Chris Sprach:"$50 an hour to go online and ask other people for there opinions? Where do I sign up? Though I agree with you in principle that gear forums are about opinions (its why i tend to avoid them) and one should ultimately trust one's own opinion and sense of taste, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss hiring a consultant. I for one actually get hired as such a consultant on a regular basis to help people get their gear issues sorted out. I've never had a client feel like they didn't get good advice from me. Its another service that I offer in addition to gigging, doing studio work, and teaching various styles of guitar, theory and composition, etc.. I bring more than 30 years of experience to the table, not only as a musician/teacher but also in retail music sales. I can't say I've tried every gadget on the market, but I stay abreast and read a lot of reviews and I am very good at getting a sense of some ones personal style and matching up the right gear with them. Busy professionals like some of my clients simply don't have time to sift through the sand dune of choices and that's where I come in. In my community I have a excellent and well deserved reputation as being a guy in the know about a wide variety of gear related issues, be it choosing the right acoustic guitar, amplifier or yes even capo. I'm also a person who doesn't pretend to be an expert on anything I haven't had hands on experience with and as most of my clients would tell you, I'm the first to say that tone is subjective and my opinions are my opinions. I also know musicians in the community who would not seek my advice ,who like you Chris, would rather figure it out themselves. And more power to you. But i must say in several instances I could have saved these people time and money by steering them in a sound direction, and helped them navigate the quagmire of BS floating around on the web. People come in to the shop all the time with boat loads of misinformation, or demanding a feature (like true bypass, as an example) that they don't really understand, just because they have heard the words bandied about on the Gear Page. Again I say, I'm like you Chris in that I'd rather make my own choices about my sound, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't seek out the advice of people I respect who know more than I do. I'm not above hiring a computer consultant to help me improve my DAW knowledge or taking the occasional guitar lesson, and if it saves me time then its money well spent. Bill PS oh and by the way my hourly rate for consulting is $50 and i do have Skype/I-chat....I'll be waiting for your call Chris :-) |