Is expensive equipment worth it ?

What do you actually say about the price of equipment? Is the cheapest just good enough? Or do you really let your guitars and amps cost you something, because good gear costs money?


When I look back in my relatively short music career, the tenor was always: good gear costs money. Especially in the studio, I've heard again and again that cheap equipment is worthless.

Then at some point I saw a very famous musician who went on stage with a Squier CV Stratocaster as main guitar. Even the high E string was missing. On an amp whose pots probably cost more than the guitar (Madamp). It sounded insanely good.

Later I saw an equally famous guitarist whose effects board consisted half of Boss and half of DIY boxes. And the amp an Orange Crush. Damn, that sounded great. Without really expensive equipment.

And I've recorded several albums as a guitarist and bassist. Once in a well-equipped studio with high-priced preamps, EQs, compressors and a Pro Tools system. And as a counterpart in a still active auto repair shop, the top floor of which was a studio. With an inexpensive mixer, budget and mid-range microphones, no outboard and an old laptop with Reaper (version 3). And a lot of DIY - for example converting an old subwoofer speaker into a kick microphone. Both sounded great.

My bass teacher at the time, who only played US and CS Fender Jazz basses, had worn a €300 semi-acoustic Far East Billo student bass at a sound check: It sounded flawless. And hardly any different - apart of course from the differences due to the pure construction.

All of this made me think more and more.

I was also able to compare a lot of equipment later on. Professionally and privately. I also had several Precis and Jazzmaster models at the same time. From €300 to several thousand euros. And with some I couldn't tell blindly what the price was. That's why I gave away a lot.

Anyway: Have you ever been to the store and had Epiphones and Squier VM or CV models in your hands? This Fender Master Builder does. Or listened to a Scarlett audio interface preamp? Tried a few Boss pedals? Had a few newer or higher-priced Harley Benton models in your hand? I'm not writing that because Thomann asked me to or gave me money for the statement: the guitars were really great.

Cost driver Quality or brand name – rarely both.
But it's also true: Inexpensive equipment has a large fluctuation in quality. The money is then saved in quality control. Some production steps are carried out a little "meh" (keyword fret sides) or the guitars are badly adjusted. Therefore, some models are flawless, others you would not wish on anyone. This also happens with well-known companies and four-digit price ranges - but it shouldn't.

Big companies like to be paid for their name anyway. I intentionally don't mention specific names - I think we all know which ones are meant here. Not only guitar companies, but also in the studio area there are names that don't know "realistic prices for the product" at all.

On the other hand, I learned so many secret microphone tips from the film that I haven't spent any money on certain products since.

Good equipment now costs less than ever. When I think about what I got for €200 20 years ago - and compared to now?! And thinking even further: In the 70s, €200 was a joke, especially in the studio area. Now you get great interfaces, preamps and software for it.

While in the "golden age" money was more of an indicator of quality, today, thanks to all the developments and improvements in production, much of the "cheap equipment" is just as good as stuff costing several thousand euros from back then.

Your opinion
What do you think?

 

Almost every company now produces in low-wage countries because labor costs are lower there.

There are mostly 3 target groups of manufacturers:

1.) The segment for cheap products (poor with little money or low-wage earners )
2.) The segment for medium-priced products (class with average income)
3) The segment for expensive products (class of rich people with a lot of money).

This is how the products are designed and put on the market.

Then there is market analysis, what is the competition doing, what products can be sold to the customers.
To sell something, you have to be either better than the competition or cheaper than the competition.
If you sell too little, you go broke and drop out of the market. And competition leads to innovation.

P.S.: The customer of tomorrow has not yet been born.

 

Thank you for your opinion.

 

A great guitarist can get a decent sound out of anything because a lot of it is in the fingers. For us mortals I think it's a combination of a decent amp, a decent guitar and good playing - the reason we can't get a 'great' sound is we aren't great players. On the other hand a mediocre guitarist can make anything sound bad (speaking from experience).

So you reach middle age and suddenly you can afford to buy all this new, cheap decent gear, for the first time in your life. You buy it and it sounds good but it's not great. The real problem is that you're middle aged and the spark has gone.

Ultimately they're all just tools, it's the artist that matters.

 

yeah i bought one, it was rubbish. The neck was crooked in the pocket. Yeah seriously, pocket was too small, neck couldnt be flat.
Tuners, rubbish. Tune o matic, rubbish. Finish on the neck, uber-rubbish.
Was the faux-jaguar one. Plain rubbish. Pups (p90s) were ok (roswell).
QC is very variable thing on low price instruments, until at least 700-800 euros.

 

Damn. That really hit home. I am middle aged, own all this nice equipment, yet the spark is gone (still love playing music but not to the point I am desperately killing myself aka renting storage units and jamming all night long).