I'm not gonna make this a poll because I know this isn't a black and white thing. I'd like to know what you guys think.

DISCUSS!

Somewhat, and anyone who says they're not is lying.

Guess I'm a liar then.

Brand conscious to what extent?

I mean most of are conscious of certain brands and know a thing or two about them. If I walk into a music store and see a beautiful looking Fender Strat, I'll stop, pick it up, and play it to see if she sounds as good as she looks. However if I see a Squier Strat that looks totally identical to that Fender...I'll just keep on walking because I am conscious of the fact that the Squier brand is Fender’s lower end budget line made from cheap parts and questionable labor so I'm not going to even bother. So in that context, sure I am brand conscious.

im not brand conscious at all

i play a schecter and a line 6 spider 2 amp so thats proof

ive also played thirough this set up live

Being brand conscious means that you're predisposed to think certain things about certain brands or whatever. No one can be completely objective about these things unless they've literally heard nothing about any of the brands before. You're informed so you'll know that a Gibson is of better quality than an Epiphone, for example.

I don't think like that. Just because it says Ibanez or Gibson on the headstock does not mean you're getting a quality product. Also I generally don't like 'brand stuff' at all because it doesn't mean anything anymore. It's just a price multiplier.

I think I am brand conscious... I am also aware certain era of guitars are built better than others for certain brands and are worth paying attention to. I think there is a reason people out there with some of the best tone out there (Landau, Allen Hinds, Hendo, Robben Ford), are also the ones paying the most minute attention to every spec/detail of the instrument/amps, and maybe prefer certain brands due to general craftsmanship. They are also the most picky about what guitars/amps they play. This isn't saying that Fender > Ibanez or Ibanez > Gibson. Each brand has their fair share of shitty instruments, it's up to you to figure out which ones speak to your playing style.

For me, brand conscious simply means knowing what your tone preferences are for your playing style, thereby influencing what equipment you buy based on "This guitar plays fast!" or "That amp oozes gain", or whatever. Knowing that a ENGL is going to get you a better shred/metal tone than a Fender is brand conscious. Brand discrimination, is a totally different thing.

I guess I wasn't clear with what I meant by brand conscious. You guys are right, though. We all have predisposed judgements on brands because of what we hear. Fender > Squire. Gibson > Epiphone

What I meant, though, is that would you guys be okay playing the lower brand? I thought about this because I was never brand conscious. I know for a fact that Epiphones are really good for the price in comparison to Gibson that is totally overpriced. Diminishing returns was already discussed in a Suhr thread here.

I'd like to revise my question: Is it essential for you to be playing a really good brand? Or would it be okay for you to play something cheaper?

This question is kind of tough since I know most of us can't poop out cash because if we had tons of spare cash we'd definitely pick the better one, yes?

I don't know how to ask it specifically but I'd like a good discussion.

I might be brand concious, as Pao is describing it, to a certain point.

For instance, I will not buy an Epiphone, because I know it is not a top instrument, and they are sometimes more expensive than other instruments from the same price range.

I would hardly, however, buy a Gibson Les Paul. First of all, because I don't have the money. If I had thousands of extra dollars, I would, but until then, I have more important things to spend money on. I don't care if I'm getting an Ibanez Les Paul copy that sounds as good as the Gibson Les Paul.

If I played a guitar that was really good for its price, why not buy it? This also includes amps and pedals. Of course, I also think about the possibility of having to sell the instrument afterwards, and a big brand might help there. Also, bigger brands normally have wider coverage for technical support, which is also important.

Oh, I see.

Yes, I'd be fine with playing the lower brand. As long as it's a good instrument then I don't really care what brand it is; I have a (very) cheap Chinese-made acoustic that plays absolutely wonderfully.

I've never been in a position to have true choice over what I could play. I'm not terribly brand conscious in that respect. But "regular" guitars can put a smile on my face when I play them too.



But fuck cheap amps AM I RIGHT GUYS?

i plsay a schecter and line 6 spider 2
ive used it live

Amen!

ive used a line 6 spider 2 combo live at a bar

I'm talking waaayyy cheaper

I think the line 6 spider was a pretty decent combo amp, phil. I'd have to try it again, though. It's been years since I last played it

Zae is right. I know I made a poll about this before. Good guitar + crappy amp VS crappy guitar + good amp. I know, for sure, that a great amp can make a crappy guitar sound good.

I thought about the whole guitar selling thing. I honestly won't buy guitars as an investment to know that I can sell them for a higher price in the future. I know this because I use my guitar(s) so much that to sell them as a player's guitar would only sell for low. Gibson, for example, I don't know how high a price the current guitars would sell. The 1960 Gibson guitars obviously would sell for super duper high (I just checked eBay and I got a boner).

It's like this guy who was trying to sell his Les Paul. It was a 90s guitar, I think. It was beat up as hell and he was selling it for like $1000. I didn't know if that was a good price, but I'm sure I wouldn't spend $1000 on a used guitar since it's not exactly anything special.



Also, I don't think Epiphones are expensive at all. I just bout a $375 ES-339. I've yet to try it cause I'm picking it up this April in the USA and I really hope it's as good as they say.

Ibanez seems to have this thing that ALL their guitars have the Ibanez thing. Even adding "premium" to some headstocks make them seem better, but they're all still made in SG/KR/CH.

Fender's done this too, with the MIM guitars. There's just a small line that says it's MIM

At least Ibanez let us know which the cheap ones are by sticking a G before the code and a Gio on the headstock

I love my Hello Kitty Squier. That thing rips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... kUY#t=529s

The Hello Kitty Squiers aren't bad, actually.

I remember my friend once fell in love with this one black Hello Kitty guitar at guitar center.