Gear Photos

Not necessarily always about that. I'm one of those weirdos that think inanimate objects have a "soul" haha. I LOVE the Pro Co Rat. But the Big Ear Woodcutter has this small-batch kinda thing that I love about it. Same with a Behringer synth that's trying to sound like a Moog... and a Moog itself.

I totally get that. It’s a mojo factor.

Just saying, some pages have artists that just don't influence me. So how else can Equipboard pages be super useful?? That's the thought exercise here.

Of course.

Hmm not sure what you mean by item navigator, but glad you're on board with the feature.

I meant this. I’m not sure of what to call it.

Say you were to partake in a mind altering substance. Most people will tell you the experience is very subjective. Totally depends what frame of mind you're in, who you're with, your surroundings, etc. Having said all that, isn't it kind of amazing that you can look up something like this? Imagine that for music gear. That's kind of our ambition here. Not trying to tell anyone what to do or how to live with their gear... but providing something beyond what you get from a Guitar Center page.

How would gauges like this be determined? Would it be derived from aggregated reviews like on Leafly and Amazon?

I meant this. I’m not sure of what to call it.

Oh yeah! We just call those "item category pages" :) But great memory, we did do that for a hot minute. It just felt incomplete so we rolled it back. But yeah, we'll bring it back much better than before hopefully.

How would gauges like this be determined? Would it be derived from aggregated reviews like on Leafly and Amazon?

That's the fun is figuring out how we will do that! I can see it being a blend of using tech as much as possible, and a community component like reaching back out to anyone that has reviewed things and asking to fill in or tag some subjective tone words.

And jim... dude so sorry. :( I didn't mean to hit a nerve or take a stance. I just like how that particular website uses data + community and used it as an example.

sorry I snapped at you in print

Problem is, we have about 30,000 people per day on the site, and I think we could really improve the amount that actually do something meaningful on the site as opposed to just reading it...

Where do those 30k/day currently spend their time, generally speaking? What are the major patterns you're seeing?

I 100% understand if you need to keep those insights non-public... but it's something that's been on my mind since you posted this.

I look at profiles for John Frusciante, FINNEAS, Kevin Parker, Curt Cobain... and I wonder what it is everyone is looking at (or looking for) all day. Do people start at the gear and work their way down to an artist, or vice versa? Who are these 30k people?

The journey for most users starts with curiosity about artist gear (so the artist page and proof page), and then naturally flows to the product pages. I would say a good 60% spend time jumping from one pro they like to another. Around 20% start with a product in mind and go from there (though this is increasing as of late). The rest is a mix, like the gear guides, home page, etc.

that's interesting data and explains much in today's music world to me....

The journey for most users starts with curiosity about artist gear (so the artist page and proof page), and then naturally flows to the product pages. I would say a good 60% spend time jumping from one pro they like to another. Around 20% start with a product in mind and go from there (though this is increasing as of late). The rest is a mix, like the gear guides, home page, etc.

Interesting. Is there any downside to the majority of users starting from artists they like, and eventually working down to products from there? The artist-product profiles are the most unique part of the site, I would say that's a (jargon alert!) competitive moat worth continued nurturing.

No, there is no downside to that. I hope we continue to improve and grow on that front.

However, a question that I have is how can we be more useful beyond that. So if artist usage is one aspect of gear, what are others that Equipboard could do to make an interesting experience out of exploring gear.

I for one head to different places like forums, ecommerce stores, youtube videos, and others when considering a piece of gear because I don't think one single site has nailed all of it yet.

long term every piece of equipment on this site should have a demo, a list of famous users and if applicable some classic settings and applications like 1176 on a snare at 8:1 with attack and release at 10 and 2 or 9 and noon

this is in fact an impossible task, but that's probably what the goal should be

long term every piece of equipment on this site should have a demo, a list of famous users and if applicable some classic settings and applications like 1176 on a snare at 8:1 with attack and release at 10 and 2 or 9 and noon

this is in fact an impossible task, but that's probably what the goal should be

I love the idea of "classic settings" for simpler analog and 1-knob-per-function digital items... and maybe "classic patches" for digital and/or more complex patch-capable hardware?

I mean, I was just thinking how there's a good classic starting point on a lot of gear... from pricey studio gear to the lowly tubescreamer.... and anything that isn't a digital type interface in synth word will have a few classic patches you can recognize by eye, as juno guys we know this better than most.... it would be so cool if there were pictorial suggested settings on the gear pages.

No, there is no downside to that. I hope we continue to improve and grow on that front.

However, a question that I have is how can we be more useful beyond that. So if artist usage is one aspect of gear, what are others that Equipboard could do to make an interesting experience out of exploring gear.

I've been thinking about this for a bit...but I'm increasingly hesitant to chuck up lists of wants or suggestions in these types of threads because I'm already an inmate; I'll be here regardless of what features get added next, and (more importantly) I don't represent a very large/mainstream target customer demographic.

That said, getting back to the original question at the top of this thread re: gear photos: I've been looking at, and replying to, gear photos at a regular clip since you guys added that gear photos filter to the main page, and what I'd want next from this feature, speaking only for myself, is a means to get a better sense of what each member is doing with the stuff in the photo... but I don't want to see/read about it, I want to hear it. Why would I care to see someone's signal flow diagram or favorite settings if their tastes and/or musical output just isn't my thing?

Very often, I'll see a user review or photo, and I'll go to their profile to see if they've got a Soundcloud link, and if they've got one, I'll give their stuff a listen... and if I like it, I'll then navigate back to wherever I was and tell this person in the comments... people seem to like/appreciate that... but it's usually a 2-tab adventure for me to do all that.

What if there was a way for users to associate their favorite audio or video demo with a piece of tagged gear?

1. Login to EB > mainpage > Gear Photos
2. I see a photo with the kind of synth nerd, left field guitar, or gonzo thrash metal stuff that catches my interest. I click on the photo.
3. Photo is tagged, and underneath each image in the tagged list, just below that user's star rating for that item, I see a link or icon to the product demo that user has selected

Product demo could be either:

• a link to a certain spot in a Soundcloud track where that item gets used

• a link to a Youtube video demo they made OR someone else made

The point wouldn't be to make users record demo tracks or videos just for EB, wayyyy too labor intensive, the point is to get a sense of that individual user's tastes and preferred applications. There are so many pedals/synths/FX that can be used in radically different ways depending on style/genre/etc. A few years from now, when popular items have dozens and dozens of videos associated with them at the product page level, there will only be so many videos that can really be featured... but the most popular video for the Strymon Big Sky (for example) is probably going to be guitar-based... letting users associate their own favorite demo content for an item would allow users to showcase what THEY like about that product, and give a better sense of how they use or intend to use it.

The most popular demo for the Fender Strat, at the product page level, is probably going to lean towards blues rock, but someone here who plays funk exclusively, for example, should be able to link the Strat in their Equipboard to a demo that better reflects their own tastes.

I for one head to different places like forums, ecommerce stores, youtube videos, and others when considering a piece of gear because I don't think one single site has nailed all of it yet.

Have you guys given any thought to aggregating professional reviews from SoundonSound, TapeOp, GuitarPlayer, MusicRadar, SonicState etc? As of yesterday, you've got the retailer price aggregation up and running on the product pages (congrats!), is there any room on the product page experience for users to associate the pro reviews we all seek out when a new item drops? I know it can be a slippery slope in terms of what counts as pro/non-pro, but maybe sources could be restricted to a list of approved publishers and top-shelf influencers who do reasonably objective, pro-quality reviews?

When a hot new item nears release date, I Google "item name soundonsound", "item name review", "item name TapeOp", etc... could EB one day crowdsource centralizing that content per-product?