HC reviews

[Kramerguy]

Is it me, or are the reviews slanted?

 

Even the negative ones are in the higher ratings number-wise.

 

I submitted a very negative review yesterday (all 2's and 3's on ratings) and it never posted, but all of my positive reviews were posted within minutes in the past.

 

Upon scanning random products that I KNOW are crap, I was pretty amazed at the lack of negative reviews, especially when looking for ratings of 2, 3, and 4.

 

I'm a little annoyed because I bought a guitar pickup based on the reviews (not a common one that comes stock in guitars, not easy to try before you buy) and I thought it was total crap. Hard to return it after I tore up the packaging and soldered it in and then my review gets lost in the mix?

[Hamer_Time]

I had a similar experience with an amp a while back that had overwhelmingly positive reviews. On the strength of those reviews, I made a purchase, hated the amp but was able to return it, thankfully. I know what you are saying though about the reviews.......

[wades_keys]

Is it me, or are the reviews slanted? Even the negative ones are in the higher ratings number-wise. I submitted a very negative review yesterday (all 2's and 3's on ratings) and it never posted, but all of my positive reviews were posted within minutes in the past. Upon scanning random products that I KNOW are crap, I was pretty amazed at the lack of negative reviews, especially when looking for ratings of 2, 3, and 4. I'm a little annoyed because I bought a guitar pickup based on the reviews (not a common one that comes stock in guitars, not easy to try before you buy) and I thought it was total crap. Hard to return it after I tore up the packaging and soldered it in and then my review gets lost in the mix?

That sucks.

 

Which pickup was it BTW?

[Thrashy]

Reviews of this nature almost always suffer from rose colored glasses. I think people would rather take the time to review something that they are either pleased with or really really hate. even cheap gear isn't usually bad enough to get worked up about so unless a product is a real stinker it is difficult to find too many bad reviews.

[Kramerguy]

 

That sucks. Which pickup was it BTW?

 

 

The dimarzio "steve's special"

 

It's flat and lifeless (well it's powerful... but it's "tone" is like negative 10 - like a chick in bed that just lies there...). I should have stuck with a duncan JBJ, I've always used them and just wanted to try to do something different, expand my horizons.

[modulusman]

I would not take any review posted their seriously. Some of the PA reviews I have read were posted by High school Joe garage bands who wouldn't know a good PA if it bit them on the ass.

[wades_keys]

The dimarzio "steve's special" It's flat and lifeless (well it's powerful... but it's "tone" is like negative 10 - like a chick in bed that just lies there...). I should have stuck with a duncan JBJ, I've always used them and just wanted to try to do something different, expand my horizons.

I had a feeling it was a Dimarzio.

 

Most over rated pickups ever; can't say I've tried em all, but back in da 80's I put a super distortion in my Ibanez Blazer and was not at all happy with the tone.

 

A few years later, I got a set of Duncan LiveWire's and put them in a Gibson Explorer. Man, those things SANG.

 

Great clean tone, and even better lead tone, nice and airy - just blowing the doors off the EMG's.

 

Duncan's rock.

[Nijyo]

They're subjective, like all reviews, and unless the person reviewing has a track record to consult, they're almost useless individually.

 

I do read them and look at the trend to see if its strangely high or low overall for a product (the bell curve seems to peak between 7 and 8.5 for most of the HC reviews), so anything really low I avoid and anything really high I'll google for more reviews of, for comparison.

 

Plus I skim to see if they all report a similar design defect, stuff like that.

[Kramerguy]

 

They're subjective, like all reviews, and unless the person reviewing has a track record to consult, they're almost useless individually. I do read them and look at the trend to see if its strangely high or low overall for a product (the bell curve seems to peak between 7 and 8.5 for most of the HC reviews), so anything really low I avoid and anything really high I'll google for more reviews of, for comparison. Plus I skim to see if they all report a similar design defect, stuff like that.

 

 

And that's just the thing. How is it that Marshall's MGDFX100 head, which is probably the most god-awful piece of crap ever to come out of that company, getting an average of 7.5?? Any other review site clearly shows a lot of negative reviews, but not here.

 

The key to reviews is to get EVERY perspective, as much the intermediate and beginner players as the 'tube snobs' and everyone in-between. That's why we comment on each scored item, so we can get a feel for who is reviewing it and what level of player they are, and also what expectations they had when buying it.

 

Kind of works against the whole process when only the positive reviews get posted.

[Kramerguy]

I had a feeling it was a Dimarzio. Most over rated pickups ever; can't say I've tried em all, but back in da 80's I put a super distortion in my Ibanez Blazer and was not at all happy with the tone. A few years later, I got a set of Duncan LiveWire's and put them in a Gibson Explorer. Man, those things SANG. Great clean tone, and even better lead tone, nice and airy - just blowing the doors off the EMG's. Duncan's rock.

 

Agreed. I was never a fan of dimarzio or EMG. I should have stuck with plan A or B-

 

Plan A: JBJ

 

Plan B: get on ebay and find a nice evans pup. Those Evans are GODLY tones, but no longer made (mr. evans retired according to his website )

 

I bought that stupid dimarzio because of the overwhelming feedback, especially the comments about it having superb cleans, highs, lows, etc... sounded like a perfect model for what I was aiming for.

[wades_keys]

 

And that's just the thing. How is it that Marshall's MGDFX100 head, which is probably the most god-awful piece of crap ever to come out of that company, getting an average of 7.5??

 

Yeah no doubt.

 

That's the "valvestate" head right?

 

Absolute JUNK that sounds okay in your bedroom but gets lost in a band mix with a quickness.

[Kramerguy]

 

Yeah no doubt. That's the "valvestate" head right? Absolute JUNK that sounds okay in your bedroom but gets lost in a band mix with a quickness.

 

 

bah!

 

It's not the valvestate, it's their latest abomination they call an amp (the MG series). The line is about 3 years old now. I actually returned the MG head and picked up the Valvestate, and FWIW, the valvestate SOUNDS like a marshall should. My other guitarist uses a JCM900 Vintage head and you really can't tell a difference in sound quality between the two of us. But with that MG head.. OMG, it was like his tone was godly and mine sounded like a 10w peavey in comparison.

[Ender_rpm]

You have to read the reviews and parse out the personlities in the writing. For example, the target audience for that marshal is prolly a 14 year old who is upgrading from a tiny little combo that came with his strat pack. He loves it, its the best thing EVAR!!! Some one who has been playing 20 years bother writing a review for soemthing they probably wouldn't even try out in the store, much less take it home and give it the work out they know a piece of kit needs before they can review it. someitmes you get luckty, and find those reviews on lower end stuff, but not often. I find them to be more useful to see trends in repairs, non-quantifiables ("feel", ability to cut through, what have you) and reliability. But int he end, its gotta be your ears auditioning a piece of gear, ya know?

[Kramerguy]

 

You have to read the reviews and parse out the personlities in the writing. For example, the target audience for that marshal is prolly a 14 year old who is upgrading from a tiny little combo that came with his strat pack. He loves it, its the best thing EVAR!!! Some one who has been playing 20 years bother writing a review for soemthing they probably wouldn't even try out in the store, much less take it home and give it the work out they know a piece of kit needs before they can review it. someitmes you get luckty, and find those reviews on lower end stuff, but not often. I find them to be more useful to see trends in repairs, non-quantifiables ("feel", ability to cut through, what have you) and reliability. But int he end, its gotta be your ears auditioning a piece of gear, ya know?

 

 

Yes that is all true.

 

I guess what I was trying to point out is that other sites seem to have good diversity in their reviews, and I've come to depend more on them when shopping and I've been finding out the hard way that HC's reviews aren't as valuable to me, including that I tried to contribute that necessary diversity and failed, for whatever reason.

 

For instance, I also purchase from same day music, and their customer reviews are usually dead-on.

[Dessalines]

You have to read the reviews and parse out the personlities in the writing. For example, the target audience for that marshal is prolly a 14 year old who is upgrading from a tiny little combo that came with his strat pack. He loves it, its the best thing EVAR!!! Some one who has been playing 20 years bother writing a review for soemthing they probably wouldn't even try out in the store, much less take it home and give it the work out they know a piece of kit needs before they can review it. someitmes you get luckty, and find those reviews on lower end stuff, but not often. I find them to be more useful to see trends in repairs, non-quantifiables ("feel", ability to cut through, what have you) and reliability. But int he end, its gotta be your ears auditioning a piece of gear, ya know?

 

Ayuh!!!

[wades_keys]

 

bah! It's not the valvestate, it's their latest abomination they call an amp (the MG series). The line is about 3 years old now. I actually returned the MG head and picked up the Valvestate, and FWIW, the valvestate SOUNDS like a marshall should. My other guitarist uses a JCM900 Vintage head and you really can't tell a difference in sound quality between the two of us. But with that MG head.. OMG, it was like his tone was godly and mine sounded like a 10w peavey in comparison.

 

Interesting.

 

A band I was in one guitarist had the Valvestate, and the other had a 900 - and that valvestate was getting buried in the mix with a quickness, though it sounded real good on it's own.

 

Then again, that could have been due to the tone settings that Mike was using.

[Kramerguy]

 

Interesting. A band I was in one guitarist had the Valvestate, and the other had a 900 - and that valvestate was getting buried in the mix with a quickness, though it sounded real good on it's own. Then again, that could have been due to the tone settings that Mike was using.

 

That could either have been him using the wrong settings, or even just a poorly built marshall. I've been reading a lot of complaints of swap-outs not sounding the same. It's a shame, I really like that company, but they gotta get back to building a better quality product.

[Austincowbell]

I've never been impressed with the reviews here on an overall level but if you read through them you'll find a few from seasoned pros who have GREAT opinions and useful reviews. Granted, you need to wade through all of the "I just got my $189 crate amp and the distortion sounds BETTER than that of the $1200 Mesa I played!!" but those are pretty easy to pick out.

[Austincowbell]

bah! It's not the valvestate, it's their latest abomination they call an amp (the MG series). The line is about 3 years old now. I actually returned the MG head and picked up the Valvestate, and FWIW, the valvestate SOUNDS like a marshall should. My other guitarist uses a JCM900 Vintage head and you really can't tell a difference in sound quality between the two of us. But with that MG head.. OMG, it was like his tone was godly and mine sounded like a 10w peavey in comparison.

I got a valvestate basically thrown in on a trade and I used it at a gig last week and it sounded pretty solid. I generally gig a 120-150 person show with my fender hot rod but I had just blown the tubes on it so I used the valvestate 80 combo amp instead of my 100 watt VHT amp of death. I would feel comfortable gigging with it again.

[Kramerguy]

 

I got a valvestate basically thrown in on a trade and I used it at a gig last week and it sounded pretty solid. I generally gig a 120-150 person show with my fender hot rod but I had just blown the tubes on it so I used the valvestate 80 combo amp instead of my 100 watt VHT amp of death. I would feel comfortable gigging with it again.

 

 

Hey I've got a good question for you if you don't mind me hijacking my own thread...

 

I bought the valvestate and cab to play with my one band, we do pretty heavy stuff, modern rock, lot of 90's alternative, and it's a monster, sounds great, and I'm perfectly happy with the set-up. I plug a gnx3000 through it for the effects, and add an eq pedal, and a boss blues driver.

 

My newer project, is more folksy, lots of acoustic guitar and piano mixed in, and I've tried a few things and just can't seem to find a good medium. I brought in my spare amp, a fender 50w combo, the gnx pedal, and the blues driver, my epiphone and my other guitar with that new dimarzio pup in it (which does sound decent on the marshall, just not as nice as a duncan)

 

My problem lies within the dynamics, there's a LOT more mix on the midrange dynamics and my guitar gets lost in the mix. Im playing mostly clean-tone and some switching to mild distortion. When I have to really dial it up a notch to hit a hard note or do a solo, it just sounds really gritty and choppy, cluttered. I switched to plugging the gnx directly into the PA and it helped a little, but in the end, I was thinking maybe a strat / tube amp combo with separate stompboxes might be a better rig for the type of music?

 

Any ideas on how to cut through the mix, but not be too dominant, but also not sound cluttered?

 

I will admit the gnx pedal is less than professional gear, but it's served me well in the world of rock.. just showing it's limitations on cleaner music.

[wades_keys]

 

Any ideas on how to cut through the mix, but not be too dominant, but also not sound cluttered? I will admit the gnx pedal is less than professional gear, but it's served me well in the world of rock.. just showing it's limitations on cleaner music.

 

My opinion may not mean much to you but I'll try....

 

Our old guitarist in the variety band had the GNX and ran it into a fender blackface.

 

The GNX sucked the life right out of that amp - flat, sterile distortion with no life.

 

If you can try and not laugh at some of the rough spots and just focus on the guitar sound, then here's an example of pure analog pedal boards into a Fender Tweed (Message In a Bottle)

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7209647

 

So to answer your question (if i may) - YES - get a tube amp and all analog pedals. It'll make a huge difference on "in-between" and clean.

[Austincowbell]

 

Hey I've got a good question for you if you don't mind me hijacking my own thread... I bought the valvestate and cab to play with my one band, we do pretty heavy stuff, modern rock, lot of 90's alternative, and it's a monster, sounds great, and I'm perfectly happy with the set-up. I plug a gnx3000 through it for the effects, and add an eq pedal, and a boss blues driver. My newer project, is more folksy, lots of acoustic guitar and piano mixed in, and I've tried a few things and just can't seem to find a good medium. I brought in my spare amp, a fender 50w combo, the gnx pedal, and the blues driver, my epiphone and my other guitar with that new dimarzio pup in it (which does sound decent on the marshall, just not as nice as a duncan) My problem lies within the dynamics, there's a LOT more mix on the midrange dynamics and my guitar gets lost in the mix. Im playing mostly clean-tone and some switching to mild distortion. When I have to really dial it up a notch to hit a hard note or do a solo, it just sounds really gritty and choppy, cluttered. I switched to plugging the gnx directly into the PA and it helped a little, but in the end, I was thinking maybe a strat / tube amp combo with separate stompboxes might be a better rig for the type of music? Any ideas on how to cut through the mix, but not be too dominant, but also not sound cluttered? I will admit the gnx pedal is less than professional gear, but it's served me well in the world of rock.. just showing it's limitations on cleaner music.

This is STRICTLY my opinion as there are much more qualified people than me to answer this but:

 

To me, clean should be just that: Clean.

 

I run as few things as possible between my guitar and my amp when playing clean. Depending on the song maybe a little reverb but I'll run the amp reverb instead of pedal reverb. Maybe a little chorus or delay but guitar to amp is a pretty underrated way of getting a clean tone. And I would probably lose the gnx pedal for anything non "effect-y". Its going to steal too much tone from your gear.

[Kramerguy]

My opinion may not mean much to you but I'll try.... Our old guitarist in the variety band had the GNX and ran it into a fender blackface. The GNX sucked the life right out of that amp - flat, sterile distortion with no life. If you can try and not laugh at some of the rough spots and just focus on the guitar sound, then here's an example of pure analog pedal boards into a Fender Tweed (Message In a Bottle) http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7209647 So to answer your question (if i may) - YES - get a tube amp and all analog pedals. It'll make a huge difference on "in-between" and clean.

 

Yeah, I guess I already knew it, but was looking for the confirmation. Bummer, I'm not in a position to be buying new gear right now

 

Maybe I can just buy a few pedals and stick with the marshall, it's got a fantastic clean channel.

[Kramerguy]

 

This is STRICTLY my opinion as there are much more qualified people than me to answer this but: To me, clean should be just that: Clean. I run as few things as possible between my guitar and my amp when playing clean. Depending on the song maybe a little reverb but I'll run the amp reverb instead of pedal reverb. Maybe a little chorus or delay but guitar to amp is a pretty underrated way of getting a clean tone. And I would probably lose the gnx pedal for anything non "effect-y". Its going to steal too much tone from your gear.

 

 

I agree with clean being clean, but there's so many different flavors of dirty as well - if distortion was a 1-10 level, I'd say I found uses for every number on the scale...

 

I do use various chorus settings for a shimmering effect behind an acoustic guitar and keyboard, so going dry into the amp actually sounds a little flat with the clashing mid's and overall dynamics.

[GreenAsJade]

Meanwhile, what was the deal with your review not getting posted?

 

I tried posting a review a while back it too was not posted...

 

GaJ