands:

 

Yamaha

Spector

Schecter

Nord

Digitech

Boss

Gretsch

On Stage Stands

 

I hate that every picture of my band on stage has a Budwieser logo in it, or a dart board (we play Classic Rock mostly as you could probably tell!).

 

 

 

dk

[rebelwoapplause]

 

Following this line of reasoning to an extreme, would you refuse to play a gig at the PepsiDome? Or the Chrysler Arena. How about the Mitsubishi Pavillion? Unless you're on the proverbial desert island, I don't think it's possible to escape from the sight or influence of advertising.

 

 

I have integrity. I refuse to ever play the PepsiDome, the Chrysler Arena, or the Mitsubishi Pavilion! You have my word on that.

 

Rebel

[js1]

Between displaying all the logos and taping it out, I like the option of partial taping:

 

Roland = Poland

Yamaha = ah, ha, aha

Peavey = Peave

Marshall = Mars

Fender = end, ender

Hamer = Ham

Wedgie = well, Wedgie

 

And for studio monitors - Tannoy = annoy

 

js

[RupertB]

 

Between displaying all the logos and taping it out, I like the option of partial taping: Roland = Poland Yamaha = ah, ha, aha Peavey = Peave Marshall = Mars Fender = end, ender Hamer = Ham Wedgie = well, Wedgie And for studio monitors - Tannoy = annoy js

 

I'll never forget the first time I saw a wall of "Sa Boo" amplifiers.

 

My list is pretty short & includes no amps, 'cause they're all homebrews:

Larrivee

Carvin

McInturff

JBL

Spector

EV

[cooterbrown]

Yamaha

Electro-Voice

Mackie

Lee Oskar

Fatar/Studiologic

Shure

OnStage

[qcb79]

Gretsch

Dream Cymbals

Zildjian

Hamer

Fender

Gibson

Crate

Line 6

Jackson

ESP

Audio Technica

Yorkville

behringer

TC helcion

Digitech

thats all I can think of at the moment, plus we down own much gear yet

[Dthraco]

I see guys at shows black out the labels of gear. Adds some indie cred to those styles of bands. But I really don't think it matters in the end. If they suck, they suck.

[Blackbird 13]

 

I hate that every picture of my band on stage has a Budwieser logo in it, or a dart board (we play Classic Rock mostly as you could probably tell!)

 

 

Time for a banner! That'll give you something new to look at, you can cover up the dartboard or Bud logos, and it lets you mix in something consistent about your band with each individual venue's look...

[tucktronix]

Korg

Roland

Yamaha

[tim_7string]

 

well, I nelieve it is to keep their endorsement deals.

 

 

I understand that on the national level (i.e. broadcast on television), but I still think it's distracting and annoying. If they can only get their sound from that amp, maybe they should try to get a deal with that company instead?

 

As for those groups that aren't yet on that level that tape their stuff, I guess it seems a bit strange to me. However, people can do what they like with their stuff.

 

The brands I currently advertise onstage:

 

Peavey (Classic 30 amp, EVH Wolfgang guitar)

BOSS (most of my pedals)

Dunlop (guitar picks, my CryBaby wah)

Squier (aforementioned Affinity Telecaster)

Yamaha (PA speakers, lunchbox head)

Spectraflex (guitar cabling)

 

I have Ibanez 7-string guitars I used to play, but found that they didn't fit our band's style of music as well as the Tele and Wolfgang do (we play primarily classic rock from the 70s and 80s).

 

I also used to use some MXR pedals (phaser and compressor) and a Danelectro Cool Cat stereo chorus, but I bought BOSS versions of the chorus and compressor just so they would all be consistent and fit in the BOSS pedalboard. I also have a DigiTech Whammy II I used to use occasionally to simulate divebombs and super-high 2 octave pitchshifts, ala Tom Morello. I plan on using some of these temporarily discarded tools of the trade in a heavy metal/thrash side-project.

[rebelwoapplause]

 

I have integrity. I refuse to ever play the PepsiDome, the Chrysler Arena, or the Mitsubishi Pavilion! You have my word on that. Rebel

 

 

 

More than likely, anyone would would refuse to play at those venues on the basis of advertising would never have to worry about it in the first place...

 

 

I guess some people didn't get the joke. Oh well.

 

Rebel

[Zeromus-X]

I started thinking about this and on an elevated stage, we really don't advertise much. Our PA doesn't have nameplates (Meyer Sound, just black grills), our mixer rack is sideways and has a side table covering even the rack's logo (good job with the positioning, Odyssey), our lights are mounted to the side of the truss opposite the audience with no discernable logo or model, the bassist and guitarists run direct, and the drums are Yamaha electronics without the rack (which is what has the Yamaha logo on it). Our keyboard has the Axiom logo facing the crowd but it's just molded into the plastic and impossible to see. No monitors, either.

 

If I had to guess, I'd say the crowd can see a Roland logo on the kick drum, a Dell logo on the netbook on stage, any mic stand logos that haven't been destroyed by now (not likely to be any left, but if there are, they're K&M or On-Stage), a Marshall amp if it's not behind our banner... oh, and whatever brand guitars the guys use up front. And that's probably it!

 

[SBF3000]

I don't see wht the big deal is, it's not like Marshall is going to bust in to a bar and offer you thousands to remove the tape from tehir name and demand you tape over all other competing products on stage with you.

[J.Paul]

That's kind of my point...

 

We all have gear that helps define our "sound", "tone", "style" (whatever you want to call it) that we are proud to play (even if it's a Squier, Epiphone, Mexican blah blah blah).

 

,,,but there seems to be alot of peripheral items (at least on OUR stage) that I could care less about advertising (maybe "advertising" isn't the right word here LOL). For example : who cares that they are using "On Stage Stands"?? I don't. Do you? Probably not. But "On Stage Stands" certainly cares because it's on almost EVERY mic stand that we use. You would think the name of the band is "On Stage Stands". Times that by another 5 or 6 other peripheral/accessory companies and it becomes visual pollution.