Unpopular opinions on gear

[Edika]

Multiple piece guitar bodies do not kill sustain or make an inferior guitar, they're just aesthetically unpleasant (if there is a transparent finish). I've had a Schecter C-1 SLS and now a E-1. The C-1 was 3 pieces the E-1 is 4 or 5, both were really loud acoustically, louder than neckthroughs and setnecks with two and one piece bodies.

Solid state elements in tube preamps or solid state preamps really help to tighten up the sound for metal. Maybe they won't sound great for other genres. I've tried the Boss Metalzone with all my amps using it as a preamp to their power section and the tones I got made their tube preamps sound wimpy in comparison. Plus my Egnater has the option of turning the V1 from the tube to a solid state circuit and it sounds meaner cleaner and tighter with it.

The Boss Metalzone rules as a preamp to a tube power section.

Modern pickups are overrated. I just think people have gotten tired of listening to the same pickups and want to hear something different. The moment a new pickup provides them that then it's the tits. Take the Blackouts that replaced the classic EMG's. They were the lord and saviour of pickups back then. Now everyone can't stand them. Every modern pickup I tried that promoted clarity and whatever marketing spiel I've read lacked balls (except for the Black Winter but that was a voicing thing).

Thick strings and lower than C may sound great in recordings but I find I don't like them in real life. Just a mushy mess of a sound. I think I like it but then plug in a guitar in E with 10-46 and it sounds infinitely better.

 

[youngthrasher9]

-[cheap] Rosewood fretboards are almost a guaranteed lack of tonal attack.
-Eminence speakers are more of a standout choice than Celestion
-Oddly enough, one the worst sounding 4x12’s I’ve ever tried was a Friedman. (very well could have been due to low volume)
-One of the most disappointing amps I’ve ever tried was a Diezel Einstein.

 

[BenjaminW]

De-tune is a severely underrated effect. Thank you Van Hagar era EVH tones for turning me onto such magic.

 

[prlgmnr]

- the correct amount of distortion is generally the absolute least amount possible, actually probably less than that, there you go, which seems to be a very unpopular perspective with the "metal" guitarists I end up in bands with.

I think this is compounded by the fact that the amount of gain that sounds good and heavy when playing by yourself (often at low volume) does not equate to the amount of gain that sounds good and heavy when playing in a band.

 

[Gmork]

My unpopular opinion: EVERYTHING can sound good! (in its own unique way) no matter how cheap etc it is, as long as it has the headroom to reach band volume. it all depends on whos playing it.
(within reason of course, ie those tiny battery powered marshall mini belt amps and the like will never sound good. etc)

 

[Vyn]

- Stock pickups are often nowhere near as bad as people think they are and are in some cases better than a set of Bareknuckles (any).

 

[lewis]

- Stock pickups are often nowhere near as bad as people think they are and are in some cases better than a set of Bareknuckles (any).

burn hahaha

 

[Winspear]

Locking tuners are nothing special. I'll still take them on a custom just because, but I've never felt the need to upgrade to them.
They do not add stability for me because standard tuners can be wound almost as little. With lockers I pull the string almost as tight as I can before lock+tune resulting in ~0.5 winds, with standard tuners I pull the string simply taut and have ~0.5-1 windings on the wounds and ~1-1.5 on the treble (that much is necessary to stop plains slipping). That little extra takes me barely any time at all, and certain locking tuners (Gotoh) I've actually found slower to use due to occasionally having to reset the hole size to be larger than it was when I removed the old string.

 

[mongey]

I think a Recto sounds like crap because it seems to be the exact opposite of what I want tone wise.

And that’s all good if it’s not your thing.

But anyone who thinks you can’t tweak one version of an amp to sound like another sucks at amps

 

[lurè]

en Eq pedal will probably solve 95% of guitarists' problem but we better chase that 600$ pedal ripoff clone or that quantum entaglement induced coils pickups.

 

[Vyn]

burn hahaha

If rep was still a thing I'd be negative within 24hrs of posting that

 

[Winspear]

More an observation than an unpopular opinion, but the popular boutique styles in the doom/drone guitar scene happen to have better construction/access designs than shredder guitars Prettymuch down to the legacy of Travis Bean (perhaps inspired by the SG?)

 

[sleewell]

- Stock pickups are often nowhere near as bad as people think they are and are in some cases better than a set of Bareknuckles (any).

Maybe in mid level guitars but cheap guitars can def sound better with better pickups

 

[Vyn]

Maybe in mid level guitars but cheap guitars can def sound better with better pickups

Oh there are some sets that are just garbage on the cheaper guitars. My point was more that you don't need to go out and buy boutique, hand-wound pickups to get amazing tones. Even when I have had to swap a pickup out, going for a used Dimazio Fusion Edge or a Duncan Designed Distortion (both OEM, overseas made pickups) have gotten me 90% of the tone I'm after for a fraction of the price (A Fusion Edge is a great example, can find them on eBay used for nothing and they are so similar in EQ curve to a Titan it's hilarious).

I'm a firm believer that a good 10-band EQ and some cheap OEM pickups is a better investment than boutique pickups.

 

[sakeido]

The best two horn shape is the Soloist. RGs are hideous. The Jackson RG is a disgrace.

If you like the Demon / Horizon 3 shape, you're wrong

Buying guitars online is a waste of time and money. As long as you go to stores to try guitars first, and your shop is willing to bring in guitars with no obligation, you don't need to spend more than $800-900 US to get a guitar that's as good as a guitar can possibly be

The vast majority of custom guitars are completely wasted on whoever ordered them. Custom orders should be restricted to professional musicians only.

All Rectifiers sound good

People who don't want to use boost pedals are just weird

EMGs sound great

Dimarzios basically always sound bad and Seymour Duncan has been eating their lunch for the last 45 years

 

[oneblackened]

Boosts aren't always a good thing for an amp's tone
V30s are definitely not the be-all end-all speaker but they work more often than not, and not all V30s are the same, there are at least 5 or 6 different versions out there that sound little alike
Engls sound like oversaturated dogshit
Kempers don't sound good, at all
EMG 81s are still irresponsibly badass
Fishmans all have this synthetic sound that I hate
Tubes still sound better than modelers
Solid state isn't necessarily bad
Aristides are the most flavorless guitars I've ever played, they're the definition of flashy paintjob and zero tone

 

[ElRay]

- you don't need fanned frets. You need to practice.

This one makes no sense. How does practice affect string tension and gauge?

 

[Shask]

I have the EVH flanger and i use it for only 2 sounds; the Unchained airplane effect, and a chorus.

De-tune is a severely underrated effect. Thank you Van Hagar era EVH tones for turning me onto such magic.

Yeah, going along with the Chorus comments earlier in this topic, after going between TONS of Chorus pedals and rack units, I have found recently the secret is to run a Detune and Chorus in series together. They probably knew this trick in 1988, but it got lost somewhere in time, lol. The Detune can bring the lushness to a Chorus without using a ton of depth which makes them sound seasick. It makes me wish more Chorus pedals had a Detune setting on them.

 

[Metropolis]

I saw Delain live a year ago, their guitarist Timo Somers played Aristides 080s with fanned frets into a Kemper. He had awesome tone...

• For metal almost every amp needs a boost.
• Les Paul body shape is a terrible design.

 

[Beheroth]

tubes are obsolete