How important is the name of the gear you use?

[Jason2112]

I'm doing a bit of marketing research and figured I'd throw this one out to the group and see what the results are. So my question is:

How important is the name (not brand) of the gear you use?

Would you feel silly using a reverb pedal called "Summer Rain Reverb"? How about if the EBMM Silhouette was instead called the EBMM Super Spanker? Should a product's name give an indication of what the product is or does (like a Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal) or does the name really not matter (like a distortion pedal called "Timmy")?

Does loyalty to a brand allow you to overlook details like this, or do these details essentially reinforce your brand loyalty?

Just curious

 

[andynpeters]

I think it's an influence....I would never contemplate using an amp I saw called a "MoFo" no matter how good it sounded.
I also would prefer to use a "Stratocaster" or a "Silhouette" rather than a "KV327B" or a "Billy Misery Special" (though I do own a 335 & a 336).
A stupid name would put me off.....joke names also tend to put me off bands
Illogical I dare say....but it's my money

 

[bod]

I quite agree with you. For me name have an impact on my choice. It's totally stupid I must say, but I would rather try stuff with a name than try stuff called with a number. I don't know why exactly.

 

[ScoobySteve]

No it does not. It's to each his own. For me personally instruments are about tonal integrity and quality construction. Aesthetics is THE least important quality to me. The instrument must sound good and it must last. I wouldn't think twice about sanding a headstock or logo because I find the name abrasive or juvenile.

Fortunately quality companies never have a problem with this. I would love my 25th even if BP named it "Axi's Big Bro with Holes"

My .02

 

[andynpeters]

.

Fortunately quality companies never have a problem with this. I would love my 25th even if BP named it "Axi's Big Bro with Holes"

My .02

Fortunately Mr Ball has more style than that!

 

[metalmarty]

I don't care personally. I like products with names (EBMM Super Spanker might actually be an awesome name for a SSS Silo Special ) but numbers are cool too. With for instance Ibanez you CAN get a bit confused with all the different ones though . I like the way Bogner names it's amps, instantly identifying the purpose/goal of their lineup. XTC, Uberschall, Shiva...you get the drift of the kind of amp it is.

 

[D.K.]

Not in a negative way - I believe to have come to a point as a customer to have enough knowledge and experience not to be put off by a piece of equipment having a non-atractive name to me. If a marketing department consists of jerks, it doesn't necessarily mean the production is just that bad

However, it can most certainly do a lot to attract me in a positive way - e.g. that's why I so much love the "silhouette" concept, since the word and it's symbolic value appear to match very good with the values, the look and the sound of the guitar.

 

[threeminutesboy]

interesting thread

I don't think the name has nothing to do with the success of the product for example the "Big Muff" isn't the best name on earth nevertheless this fuzz pedal is very popular

As a user I really don't pay too much attention, as a manufacturer I will make sure the name can last for a long time, and makes some sense with the product.

 

[walleye]

i really dont care about aesthetics. so i can be sold anything as long as its up to standard

i actually saw a guitar with swastika inlays once.. i think that would be one of the few things i would be uncomfortable to be seen with, I'm pretty sure it was actually meant to be the old Buddhist symbol but it would be far too easily misconstrued... there's a symbol that's been thoroughly ruined forever.

 

[Big Poppa]

Fortunately Mr Ball has more style than that!

Yeah he names things Bongo

 

[Stu-Pendus]

For me,it doesn't matter as all my gear is just the "best tools" there are for me.

 

[D.K.]

i really dont care about aesthetics. so i can be sold anything as long as its up to standard

i actually saw a guitar with swastika inlays once.. i think that would be one of the few things i would be uncomfortable to be seen with, I'm pretty sure it was actually meant to be the old Buddhist symbol but it would be far too easily misconstrued... there's a symbol that's been thoroughly ruined forever.

Here You go: Âëàäèìèð Õîëñòèíèí - Îôèöèàëüíûé Ñàéò (sorry, other manufacturer, but it's just a link)

The guy is a founding guitar player in the biggest russian metal band (kinda russian Iron Maiden ripoff) and makes no secrets about his "patriotic"/nationalist/racist ideas.

That's a deffinite no-go, and is actually a scandal a Fender master builder made this. I mean, You can always excuse that by using old vedic moving sun symbols as inlays on a sun guitar, but the builder is russian and knows pretty well what his customer stands for... But now we are talking ethics, not strict money making, and, apparently, in many business cases those things don't to belong together.

End of the Hi-Jack, back to the topic:

"Bongo" is crazy, but so is the form of that beast, so a great fit once again.

 

[ThatsAgood1jay]

I think the name is important. Not because i have some ego that requires me to attach myself to only the best. But because you could have the greatest guitar in the world, but if its called "Super pink candy butterfly number 4" it kinda ruins the prestige. It would have not affect on my playing though knowing it was called the SPCBN4

 

[hbucker]

I wish I could say I don't care at all. But I do. Ultimately though, I do care more about the product than the name.

I play an Epiphone Elitist LP that is every bit as good as many of the Gibsons I've played. I would get more recognition from other players if I played a Gibson, but I don't really care. Sometimes I wonder if people see me playing my EVH and wonder if I wish I were EVH and can only play Eruption. Hear me play for a song or two and you know that isn't the case.

I love my Digitech Bad Monkey pedal and have marveled ever since I got it that they didn't name it something classier and charge twice as much for it - because I think they could.

My approach to gear can be summed up by a comment a friend made to me a few years ago. He is a wine buff and said, "Anyone can buy a great $100 bottle of wine. But you have to know what you're doing to find a great $10 bottle of wine."

That's pretty much my approach to the gear I buy. Sometimes I pay more, sometimes I pay less. But anything I use long term has quality, regardless of the name or the original cost.

I've had my EVH for 17.5 years now...

 

[spychocyco]

Not if I like what the gear does. I'm sure there's a name out there somewhere that I'd find so distasteful that I wouldn't want it on my gear, but you'd probably have to go a long way to find it and pretty much no one who wants to have a successful business would use it.

 

[mikeller]

Only to a very small degree - if the gear was quality and worked for me, I guess they could call it anything they want as long as it isn't something I find offensive.

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Only to a very small degree - if the gear was quality and worked for me, I guess they could call it anything they want as long as it isn't something I find offensive.

That's pretty much it for me, too.

 

[Jack FFR1846]

It really depends. Think about that thread about the Al with the mismatched headstock (that I think someone here bought). It may not stop you from buying it, but it might greatly reduce what you'd pay for it. Look at the Daisy Rock stuff. What guy is going to be playing in his thrash metal band on a guitar that's pink sparkle with that name on it? However.......if my pedals were named "little golden sunflake" for an overdrive pedal of to replace an EB wah, what the heck....black electrical tape is cheap enough. I'd cover the name if it was the best thing out there. But you better believe that I'd cover the name.

 

[hbucker]

The PV XXX amp was somewhat distasteful for me w/it's mudflap girl and XXX theme.

I can't say that I was offended very much. But that packaging would limit some of the places I would feel comfortable playing it. It was also not the example I wanted to set for my daughter.

That is specifically a case where packaging pushed me away from an otherwise great amp.

 

[peterd79]

i'm in line with Andy on this one...

I think it's a matter of influence and for me being part of the worship team at my church if i showed up with an amp called the "MO FO" i wouldn't feel comfortable. GK had an amp out that i really liked called the El Diablo but the size of the logo was way too big for me to be comfortable buying... thus i went with a VOX and then later to an Orange AD30 (numbers in this case work for me)
At one time i was looking at buying a ZVEX SHO but all of their graphics at that time were spelling out the full name and once again... if i have youth kids looking at my board i don't want to be embarassed with SUPER ___ ON being the center of my board... and have to explain to their parents when they ask me why their kid came home saying "Pete's got a S.H.O. I want one too"... as great of a pedal as it is... i avoided it but now their graphics tend to be S.H.O. so i would be ok with it now...
So i think it's all about where you play and what your influences are and whom you are influencing... i tend to stay away from anything too flashy or big logo's (although with Orange you just know)
So in closing i would say that names and logo's do have somewhat of an impact on my choices to buy or not to buy... but with EBMM it doesn't matter too much their names are great and their products last a flippin lifetime...