Are you a boutique person?

It's really about whatever works for you. Some players get too wrapped up in that kind of cork-sniffery, though. No amount of gear will make you a better player.
 
I think boutique is really cool considering what you get the money. For handwired stuff, it's truly one of a kind. So there's the heirloom aspect. Although, I get the impression many folks with lots of disposable income buy it more for the label power, than for any type of sonic quality. I'm really shocked actually, that there aren't a 1/2 dozen chinese, hand wired clones out there killing the Dr. Zs and Matchless' of the world. Seems like they could solder in components and freight it here, much cheaper than any local electrical genius could.

There lies the conundrum, there's still a very small addressable market for the gear. You're talking probably under 200 amps a year or something, for even someone like MatchLess or DivBy13 guys.


For me, like with clothes, if it fits off the rack, I don't worry about it. If I need something that fits a certain WAY, you go and have it tailored. And with Musical Gear, the only option really, is the boutique brands.
 
I have no specific interest in "boutique" items for their own sake, and often the performance doesn't justify the extra cost. But I'd much rather give my money to someone like David Barber or Chris Klein than to Boss or Line 6.
 
Eminence_Front said:
I'm really shocked actually, that there aren't a 1/2 dozen chinese, hand wired clones out there killing the Dr. Zs and Matchless' of the world. Seems like they could solder in components and freight it here, much cheaper than any local electrical genius could.
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Actually, there are a handful of companies overseas that are handwiring clones for less, and give you the options of sans tubes/chassis/cab/transformer so you can do the "easier" parts yourself and save some cash. Still, they run between 400-1K, but you do get that handwired top shelf component thing happening.
 
Really not a boutique kind of guy, although I've had some really nice gear over the years.
I know I've said this before that too many guitar players think too much and should just play the damn things.

Once you reach a certain point, apart from yourself there's no way in hell anyone else is going to hear the difference between mid-price and boutique gear (especially pedals).

Personally I do most of my gigs with modded Squiers and a quite cheap rig (Boss/TC pedals and an AC15).

Eyeing a custom build these days, but more because I want one rather than actually needing it.

If you can't sound good on a cheap rig, you'll still sound like ass on a really expensive one. YMMV of course. :wink:
 
Why, yes. Yes, I am.

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I have a mix and here's why. I want my own damn tone. Probably the most boutiq-ey pedals I own are from Fulltone. It's because they are very tweakable over their whole range. If you go by price, my Fulltone Choralflange has to be the most expensive pedal I've ever bought. Brand spanking new it was over 250 bones. If I had to justify it, and paid for it on a credit card.... forget it. But I treated myself since I won the money to pay cash for it on a lottery ticket. Since I'm more of a hobbyist rather than a working musician, I'd have not done so otherwise.

As in my siggy... I have a floorfull of pedals. I've also found that with a few exceptions, the run of the mill pedals of today do not sound as good. I think the difference is in the construction & components. What used to sound good 20-30 years ago is either unavailable or nowadays priced into the stratosphere.
 
the only actual "boutique" equipment i own, are the O.C. Duff pickups in my strat.....i've had them for around 8 or 9 years ( i think).....and i would buy them again in a heartbeat. but that's about it. the pups in my LP are stock "Pro's"....and i like them very well. i might like to try out the '57 Classics some time, i'm sure i'll like them.

i DO however, have equipment that is either not really common or is pretty old. mostly pedals. and my 1994 Blues Deluxe (with an EVM 12L).

sure i'd like to have a Dumble and a VibroKing and a 1959 LP Reissue and........:lol:
 
the long version:

i started buying boutique pedals 10 years ago because the sounds i was looking for weren't available from the major manufacturers. nobody was making a thru-zero flanger, but Dave Fox was. and it replaced my BOSS CE-2, Phase 90 (though it never did that sound), and the desire for a bunch of other modulation pedals. my Fulltone Supa-Trem didn't have a volume drop like the EHX and BOSS offerings. eventually the friends i had made at HC started building their own pedals, either of circuits that weren't available any longer, or tweaks of circuits that were. that's how i ended up with a Tonefactor Mule. brad had started the company and none of the big companies were making a Red Llama clone. today, all of my main pedals are built by friends who started out on HC. Subdecay, Mojo Hand, and Catalinbread.

I bought my Allen amp because i was tired of fixing shit on my SF Deluxe Reverb. i didn't want another 40 year old amp. I wanted something that was bulletproof, and having seen enough current production Fenders in my shop, i wanted more. and since i was single, i had the cash to do it! :grin: Allen essentially built me half a Super Reverb with a master volume and a tone stack bypass. i've since sold all of my old Fenders for profit. that thing is bulletproof.

as for guitars, i have a difficult time convincing myself i need anything better than my PRS, Ric, or Taylor. and my Dimarzios and Duncans haven't done me wrong yet. maybe something will change my mind down the line. but i'd have to win lotto first.
 
I'm a big fan of spending as little money as possible. Sometimes it's possible, sometimes it's not.

Only boutique amps I've herd in person are Dr Z Maz 18, and some Matchless, don't remember the model. I think the Crate V16 is at least 10 times better than the Matchless. I liked the DR Z almost as much as the Crate.

Son has an Analogeman King of Tone. It's worth every penny.

Only other boutique experience is BG pickups. Not boutique price, but I guess they are boutique. One set, Smokestacks, for son's faded V, hard to tell if boutique was necessary, anything would of sounded better than the 496, and 500. Other set, Lizzards, went into a used HB35, bought used, from an old shredder, with the hottest pups he could find. I would be happy with both sets of pups even if they cost twice as much. What's worth it, it's not just that Bryan knows how to wind a good pickup. It's that ordering from him is idiot proof. You tell him what guitar you have, what you want out of it, and he takes care of the rest.
 
I have to play with the gear to see if I like it.
My 2 favorite pieces of gear are my H-150 and my Zinky Blue Velvet.
I guess the Zinky might be considered boutique,but it is a great amp that I got for a good price.
It's a bitch that I am thinking of selling it.I just don't get to crank it up.The amp sounds good at low volume,but it needs to get loud to really sound great.
Apartment living sucks sometimes.
My Mustang I ,and Vox Pathfinder will do me ok in the apt I guess.
 
thecornman said:
Something that really changed the way I looked at equipment was seeing a somewhat unknown artist named Jack Semple playing live a quite few years back! The dude is beyond good and always has the most amazing tone. Might be some stuff on you tube of him not sure. Anyways as always I went up to the stage to check out what he was using to get the killer sounds he was throwing out. I was shocked to find out all he was using was a Peavey Bandit amp, a Boss multi effects unit and one Hardtail Strat probably from the 70's that he had been playing for years. It made me look at things a little different. Here is a guy who has toured with artists like KD Lang and done extensive studio work for many other artists playing a rig that most would consider a beginners setup and he was just killing it. I saw him again a couple of months ago. He was still using the same rig and still sounded super awesome. Also one very grounded and humble man.
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Semple is amazing. He came to the 'forefront' for Canadian guitar players back in the day when he won the MuchMusic guitar wars or whatever they called it. He had technique and feels that was really rare. The thing is that when people can play really well like that, they can manipulate things to get a lot of sounds just the way that they want them. Often they have gear that they have had for a long time and they have a major comfort in that gear.

One of the best players I know consistently used a Sunn s.s. combo that was about 60 watts, an Ibanez TS-9 and an Ibanez RG550. You really would have thought that he had a bunch of high end gear by the sound of the band.

I think Mr Semple has been playing and touring/gigging pretty steadily from some point prior to him winning that contest back then so you can imagine how good you'd be if you played hours per day for that many years and were perhaps already gifted to begin with.
 
I've got a few rare pieces of gear, but I'm not a boutique person. Maybe if I was rich :shrug:
 
DFB said:
I have to play with the gear to see if I like it.
My 2 favorite pieces of gear are my H-150 and my Zinky Blue Velvet.
I guess the Zinky might be considered boutique,but it is a great amp that I got for a good price.
It's a bitch that I am thinking of selling it.I just don't get to crank it up.The amp sounds good at low volume,but it needs to get loud to really sound great.
Apartment living sucks sometimes.
My Mustang I ,and Vox Pathfinder will do me ok in the apt I guess.
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Zinky is definitely boutique. And like most, they have terrible resale. Great amps though.
 
If you luthier-made acoustics qualify as boutique, then I'm in hardcore.

W/r/t electrics, pedals, and amps, most of what I have is stock from larger companies with a handful of boutique items.
 
Flamencology said:
If you luthier-made acoustics qualify as boutique, then I'm in hardcore.

W/r/t electrics, pedals, and amps, most of what I have is stock from larger companies with a handful of boutique items.
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What pedals and amps do you have? *curious*
 
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